How to Teach 'READING EXTENSIVELY' in Form Three.

Welcome to UNIT 5:3!

Review: Previously in Unit 5:2, we discussed about how to interactively teach the sub topic, ‘Talking about sports’ in Form Two. In that sub topic, we discussed how the students can narrate what happened in sports events they witnessed. We also guided them how to participate in various sports events.

In this Unit 5:3, we will learn how to teach the sub topic, ‘Reading extensively’ in Form Three. In this sub topic, we will practically focus on how to guide students to read various texts and answer the comprehension questions given.

(Also: For Literature in English Subject, Check out my Literature in English Blog. Also check out My Diary for Diary Writing Inspiration and More! )

THE FOLLOWING IS THE COMPREHENSIVE TEACHING GUIDE ON THE SUB TOPIC:

A: INFORMATION OF THE TOPIC:

1. Topic: READING FOR INFORMATION FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES

2. Sub Topic: Reading extensively.

3. Periods per sub topic: 10
4: Class: Form Three.

B: HOW TO TEACH THE TOPIC:

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The major aim of this sub topic is to enable students of Form Three Class to be able to read variety of books for information and pleasure. This makes students more engaged in building their reading habit.

ACTIVITIES & GAMES TO FACILITATE A LESSON:

Activity 1: BRAINSTORMING AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT EXTENSIVE READING.

In this activity, a teacher is simply a facilitator who is facilitating in helping the students to be familiar with the definitions of the concept of extensive reading and discussing with students on the terms and phrases used in extensive reading. These terms are applied when reading the texts extensively.

Some common phrases are:

The story is set in…..

The writer uses………

The writer portrays……………

Important Information about Extensive Reading.

Extensive reading

It is a kind of reading in which students read the texts for enjoyment and to develop general reading skills. Extensive reading is simply a reading for pleasure with emphasis on general understanding, not reading with regards to detailed information like intensive reading.

Characteristics of an Extensive Reading

§ It involves reading for pleasure. Here the teacher uses various class readers or texts for students.

§ Reading materials are chosen by students themselves. The students choose the books or stories that interest them.

§ Students read for the content of the texts only and this kind of reading is meant to encourage the students and it should not be like the obligations.

§ It involves reading silently in the class.

§ Students are given the chance to select or to go to the school library and browse the type of books they want.

§ The books for the students to read should depend on their language level. That is, the books they are required to read should not pose any difficulty when they are reading. The certain kinds of books may be selected together and the students can have a chance to choose some of them.

§ In extensive reading, dictionaries should be avoided because they interrupt the flow of the reading. Students can be advised to not down the difficult words and they can look them up later in the dictionary.

§ The teacher himself or herself should be a role model in encouraging the students to read. He or she can talk about the books he/she has read and narrate some of them to them. This will encourage them to read as well.

Advantages of Extensive Reading:

It helps students to improve their general understanding of the text.
It helps students to improve the reading habit because they read what they enjoy hence, improving reading habit.
It helps students to read other materials with the intention of getting the general knowledge of the books.
It also helps the students to be ready for the next level for their studies.
It is a good source of many job skills for students.
It is also used when reading texts for contracts, legal documentation, and application forms because they require general understanding of the texts.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

If the text is difficult and you stop every few minutes to figure out what is being said or to look up new words in the dictionary, you are breaking your concentration and diverting your thoughts.

Because there is an element of enjoyment in extensive reading it is unlikely that students will undertake extensive reading of a text they do not like.

It also requires a fluid decoding and assimilation of the text and content in front of you.

Activity 2: GUIDELINES ON READING ACTIVITIES

The following activities should be strictly student-centred. This approach will make sure students are engaged in good habit of reading with their own choice or decision on what to read.

Guidelines on Reading Activities/Exercise:

These reading activities should serve to raise awareness concerning the fact that it is not always necessary to understand every word.

Collect the stories students may like to read for pleasure. Tell them that they should make sure they read continuously without looking up the difficult words he/she encounter while reading.
As a teacher, select various stories in ‘Kalulu the Hare’ or any other short stories like ‘Fast Money’, “Magic Garden’, and other stories which they like and ask them to read.
In case there is shortage of books, teacher and students can make a collection of short stories in English newspapers. These stories can be used for extensive reading. The newspapers like Daily News and The Guardians can have the stories that students can read for pleasure.
The teacher should identify and supervise independent reading levels of each student using a proficiency test. Each student should be given a book of her or his level.
The student should now read the books on their own. They should talk about the books they have read in groups or as a class to share what they have read. They should also be able to write a short book report.
The teacher can now award incentives/prizes to students who read more if there are enough rewarding resources.

6: CONNECTION: Beyond the Sub Topic. This sub topic produces a lot of sub skills. It helps the students to know how:

To outline.

To summarise main points.

To answer objective questions from the text.

To judge the text read.

To understand the general meaning or idea of the particular text.

To improve the language as they will be encountering various forms and other sentence structures.

7: NOTE: In this sub topic, teachers and students are expected to engage effectively in reading various texts for pleasure. They may be literary texts or other texts in various topics. This will increase students’ ability and courage to read books on their own and enjoy the contents. According to https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/extensive-reading “The principal objective of undertaking an extensive reading approach is to get students reading in English and liking it. An increase in reading fluency should be another objective. Because of this, reading should be a pleasurable activity for the student, promoted as much as possible by the teacher”.

Check out how to Study & Teach other Form Three Sub Topics in this Blog!