Teacher Discussion Forums

[Pink Piggy]

Hi! I'm currently teaching a reading strategies course in Canada to mostly Asian students. It was supposed to be an advanced course, but my reader turned out to be too hard. It's a shame because it was a great one, "The Language We Share: A Canadian Cross-cultural Reader for Learning English". Now I need to find a reader that is more suitable for my next class. Here is what I would like:
1) It needs to have a variety of readings, preferably with some fiction and poetry as well as the standard first person narratives that always seem to dominate ESL readers.
2) I would prefer if it focused mostly on readings, with some content and discussion questions, but not too much on reading strategies, because I have my own list I like to work through.
3) I must be interesting.
4) I would prefer Canadian content. Failing that, it shouldn't, at least, be too American in focus.
5) It must not be too difficult, i.e. about a high-intermediate level.

Any recommendations would be very appreciated!

[stephen]

You might have a look at one of the series of graded readers on the market. Penguin has quite a good series (in my opinion) with a range of levels (Elementary to advanced) and both contemporary pieces and classics. Also, I believe Cambridge have recently launched a series, but I haven't used them so I can't comment. Perhaps, if you will be buying a number you could try and get various publishers to send you a couple of samples.

Hope this helps.
Stephen

PS. Having reread your criteria these probably won't have the range of texts you need, but it might be worth contacting the big publishing companies and seeing if they will give you some free samples. You never know, at worst they will just say no. But they will probably be able to point you in the direction of anything suitable they have, and that would at least make it easier to focus your search at the bookstore when you're trying to find suitable titles. (Afterall, you are the customer.)

[richard1]

Hi there,
I'm not sure if a single text is what you're looking for, but I've been using Easy True Stories and More Easy True Stories (published by Longman) for a year now and have had a lot of success.
The books are very teacher-friendly and interesting for the students. With these books, it is also possible to incorporate conversation/discussion as well as the unavoidable grammar practice.
The stories are introduced with a series of storyboards that can be used to elicit the story from the students before reading or used as review after.
Using these, you can adjust you class to varying levels of ability.
I should be on commission for this write-up!

Hope this is helpful!