Last week I think I had an interesting conversation during our class break. There were a few topics that we discussed in class, but maybe we can have a further discussion here. One of the issues was whether or not teachers can actually create this type of classroom or teaching situation here in Taiwan (ER with or without SSR). Actually, this is something that I have been hearing from both local and foreign teachers here for over ten years, that it is “just not possible”. Some of the reasons I’ve heard have been about the parents not accepting this type of program because they are more concerned about test scores, administrators who are also only interested in test scores, students who don’t understand the learning process and who see it as a “waste of time” (this can also include some teachers and administrators who share the same view), and from the teachers themselves who are concerned over testing scores and their personal teaching evaluations, etc. etc. Teachers have also said that they just can’t include it because there isn’t enough time to add anything into the curriculum. We briefly touched on some of these issues in our class, but I think a longer discussion may be valuable, since one of the goals of the course is to educate the students on the pros and cons of ER and its efficacy. Since the ultimate decisions are made by the teachers, whether this is perceived to be true or not, I think it makes sense to discuss some of the concerns and issues involved in a little more detail.
Another thing we also briefly discussed in our last class was the issue surrounding classroom management, for example whether or not we should fail students. Naturally, there may be some cultural differences involved here. However, in my opinion, classroom management may be the most important issue/skill teachers need to address. Ultimately, a teacher’s classroom management style (expectations) will determine whether or not a teacher can be successful in implementing an ER program, or any other program.
If we expect our students to read more, we should provide them with a rich environment to read more. There are lots of evidences showed that learners who have more access to books are more likely to read more books than those who are not immersed in a rich-printing environment. It was said that “reading aloud” has a positive influence on one’s literacy development, such as reading comprehension and vocabulary. This suggests us to do some read aloud activity in class if our students are interested in our stories. If one finds his or her “home run book”, one is more likely to become a reader in the future. We all hope that our students read as much as they can, and maybe they can and will find a home run book through this kind of extensive reading activity. It is good to hear that “scary books” and “comic books” are what most children like to read because they are my favorite as well. Maybe some people may believe that reading comic books might have a negative effect on the readers themselves, but we cannot ignore the positive effect on leading readers to heavier reading. I think it is best for second language learners to start from comic books or teen romance because these books may be more interesting than other types of books. Learners can have a better understanding of what was read by looking at the illustrations on the books. They not only can learn the culture of the target language, but pick up some words and phrases in the process of reading these books. Motivating them to read what they want to read will definitely be very important at the very beginning. However, ensuring that our learners have access to what interest them seems to be important before expecting them to become an avid reader in the second language. Maybe we should provide more American comic books or some best-selling novels in our school libraries and put them in one section that is reachable in the first floor so that our second language students can enjoy and get immersed in a great reading atmosphere in our school libraries.
Hi, a quick thought on Aaron's post...I agree that there is resistance to any extensive reading program at all levels of the system. One way to combat this may be to educate those 'resistors' with some reasons why incorporating different types of reading activities will benefit our students. People are resistant to change, especially when they don't see the benefits and don't want to feel like pioneers. Let's show them the benefits! OK, that may sound a little too optimistic but if we can get our hands on a few students and try these methods we're learning about, and they work, then we've developed model students that can be our living proof. Yes, this would take time but noone said it would be quick.
The road to convincing all those in the system that this way works is a long one, but we have to start somewhere. Educating those we work with on the proven benefits is one way that we can get them on board with us.
I don't believe there are any quick fixes, it will be a long and arduous road towards achieving our goals so let's start by sharing our knowledge with the doubters.
Oh...one more thought. We may have to find a way to incorporate the skills learned from reading into the final tests. That's not to say students should be tested on what they read, but rather there could be a reading passage in the final test in which the students have to answer comprehension questions. Their previous reading abilities gained from SSR and ER will be useful. This is also a way to justify having the reading programs in our classes.
One important point that Krashen makes in the first page of unit 2 is that while we’ve been playing lip-service to the value of reading for a long time, there has been only limited effort in this direction. I agree with this observation and wanted to put into practice everything we’ve been studying in recent weeks regarding the importance of reading.
I wanted to see what I could find out with my own students about whether or not introducing a new book into our curriculum by me reading it to them would have any affect on their interest.
My student is in grade 5 and the first time I pulled out the book, “Dinosaurs at Dinner“, I could only get through one page before I saw him start to squirm and look around the room, bored, aching for me to be done with it already. When I showed him the picture on the second page, he seemed somewhat interested but once I started reading again I slowly started to lose him. The next class, I got through about 3 pages. He was slightly less uncomfortable but still happy when I put the book down.
