Given by………………R.Ariunzaya/Student-master/

7 Essential Reading Strategies No one is born knowing how to read.But becoming simply literate is not enough. For academic and professional success, you need to learn how to read well. ESL students, in particular, need to develop the reading skills that will enable them to not only comprehend texts in English, but also obtain what they need to deliver a response, whether this is a written/oral reply or an action they must take. These are the essential reading strategies that you should be teaching your students — at any level.

7 Reading Strategies Your ESL Students Must Know1. 1

Previewing

Previewing is absolutely essential for students to get a sense of what the text is about. Elements that are usually helpful for previewing are newspaper headlines or titles; images or photos; and signal words or format. For example, if the article has words like first, second, third, etc… at the beginning of each paragraph or is a numbered list, students will get the sense that the text lists steps or is a roundup article.

Reading Exercise: Choose a newspaper article with a great headline. Before reading the article, ask students what they think the article will be about, based on the headline.

2. 2

Contextualizing

It is always helpful for students to learn to place the text within a context. Is the news article centered on something that happens everywhere in the world, or just in one specific location? Is this something that affects you, the reader, or other people in the world? Does the main character in the story go through something you can relate to, or something you have no experience in? These are great questions for students to think about as they read.

Reading Exercise: Before reading this text about Education in Britain, discuss the educational system in the country your students are currently in: How many years of

grade school are there? How many years of high school? Students read about what it’s like to go to school in Britain and compare it to their country.

3. 3

Visualizing

Some students, especially those who are visual learners, need to “see” the information. Can you see the main character in your mind’s eye based on the description? Can you picture the contaminated river as described in the news article? Visualizing also involves organizing the information in a visual way, usually through the use of a mind map or other graphic organizer.

Reading Exercise: Have students read a text like By the Water. After the reading, ask students to record the images that come to mind as they read: I can picture the sun shining on the water and the birds flying above…

4. 4

Asking and Answering Questions

What questions come to mind when you preview an article? How will the main character solve this problem? Students need to come up with questions they would like answered in the text and pay attention to how they are answered.

Reading Exercise: Read a news article or a piece like this one about the Boston Marathon. After reading the title, ask students to come up with three questions they expect the article will answer and then read to see if they find the answers.

5. 5

Summarizing

After the reading, students should be able to summarize what they’ve read. This may be a short oral summary or a full paragraph. Summarizing includes a very important skill: getting the gist. What was the main point in the story? Summarizing is not retelling everything that happened as it happened, and students need to not only tell the difference, but also learn to give back information in a clear concise manner.

6. 6

Skimming

Skimming and scanning are usually considered speed-reading skills because they are not used for intensive reading. They are essential skills nonetheless, and students need to know that sometimes intensive reading is not necessary.

Skimming a text involves running your eyes over it quickly to get the main idea. It also allows you to identify which parts of a long text you might want to read more closely. This skill is particularly useful, for example, for Business English students who have to read long reports that are several pages long. By skimming the report, they can still follow the gist and stop when they find something of particular interest to them.

Reading Exercise: Hand out different magazines or newspapers in English, and tell the class they have five minutes to skim one. After they’re done skimming, ask them what stories they remember reading.

7. 7

Scanning

Scanning, on the other hand, allows you to quickly search a text for a particular piece of information. Scanning is ideal when students need to find a phone number in a directory, the date of a historical event or the time their train is leaving.

Reading Exercise: Show the class this PowerPoint slide about Jobs. Divide the class into groups and give each group 2-3 questions to answer. You can use the same questions that appear on the right but in a different order. Each group must scan the text to find the information they need to answer the questions.

What does it look like for reading?

Differentiation strategies applied to reading can be designed to help students learn a range of skills including, phonics, comprehension, fluency, word prediction, and story prediction. The chart below offers a variety of strategies that can be used.

Strategy Focus of Differentiation

Definition Example

Tiered Assignments

Readiness Tiered assignments are designed to instruct students on essential skills that are provided at different levels of complexity, abstractness, and open-endedness. The curricular content and objective(s) are the same, but the process and/or product are varied according to the student's level of readiness.

