Are your ESL students good at reading? Are they slow? Here is a quick classroom activity that can be used to check student reading fluency levels.
extensive reading
Learn English Extensive Reading Intro
Extensive Reading
This is the introduction to an Extensive Reading program for the teacher training program. The overall goal is to help the teachers improve reading fluency and, by extension, language learning through sustained reading and related activities.
Week 1 Activities
Explain purpose and structure of Extensive Reading.
- it’s a fun, enjoyable experience
- it’s not studying
- it’s not difficult – students understand 95% of the words, no need for a dictionary
- choose a graded reader – genre, author, title, etc – that looks interesting to you
EPER – Reading Level Test
Implement the Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading test. With this baseline score, students will have a good understanding of their English reading level and will be able to focus on level appropriate readers.
Explain to teachers how to translate EPER score into publisher gradings. This sheet explains how to make publisher comparisons.
Quick Book Genre Activity
This quick read and listen activity provides trainees with an easy review of different book genres.
SSR – Sustained Silent Reading
Introduce concept of sustained reading. Establish target of 30 pages per week. Demonstrate tracking sheets.
Facts About Reading
Some facts about reading and learning.
- If a child reads as much as one million words per year, they will be in top 2% of all children on standardized reading tests. If a child reads as little as 8000 words per year, they will be in bottom 2% of all children on standardized reading tests. Therefore, if you read 3,000 words every day you will be in the top 2%. If you read 20 words every day, you will be in the bottom 2%.
- The average person retains only 5% of what is read once, after thirty days.
- Reading aloud and talking often to a young child promotes brain development.
- 35% of adults in the UK don’t read for pleasure.
- Research suggests that regular reading is associated with a 35% reduction in the risk of dementia.
- One out of every eight letters you read is the letter ‘e’.
Week 5 – A New Reading Week
It’s a new week and time to get back to reading. Well I hope that’s not the case. One objective of Extensive Reading is to develop a reading culture which continues after the training session.
Developing a Reading Culture
This is a worksheet I scooped from a colleague’s website, ERRockstar. The purpose of the worksheet is to build awareness of reading as a part of culture.
Book Report
This week, the trainees will start to make short book reports. The purpose of the report is less about making a concise summary and more about reporting how the