Reading content
I like what the authors have to say in Chapter 4 about learning to read for content. I think sometimes we take for granted the skills that we have developed, such as scanning, skimming, reading the introduction, etc. I can't even remember learning them, it was so long ago. But I must have been taught by my teachers back when I was in school. When you are reading for knowledge, it is important to be able to understand from the introduction what the text is going to be about. Otherwise you may be disappointed by the content.
You definitely have to prepare your ESL students so that they can get the most out of the texts they have to read, whether it is a newspaper article, book, or cooking directions. I can see the merits for both the intensive and extensive approaches, depending on what the reading is for. But in all things, they should be used in moderation. Complete usage of one or the other will probably not benefit your students.
posted by Sokkrgrrl @ 7:55 PM
1 Comments:
It is hard to remember being taught these things. And, we may have been taught them many times before we took it in. Learning by doing is how we have to learn reading. We can't learn about it, and then apply it. That's why it's so important to have exercises that refer to the text. Either the text we are about to read, or the text we are going to read.
You're correct that if we do only intensive or extensive we miss out. I'm not sure what the correct mix is. Extensive reading can be done outside of class, but for many ESL students they don't do it. In college classes, it's all extensive reading, though, if I think about it. It's rare now that a professor will read directly from the book.
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