Oxford Big Read - an introduction to setting up a class library and using readers

This was the title of a recent webinar hosted by Oxford University Press and presented by Verissimo Toste.  He based his talk on his experience of setting up a class library for 25 - 30 teenage students.  The idea was that students chose the books they wanted to read and did so at their own pace. They were encouraged to use readers as a tool to learn the language; the scheme was supposed to appeal to them as language learners, not as readers.  What follows is a summary of what Verissimo had to say.

The importance of reading to learn English

• Remember to tell your students regularly how important reading is.
• If you go to the gym and do exercise, you will get fitter.  You don't need to know what the muscles are or what anatomy means.  In the same way, if you read, you will learn - you don't necessarily need to know how every grammatical structure works.

Reading needs to be:

• voluntary
• routine - i.e. 15 minutes a day, not one hour once a week.
• beyond the classroom

Comfort leads to routine

• Stories must interest students from the beginning - they must choose the book.
• Stories must be appropriate for the level - that is, knowledge minus one. No more than 2 or 3 words per page should be new or difficult.  The student shouldn't need to use a dictionary.
• Establish a reading routine of 15 minutes per day.

Selecting stories

• There is a huge amount of choice out there!
• A library needs about 1.5 books per student.
• Get catalogues from publishers and use them as a reading comprehension exercise.
• Allow the students to choose the books.  Tell them to:
• look at the cover
• consider the title
• read the back cover
• look through the illustrations
• sit and read a page comfortably
• Use the 'find your level' page of the OUP website.

Reading in class

• Create a social environment.
• Use reading as a five-minute activity at the beginning of a class whilst you're setting up the room.
• Encourage students to pick up their readers if they finish an activity early
• Have ten or fifteen minutes of reading at the end of every class.
• Build a habit where reading becomes a part of every class - this routine may take up to three months to establish.
• Encourage students to talk about their books and share ideas - because everyone is reading a different book, they will want to talk to each other about them.
• Make students aware that these books have been written for them.
• Talk to students about where and when they read outside of class.
• Focus on the students who are reading and build the numbers up month by month.

Enthusiasm leads to involvement

 

Here are some reading related activities aimed at generatingi students' enthusiasm which will get them involved and lead to more language learning.

 

1. Posters

 

This is a good first activity.  Students make a poster of the book they are reading, to include the title, an illustration and a sentence or some key words. The posters are displayed in the classroom in order to help other class members decide which book to read next.

 

The posters don't have to be done on paper - they could be digital (using Glogster, for example) or they could be powerpoint slides.

 

2. Make a film poster from the book

• Give the book a new title?
• Who would be the stars - celebrities? classmates?
• What images could be used to best illustrate the book?
• How about making a trailer?

This is a very engaging activity which allows students to use their imagination.

 

3. Wordle

 

Make a word cloud from a text from the book.

 

4. Snap

• Students choose ten sentences from the story and copy them into their notebooks.
• Students decide which is the keyword in each sentence and underline it.
• Students write each sentence on a card without the keyword (like a gapfill).
• They write the keywords on different coloured cards.
• They play the game of 'snap' in pairs.
• The games relating to each book can be kept and re-used.

5. Speaking and interviewing a character

• Students choose a character from the book they are reading.
• They write questions to ask that character.
• They role-play interviewer and interviewee with a partner who has read the same book.
• Students can make up answers if all the information they need is not in the book.

6. Write a postcard to a character in the book

• Students read and reply to each other's postcards.

These activities create enthusiasm.

To conclude

Why should students read a lot?

• To extend their contact with the language
• To reinforce classroom language
• To contextualise language
• To increase motivation
• To expose students to new experiences
• To give them a feeling of achievement

Extensive Reading – An #ELTchat

via linguisticconsultancy.blogspot.com

This is a summary of the #eltchat which took place at 12 noon BST on Wednesday 11^th April, 2012.  The full title of the chat was:

How can we introduce, implement and evaluate an extensive reading programme and convince administrators of its value?

The chat was, as usual, expertly moderated by @Marisa_C and @Shaunwilden.

I voted for this topic and was particularly interested in taking part in the chat because I am currently trying to set up an ER programme for a course I am coordinating at my university.  As always, I picked up lots of useful ideas and links to articles for further reading.

What is ER?

Extensive reading involves students reading long texts or large quantities of texts for general understanding, with the intention of enjoying the texts.

Using graded readers

I am going to try using graded readers, one chapter at a time, in our Edmodo online classroom and was keen to get ideas and feedback from my PLN.  The consensus was that graded readers are a good choice when launching a reading programme, but there was a difference of opinion as to whether you should have a class reader or whether students should be allowed to choose their own titles.  I intend to start with a class reader in the hope that students will then be inspired to read more, an idea supported by @Marisa_C.  As was pointed out, though, the trick is to find something that suits the whole class. 

