Activities and projects aimed to promote reading in Yelabuga (the Republic of Tatarstan) and Pilsen (the Czech Republic)

Abstract

The democratic society of the XXI century requires a person to possess advanced communication standards. The article sets tendencies to develop reading culture among the teenagers by means of events and projects aimed to support reading. The Yelabuga Institute of Kazan (Volga region) federal university hosts the following projects: ‘The festival of school teachers’, ‘Books for hospitals’, ‘University Parnassus’, ‘Yelabuga Parnassus’, ‘Biblionight’ ‘Living book’, literature club ‘The planet of a writer’, ‘University for children’, ‘Intel summer’, the festival of schools of Russia, ‘I’m a poet, they say’, ‘Sunday quests’, ‘One book museums’ and others. An issue of reading is also relevant in Plzen, the Czech Republic. The following projects aim to develop a literate reader: ‘Bibliotherapy’, ‘Mutual reading’, ‘Train reading’, ‘Books fair’, ‘Reading before Hollywood’ and others. A survey among teenagers aimed to determine readers’ preferences both in the Czech Republic and the Republic of Tatarstan. The survey involved 900 respondents. We can argue that modern schoolchildren tend to read, however the generation of the late XX and early XXI centuries fails to read enough. Thus, currently, parents of 11 – 15 year olds have little authority on them, as well as teachers lack time and motivation to follow current works of literature, due to educational crisis. In such a way schoolchildren acquire works of literature, which are not high-quality ones, through peers, and the Internet. The article outlines some ways to solve the issue.