Reading with purpose

The days have whizzed by, alhamdulillah. Some days run smoothly and others do not. Sometimes there is no way of explaining it.
At the end of last week we came to the poem "Night Mail" by W H Auden, in the English textbook. It is a good poem for reading aloud, as there are distinct sounds and rhythms within it. There are also two distinct landscape descriptions, which gave me the idea of taking a different comprehension approach. Today I asked the boys to divide a piece of paper into two sections and draw landscapes as described in the two verses of the poem. This made them look at the text carefully, in order that all the details should be included. It also provided a context for the discussion of what is meant by, for example, "a glade of cranes".
I do feel a shift in my English approach with them at the moment. Learning to use and understand one's own language is a craft best learnt from reading I think. But not just any reading, reading for vocabulary enrichment, for absorbing style, for working out the hidden meanings. Reading for fun is one type of reading, but reading for enrichment is another. How does this square with prioritising the deen of Islam in our lives? I hope, inshAllah, it can be compatible if the outcome is articulate, literate young people, able to express themselves in the service of Allah's deen.