In the event of low grades of entrance tests by English freshmen students at Thai Nguyen University, learners’ tremendous endeavors are needed in order that they can meet exit requirements. Such endeavors would be made better if put in an engaging learning environment with abundant resources. To this end, the authors ran an extensive reading program in which students were required to visit the School’s Book Club called Bookworm’s corners on a weekly basis to borrow books and write a report for what they had read. It is believed and decided that to achieve an objective and proper assessment of how effective the program  is, detailed and thorough analysis must ensue with data collected during the 15-week term via such experimental means as pretests, posttests and questionnaires. Preliminary findings prove the effectiveness of this program in strengthening reading and writing skills for first-year students. In-depth analysis and discussion of findings can be found in the paper.