Finally! Finally, we got the Kindles to work for my students. You have no idea how much time, effort, and energy it took for me and my boss to get these Kindles to the school, attach them to a proper Amazon account, and make sure that we could download the books they wanted onto their Kindle. Let me tell me more about everything…
So, over the summer holiday, I gave the parents of my students a heads-up that they were going to need a Kindle for the second semester (China’s schooling system is based on semesters). Now, some of the parents forgot to do so and I ended up buying a few of them for myself, their homeroom teacher, and one of my students whose mother kept “forgetting” and making excuses. I got annoyed with it all because I wanted all of them to have their Kindle before we got started.
Once, my students got their Kindle, they wasted no time in playing with their new technology. They were excited about all the possibilities and couldn’t wait to get started in reading on it. But I did have to lay down some ground levels with them:
- The Kindles can only be used in the classroom and Night Study during the school week.
- The Kindles can’t be used in the dorms.
- The Kindles will have a parental code on them to prevent purchases.
- They need our approval for certain books.
- They are, of course, allowed to take it home with some of the restrictions lifted.
I also taught them every literary genre and how to identify them by reading the blurb in the Kindle Store. Then, I tasked them with rating each genre on a scale from 1 to 10 so they can understand what genre they may like to read. Once they were done…they got to explore the story.
My boss and their homeroom teacher were amazed at the laughing enthusiasm they had while browsing the store. I didn’t have to tell them how to do it; they figured it out pretty quickly. They even figured out how to download samples of books and even asked if they could before deciding if they wanted to read it. In the end, each student gave me a list of books they wanted to have in their library. Honestly, I didn’t have to heart to tell them that they had to read one book at a time for the Reading Program.
The last program we were encountered was the fact that we were using a US Amazon Store and a representative told us that, if we use a Chinese bank card, the store will become restricted because the Amazon looks at the billing address. Luckily, we managed to figure out a way to get the books that was ethnical and legal; one of the teachers offered a solution that didn’t sit well with me. Now, my students can spend the weekend figuring out which book they want to read first for the project. I can’t wait to hear their results.
Now, please, don’t forget to follow me on my social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads) which are on the right side of my web page. Also, I do love hearing suggestions of what books to read outside of my norm (Science fiction and fantasy) as I am a part of the Goodreads’ reading challenge for 2022. My goal is to read 180 books this year and I’m already at 35. I should probably start reviewing these books.
