Reading in pairs

The idea of teaching and learning is traditionally based on a one-way activity, mainly from the teachers to the students. This is particularly true for institutional teaching and learning in any kind of formal education. Still, many teachers consider that their duty is to ’teach’ which means performing different kinds of curriculum-related acts in front of the students, the learners, while the student’s task is to learn, which means participating in these curriculum-based acts performed mainly by the teacher. However, a more transformative idea of teaching and learning is changing this picture rapidly. It has been concluded that in order to gain better and more effective results – and to be able to enjoy the learning process– the traditional one-way traffic of information is really not the best way to achieve them. It may be that when the students’ ownership of the learning and teaching act is activated, the whole process of learning becomes more meaningful and the results are better – for all parties (inclu ding the families).