Am I a smart reader? 2022/2023
Lecturer: Ali Rabah Nouria
level:1st -year LMD Students
Academic year: 2022/2023
How to become a smart reader?
Main Objectives:
Whatever the material is, the main objectives for reading remain the same:
- Read to activate and reinforce other skills (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and writing). ...
- Reading to become a better reader. ...
- Read to develop critical thinking skills. ...
- Read for enjoyment.
Do you have strategies for approaching your reading? Which of the following do you do?
Things You Can Do to Raise a Reader:
1. Read from day one. Start a reading routine in those very first days with a newborn. Even very young babies respond to the warmth of a lap and the soothing sound of a book being read aloud.
2. Share books every day. Read with your child every day, even after he becomes an independent reader.
3. Reread favourites. Most children love to hear their favourite stories over and over again. Rereading books provides an opportunity to hear or see something that may have been missed the first time, and provides another chance to hear a favourite part.
4. Send positive messages about the joys of literacy. Your own interest and excitement about books will be contagious!
5. Visit the library early and often. Public libraries are great resources for books, helpful advice about authors and illustrators, story times, and more. Make visiting the library part of your family’s routine.
6. Find the reading and writing in everyday things. Take the time to show your child ways that adults use reading and writing every day. Grocery lists, notes to the teacher, maps, and cooking all involve important reading and writing skills.
7. Give your reader something to think and talk about. There are many different types of books available to readers. Vary the types of books you check out from the library, and seek out new subjects that give you and your reader something to think about and talk about.
8. Talk, talk, talk. A child’s vocabulary grows through rich conversations with others. No matter your child’s age, narrate what you’re doing, talk in full sentences, and sprinkle your conversations with interesting words.
9. Know your stuff. Parents don’t need to be reading specialists, but it is important to understand the basics of learning to read.
Other Objectives of Reading in the ESL Classroom
A general English language program should focus on the four basic skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening in addition to providing instruction in grammar and vocabulary. How this is done varies from school to school, resulting in different levels of integration. Sometimes a single textbook is used because each chapter addresses multiple skills. Other times a separate book is used for each skill area.
▪ Read to activate and reinforce other skills (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and writing). In the same way that oral dialogues, short compositions, and listening activities do, reading can put into practice grammatical structures, new lexical items, and elements of pronunciation. Reading can also offer good writing models.
- Reading to become a better reader. Reading is a skill in itself, and the advantage of working with adult language learners is that they are usually literate in their native language. This means that they are able to transfer advanced reading skills to the second language classroom. Reading in English can activate and develop these skills, making the students better readers in both languages. Reading skills include: skimming, scanning, predicting, and reading for detailed comprehension.
- Read to develop critical thinking skills. This is important to address because when teaching English for general purposes, it can be easy to dismiss reading as an activity more suited for an academic environment. In all situations, critical thinking skills aid communication. From having a phone conversation to writing a business plan, people need to prioritize, make conclusions, draw comparisons, make inferences, etc. Reading can provide opportunities to utilize and sharpen such skills.
- Read for enjoyment. Students should ideally discover not only the usefulness but also the pleasure of being able to read in a second language.