Students with moderate comprehension skills are asked to create a story-web. Students with advanced comprehension skills are asked to re-tell a story from the point of view of the main character.

Compacting Readiness Compacting is the process of adjusting instruction to account for prior student mastery of learning objectives.

Compacting involves a three-step process:

1. (assess the student to determine his/her level of knowledge on the

A student who can decode words with short vowel sounds would not participate in a direct instruction lesson for that skill, but might be provided with small group or individualized instruction on a new phonics skill.

material to be studied and determine what he/she still needs to master;

2. create plans for what the student needs to know, and excuse the student from studying what he/she already knows; and

3. create plans for freed-up time to be spent in enriched or accelerated study.

Interest Centers or Interest Groups

ReadinessInterest

Interest centers (usually used with younger students) and interest groups (usually used with older students) are set up so that learning experiences are directed toward a specific learner interest. Allowing students to choose a topic can be motivating to them.

Interest Centers: Centers can focus on specific reading skills, such as phonics or vocabulary, and provide examples and activities that center on a theme of interest, such as outer space or students' favorite cartoon characters.

Interest Groups: For a book report, students can work in interest groups with other students who want to read the same book.

Flexible Grouping*

Readiness Interest Learning Profile

Students work as part of many different groups depending on the

The teacher may assign groups based on readiness for

task and/or content. Sometimes students are placed in groups based on readiness, other times they are placed based on interest and/or learning profile.

Groups can either be assigned by the teacher or chosen by the students. Students can be assigned purposefully to a group or assigned randomly. This strategy allows students to work with a wide variety of peers and keeps them from being labeled as advanced or struggling.

phonics instruction, while allowing other students to choose their own groups for book reports, based on the book topic.

Learning Contracts

ReadinessLearning Profile

Learning contracts begin with an agreement between the teacher and the student. The teacher specifies the necessary skills expected to be learned by the student and the required components of the assignment, while the student identifies methods for completing the tasks.

A student indicates that he or she wants to research a particular author. With support from the teacher, the student determines how the research will be conducted and how the information will be presented to the class.

For example, the student might decide to write a

This strategy:

1. allows students to work at an appropriate pace;

2. can target learning styles; and

3. helps students work independently, learn planning skills, and eliminate unnecessary skill practice.

paper and present a poster to the class. The learning contract indicates the dates by which each step of the project will be completed.

Choice Boards

Readiness Interest Learning Profile

Choice boards are organizers that contain a variety of activities. Students can choose one or several activities to complete as they learn a skill or develop a product.

Choice boards can be organized so that students are required to choose options that focus on several different skills.

After students read Romeo and Juliet, they are given a choice board that contains a list of possible activities for each of the following learning styles: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile. Students must complete two activities from the board and must choose these activities from two different learning styles.

Read the story "How They Grow" and then answer Numbers 4 through 6 in the Answer Section. 

      ow does a butterfly grow? It starts out as a tiny egg. It becomes a caterpillar. It eats lots of leaves. It grows and grows. Then it goes inside a cocoon. At last, it comes out. It’s a butterfly!

How does a frog grow? It starts out as a tiny egg in the water. The egg grows into a tadpole. It keeps changing. It eats tiny plants. It grows and grows. At last, it hops out of the pond. It’s a frog!

How does a flower grow? It starts out as a seed. Sun and rain help the seed grow. Roots grow into the ground. The plant grows and grows. At last, a bud opens. It’s a flower!

Now you know how they grow!

Practice Reading Test Answer Section 

This is your Practice Reading Answer Section. The questions in this section are based on the stories in your practice Reading Section (above). You may go back to the Reading Section to help you answer the questions.

Now answer Numbers 1 through 3. Base your answers on the story "Saturday with Grandpa."

What happens in "Saturday with Grandpa"?

  A boy and his grandpa eat hot dogs.

