Fostering self-care and wellbeing through the world of reading

Nicola Schofield
A teacher sat outdoors with young students looking at a book togethr
Reading time: 6 minutes

Growing up is an exciting time. Children are curious and open-minded, and every day welcomes a new thing to learn. They are constantly exploring and discovering themselves and the world around them. But children also have to face many challenging times too as they get older. It is, therefore, important that we teach our young people to be aware of their own wellbeing and self-care, what they can do to lead a balanced and healthy life, and give them the tools they need to help them in difficult times, both mentally and physically. Ìý

Boosting children's wellbeing with reading
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What are theÌýkey factors to a child’s wellbeing?

Have a look at Ìýbelow. ItÌýdescribesÌýpeople’sÌýbasic needs for good mental and physical wellbeing.

Self-actualizationÌý– Children need to be aware of their own feelingsÌýand understand how to process them.

Esteem –ÌýChildren need to growÌýinÌýconfidence, feel valued and receive praise for their achievements. Having hobbies and interestsÌýtoo is key.

Love/belonging –ÌýChildren need to develop meaningful relationships or feel part of a community. This could be friendships, family, a class,ÌýaÌýclubÌýorÌýschool.

SafetyÌý– Children must feel safe in their surroundings.

PhysiologicalÌý–ÌýChildren must have a home and access to food, water, sleep and exercise.

However, do childrenÌýknow how to look after their wellbeing?Ìý

Ask them to make a list and share your ideas together as a class or as a family.ÌýWhat do they do to look after their mental and physical health?ÌýAre there any things thatÌýtheyÌýdo lots of or don’t do enough of? What can they start doing or try to do more of?

Alternatively, you could also ask themÌýtoÌýput the followingÌýitemsÌýin order of importance. Ask them,Ìý‘What makes you happy?’,Ìý‘What is important to you?’Ìý

  • Food
  • Water
  • House
  • School
  • Friends
  • Family
  • Exercise
  • Sleep
  • HobbiesÌý

HowÌýcanÌýDisney Kids Readers help children’s wellbeing?

Let’sÌýrefer backÌýto the hierarchy of needs and see how they can link into reading.

Self-actualizationÌý–ÌýDisney Kids ReadersÌýcan help increaseÌýempathy and self-awarenessÌýthrough reading about other characters’ emotions and putting ourselves in their shoes. It can help us to understand and process our own emotions too. For example, in Inside Out, we see Riley struggle with her emotions when her family moves to San Francisco. Through the characters of Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust, we can see how normal it is to feel a range of emotions and not feel happy all the time.

Esteem –ÌýDisney Kids ReadersÌýalso help children to develop confidence and self-esteem as they progress through theÌýlevels. By completing the wide range of activities at the end of the books, children can see that they are learning and improving their English skills as well as havingÌýfun reading a book.Ìý

Readers can also help us navigate difficult moments in life and teach us resilience and strength in challenging times. When we read the stories, we see how the characters overcome obstacles and deal with their problems. This can teach children key lessons and help them tackle their own problems in the real world.

For example, many of the charactersÌýgo through difficult times to which children can relate. InÌýThe Jungle Book, Mowgli is scared but then his friend Baloo comes to help him.ÌýIn Frozen II, Elsa goes on a difficult journey to restore justice for the people of Arendelle andÌýThe Enchanted Forest.Ìý

Love/belonging –ÌýReading Disney Kids Readers as a class, in pairs, or as a family can really strengthen relationships and a sense of belonging, which is such an important part of children’s development.ÌýSharing a book is something specialÌýthatÌýcanÌýallow people toÌýdevelop common interests andÌýthereforeÌýmake children feel that they are part of a wider community.

SafetyÌý– ChildrenÌýcan feel safe and more secure when a parent or a caregiver reads to them before bed.ÌýDisney Kids ReadersÌýare perfect bedtime stories and help children to fall asleep listening to theirÌýfavoriteÌýDisney characters on exciting adventures.ÌýAlso, in times of stress,Ìýreading can help reduceÌýanxiety,Ìýallowing children toÌýenjoy the presentÌýmomentÌýand escape the real world for a little while.

PhysiologicalÌý– Reading exercises your brain. In addition to physical exercise, reading isÌýanÌýexcellent mental workout which is so important to children’s health. Ask the children toÌýmemorizeÌýsome pages from the reader and recite it without looking or ask them toÌýmemorizeÌýthe phonics rhyme on the phonics page. You could also ask them to memorize the key words from the glossary list and see how many they remember.

Explore our range of readers and get inspired

Activity ideas

Now try out some of the activities below which can be linked to the Readers which will help your children/young learners focus on their wellbeing.