On our third class I took the book out again and continued from where we left off, giving him a brief recap of what happened up until now. I read with expression and movement, demonstrating some of the words he may not know. Well……I got to the end of the second chapter and I was about to put the book down when he said, “No, wait! I want to hear what happens.”
That was when I said, “Next time, we’ll find out what happens next week”, so as to leave him on pins and needles until our next class. I think part of the reason why he wasn’t initially interested was because it was a new activity, something we haven’t done before. Some students (and people in general) are afraid of new things and the worry that they will fail or lose face by trying.
Then, by day 3, he was already a little familiar with the plot and the characters and so by this time he was a little more invested. I also think that the way I was reading to him helped – I read using exaggerated facial expressions, whispered and shouted when called for and I used my arms to talk about the ‘pteranodon’s giant wing span’ (by the way, it’s a flying dinosaur). I thought if I tried to make the story come alive for him, he would be more into it and would demonstrate the words I thought would be difficult for him. I think it worked because as I was packing up my things he was watching the book intently, almost willing it to be left behind so he could read it himself.
Needless to say, I was incredibly surprised it only took 3 days for him to get into it but I’m pleased and happy that we can now incorporate fun, adventurous books into his lesson plan. My student is very bright and has excellent communicative abilities but is a poor speller. I asked him today if he reads in Chinese and he said he does, so at least I know he enjoys books. My challenge is to translate his love for reading in his L1 to his L2. Now we’ll also see if our ‘reading sessions’ will help him in other ways like with spelling and writing.
Based on the research related to the power of reading in the first chapter, Krashen proposed treatment to realize his advocacy of free voluntary reading. He suggested that teachers should provide students with proper reading materials, learning environment, and chance to read in class. Krashen suggested that reading materials should be easily accessed by students, and they should be interesting and comprehensible to students. Adequate reading materials, according to Krashen, include comics books, graphic novels, teen romance, magazine, and accelerated readers. Teaching activities such as sustained silent reading, reading aloud, or story telling can be adopted as a chance for students to read in class. With students’ access to suitable reading materials, certain reading activities conducted by teachers in class, and the provision of classroom library as well as school library, students are expected to form a habit of reading; to a certain extent, students will take reading as part of their life. It is a hope that students may read for information, acquire knowledge by reading, and turn knowledge into wisdom by acting out the knowledge they learn from reading. Before I take this class, the way of instruction of my freshman and sophomore English classes has been the grammar translation approach. From my observation, I can not attract my students’ attention to my class all the time. What’s worse, some of my students’ learning motivation has decreased. I have been thinking about the way to motivate my students to read; unfortunately, I could not find a good option. It is not until I finish reading Richard Day’s “Extensive Reading” and Krashen’s “The Power of Reading” that I realize I find a marvelous approach to my reading class.
“Light Reading” is a good issue for teachers to discuss. Comics, romance novels and magazines, especially fashion or gossip magazines, are usually considered as “useless” reading materials. Lots of teachers don’t suggest their students to read these. It’s like when we learn our L1, teachers always suggest us to read some famous literature works or “important” writing pieces which do help our learning, even though there are many other types of “interesting” reading materials in school library. This points out that teachers and students have different aspects of reading materials. When we suggest reading materials to students, should we suggest by their interests or still follow the traditional way to suggest something “important but heavy” to them? In addition, is it possible to have students do FVR in Taiwanese traditional reading classes? All we talk about is to encourage them to do FVR after school, but how about in class?
I am quite interested in the “comic books” part; to my surprise, comic books work well and even better than other reading materials. I remember in Taiwan, parents and teachers always persuade children to stop reading comics, labeling comics “ less informative and educational.” However, according to Krashen, some evidence has been provided to prove that comic books can be a positive passage to heavy reading and also can help develop learners’ linguistic competence and interest in reading.
In 1996, Krashen published an article “Comic Book Reading, Reading Enjoyment, and Pleasure Reading”, in which the data showed that comic readers extremely enjoyed reading (65%) while non comic readers were not into reading (4%). Reading should be enjoyable in order to make readers go on reading. If a learner loves reading comics, he or she should not be prohibited from reading comics. The status of comics should also be enhanced; moreover, parents and teachers should change their stereotyped attitudes towards comics. Most importantly, the shelf space for comics in a school, class, and home library should always be kept, not replaced by textbooks.
