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The present article explores the experiences of a high school teacher of English as a second language, and the difficulties faced in teaching large and heterogeneous classes. It explores the motives that led him to devise a supplemental learning program based on intensive reading material found on the Internet to help weak students. We present the teacher's analysis of this experience along with the students' testimonials written throughout the first year of the study, and discuss the ups and downs of the project. We argue for the importance of free reading mediated by the teacher, and defend the integration and expansion of the project in the learning agenda to provide students with an opportunity to improve their language development cognitively, meta-cognitively and affectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]