promoting reading culture

Imagine…

TV Video

Game

Personal

Computer

Radio Book/

e-book

Best

Friend

Other

Holland 33% 6% 24% 17% 0% 15% 5%

The USA 30% 19% 19% 9% 8% 2% 13%

Japan 24% 11% 21% 3% 17% 9% 15%

Greece 21% 9% 20% 11% 2% 19% 18%

www.ifla.org

TV Video

Game

Personal

Computer

Radio Book/

e-book

Best

Friend

Other

Holland 33% 6% 24% 17% 0% 15% 5%

The USA 30% 19% 19% 9% 8% 2% 13%

Japan 24% 11% 21% 3% 17% 9% 15%

Greece 21% 9% 20% 11% 2% 19% 18%

www.ifla.org

17%

0%

TV Video

Game

Personal

Computer

Radio Book/

e-book

Best

Friend

Other

Holland 33% 6% 24% 17% 0% 15% 5%

The USA 30% 19% 19% 9% 8% 2% 13%

Japan 24% 11% 21% 3% 17% 9% 15%

Greece 21% 9% 20% 11% 2% 19% 18%

www.ifla.org

- 1945 characters

- 46 symbols

- 46 symbols

- 1945 characters

1006 by grade 6

1, Children between grades 4 - 6 spend an

average of 50 minutes reading outside of the

classroom daily

2, More than 70% of all higher secondary school

pupils buy a comic story magazine every day

(250 million copies sold annually)

3, The largest book store in Osaka (with 600,000

titles) is three times larger than all the book stores

in Chicago combined

4, Literacy rates among 12 year olds is 99.7%

Why read more with your

students (in ELT)?

1, Those students who read

extensively in English have a greater

chance of improving in every area of

language learning at a far faster rate

than those students who do not

read.‟ – Stephen Krashen 1993

2, Successful reading leads to more

reading. Christine Nuttall refers to this

as „the virtuous cycle of reading‟ – 1,

the more you read, the better you

become at reading. 2, The better you

become, the more you want to read. 3,

The more you want to read, the more

you read. 4,…

So, how can we as teachers promote

a reading culture within our

classrooms?

10 Ways to promote reading • Explore existing reading attitudes / habits

• Equip S‟s with effective reading strategies

• Engaging / purposeful tasks

• Embrace technology – e-books (kindles etc.)

• Right selection of texts / materials

• Enthusiastic teachers

• Text rich environment

• Reading buddies

• Book club – swap titles / rate it!

• Reading corner / lounge

10 Ways to promote reading • Explore existing reading attitudes / habits

• Equip S‟s with effective reading strategies

• Engaging / purposeful tasks

• Embrace technology – e-books (kindles etc.)

• Right selection of texts / materials

• Enthusiastic teachers

• Text rich environment

• Reading buddies

• Book club – swap titles / rate it!

• Reading corner / lounge

Ways to promote reading

• Explore existing reading attitudes / habits

• Equip S‟s with effective reading strategies

• Engaging / purposeful tasks

What do you think? – “I think” or “I don‟t think”

Reading in my first language is fun.

Reading is boring.

It is easier to read about sports than science.

If I read very fast, it is hard to understand meaning.

Reading in English is fun.

Reading out loud is a good idea.

Reading is a total waste of time.

• How much do you like reading in your first

language?

• What difficulties do you have with reading in

English?

• What kinds of books do you enjoy?

• What makes a book a good book?

• How much time do you spend each week reading

for pleasure?

Ways to promote reading

• Explore existing reading attitudes / habits

• Equip S‟s with effective reading strategies

• Engaging / purposeful tasks

Encouraging learners to maintain a

top-down perspective

I often woke up after the same dream and

felt ______. This evening was no __________ .

I stayed awake in the ______ trying to decide

what the dream was trying to tell me. I was sure

there had to be a meaningful reason. I also

________ about what was going to happen if I

met my ____________ again on Sunday.

Group 1: Group 2: Group 3: Group 4:

I often woke up after the same dream and

felt afraid. This evening was no exception.

I stayed awake in the dark trying to decide

what the dream was trying to tell me. I

was sure there had to be a meaningful

reason. I also thought about what was

going to happen if I met my Doppelganger

again on Sunday.

Ways to promote reading

• Explore existing reading attitudes / habits

• Equip S‟s with effective reading strategies

• Engaging / purposeful tasks

“ We do things best if we

believe we can succeed.”

Zoltán Dörnyei

Pre-reading tasks

1, Predict the story from the cover / supporting

pictures and title

2, Pre-teach essential lexis

3, Prediction / speculation tasks

4, Jumbled up chapter titles / paragraphs

5, Reseach the author

6, Photocopy pictures and images

7, Projects

8, Guessing the content from heading / sub headings

During reading activities

1, Write chapter / paragraph reviews

2, Radio plays / Role plays

3, News articles – newspapers / magazines / radio

4, Prediction activities – Horoscopes, crystal ball etc.

5, Character interviews

6, Group discussions / Debates

7, Dictation exercises

8, Create comic strips

http://www.bitstrips.com/

Post-reading activities 1, Writing Tasks - reviews, articles, ratings

2, Comprehension tasks – one sentence check

3, Quiz time activities – vocabulary, formulaic

language (Phrasal verbs, multi word chunks)

4, Formal tests

5, Change the ending / introduce new

characters

6, Create posters – for the cinema/theatre

7, Projects

8, Individual interview / Group Discussion

You will speak individually with me for about 10

minutes. Here are some example questions you may

be asked:

• What is the book about?

• Who was your favourite character? Why?

• How did you feel when you finished the book?

• What was the most interesting thing about the

book?

• Do you recommend it? Why or why not?

sogden@cambridge.org