After finishing the scheduled part of reading from page 57 to 128 on the trains, after classes, during the meals, before bed, even in the car, and so on, already a good example of reading ubiquitously, several parts of ER interest me shared as follows. Personally, the idea of arguing “what is read matters” (p.114) has already influenced the way I’ve been reading as a heavy reader (p.86). A great variety of resources from other extracurricular books in the fields of finance, technology, business management, interpersonal relations, neurolinguistics, intellectual property rights, and others; brochures about concerts and sales promotion; Doraemon series while having a haircut; weekly magazines and MRT newspapers at hand; translated literary works, and others further strengthens the research evidence of light reading in terms of comic books (pp.91-110), the teen romance (pp.110-113), and the power of magazines (pp.113-114). I agree with the idea of developing the power of L1 literacy as a facilitator of L2 literacy (p.109) simply because the more the learners read, the more thoughtful and insightful they will use to build up their schemata in learning the SL or FL as target language. Finding time and place to read (p.85, 128), complete with the reading materials that trigger the readers’ curiosities, may somehow motivate their intent of reading more for pleasure. What is more, doing regular read-alouds (p.118) has also been verified useful to stimulate the learners’ intrinsic motivation on extensive reading. Within limited time and considering the practical needs to catch up the planned syllabi, the insistence of conducting this method, though time-consuming, may gain positive feedback from the learners (pp.80-81). The nature of more likely seeing people reading (p.69) and the importance of having a model (p.85) further makes the sacrifice worthwhile. It appears to have a decisive influence if we parents, teachers, and school authorities would develop our novice learners’ literacy from the very beginning of their learning (p.72). A certified library featured with easy and substantial access to books (p.119), comfort and quiet (p.63) is thus needed at different stages of education. Just the day before yesterday, I happened to listen to the news on the air, sort of saying the trend of establishing the soft power of our nation by reading. Conducted by one of the most acknowledged authoritative private magazine publisher in Taiwan, the hostess from the radio station quoted and laid emphasis on five main phenomena making SSR or FVR more compelling. Two out of the five including using booktalks and authors’ visits (p.91) promote the power of reading. I’m partially with the four components (p.119) of Accelerated Reader (AR) proposed by Krashen (2003d). Getting prizes or rewards may divert the fun of reading. It would be more beneficial when sincere verbal encouragement from the parents, teachers, peers, and others now and then stimulates the learners’ additional reading.
Reflection of The power of reading Ch.2 On Chapter two, Krashen claims that one of the major goals of language education should be to encourage free reading. Then he provides us many suggestions on how to encourage free reading. Most important of all, research shows that more access at home, school, and public libraries results in more reading. It will be easier for students to establish a reading habit if they have more access to books. Once they have a reading habit, they will keep on reading without any reward or coercion. Moreover, on page 63, Krashen proposes that the physical characteristics of the reading environment are very important. As Morrow (1983) reported, “preschool and kindergarten children used the library corner more when it had pillow, easy chairs, and carpets, and when it was partitioned off and quiet.” This reminds me of my own experience of going to two school libraries when I was an elementary school student. I went to a library owned by an experimental primary school once a week. It had carpets, pillows, stuffed animals, attracting features such as posters and bulletin boards. It really attracted me to go inside and find books to read just by a glance of the decoration of the library. I really had a good time and great memory reading books in that library. It was a fascinating library compared to the library owned by my own primary school. My own school library had only books, books shelves, big rectangular table, and stiff iron chairs. I rarely went to the library because it was not very attractive to me. Every time I went into the library, I saw no one else but myself. So the physical characteristics of the reading environment can make a great difference to the reading behaviors of students.
To encourage students to read more, we need to provide an accessible reading environment. A print-rich environment at the public, school, and at home is related to how much learners read, learners who read more have more books at home, at the school, and public. The authors further pointed out that access to books from any of the sources mentioned above (home, school, public library) will be extremely helpful, and may be enough to guarantee the establishment of a reading habit.
Besides, the author stated that children from high-income families are “deluged” with books; children from low-income families must” aggressively” and persistently seek them out” However, it raised some questions on my mind, “what about EFL Taiwanese people with such low reading rate— having 26 minutes to read for per people for every day according to the survey of Central News Agency (CNA) in 2010 (http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/100929/5/2e0bg.html) How do our parents do to encourage our children to read more at home?
