Teacher Discussion Forums

As a child I loved reading Usborne mystery books. They had a small paragraph of text on each page and then a mystery before they could continue.

The riddle was always a visual one. (i.e. some kids and their erstwhile captor are sent back in time to the roman age) they must follow him through the forum. How do they know where to go?

(The baddy is wearing trainers which are clearly visible under their toga.)

This format of a short piece of writing and then a mechanism to internalise the language learnt immediately afterwards is a perfect system for children to accept a second language, and everyone likes a good mystery.

That said the books I read as a kid are a bit beyond my middle schoolers. Is there anything like this out in an ESL format?

Yes, there is a whole sub-field devoted to reading for pleasure as the main approach to teaching ESL. Krashen was the first with his Natural Approach, but a more modern approach is Extensive Reading by Day.

I believe in it, but as a teaching method, it's a tough sell. Students invariably wonder why they are paying for something they can do alone, and administrators always balk at the cost of setting up a reading room.

I teach it as homework or self-study activity. So far, with every ESL student I ever met, I always ask two questions: what do you think made you learn your 2nd language? Then: What do you think made you learn your first language? For the first question, the answer ranges the spectrum from watching movies to talking to foreigners to drinking beer. But for the second question, the answer is almost always reading. But, when I point this out (why not use that strategy for your 2nd language?) students always think it's too hard.

However, I have had a lot of success with first language children with extensive reading pedagogy, and many of them have a harder time reading than many 2nd language speakers.