From Avoiding Long Passages to Borrowing English Books with Confidence

Leo was not unable to read English. He could comfortably understand short passages, simple stories, and textbook exercises. What discouraged him was the increasing length of reading materials. As texts grew from a few sentences to full pages and eventually chapter books, he quickly lost interest and struggled to stay engaged.

For younger primary students, confidence in reading is often more important than the amount they read. If children begin to associate English reading with frustration or boredom, they may gradually avoid it altogether, even if they have the ability to improve. Over time, this reluctance can also affect their overall English performance.

Leo's parents realised that their son was capable of reading English but had lost interest in longer texts. They worried that if this continued, he would find it increasingly difficult to cope with longer storybooks and more demanding English materials in the upper primary years.

Rather than simply asking Leo to complete more reading exercises, they hoped to find a tutor who could help him rebuild his interest in English reading and discover that reading stories in English could actually be enjoyable.

After Leo's parents submitted their request through DokuTutor, our team learned more about his year level, reading habits, personality, and the goals his family hoped to achieve.

Since Leo's main challenge was losing interest when reading longer passages, simply giving him more reading comprehension exercises would not have solved the problem. Instead, we matched him with an English tutor who specialised in encouraging reluctant readers and knew how to use a student's personal interests as the starting point for learning.

Rather than asking Leo to read lengthy passages immediately, the tutor began with topics that genuinely interested him and gradually increased the amount of English reading over time.

Leo had always enjoyed the Harry Potter films and was already familiar with many of the characters and storylines through subtitles.

His tutor used this interest as a bridge to English reading, encouraging him to begin with stories and characters he already loved before gradually introducing the original English text.

When children are genuinely interested in a story, English becomes connected to curiosity instead of pressure. Leo slowly changed from saying, “There are too many words,” to willingly reading longer passages. As he became more involved in the stories, he also experienced a growing sense of achievement every time he completed another chapter.

After six months of personalised tutoring, Leo's progress extended far beyond simply reading more words. His attitude towards English reading changed completely.