1. Paint a scene

This activity is calm, relaxing and mindful for the children to complete. The world is a busy place, and this activity links in with the idea of self-actualization and esteem. Painting or drawing keeps our mind focused on one task, and reduces stress and anxiety. It can help us process difficult emotions and can cheer us up when we are feeling down.ÌýÌý

Encourage your young learners to paint or draw a peaceful scene that they can imagine themselves in. It could be a beach, a forest, or even outer space. This activity allows children to express their creativity and imagination while also promoting relaxation and mindfulness.

Need:ÌýSelf-actualization, Esteem

2. Reading emotion diary

Self-awarenessÌýis such a useful toolÌýfor our wellbeingÌý– through this activity, the children take a moment each dayÌýto read a few pages of a book and thenÌýlook insideÌýthemselvesÌýtoÌýthink about how they are feelingÌýbefore and afterÌýreading. This is powerful, as over time the children will understand that reading is a good way to calm the mindÌýand manage emotionsÌý–Ìýsomething that can help them improve their own wellbeing and feel safe.Ìý

Encourage your learner to write down their feelings in a diary after reading and reflect on how the reading has affected their emotions. This activity promotes self-awareness and emotional intelligence, which are crucial for maintaining good mental health.

Need: Self-actualization,ÌýSafety

3. Reading emotions

Emotional intelligence is suchÌýanÌýimportant part of life. Understanding how someone is feeling through body language, such as facial expressions, gestures and body movements, can be useful when someone is sad, angry or upset. It can help us decide what they need and can help them feel listened to, loved and valued. In this activity, the children practice this by analyzingÌýthe characters’ emotions.ÌýIt will help children build confidence when dealing with difficult or sensitive topics with family and friends.Ìý

Choose a Reader with a diverse range of characters and ask your learner to identify and describe the emotions shown by each character. This activity promotes empathy, communication skills and social-emotional learning.

Need: Love/belonging, EsteemÌý

4. Guess the scene meditation

This activity is a great exercise for the brain. It helps children toÌývisualizeÌýand picture different surroundings in their minds and imagine different smells, sounds and textures, and bring them to life. As the children’s minds are focused on one thing, they begin to relax and feel calm. This activity can be a great tool to use before bedtime to help children fall asleep peacefully.

Guide your learners through a guided meditation where they imagine themselves in different peaceful scenes. You can also ask them to create their own scene and describe it in detail. This activity promotes relaxation, mindfulness and creativity.

Need: Self-actualization, Safety

5. Develop resilience

In every story there is a lesson to be learned, and through this activity childrenÌýlearn how to deal with difficult situations through the characters.ÌýIt teaches children thatÌýalthoughÌýthere are hard times in life, if we are patient, work togetherÌýandÌýshow resilience, then weÌýcanÌýwork through our problems.ÌýÌý

Choose a Reader with characters facing challenges and discuss with your learners how the characters handle the situation. Encourage them to think of ways they can apply this to their own lives when facing difficulties.

Need:ÌýBelonging, EsteemÌý

6. Create an exercise routine

This activity is creative and fun and will get the children moving and laughing at the same time. Physical exercise is so important to our wellbeing,Ìýso what is better than doing a workout with yourÌýfavoriteÌýDisney character?ÌýThe children can do these workouts in small groups, with family or as a class.ÌýThis activity promotes physical health and social bonding.

Choose a few Disney characters and create simple exercises for each one. You can also use props or make it into a game by having the children take turns being different characters.

Need: Physiological

Read our blog post 'ChoosingÌýthe right gradedÌýreadersÌýfor young learners' and 'How to motivate reluctant readers' for more reading tips and ideas.

Explore our range of readers and get inspired

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  • A teacher sat with a student at his desk, the student is writing and the teacher is looking at him doing this smiling.

    7 ways to individualize your teaching

    Por Andrew Walkley
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    There's no denying that tailoring your teaching to individual students is an effective strategy. However, many teachers struggle with finding the time to include teaching moments which address an individual learner's specific needs. So, what's the best way to create an individualized classroom? Andrew Walkley, co-author of Roadmap, explains the benefits of this approach and shares some techniques to ensure that every student gets the most out of your lessons.Ìý

    The best of both worlds?

    First of all, what does individualized teaching mean? It's the concept that students will learn most effectively when the activity is specific to their needs and the language they are using is appropriate for their level. This concept is sometimes seen in opposition to coursebooks and class-based learning, where students are all expected to follow the same syllabus. However, class syllabuses and coursebooks have the following benefits:

    • Providing students with common goalsÌý
    • Encouraging learners to follow an unfamiliar topic that then opens new doors of learning
    • The learning opportunities in peer-to-peer explanationÌý

    When we talk about individualized teaching in the classroom, we want to exploit the benefits of learning together while also providing opportunities for more individualized development. So, how can you, as a teacher, combine the two approaches?

