3552. I Insist on Purpose: Reading for Learning a Language Is Great

So we have said that we are about to start a new school year. In some way we have already started it, for we have thought of nice and convenient goals for our students. 

The main star this year may be reading. I mean, we are going to practice all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Yet I want to especially foster and inspire Reading. 

This latter skill helps learn the target language, English in our case. It’s my experience. I also learn English, like my dear students. And reading provides with the language and other cognitive subskills that foster a deep learning. 

Namely I will encourage my students to purchase graded readers, in accordance to their levels. 

Some learners of mine have A2, but most of them comprise B1 through C1 – I’m referring to CEFR levels of a language, where CEFR stands for Common European Framework of Reference for languages. A1 and A2 are basic, B1 and B2 are intermediate, and C1 and C2 are advanced.

I will tell my students to get graded readers, but a few of them can understand and read unabridged books. 

That is something you for sure will encounter in the adult classroom: You will have somewhat varied levels of English. 

As well I’m saying to my learners that they should dedicate some time to reading at home, if they can. 

When reading you gain several good things: Pleasure at reading, vocabulary, grammar, you think in English because you do not translate into Spanish, you learn about interesting human topics, you learn about human values if reading classics, you learn humanities, you interact with the writer in some way, you both learn and acquire the language, etc. 

Reading is a clever skill for learning a language – though you have to practice the other three language skills too: Listening, Speaking, and Writing. 

I have some nice enthusiasm with this starting school year, in spite of the problems we will face because of the Covid-19 pandemics. Have a nice week. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3678. What to Do to Have Nice Discussions in Class

  I’m an English language teacher. And I consider that my dear students would speak in that language is the main goal, don’t you think so?  They often say sentences in class, if they are at a low level of mastering English. My higher-level ones intervene for longer and we hold nice discussions in class. Definitely I have to have them all of my students would contribute to the class for longer than mere sentences. I must have them speak for rather long.  Some years they have prepared oral presentations to speak for some minutes … or the whole lesson sometimes.  Definitely also it’s not the same to say just sentences than to have some conversations or some discussions.  Lately more than before this current school year I can observe that the textbooks we’re utilizing help out a lot.  By the way, I teach adults and when I ask them, well, I try and ask tactfully, because obviously they have their privacy.  Moreover if we wish we would have discussions in cl...
Read more

3679. If You Still Have Disruptive Problems in Class with Your Students. Some Ideas

  One issue every teacher thinks of from time to time, or perhaps often because that teacher may have that kind of problem, above all if he or she is beginning their career as a teacher, is how to manage classroom behavior.  Today I’m trying to say something, apart from what I’ve written so far on quite many posts. You may find more under the tag or label management of the class .  The main point I think is important is to have the clear idea that both the teacher and his or her students are in the classroom to work, as said in plain English. They come to the schoolroom to work. The students to learn, to learn by working, and their dear teacher to teach them and help them become full and honorable persons.  So the main concern of their teacher ought not to be classroom management, but how to have those dear people to work and learn.  Nevertheless if some problem comes up in class, some behavior problem I mean, that teacher might say or show something, depending ...
Read more

840. Are you eager to learn a language?

Image
One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “One difference in favor of good language learners? I believe a good learner does wish to learn, for example English or Hindi or... This is a remarkable and clear trait of that person. He or she makes good use of any situation where they can speak, or practice in general. He offers himself to some South Korean gang in an ice-cream parlor to help them with their poor English, so as to order some ice-creams of this or that flavor... albeit in the end the assistant-girl also did speak English – this happened here in Granada, near Alhambra palaces. This learner takes notes in his diary or smartphone in English. And he likes to do so. He takes advantage of being on a British Airlines plane to talk to a flight-attendant in English. He listens to something recorded in his iPode, while traveling by bus. He’s not lazy and speaks only in his L1. He does use English, and not only in the cases where it’s totally necessary...
Read more

1454. Bullying

Image
Teacher B said to teacher A, “Bullying. In a school of the south of Spain where I worked for some unforgettable years we used to cut off any nuance among the students, when a few of them for example started on and teased one specific kid.  We on one side called the victim kid to talk with him and also called his parents – his tutor did this latter thing. The idea was to have the kid relax and retrieve information from him about the bullying actions he had suffered.  On the other side we summoned the suspected authors of the bullying, also to talk with them. We asked them some questions to learn about what could have disturbed the kid victim.  We then, on following days, invigilated the play ground in a more focused way.  Plus in those students’ classes we spoke about friendship and comradeship.  Close to all the other classmates did know about these actions of bullying. Even the authors could receive some kind of punishment (more hours...
Read more

839. Learning to learn

Image
One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “A teacher of math, literature, English... cannot confine his work to pass on, to teach, information, knowledge, math operations, the theoretical part of English..., but he or she has to teach their students to learn; to learn what? That information, knowledge, linguistic competence for communication... Obviously it’s true that the teacher for example tells his students about historical deeds, their connection to our present history, etc. The English teacher’s mission is not just to teach English but also to teach how to learn English, and this latter thing in a practical way: aimed at communication. The point is not to teach information about the language but to teach to use English for communication between, among people. Within this context, moreover the teacher’s role is to better his students, and he himself too. The first showing or sign of this bettering of the student is the learning itself, the fact ...
Read more