3639. How to Encourage Our Students to Also Learn on Their Own

 So we have already finished another school year or are about to do it. 

Do we teachers have into account that we have to also educate our students, and so in accordance with their parents’ views? 

We also have to educate them in freedom. If we educate our students like they were robots… we are doing wrong with them. 

I teach adults. Yet something similar in some way may be applied to teens. I believe that a lot of English may be learned by reading books – like Krashen himself puts it himself. And, you know?, I say to those learners of mine they have to purchase graded readers or unabridged books. On their own. 

As well they have to massively and intensively read, on their own. Beside what we actually do in the classroom to learn English. On their own, I said, by themselves. I leave them on their own. 

Something I do is I encourage them to read, and when they’ve finished that graded reader, then, come on, get a new one. Or an unabridged book, which for the same money or similar it’s longer than simplified books, which commonly are much thinner. 

They may buy just what they like. -- Anyway, you can also orientate them in some way.

Thus they go to the bookstore and pick a reader and see whether it’s okay with their actual English level. Of course they can get those books from the Internet. 

Right now I could tell about two people who have learned quite a lot of English by reading and working on their own. Just because they wish so. Well plus they need it. 

Something else I do with my students is to ask them to write… chapter summaries or essays about the book characters or about the kind of language or activities from the graded readers or… And when we are in the schoolroom I address somebody specific and ask him or her, N. do you happen to have any essay for me? If the answer is negative, N. is it possible for you to write something for next Monday? And it quite works. 

Reading is a language learning booster indeed. And the students have fun and may learn a lot for example from the classics. Have a nice day. --Just something else: freedom comes together with RESPONSIBILITY. 

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