Purpose：to encourage the students to understand the main idea of the story；to encourage a liking for reading. Number of students：three to five per group Level：Beginners Activity：Circle Stories When to do this：before the story is read Materials： Using the book【I swallowed a worm】 and its illustrations and CD-ROM
Procedures：The students should be placed in groups of three to five students. Each group should have a book. The first students should look at the first page with the illustration. Students one begins the story using the first illustration in the native or target language. Then,student two take the book and look at the second illustration. Student two will continue the story based on what student one said and the second illustration. Student three will consider what student one and student two have said and the third illustration, student three will continue the story. This should continue around the circle until the story has been told. After the story has been read, the teacher should read the book and play the CD-ROM to the class in the target language. The first time, students should be encouraged to listen and look at the pictures. As the leader reads, pictures should be pointed out to encourage a general understanding of the book.
Reflections：The use of illustrations to guess the content of the story can be one of the best ways to improve students' reading skills. In the process of the activity, the story has been created to allow students to find the learning focus and level that they most enjoy. Besides, General conversation such as “See, he is being filled with water” based on the pictures can reinforce general comprehension. At this point, it is to be expected that the students will not comprehend the story word by word but generally.
【I swallowed a worm!】Written and illustrated by Kathleen .Seaton,Ph.D. Story Guide: One day, my friends and I were riding our bikes down a hill. My mouth was wide open with joy. But all of a sudden worm flew into my mouth. “How terrible！”I screamed. Then I fell off my bike and gulped down the worm. “Ugh！”I choked and stuttered and turned an ugly blue. “What’s the matter with you？”my friends shouted. “ I swallowed a worm！”I roared. “Let us help you get him out.” They whispered. My tallest friends took my feet and shook me upside down so he could fall out. But the worm stayed inside. Then my shortest friends gave me a lot of water so he could swim out. But the worm swan inside. Then my friends filled me with air so he could float out. But the worm floated inside. “Maybe the doctor can get him out！” they shouted and rushed me to the hospital. But the doctor looked inside and said， “There is nothing I can do.” so the worm stayed inside. “Maybe the fortuneteller can get him out.” Said Amy. Then we ran to the fortune-teller’s house. But the fortune-teller shook her head and said, “you will never see him again. He will stay inside.” Wesley suggested “Let’s go for ice-cream！maybe he will come out for ice-cream” I held my mouth open wide. They ate ice-cream and called to the worm: “come out, little worm, and have some ice-cream.” But the worm squiggled inside. “I ‘m doomed” I sighed. “I will grow like a worm.” “Wait,” I thought. My grandparents are the wisest people on earth. So I ran to their house shaking the worm still inside. “What’s the matter？”they asked with a hug. “I swallowed a worm！” I shouted with all my fright. “Is that all？Such a little thing for such a big noise. ”they said with a laugh. “We’ll use a little ancient magic.” “ You can get him out with magic？” “ Oh,no”said grandma. “magic won’t make him come out.” “ magic,” said grandpa,will make him disappear.” They pointed to the Bed. “ Lie down.” Grandma sang softly and grandpa rubbed my feet. Soon I was asleep with the worm still inside. Then I dreamt that the worm stood in the window and waved goodbye. When I awoke my grandparents asked, “ Did the magic work?””Yes.”I said happily. “ The worm is no longer inside.” The end.
I want to echo what Krashen said in this book: “Children who live in high-income neighborhoods go to schools with better classroom and school libraries.” (p,72) For my best memories, my family was a normal, not wealth family. Therefore, we were not so called “children who live in high-income neighborhoods” children. We didn’t have a plenty of books to read or talent courses to go but we went to a library quite often. The library was built by Taipei city government with books for children and adults. Once my brother and I had time after school, we often went to the library by bus. The bus fee was very cheap and we also did not to pay money for borrowing books home or read there. How I got the access to the library was not because where I live, it’s because my mother brought us to the library and taught us how to read books there when we were little. It’s a huge effect for my life since I knew how to get free recourse from libraries. I am trying to say that, we don’t need to be rich to provide our kids a brilliant library or just like my friend’s parents did, just bought several sets of Encyclopedia for being a part of decoration but never took one of them to read. As long as we know how to use our recourse provided by government or schools, our children certainly will have a great place to go, to explore. Perhaps you are questioning now:” That’s because you live in Taipei.” I admit that living in city is more convenient than country but take my friend for an example, he lived in Taipei as I did when he was a child. His parents never took him and his brother to the library. They did not get the access to have a literacy world out of school. Until now, his brother and he do not like to read any books, not to mention his parents, there is not any readable materials at their house at all. Parents really play an very crucial role for their children learning process. It is not possible to count on teachers for everything. As a teacher, there’s more important job to do –to educate parents.