    1. Involve students in choosing your route

    All classroom groups are different and made up of people from different age groups with distinct needs and interests. Roadmap can help in two ways:

    1. There is a fast and slow track. The fast track focuses on language input and speaking. The slow track has additional skills lessons at the back of the book that are thematically linked to the corresponding fast track lesson.Ìý
    2. Each lesson has a clear goal and final task. For shorter courses, get each student to choose three tasks they would definitely like to do. Based on the results, you can prioritize those lessons.

    At the start of the course, make a point of asking about students' learning priorities and then plan accordingly. Once you've completed an input and speaking lesson, you can ask the students if they want to further explore the topic through the skills lesson.

    2. Make use of tasks

    Open tasks, where students exchange their own ideas in a meaningful way, are a key part of individualized lessons. In essence, they are self-differentiating because each student will attempt to complete the task using whatever language they are able to use. In Roadmap, each of the main lessons ends with a clear task connected to a Global Scale of English (GSE) can-do statement. However, there are also lots of other speaking opportunities without a 'speaking' label (under vocabulary or reading, etc.), as well as the conversation that typically occurs in any lesson, all of which can be treated as open tasks.

    3. Give individualized feedback and then share it

    In a group setting, it's impossible to give individual feedback on every single task. However, you can give individual attention to different people throughout the lesson. Make yourself available to give students the language they need as it arises during an activity. Then, when they've completed the task, write some of these examples on the board, but leave a gap for the keywords. Elicit these keywords from other members of the class. If they can't get it, ask the student(s) you helped to explain the missing language. You might then repeat the task, but this time, pay attention to a new group.Ìý

    4. Check what vocabulary students know

    All coursebook writers and teachers make choices about what vocabulary to introduce to students. In the case of Roadmap we are guided by the GSE and teachers might like to experiment themselves using the GSE Teacher Toolkit. However, all students will have their own lexicons. You can individualize learning better by asking students to rate the words you aim to cover in a unit according to whether they know them or not. For example, 1 = it's completely new, 2 = the meaning is familiar but I don't use it, 3 = this is part of my productive vocabulary.Ìý

    5. Get students to create their own word lists and cards

    This knowledge will enable you to encourage students to focus on their individual vocabulary needs. They can reinforce learning by developing a word list or making flashcards using a web tool such as Quizlet. For new words they may have a word/collocation with an L1 translation.

    With familiar vocabulary, they could have cards with a keyword on one side and varied collocations or common examples on the other (also in English). It's worth setting aside some time in class to do this at the start of a course. If your students are engaged and motivated, it can become a regular discipline for learning new vocabulary.Ìý

    6. Ask more open questions about usage, not just meaning

    When we do vocabulary tasks from the course material in class, we can use open questions to individualize learning with the following two techniques. Firstly, as you go through the answers, rather than going in order 1 to 8, you can nominate people to give the answer that they're most unsure of and want to check. Secondly, we can ask the rest of the class open questions which focus on how words are used. For example, take these questions from different vocabulary exercises in Roadmap B1+:

    • What (other) things might you spill?
    • Why might a character in a series be killed off?
    • What (else) can you describe as reliable?
    • What can someone do to stay calm?Ìý

    You could also ask questions such as, "What's the opposite of staying calm?" or "What might you say if you spilled something?"

    When you ask these questions, you are checking meaning, but more importantly, you are also pushing students to reveal how well they know a word. Do they know the collocations of spill and reliable? Do they have the other language they might need to talk about the aspects of a TV series or help someone who is in a panic? You can then encourage students to choose how much of this potentially new language they want to add to their word lists.

    7. Provide open homework tasks and make time to share the results

    Homework is another opportunity to individualize learning. Give students a wide choice of tasks based on the material of the course or beyond, for example:

    • Choose any number of exercises they want to do from workbook materialÌý
    • Find and read one article they are interested in (in L1 or L2)
    • Write five things they want to learn how to say in English (perhaps using Google Translate)
    • Write up an interesting conversation they had in English (the conversation could be originally in L1 or L2)

    Whatever task they choose, the key is to dedicate some classroom time to discussing which homework task they did and why. Encourage them to explain their answers and what they learned through the task, and whether or not they would choose to do a similar task again.ÌýÌý

    For a more detailed introduction on how you can individualize your teaching, check out Andrew's webinar:Ìý