A boy and his grandpa clean together.

A boy and his grandpa ride in a car.

A boy and his

grandpa go to the beach. 

What do the boy and his grandpa both wear while they clean?

 

mops

aprons

caps

scarves 

 Read this sentence from the story.

 

When we are done, we hurry to the store. What does hurry mean? 

walk

skip

hop

rush 

Practice Reading Test Answer Section 

This is your Practice Reading Test Answer Section. The questions in this section are based on the story or article in your practice Reading Section (above). You may go back to the Reading Section to help you answer the questions.

Now answer Numbers 4 through 6. Base your answers on the story "How They Grow."

What do you think the butterfly will do next?

 

fly away

turn into a frog

sing a song

swim in the water

Where does a tadpole live?

 

  in a tree

under a rock

in the sky

in the water

 Read this sentence from the story.

 

At last, it hops out of the pond. What does hops mean? 

runs

jumps

falls

swims

 

Type 2Question1

HOW THE MAY DAY HOLIDAY BEGAN IN ENGLAND Many hundred years ago there were many villages and few towns in England. The villagers liked to go into the forests and the fields when spring came. On the first Sunday of May they usually took a tree back with them and put it in the centre of the village. The children danced round it and the men and the women took part in games around it. Later the international working class made the First of May their day of solidarity. The First May Day was celebrated in England in 1890. In London the workers marched from all places to a meeting in Hype Park. This demonstration showed their unity and solidarity. There have been many large May Day demonstration. The working people showed on those days their solidarity with the progressive people in other countries.

Question 1: On the first Sunday of May the English people went into the forest and took a tree back with them

A True

B False

Walking is fun

At my school there are different sports activities but I only take part in one club called "Walking For Fun" or WFF. Last year there was a district walking competition for school children and my school team won the first prize. Everyone was so happy and wished to keep this activity; therefore, we organized this club. The number of participants increases every week. The regular activity of the club is a 5 km walk to the beach on Sunday morning. Another activity is a walk-to-school day (or WTS day). Members living near school volunteer to take a walk instead of taking motorbike or bicycle trips every Wednesday. Walking is a fun, easy and inexpensive activity, any people old all ages and abilities can enjoy it.

Question 1: There are different sports activities at the school.

A True

B FalseType 3

Every year students in many countries learn English. Some of these students are young people, others are teenagers. Many are adults. Some learn at school, others study by themselves. A few learn English just by hearing the language in film on television, in the office or among their friends. But not many are lucky enough to do that. Most people must work hard to learn another language. Many boys and girls learn English at school because it is one of their subjects. They study their own language, mathematics and English. In England, or America, or Australia, many boys and girls study their own language, which is English, and mathematics and another language, perhaps French, or German or Spanish. Many adults learn English, because it is useful for their work. Teenagers often learn English for their higher studies, because some of their books are in English at the college or university. Other people learn English because they want to read newspapers or magazines in English.

Question 1: According to the writer:

A Only adults learn English.

B No children like learning English.

C English is useful only to teenagers.

D English is popular in much of the world.

Intermediate level for reading

The diseases connected to smoking are a big problem. Doctors think that the annual medical cost for lung cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses connected to smoking is between 12 and 35 million pounds. And smoking costs society money in other ways. Between 27 and 61 billion pounds are spent each year on sick days when people don't go to work, on wages that you don't get when you don't go to work, and on work lost at the company when you are sick. This money counts the wages from people who die of cancer at young age and stop paying taxes. This does not count fire started by cigarettes, which kill fifteen hundred people yearly and injure another four thousand. Smoking costs every man, woman arid child in the UK from one hundred and ten to two hundred and fifty pounds each year in the lost work and wages. When you add another fifty to one hundred and fifty pounds yearly in insurance cost, that comes to one hundred and sixty to four hundred and ten pounds. If everyone stopped smoking, a family of four could have up to one thousand six hundred and forty pounds a year more. Smoking will also cause other problems. People who don't smoke will live longer, and so they will take money from the government when they are old. But they will also work for more years and pay more taxes. In the end, the value of a non-smoking nation is not in pounds. The good health of the people is the true value for us all.

