Level »»1: From indifferent to experiential reading
Transition 1.1 | From little reading practice to a somewhat curious reader | |
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Focus | Motivating and facilitating | |
Goals | Teacher activities | Student activities |
Express and appreciate first reading experiences. | Show an interest in student’s reading histories and help them retrieve positive reading experiences from their present or past. | Remember and describe first reading experiences critically (value notions, compare to present experiences). |
Give an emotional response to the text. | Encourages all students to talk about their experience with books using the emotive criteria (eventually on a scale), and share their own impressions with others. | Talk about reading impressions and feelings, using emotive criteria (e.g. sad, scary, exciting, moving, angry). |
Discover the world of fiction. | Devise simple and creative activities which could help to make students enthusiastic. | Read aloud and stop at a cliff-hanger, drama exercises... |
Become familiar with different kind of books. | Provide opportunities for silent reading (for pleasure rather than teacher-led). Introduce different genres, authors and themes (considering students interests). |
Read a variety of texts from different genres, authors and themes. Explore these different texts by examining excerpts, the blurb, reviews or book covers. |
Choose a book according to personal interests. | Interview students about their interests and personal requirements relate to reading. Select a set of matching level 1 books and asks students to find information about plot (gives reliable links). Provides opportunity to book talk. Encourage students to stop reading a book if neither interests nor engages them, principle: there is a good book for everyone. |
Reflect on their reading preferences (on the basis of their knowledge and personal interests). Select a book on the basis of prior knowledge and personal interests and express expectations. |
Find way in library. | Introduce students in library (instruction: find your way in collection + procedures borrow books) and in specialized websites. | Explore library and specialized websites. |
Transition 1.2 | From over-all attention to a focus on familiar topics of interest | |
Focus | Exploring reading habits and interests | |
Goals | Teacher activities | Student activities |
Relate to personal experiences to understand the text. | Give students examples of how to make a link between what they have read and what they know from personal experience. Set tasks that provide an opportunity to compare the fictional world with the factual. |
Make a link between what has been read and personal experiences e.g. with regard to situations or real people. |
Use basic reading strategies. | Focus on basic reading strategies (asking questions, anticipating), and encourage students to take notes while reading (for example in their reading diary). Help students identify the logic of the narrative and genre features, such as a happy end in a fairy tale, or having the villain taken into custody in crime fiction. |
Become familiar with posing simple questions that help understand the information in the text (e.g. who, what, when, where?). Use basic expectations to predict plot developments (e.g. expectations based on genre). |
Form a personal opinion about the story and its characters. | Give students tasks to investigate the fictional world, and help them extract the relevant information from a text with regard to characters and plot. | Talk about the story, and have a personal response to events in the story and the characters’ behaviour. |
Express and share interests. | Explore students’ interests and show interest in their view of the world. | Share interests with classmates such as hobbies and favourite magazines, books, films or TV programmes, etc. |
Share reading experiences. | Select books that provide opportunities for unmotivated readers to gain a positive reading experience. Make use of classmates’ positive reading experiences here as well. Provide the students a safe environment in which less experienced readers feel able to reflect upon their reading experience. |
Exchange reading experiences and recommend books to classmates. Create a class library or decide which books to order for the school library. Find out and discuss preferred reading environment and circumstances. |