Enabling a Culture of Reading and Writing Setting Learners Up to Succeed ATER Conference 5 th June

Common Perceptions and Misconception Reading isn’t relevant to today’s youth We underestimate how much reading kids actually do Digital literacy is replacing ‘traditional literacy’ and it’s a good/bad thing Parents and teachers don’t set the right example when it comes to reading In Africa, kids are reading and writing more than ever before Personally, I read more than enough for pleasure How much reading are kids allowed/encouraged to do for pleasure?

Different Kinds of Reading What have you read recently? What different kinds of texts do you read? Do you read them in the same way? Why/why not? What kinds of reading do young learners do in school? Is this the same as the reading they’ll do outside of the classroom? Why/why not?

Reading Task The grifty snolls cloppered raucingly along the unchoofed trake. They were klary, so they higgled on separately. “Mi psar chwar”, quipped one. And “Psar, psar!” quipped the others. When they reached the sikanta, they all nettered silently. They all felt cansaggy.

Comprehension? 1Who cloppered along the unchoofed trake? ______________________ 2How did they clopper? ______________________ 3 What was the trake like? ______________________ 4What did one of them quip? ______________________ 5How did the others answer? ______________________ 6What did they do when they reached the sikanta? ______________________ 7How did they all feel at the end? _____________________ What does this exercise tell us?

Stages of a Reading Lesson: Planning and Sequencing pre-reading 1 Set the context and lead in to get the learners interested in the topic 2Look at the title and predict content 3Pre teach vocabulary while-reading 4 Fast reading to check predictions or gist reading (to get a general idea of what the text is about) 5Fast reading to find specific details 6 A more careful reading to focus on general meaning 7 A more careful reading to focus on finer points of understanding 8Tasks which focus on language post-reading 9 Speaking or writing activity which gets students to react to the text 10 Round up the lesson with a review of what has been covered and what skills they have learnt

Tips for a Reading Lesson Get the students warmed up by getting them to think about what they already know about the topic Give them a chance to check any predictions that they made Give them a chance to react to the text as a reader Make it explicit what skill you are developing Always give them a task! Give them a task focusing on general understanding Think of comprehension questions that can’t simply be lifted from the text: an element of challenge is motivating! Grade the task, not the material

All images © Mat Wright Thank You