1. BORDER CROSSINGS Nancy Fawley Head of User Services Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar collaborating with faculty and administration to integrate reading activities into freshmen orientation

2. VCUQatar

3. Established in 1998 Design curriculum 40 faculty 210 students –55% Qatari –6% male –from 29 countries

4. How this relates Increasing number of international students Students who are residents or citizens but speak English as a second language Students with little to no experience using libraries and their resources

5. Reading activity for incoming freshmen Adapt the main campus’ activity to VCUQatar’s student population Introduce students to the academic and intellectual culture of college

6. Objective number one Introduce students to reading for pleasure in order to develop a habit of reading

7. Benefits of reading for pleasure Better reading comprehension, writing skills, vocabulary, grammar and spelling Helps to develop reading writing skills in a second language

8. Develop a culture of reading Arab culture is historically an oral culture Information comes from wisdom, poetry, songs and folk stories

9. Objective number two Introduce students to a librarian in order to forge a connection

10. Students have little to no experience using a library Librarians in local schools play more of a role in policing the library

11. Objective number three Combine reading with an art and design-based activity to demonstrate that the two are not mutually exclusive

12. Objective number four Have the students work in groups in order for them to create bonds with their colleagues and benefit from the various levels of reading comprehension

13. Choosing the book Consider the culture and reading levels of the students

14. A reading program that worked for our students EFL students Visual learners Oral culture

15. Color: a history of the palette Students were divided into groups and assigned a color They then read the chapter that corresponded to their color

16. Students met with their groups and wrote their own story of a color They created a skit and performed it at the end of the week

17. Did the activity meet the objectives?

18. Thank you