Job Discussion Forums

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

I'm glad I'm not the only one who had a hard time reading the OP. At first, this is the main point I got out of it...

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Thu May 13, 2004 1:22 pm Post subject: well I asked for opinions !!

Thanks once again for your responses, including the ones that were more interested in my typing errprs and use of language, not to mention the failures I so clearly made. Thanks oh green headed one . Your apology is most graciously accepted guest and one or two useful tips I will try out .I have more than 12 hours weekly with an upper int group split between 2 classes , I blame some of their indifference on the choice of material which is in my opinion above their heads . They also sense the end is neigh and don't basically give a toss about reading . Those of you who mentioned reading aloud as a fun (can I use that word ?) activity will be pleased to klnow I tried some thing like that and got reasonable results .The purpose of the reading , good question, they are going to need to know how to analyise and disect texts fairly quickly and then identify things like topic sentences ,the main idea , recognise supporting ideas and clarifying devices and other things relating to putting the vocab in context and hopefully the critical thinking will follow later . Its hoped that as their reading improves they may also become better essay writers as well ,but ,thats another story . Thanks for your help guys .

Afra · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 389

Try a jigsaw reading. Cut up the text into paragraphs or sentences and ask small groups to reconstruct the text.
Missing sentences - similar to above.
Remove the topic sentences and cohesive devices - again smilar.
Student 1 reads to student 2, who tells the story to student 3 while student 1 checks for accuracy.
Students prepare their own comprehension exercises in groups, swap exercises.
Use cartoons, white out some of the balloon text, students read the remaining text and fill the gaps.
One of the problems of teaching reading is that, it seems, few people read for pleasure in their own language so they don't have the necessary language attack skills to transfer to L2. You have find a way of making them want to read.
Good luck!

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

There are so many ways you can make a reading a good learning experience and I'll list a couple below:

1. I have short texts at the end of each chapter in my textbook. Usually the wording is beyond the level of most students. It is done on purpose or so I'm told in my teacher's copy. They are supposed to figure out difficult words based on context. But that is a little beyond many of my students. What I will do is read the text aloud and instruct the kids to follow along. I read slowly (but not too slow!). When I come to a word they don't understand, I ask them to underline it or circle it, but I don't stop reading at that time. Afterwards, I take questions from the students on the words that are a question mark to them. I'll ask them what they think the word means and/or I'll try to explain it the best I can. I also ask students to come up to the board and write the Chinese version of it (for students that DO know or have their translators handy) and the rest can copy it down in their books. After that's done, I reread it one more time and then ask a few questions about the text. By this time, most of the students seem to have gotten the gist of what it's all about and they've heard (twice) proper pronunciation of the new and difficult words. Finally, I will pull names out of my handy cup (I have each name written individually on ice cream sticks) and have a few students read aloud a couple of sentences or a short paragraph. This one text may take most of the period to get through but I feel the comprehension is (mostly) there as well as the knowledge of new vocabulary and pronunciation techniques have been incorporated too.

2. If we have enough time (we usually have 10 minutes or so), I will start asking some questions that are related to the text. If it's talking about, say, airports, then I'll ask the kids if they have ever been on a plane. If I get a couple of yes-es, then I'll ask where they went, what did they see, and so on. If I get all no's, then I'll ask where would you LIKE to go? Why?

By the time we've finished with the reading, the 10 minute conversation doesn't feel like work at all (at least for my "chatty" students - - there are some that JUST WON'T TALK!!!) and it's a good way to wrap up a class.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Scott in HK · Joined: 11 Jan 2003 Posts: 148

Reading aloud to practice intonation, pronunciation and other skills is not reading. It is more like recitation and should not be included in a reading program. It should be included in some part of the curriculum, but shouldn't be taught during the time you have set aside for reading. If you are teaching your students to read, then understanding the text should be the focal point of your lesson.

To help students to comprehend what they are reading, you have to devise activities that will encourage them to interact with the text while they are reading. This means you don't just put the questions at the end of the text. Students need to be taught to make connections to the text while they are reading.

One activity for this is embedded questions. You break the text up and include questions within the body of the text...read a bit...question...read some more...

You can also do some modeling as a teacher and demostrate how you make connections while you read...how you decide what is important and what is not...

You can do an activity called 'reciprocal questioning' (I think that is the name) where students think of different questions to ask of the text. The questions are levelled...some are ones where the answers are in the text...some you have to infer....and others make you speculate based on what you think the author would think based on the text....

Whatever you do..you have to get the students to connect with the text and interact with it...constantly...

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

Scott in HK · Joined: 11 Jan 2003 Posts: 148

I am not saying that reading out loud has no place in the teaching of reading. What I am saying that is if your purpose of reading out loud is to teaching specific oral skills, then you should include it in your program when you are concentrating on the students' orals skills.

The value of using all skill areas when approaching teaching is evident to all that teach. And out loud reading can have great value in a reading class, when it is used to improve comprehension or to show how different people 'read' texts differently.

I would not preclude out loud reading simply because it is not reading. As Glenski pointed out...it is all about purpose. What is your purpose for having students' read out loud? Is it to make them better readers?
In what way is their reading the text out loud making them better readers.

Reading out loud would have value if an individual reader reads to the class giving the text life (showing how they interpret the text), but choral reading would have no value what so ever.

I am not sure why students should recite the text with 'similar' emotion. It would make more sense to me to have them read it out loud using their own 'voice' rather than the teacher's and then be asked why they read it in a certain way. Simply copying the teacher does not seem to be of any value.

No matter how you do it, the most important part of reading is get students to understand the text better...to understand that different people may read the text differently...that authors write texts for a reason..that their reading needs to have a purpose...that reading is an active process between the reader and the text...that you need to thinking while you read....

And simply having them read texts out loud without any other sort of activity does not accomplish any of these aims...

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

Well Scott, sounds like we mostly agree. You must be a smart person Very Happy

Scott in HK · Joined: 11 Jan 2003 Posts: 148

There is a great activity about using your voice to give new meaning to words...

Single word story

Give the students one word to use in their skit.."No"

and see if they can construct a dialogue using just that one word...saying it in different ways to convey different meanings...

guest of Japan · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 1601 Location: Japan

dagi · Joined: 01 Jan 2004 Posts: 425

OP, you say that the kids have to learn how to read, understand and analyse texts but first they must aquire skills on how to do this!
You can divide your lesson plan in different parts,
Motivation - use a short text in their native language or a very easy text in English to prepare them on the theme. They need to activate the knowledge they already have.
Presentation - the kids now read the main text, which should always come with some exercises. Kids always need a reason to read a text, if reading is the only thing they have to do they won't do it but start to chat with their neighbour. You can ask them generals w-questions (what's happening, who's doing what, when did it happen, where, etc.) In this phase the kids should train overall reading.
Semantisation - (if that's the correct English word) - now they have to dig deeper into the text, find words they don't understand, underline them and try to figure out what they mean, for instance.
Reflection - at the end it's time to see what they could understand from the text, let them write a summary in their native language, draw a picture or comic, let them retell the story from the perspective of another person, etc.

If you just give them a text and tell them to read it and think about it, this doesn't work with kids!