Extensive Reading (reading whole books for information or entertainment) helps learners consolidate their English enjoyably and in a stress-free way. This is particularly important when students fall behind with their studies, for whatever reason. Free time or holidays offer an opportunity to catch up.
This blog presents five golden rules for free time reading with guidelines on encouraging young learners and teenagers to read and some suggested reading lists. Continue reading
In this blog, I have provided some lesson ideas as examples of how graded readers might be used in the classroom. There are four sections – ideas for reading the story, exploring the cultural/historical setting, discussing social themes, and additional tasks to be used as suggested follow-up activities or projects. All of these are for the purpose of sparking your creativity and to show how readings texts can be a springboard into many other interesting topics and activities. Continue reading
How useful is extensive reading?My best student ever was called Anne. I taught her for about three years. She was a very enthusiastic student, though she rarely did what I set as homework. She did read books though. A lot of them. About two books a week in fact. Anna took her Cambridge Proficiency exams at the age of 14. She got an ‘A’. Anna is now an English Language teacher herself. Make no mistake – extensive reading works. Continue reading
Did you know reading for ten minutes a day can help improve memory and concentration? Reading is also a great way for children to relax. But there are hundreds and thousands of books to choose from, so how do you decide what to read with your students or children? It can be tricky.
Reading can be a challenge for students learning English. Therefore, starting with graded readers for extensive reading lessons can be a very good option. This way, the student will learn new vocabulary in a meaningful context and improve their language skills. Having an extensive reading program can also help students become independent readers.
A reading program may consist of three stages: pre-reading, while reading and post-reading. Here are some activities that you may find helpful in implementing graded readers in your lesson plans. Continue reading