View Content #5655
| Contentid | 5655 |
|---|---|
| Content Type | 1 |
| Title | Pleasure Reading in College |
| Body | A TESL-L user wondered about encouraging reading for pleasure in her college ESL students: I’ve been very lucky to receive a collection of several dozen new fiction paperbacks to start a library for our beginner-intermediate community college program. The books are “graded” classics, beginning at low vocabulary levels. Rather than add yet more required reading to my EAP college classes, I thought I would try motivating students to make their own selections and read for pleasure. I don’t want to assign tasks like book reports or other assignments that so often suck the pleasure out of a book. But from the instructor’s point of view, how can I be sure they are reading, and how can I “reward” those who do? Spelleri, M. [TESL-L] "pleasure" reading in college program. Teachers of English as a Second Language List listserv (TESL-L@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU, 17 Nov 2006). --- Suggestions included the following: While this may sound unbelievable, in my experience it's been as easy as 1, 2, 3 1. Explain to them how much they will likely be expected to read in college (about 70,000 words per week, with a LOT of variation, in our diploma programs) and how much they're reading now in EAP, usually less than 5,000 W/W. Graded readers, at the rate of at least 1/W, can vastly increase this count. 2. Tell them I, personally, believe in the books and have read most of them (true). 3. Show them where the books are. In fact, I've generally found there's much more reticence among teachers than among students. Of course there will be students who don't read them at all, and busy times when they may fall by the wayside, but we had to put strict limits on the number students could borrow because our shelves were bare (we're doubling our collection.) Reynolds, B. Re: [TESL-L] "pleasure" reading in college program. Teachers of English as a Second Language List listserv (TESL-L@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU, 19 Nov 2006). --- We started an extensive reading program in our community-college-based IEP several years ago. Teachers and book reps donated books- graded readers, young adult literature, some children's books, and other language learner literature. We integrated it into our existing reading program by using our normal lab time for extensive reading. Students use this time to read their books, check out or return books to the reading center, and write very short book reports. The book reports are more of an evaluation than literary analysis. We use the results to plan for future purchases. The response from the students has been overwhelming. I have students in our Level One who have read 15 beginning readers so far this semester. Of course, others have read only 5. Students have to read a minimum of 10 books. Please remember these are often very short (16-32 pages). I ask the students to keep a log of the number of pages they have read. In addition to a high grade, the students with the largest number of books and most pages wins a small prize. Tierney, C. Re: [TESL-L] "pleasure" reading in college program. Teachers of English as a Second Language List listserv (TESL-L@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU, 19 Nov 2006). --- We also use graded readers in our community college ESL program and recommend them for intermediate to low advanced students. For more advanced students, we recommend they choose "regular" non-graded books, anything that interests them. The general expectation of free reading is that students do brief reading journals, 1-3 paragraphs, and identify vocabulary words, 10 per journal for instance, and/or talk about their reading in reading groups or give a brief oral synopsis to the whole class. Justice, T. Re: [TESL-L] "pleasure" reading in college program. Teachers of English as a Second Language List listserv (TESL-L@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU, 19 Nov 2006). |
| Source | TESL-L |
| Inputdate | 2007-01-27 11:26:31 |
| Lastmodifieddate | 2007-01-27 11:26:31 |
| Expdate | Not set |
| Publishdate | 2007-01-29 00:00:00 |
| Displaydate | Not set |
| Active | 1 |
| Emailed | 1 |
| Isarchived | 1 |