Aaron’s 5th reflection
ReplyDeleteLast week I think I had an interesting conversation during our class break. There were a few topics that we discussed in class, but maybe we can have a further discussion here. One of the issues was whether or not teachers can actually create this type of classroom or teaching situation here in Taiwan (ER with or without SSR). Actually, this is something that I have been hearing from both local and foreign teachers here for over ten years, that it is “just not possible”. Some of the reasons I’ve heard have been about the parents not accepting this type of program because they are more concerned about test scores, administrators who are also only interested in test scores, students who don’t understand the learning process and who see it as a “waste of time” (this can also include some teachers and administrators who share the same view), and from the teachers themselves who are concerned over testing scores and their personal teaching evaluations, etc. etc. Teachers have also said that they just can’t include it because there isn’t enough time to add anything into the curriculum. We briefly touched on some of these issues in our class, but I think a longer discussion may be valuable, since one of the goals of the course is to educate the students on the pros and cons of ER and its efficacy. Since the ultimate decisions are made by the teachers, whether this is perceived to be true or not, I think it makes sense to discuss some of the concerns and issues involved in a little more detail.
Another thing we also briefly discussed in our last class was the issue surrounding classroom management, for example whether or not we should fail students. Naturally, there may be some cultural differences involved here. However, in my opinion, classroom management may be the most important issue/skill teachers need to address. Ultimately, a teacher’s classroom management style (expectations) will determine whether or not a teacher can be successful in implementing an ER program, or any other program.
If we expect our students to read more, we should provide them with a rich environment to read more. There are lots of evidences showed that learners who have more access to books are more likely to read more books than those who are not immersed in a rich-printing environment. It was said that “reading aloud” has a positive influence on one’s literacy development, such as reading comprehension and vocabulary. This suggests us to do some read aloud activity in class if our students are interested in our stories. If one finds his or her “home run book”, one is more likely to become a reader in the future. We all hope that our students read as much as they can, and maybe they can and will find a home run book through this kind of extensive reading activity. It is good to hear that “scary books” and “comic books” are what most children like to read because they are my favorite as well. Maybe some people may believe that reading comic books might have a negative effect on the readers themselves, but we cannot ignore the positive effect on leading readers to heavier reading. I think it is best for second language learners to start from comic books or teen romance because these books may be more interesting than other types of books. Learners can have a better understanding of what was read by looking at the illustrations on the books. They not only can learn the culture of the target language, but pick up some words and phrases in the process of reading these books. Motivating them to read what they want to read will definitely be very important at the very beginning. However, ensuring that our learners have access to what interest them seems to be important before expecting them to become an avid reader in the second language. Maybe we should provide more American comic books or some best-selling novels in our school libraries and put them in one section that is reachable in the first floor so that our second language students can enjoy and get immersed in a great reading atmosphere in our school libraries.
ReplyDeleteHi, a quick thought on Aaron's post...I agree that there is resistance to any extensive reading program at all levels of the system. One way to combat this may be to educate those 'resistors' with some reasons why incorporating different types of reading activities will benefit our students. People are resistant to change, especially when they don't see the benefits and don't want to feel like pioneers. Let's show them the benefits! OK, that may sound a little too optimistic but if we can get our hands on a few students and try these methods we're learning about, and they work, then we've developed model students that can be our living proof. Yes, this would take time but noone said it would be quick.
ReplyDeleteThe road to convincing all those in the system that this way works is a long one, but we have to start somewhere. Educating those we work with on the proven benefits is one way that we can get them on board with us.
I don't believe there are any quick fixes, it will be a long and arduous road towards achieving our goals so let's start by sharing our knowledge with the doubters.
Oh...one more thought. We may have to find a way to incorporate the skills learned from reading into the final tests. That's not to say students should be tested on what they read, but rather there could be a reading passage in the final test in which the students have to answer comprehension questions. Their previous reading abilities gained from SSR and ER will be useful. This is also a way to justify having the reading programs in our classes.
Reflection #4
ReplyDeleteOne important point that Krashen makes in the first page of unit 2 is that while we’ve been playing lip-service to the value of reading for a long time, there has been only limited effort in this direction. I agree with this observation and wanted to put into practice everything we’ve been studying in recent weeks regarding the importance of reading.
I wanted to see what I could find out with my own students about whether or not introducing a new book into our curriculum by me reading it to them would have any affect on their interest.
My student is in grade 5 and the first time I pulled out the book, “Dinosaurs at Dinner“, I could only get through one page before I saw him start to squirm and look around the room, bored, aching for me to be done with it already. When I showed him the picture on the second page, he seemed somewhat interested but once I started reading again I slowly started to lose him. The next class, I got through about 3 pages. He was slightly less uncomfortable but still happy when I put the book down.