@Books4English suggested that the best low level reader is Penguin K's first case by L.G. Alexander, a whodunnit with suspect interviews.

Graded readers are good because it is easy to the organise materials by level. This is particularly important at the beginning of an ER programme when getting the right level is crucial to its success.

It was pointed out by @daveclearycz that, whilst there are excellent alternatives to graded readers, these can be hard to source, although @cioccas told us that she often prefers using children's books, such as titles by Roald Dahl.  Obviously, it is easier to use original adult texts with higher level students.  Alternatively, you could write your own level-appropriate material!

via livesofteachers.com

Ways to implement an ER programme

• Use class libraries - whether with graded readers or other texts, the disadvantage here is the start-up cost, though if considered a long-term investment, the cost is negligible.
• If no library is available, a class box can be equally worthwhile.
• Have a dedicated reading class or book club - students read their text and then meet to discuss and do language and skills work.
• Have reading stations, as a follow-up to reading a novel, with short texts (for example, comics) related to the main theme.
• Have a class blog or wiki with links to articles about the reading material.  Use it as a platform for written book reviews which generate interest in the texts, give writing practice and build a reading community.  These reviews could also be recorded as interviews as a pairwork speaking activity or collected in a binder for use with future classes.
• @cioccas suggested that, instead of having a formal ER programme, it might be just as effective to talk to individual students about favourite books that you think they might be interested in and able to manage.
• Have a swap programme where students exchange books after reading them.
• Have a silent reading programme in class time - for example, 15 minutes where students just read - either the class text or something of their own choice.  By doing this, students really get the message that reading is important.  On the other hand, though, 'forcing' students to read like this might actually demotivate them.  Also, @Shaunwilden suggested that class time should be used to encourage reading, but not necessarily to do the actual reading.  Reading can be done at home - class time should be for talking.  @reasons4 told us that if his Czech teacher did this, he'd complain!
• You could have the students listening to the text whilst reading.  Although not strictly an ER programme, it might encourage reluctant readers, especially if it is a text which lends itself to evocative sound effects or if the story is read by a famous name (Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter or Tony Robinson reading Terry Pratchett books, for example) .  It might help dyslexic students in particular.  It could, though, turn students into slow, voice-dependent readers.
• Use the set texts with Cambridge ESOL exam students.
• Have a lot of short articles available for students to read - they read as many as they can and fill in a form about them.
• Use blogs or RSS readers as an alternative, non-fiction ER programme.
• A suggestion from @llea_dias - set up a Facebook group where students post as characters from a book they are all reading.

via sendaiben.org

Why should we use ER in our teaching?

• It's the best way for students to consolidate their grammar.
• It's the best way to acquire vocabulary.
• It's a great way to access the wider world of English.
• It accelerates students' progress in second language acquisition.

Overcoming problems

The main problem when trying to introduce an ER programme was felt to be the reluctance by some students to get involved.  If students don't enjoy reading in their L1, they are unlikely to be engaged in reading in English.  Whilst teachers generally agreed on the benefits of ER, we had to accept that it cannot be forced on our students.  We can lead the horses to water, but we cannot make them drink!  @hartle suggested giving students a choice between listening and reading projects.  In her experience, most students choose listening, but some opt for the reading.  @Marisa_C proposed giving some incentive, especially for YLs or teens - a chart with prizes, for example.  Engaging pre- and post-reading tasks, such as giving presentations on what they have read, also help to motivate students to read, as does allowing them to change texts if they are not enjoying what they're reading.  Dramatising scenes from a story or book can be engaging and might also help with pronunciation and intonation.

A success story to finish

Gentle persuasion might work on even the most reluctant readers, though!  @kevchanwow told us about a student who read her first book in any language only two months ago and is now an avid reader.  She started at level 1 (400 headwords) and is already reading level 3 (1000 headwords).  For her, it was all about confidence!

Links

Suggested by @Marisa_C:

• An introduction to ER
• A collection of articles for further reading
• Extensive Reading in the Second Language Classroom - a book preview
• Extensive Reading Activites for Language - a book preview

Other links:

• A readable newspaper for topical ER suggested by @harrisonmike.
• @jezuden's reading blog suggested by @Shaunwilden.
• Jez Uden's BC seminar on the importance of reading for pleasure via @harrisonmike.
• @cybraryman1's Classroom Libraries page
• Read your way to better English from the OUP via @Shaunwilden.
• A newspaper for EFL students (2-month free trial available) suggested by @Books4English.
• BritLit suggested by @cioccas.
• @hartle's ER wiki page.
• Guided independent reading via @yya2.
• @hartle's results from an ER project
• Extensive reading via @yya2.
• OUP's extensive/graded reading help videos via @OUPELTGlobal.
• A repository of information on ER via @yya2.