Unit 1: Key Points - ANSWERReading is a vitally important skill because it has the most potential to open up a new world of individual learning for the young learners, distinct from the classroom.
Reading is a multifaceted activity involving a number of different skills, and it needs to be address...
Unit 1: Key Points - ANSWERReading is a vitally important skill because it has the most potential to
open up a new world of individual learning for the young learners, distinct from the classroom.
Reading is a multifaceted activity involving a number of different skills, and it needs to be addressed
in a number of different ways; skilled teachers will ensure that they both challenge and interest their
learners.
We always read for a purpose, so ensure there is a real purpose in what they are asked to read.
Remember! The focus of all of the reading in an EYL class is the acquisition, understanding and
manipulation of their new language, and not the enjoyment of literature per se and its ideas and
interpretation.
Of course, it's not always that easy. Learners' attitudes to reading range widely from total
indifference to avid interest and excitement.
Make the reading enjoyable - choose or create passages, topics and exercises that are meaningful,
interesting and topical and which will result in fun.
Don't stick to the 'past its sell-by date' structure of them reading a boring passage and answering dull
multiple choice questions. Think interesting, challenging, meaningful, topical and humorous
whenever you can.
As a teacher, your job is to ensure as far as you can that your learners become independent readers
who can both understand and enjoy the pleasures of reading. This takes time, and it takes resources,
but it can be done.
Unit 2: Reading Sub-Skills - ANSWERHere are the key reading skills a learner needs to develop:
Silent reading
Reading for pleasure
It's seems to be an indisputable fact that children love stories being read to them, particularly at
bedtime. But there's a bit more to this. They recognise that print has meaning and these strange
symbols on the pages can be turned into spoken words.
, And it seems likely that if the young child gets pleasure from stories in her native language, she will
also get pleasure from reading stories in her L2.
So, your role is to build on this strong foundation of pleasure provided at home and take it to the
next step where they can read in their L2 on their own and still get pleasure from it.
There's a strong lesson to be gained from this.
It's true that young learners have to learn lots of other things, e.g. grammar. But it's important not to
overdo activities such as grammar when they are reading a story for pleasure.
The story can be used as a vehicle for helping them to notice words and bits of language structure, as
we will see later when we explore stories in Module 6.
You need to be deft in balancing the pleasure they get from the story and the other activities you set
up based on the story they are reading, e.g. word study, comprehension exercises.
It is important not to merely adopt a habitual pattern of reading text and following this with
comprehension passages, even if this is the dominant pattern in your textbook.
It's wise to build in times where a story is read aloud to them, or they eventually read it themselves,
for pleasure per se,
Unit 4: Who does the Reading? - ANSWERUnprepared reading aloud is a not a great idea unless your
learners are advanced and fluent, although even then it is best done on a one-to-one basis.
This is a skill that everyone needs to adopt in order to be able to read quickly and effectively. It
enables the reader's eyes to flow quickly and freely across the page, recognising the individual words
and internalising the meaning, but not actually pronouncing them.
Discourage lip movements which lead to staccato reading.
Skimming
This involves the reader in letting his eyes run rapidly over the text in order to discover what the text
is about in general. It does not require the learner to understand every word that he reads.
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