Teacher Discussion Forums

The more I learn about reading, the more important I think it is for my adult students to do reading for pleasure, either on thier own or during class time. The problem, of course, is that there aren't many books written to adult audiences that are written on a level that they can read.

I'm especially worried about my literacy students, who, from what I can tell, need predictable texts.

What do you guys think about adults reading childrens' books? I have heard of the Accelerated Reader program, which has graded authentic texts so the students can pick and choose from books that they know they can read. I just don't know if books designed for children can be read by adults ESL learners as easily (the vocab problem) or how my students would respond to kids books. Mostly they are enthusiastic about learning anything, so maybe it would work, but. . . I was just wondering if any of you had ever considered it or tried it?

I have at various times had a library for students. I collected a lot of used books at every library book sale (I think I must have a couple hundred by now). Since I am teaching immigrants to the U.S., they were very interested in history and biographies. I used books written for kids. I also found some children's books that were particularly clever and didn't have a lot of extraneous vocabulary. Yes, I know they don't have to know all the animals names to go shopping, etc., but if the story isn't baby cutesy, it can be fun to read. I picked books I liked reading myself. Some of my students borrowed the books and read them to their kids.

Hello Tara,
I use a series of detective and mystery stories which are written with a readership of 12+ in mind. My adult learners - ages ranging from 20 to 45 - love them! Of course, I think it depends on the level; I only use these books with elementary and lower intermediate leaners - more advanced students needing something with a little more "bite".

Ah yes Macavity! I have some of those too. (Even I like reading them .)

Check on the book sites for reading for adult literacy. There are a lot of books written for adults with controlled vocabulary. My students liked the ones on movie, sports and singing stars. They can also read almost anything they write themselves and so creating books is a good idea. They can then read them to fellow students with success and the subjects are usually intersting to their fellow students. You can gradually build up a library of homemade books. Of course you can illustrate them with pictures taken with a digital camera.

Thanks for the good ideas, everyone!