Question 1: If everyone stopped smoking, all the United Kingdom

A would have more money.

B would live longer.

C would have less money.

D would have no more problems.

Pre-Intermediate for reading

You are feeling weak. You've got a headache and pain in your back and limbs. Your temperature is up over 38 C. You may sweat a lot and don't want to eat. Those symptoms show that you've got flu. There is no quick cure for flu because when you have flu you have a virus. You don't have to see the doctor because the medicines can't cure the flu. They just relieve the symptoms. You'll feel better after a few days. So what should you do when you've got flu? You'd better stay indoors and keep warm. Besides, you should have plenty of cool drinks: water, fruit or milky drinks. Try to have three light meals a day and rest bed if you can. And remember to stay away from the crowds so that you don't give flu to others.

Question 1: One symptom of flu is headache.

A True

B False

. A dog is bigger than a mouse, but smaller than an elephant.

A dog is smaller than a mouse.

A dog is very big.

A dog is the biggest.

An elephant is bigger than a dog.

2. Sangay is English but Teresa isn't; she's American.

Teresa is English.

Sangay isn't English.

Sangay isn't American.

Teresa and Sangay aren't English.

3. He is the oldest man in the world.

He is not as old as my grandmother.

Many men are older.

There are no older men anywhere.

He's older than some other men.

4. You can't come without a ticket.

You can come if you have a ticket.

You mustn't go with a ticket.

You don't need a ticket to come.

You cannot buy a ticket outside.

5. Andrea is looking after the children.

She can see the children.

She is taking care of the children.

She is looking at the children.

The children are in front of her.

6. They only have one car for the family.

They only like cars.

They do not like any other cars.

They do not have two cars.

They have a big family.

7. What does Vonica like?

What are her favourite things?

How is she?

Does she look like Vonica?

Does he like Vonica?

8. He hopes to go home, but he may go to work.

He'll be at home before the office.

It is possible that he will go to work.

He's allowed to go to work.

He always goes home after work.

9. I want you to clean the car when you come back.

You want to clean it.

We will clean it together.

I don't want you to forget to clean it.

I want to clean the car.

10. She used to smoke cigarettes.

She is used to cigarettes.

She smoked before, but she doesn't now.

She usually smokes cigarettes.

She used two cigarettes.

11. Shall I take you to the station?

Would you like me to take you to the station?

Must I take you?

Will it be necessary to take you there?

Did I take you before?

12. They should talk more slowly.

They talk too quickly.

They would like to talk more slowly.

They might have slower talks.

Talking is not fast.

13. Mirana remembered to phone the doctor.

She remembered phoning the doctor.

Mirana forgot to remember to phone.

She didn't forget to phone the doctor.

She remembered that she phoned her.

14. Madame Traiviey has lived nearly 115 years.

She was very old.

She is very old.

She died when she was nearly 115.

Madame Traiviey has many more years.

15. She can hardly see it.

She sees very hard.

She is hard with it.

She cannot see it very well.

It is hard to see her.

16. Yeuk Yee had her house painted white yesterday.

She had to paint her house white yesterday.

Her house was not blue last week.

They painted her house white for her yesterday.

She painted her house yesterday.

17. Either teacher knows the answer.

No teachers know the answer.

Both teachers know the answer.

All the teachers know the answer.

Any teacher can answer.

18. I'd rather be a millionaire.

I've been a millionaire.

I'd better be a millionaire.

I'd prefer to be a millionaire.

You have more millions than me.

19. You don't have to do this test.

You can choose not to do this test.

You mustn't do it.

You can't do this test.

You have no desire to do it.

20. If Muriel had come, she would have won.

If she hadn't won, she'd have come.

Muriel didn't win because she didn't come.

When Muriel came she always won.

She didn't come, but she won anyway.