ESL: Reading Comprehension

ESL (English as a Second Language); Reading Comprehension.

Technique for helping ESL students to read successfully. Teacher read twice aloud to ESL students two brief paragraphs summarizing an article they were about to read before students read the article. Students identified key points in the summary. Before reading the article they also discussed unfamiliar vocabulary and identified a question they were going to read to answer. Followed the reading by discussion of the ideas read. PC Manyak and EB Bauer. The Reading Teacher (Feb. 08), 433.

RayS: The good old directed reading assignment (DRA) with the background information’s becoming the two brief paragraphs that summarized the article. “The teachers are doing the work for the students,” you say? No, they are just giving an expanded “Tell them what you are going to tell them” from the formula for expository writing. Call the summary paragraphs expanded headlines and sub-headlines. The teachers help students define the main ideas. They pre-teach unfamiliar vocabulary and the students decide on a question they are going to read to answer. Now they read and then discuss what they have learned.

I’d love to give this technique a try and I would use it not only with ESL students but with students having difficulty with reading for whatever reason.