I'm writing because I am having difficulty finding reading material for my students that is not insulting (ie - Dr. Suess, children's picture books, etc). Any suggestions of what's out there or what you use for your classes would be much appreciated. I'm looking for something on maybe a third grade reading level.
I'm also wondering what is good reading material for beginning level students. I'm not using a book, and I know that things like menus, grocery ads, things they see everyday are good, but what else do you use?
Thank you much everyone!
Jenny
age appropriate reading material for adults
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Jenny Miller
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I don't know how "beginning" your beginning students are. We have eight levels in our program, which tops out at California's "High Intermediate" level. The students who are in our top level generally place in the middle of our college credit program.
In the past, I have collected a large library of used books that I thought would be interesting for our students. I let them borrow the books. Some of them really got into it and read tons. Others were uninterested, and didn't read. I told them I wanted them to read for enjoyment, and not with a dictionary glued to their hands. Some of them really enjoyed biographies and American history books. There's a series Freedom something that has very thin books about American history. They also liked the small paperback classics that have a picture on one side and writing on the other. They are adapted, of course, and I wouldn't have my kids read them because I'd rather they read the originals, but for adults they seemed to work out well. There are also some children's books that are thought-provoking that students also enjoy.
This semester I have a much lower level (2) class, and I'm not doing any of that. It's a CALL class, however, so I write stories and information on the Web, and have them do that. It seems to be working. I've also had previous class read things I've written about food labels and recycling, and they told me they appreciated the information. I'm working on one about emergencies now, but it's hard to explain all the vocabulary for such a low level.
In the past, I have collected a large library of used books that I thought would be interesting for our students. I let them borrow the books. Some of them really got into it and read tons. Others were uninterested, and didn't read. I told them I wanted them to read for enjoyment, and not with a dictionary glued to their hands. Some of them really enjoyed biographies and American history books. There's a series Freedom something that has very thin books about American history. They also liked the small paperback classics that have a picture on one side and writing on the other. They are adapted, of course, and I wouldn't have my kids read them because I'd rather they read the originals, but for adults they seemed to work out well. There are also some children's books that are thought-provoking that students also enjoy.
This semester I have a much lower level (2) class, and I'm not doing any of that. It's a CALL class, however, so I write stories and information on the Web, and have them do that. It seems to be working. I've also had previous class read things I've written about food labels and recycling, and they told me they appreciated the information. I'm working on one about emergencies now, but it's hard to explain all the vocabulary for such a low level.
Last edited by Lorikeet on Tue Sep 26, 2006 9:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Sally Olsen
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If you can visit a teacher's store, you can go to the adult literacy section and find books that are interesting but low level reading. I imagine there is a section in book stores online like that as well. They cover every subject from science to pop stars to history, etc. But Lorikeet is right that students like to read what other student's write and are interested in and it is often very practical, like where to buy cheap food, clothes, shoes, and how to get along with landlords, banks, doctors, school officials and so on. If you look up some Adult Literacy sites you will find these types of things as well. Recommend that your local library stock many of these titles and put them in a promenant place where the students can easily find them. They often end up on the bottom shelf and make the literacy and ESL students feel badly that they have to stoop to get them.
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Jenny Miller
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:37 pm
The other people had really great suggestions.
One more:
Don't overlook children's books!
As long as you present children's books in a positive way, they can be extremely helpful. Tell the students that you know this isn't their intellectual level, but that the book is really cute (and non-stressful) and teaches X, Y, and Z language structures that you've been focusing on in class.
Plus, a lot of adult students have kids. So you can also stress that this is a book they can read out loud to their own kids. And how great is that? The parent learns a lot, while coming off as an impressive expert in front of their kids. There's nothing that's going to be more helpful to the kids' language development than hearing fun stories read aloud by their parents. Help the parents feel comfortable reading the English books in English to their kids, with commentary in their L1 to help the kids' bilingual language development.
Just a thought.
Best of luck.
-EH
One more:
Don't overlook children's books!
As long as you present children's books in a positive way, they can be extremely helpful. Tell the students that you know this isn't their intellectual level, but that the book is really cute (and non-stressful) and teaches X, Y, and Z language structures that you've been focusing on in class.
Plus, a lot of adult students have kids. So you can also stress that this is a book they can read out loud to their own kids. And how great is that? The parent learns a lot, while coming off as an impressive expert in front of their kids. There's nothing that's going to be more helpful to the kids' language development than hearing fun stories read aloud by their parents. Help the parents feel comfortable reading the English books in English to their kids, with commentary in their L1 to help the kids' bilingual language development.
Just a thought.
Best of luck.
-EH
Longman/Pearson have a good series called Penguin Readers. These are simplified versions of a wide variety of works which are graded and have supporting activity pages. I use these books quite often and have found them to be generally well received by the students. Both Oxford and Cambridge also offer a similar series, the Cambridge books being mainly contemporary stuff (but lacking the activity support). You can find a full catalogue for the Longman books at: www.penguinreaders.com