On our third class I took the book out again and continued from where we left off, giving him a brief recap of what happened up until now. I read with expression and movement, demonstrating some of the words he may not know. Well……I got to the end of the second chapter and I was about to put the book down when he said, “No, wait! I want to hear what happens.”
That was when I said, “Next time, we’ll find out what happens next week”, so as to leave him on pins and needles until our next class. I think part of the reason why he wasn’t initially interested was because it was a new activity, something we haven’t done before. Some students (and people in general) are afraid of new things and the worry that they will fail or lose face by trying.
Then, by day 3, he was already a little familiar with the plot and the characters and so by this time he was a little more invested. I also think that the way I was reading to him helped – I read using exaggerated facial expressions, whispered and shouted when called for and I used my arms to talk about the ‘pteranodon’s giant wing span’ (by the way, it’s a flying dinosaur). I thought if I tried to make the story come alive for him, he would be more into it and would demonstrate the words I thought would be difficult for him. I think it worked because as I was packing up my things he was watching the book intently, almost willing it to be left behind so he could read it himself.
Needless to say, I was incredibly surprised it only took 3 days for him to get into it but I’m pleased and happy that we can now incorporate fun, adventurous books into his lesson plan. My student is very bright and has excellent communicative abilities but is a poor speller. I asked him today if he reads in Chinese and he said he does, so at least I know he enjoys books. My challenge is to translate his love for reading in his L1 to his L2. Now we’ll also see if our ‘reading sessions’ will help him in other ways like with spelling and writing.
Based on the research related to the power of reading in the first chapter, Krashen proposed treatment to realize his advocacy of free voluntary reading. He suggested that teachers should provide students with proper reading materials, learning environment, and chance to read in class. Krashen suggested that reading materials should be easily accessed by students, and they should be interesting and comprehensible to students. Adequate reading materials, according to Krashen, include comics books, graphic novels, teen romance, magazine, and accelerated readers. Teaching activities such as sustained silent reading, reading aloud, or story telling can be adopted as a chance for students to read in class. With students’ access to suitable reading materials, certain reading activities conducted by teachers in class, and the provision of classroom library as well as school library, students are expected to form a habit of reading; to a certain extent, students will take reading as part of their life. It is a hope that students may read for information, acquire knowledge by reading, and turn knowledge into wisdom by acting out the knowledge they learn from reading.
ReplyDeleteBefore I take this class, the way of instruction of my freshman and sophomore English classes has been the grammar translation approach. From my observation, I can not attract my students’ attention to my class all the time. What’s worse, some of my students’ learning motivation has decreased. I have been thinking about the way to motivate my students to read; unfortunately, I could not find a good option. It is not until I finish reading Richard Day’s “Extensive Reading” and Krashen’s “The Power of Reading” that I realize I find a marvelous approach to my reading class.
“Light Reading” is a good issue for teachers to discuss. Comics, romance novels and magazines, especially fashion or gossip magazines, are usually considered as “useless” reading materials. Lots of teachers don’t suggest their students to read these. It’s like when we learn our L1, teachers always suggest us to read some famous literature works or “important” writing pieces which do help our learning, even though there are many other types of “interesting” reading materials in school library. This points out that teachers and students have different aspects of reading materials. When we suggest reading materials to students, should we suggest by their interests or still follow the traditional way to suggest something “important but heavy” to them? In addition, is it possible to have students do FVR in Taiwanese traditional reading classes? All we talk about is to encourage them to do FVR after school, but how about in class?
ReplyDeleteI am quite interested in the “comic books” part; to my surprise, comic books work well and even better than other reading materials. I remember in Taiwan, parents and teachers always persuade children to stop reading comics, labeling comics “ less informative and educational.” However, according to Krashen, some evidence has been provided to prove that comic books can be a positive passage to heavy reading and also can help develop learners’ linguistic competence and interest in reading.
ReplyDeleteIn 1996, Krashen published an article “Comic Book Reading, Reading Enjoyment, and Pleasure Reading”, in which the data showed that comic readers extremely enjoyed reading (65%) while non comic readers were not into reading (4%). Reading should be enjoyable in order to make readers go on reading. If a learner loves reading comics, he or she should not be prohibited from reading comics. The status of comics should also be enhanced; moreover, parents and teachers should change their stereotyped attitudes towards comics. Most importantly, the shelf space for comics in a school, class, and home library should always be kept, not replaced by textbooks.
After finishing the scheduled part of reading from page 57 to 128 on the trains, after classes, during the meals, before bed, even in the car, and so on, already a good example of reading ubiquitously, several parts of ER interest me shared as follows.
ReplyDeletePersonally, the idea of arguing “what is read matters” (p.114) has already influenced the way I’ve been reading as a heavy reader (p.86). A great variety of resources from other extracurricular books in the fields of finance, technology, business management, interpersonal relations, neurolinguistics, intellectual property rights, and others; brochures about concerts and sales promotion; Doraemon series while having a haircut; weekly magazines and MRT newspapers at hand; translated literary works, and others further strengthens the research evidence of light reading in terms of comic books (pp.91-110), the teen romance (pp.110-113), and the power of magazines (pp.113-114). I agree with the idea of developing the power of L1 literacy as a facilitator of L2 literacy (p.109) simply because the more the learners read, the more thoughtful and insightful they will use to build up their schemata in learning the SL or FL as target language.
Finding time and place to read (p.85, 128), complete with the reading materials that trigger the readers’ curiosities, may somehow motivate their intent of reading more for pleasure. What is more, doing regular read-alouds (p.118) has also been verified useful to stimulate the learners’ intrinsic motivation on extensive reading. Within limited time and considering the practical needs to catch up the planned syllabi, the insistence of conducting this method, though time-consuming, may gain positive feedback from the learners (pp.80-81). The nature of more likely seeing people reading (p.69) and the importance of having a model (p.85) further makes the sacrifice worthwhile.
It appears to have a decisive influence if we parents, teachers, and school authorities would develop our novice learners’ literacy from the very beginning of their learning (p.72). A certified library featured with easy and substantial access to books (p.119), comfort and quiet (p.63) is thus needed at different stages of education. Just the day before yesterday, I happened to listen to the news on the air, sort of saying the trend of establishing the soft power of our nation by reading. Conducted by one of the most acknowledged authoritative private magazine publisher in Taiwan, the hostess from the radio station quoted and laid emphasis on five main phenomena making SSR or FVR more compelling. Two out of the five including using booktalks and authors’ visits (p.91) promote the power of reading.
I’m partially with the four components (p.119) of Accelerated Reader (AR) proposed by Krashen (2003d). Getting prizes or rewards may divert the fun of reading. It would be more beneficial when sincere verbal encouragement from the parents, teachers, peers, and others now and then stimulates the learners’ additional reading.
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ReplyDeleteReflection of The power of reading Ch.2
ReplyDeleteOn Chapter two, Krashen claims that one of the major goals of language education should be to encourage free reading. Then he provides us many suggestions on how to encourage free reading. Most important of all, research shows that more access at home, school, and public libraries results in more reading. It will be easier for students to establish a reading habit if they have more access to books. Once they have a reading habit, they will keep on reading without any reward or coercion. Moreover, on page 63, Krashen proposes that the physical characteristics of the reading environment are very important. As Morrow (1983) reported, “preschool and kindergarten children used the library corner more when it had pillow, easy chairs, and carpets, and when it was partitioned off and quiet.” This reminds me of my own experience of going to two school libraries when I was an elementary school student. I went to a library owned by an experimental primary school once a week. It had carpets, pillows, stuffed animals, attracting features such as posters and bulletin boards. It really attracted me to go inside and find books to read just by a glance of the decoration of the library. I really had a good time and great memory reading books in that library. It was a fascinating library compared to the library owned by my own primary school. My own school library had only books, books shelves, big rectangular table, and stiff iron chairs. I rarely went to the library because it was not very attractive to me. Every time I went into the library, I saw no one else but myself. So the physical characteristics of the reading environment can make a great difference to the reading behaviors of students.
To encourage students to read more, we need to provide an accessible reading environment. A print-rich environment at the public, school, and at home is related to how much learners read, learners who read more have more books at home, at the school, and public. The authors further pointed out that access to books from any of the sources mentioned above (home, school, public library) will be extremely helpful, and may be enough to guarantee the establishment of a reading habit.
ReplyDeleteBesides, the author stated that children from high-income families are “deluged” with books; children from low-income families must” aggressively” and persistently seek them out” However, it raised some questions on my mind, “what about EFL Taiwanese people with such low reading rate— having 26 minutes to read for per people for every day according to the survey of Central News Agency (CNA) in 2010 (http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/100929/5/2e0bg.html)
How do our parents do to encourage our children to read more at home?
Purpose：to encourage the students to understand the main idea of the story；to encourage a liking for reading.
ReplyDeleteNumber of students：three to five per group
Level：Beginners
Activity：Circle Stories
When to do this：before the story is read
Materials： Using the book【I swallowed a worm】 and its illustrations and CD-ROM
Procedures：The students should be placed in groups of three to five students. Each group should have a book. The first students should look at the first page with the illustration. Students one begins the story using the first illustration in the native or target language. Then,student two take the book and look at the second illustration. Student two will continue the story based on what student one said and the second illustration. Student three will consider what student one and student two have said and the third illustration, student three will continue the story. This should
continue around the circle until the story has been told. After the story has been read, the teacher should read the book and play the CD-ROM to the
class in the target language. The first time, students should be encouraged to listen and look at the pictures. As the leader reads, pictures should be pointed out to encourage a general understanding of the book.
Reflections：The use of illustrations to guess the content of the story can be one of the best ways to improve students' reading skills. In the process of the activity, the story has been created to allow students to find the learning focus and level that they most enjoy. Besides, General conversation such as “See, he is being filled with water” based on the pictures can reinforce general comprehension. At this point, it is to be expected that the students will not comprehend the story word by word
but generally.
【I swallowed a worm!】Written and illustrated by Kathleen .Seaton,Ph.D.
Story Guide:
One day, my friends and I were riding our bikes down a hill. My mouth was wide open with joy. But all of a sudden worm flew into my mouth. “How terrible！”I screamed. Then I fell off my bike and gulped down the worm. “Ugh！”I choked and stuttered and turned an ugly blue. “What’s the matter with you？”my friends shouted. “ I swallowed a worm！”I roared.
“Let us help you get him out.” They whispered.
My tallest friends took my feet and shook me upside down so he could fall out. But the worm stayed inside. Then my shortest friends gave me
a lot of water so he could swim out. But the worm swan inside.
Then my friends filled me with air so he could float out. But the worm floated inside.
“Maybe the doctor can get him out！” they shouted and rushed me to the hospital. But the doctor looked inside and said， “There is nothing I can do.” so the worm stayed inside.
“Maybe the fortuneteller can get him out.” Said Amy. Then we ran to the fortune-teller’s house.
But the fortune-teller shook her head and said,
“you will never see him again. He will stay inside.”
Wesley suggested “Let’s go for ice-cream！maybe he will come out for ice-cream” I held my mouth open wide. They ate ice-cream and called
to the worm: “come out, little worm, and have some ice-cream.” But the worm squiggled inside. “I ‘m doomed” I sighed. “I will grow like a worm.”
“Wait,” I thought. My grandparents are the wisest people on earth. So I ran to their house shaking the worm still inside.
“What’s the matter？”they asked with a hug. “I swallowed a worm！”
I shouted with all my fright. “Is that all？Such a little thing for such a big noise. ”they said with a laugh. “We’ll use a little ancient magic.”
“ You can get him out with magic？”
“ Oh,no”said grandma. “magic won’t make him come out.”
“ magic,” said grandpa,will make him disappear.” They pointed to the
Bed. “ Lie down.” Grandma sang softly and grandpa rubbed my feet. Soon I was asleep with the worm still inside. Then I dreamt that the worm stood in the window and waved goodbye. When I awoke my grandparents asked, “ Did the magic work?””Yes.”I said happily. “ The worm is no longer inside.”
The end.
I want to echo what Krashen said in this book: “Children who live in high-income neighborhoods go to schools with better classroom and school libraries.” (p,72) For my best memories, my family was a normal, not wealth family. Therefore, we were not so called “children who live in high-income neighborhoods” children. We didn’t have a plenty of books to read or talent courses to go but we went to a library quite often. The library was built by Taipei city government with books for children and adults. Once my brother and I had time after school, we often went to the library by bus. The bus fee was very cheap and we also did not to pay money for borrowing books home or read there. How I got the access to the library was not because where I live, it’s because my mother brought us to the library and taught us how to read books there when we were little. It’s a huge effect for my life since I knew how to get free recourse from libraries.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to say that, we don’t need to be rich to provide our kids a brilliant library or just like my friend’s parents did, just bought several sets of Encyclopedia for being a part of decoration but never took one of them to read. As long as we know how to use our recourse provided by government or schools, our children certainly will have a great place to go, to explore. Perhaps you are questioning now:” That’s because you live in Taipei.” I admit that living in city is more convenient than country but take my friend for an example, he lived in Taipei as I did when he was a child. His parents never took him and his brother to the library. They did not get the access to have a literacy world out of school. Until now, his brother and he do not like to read any books, not to mention his parents, there is not any readable materials at their house at all.
Parents really play an very crucial role for their children learning process. It is not possible to count on teachers for everything. As a teacher, there’s more important job to do –to educate parents.