how to teach reading and writing

Here are some tips to teach reading and writing.

1. Teaching Reading

1. Remember to consider your student’s interests and goals when planning any kind of lesson and when choosing teaching materials.

2. Help build your student’s background Information by reading and discussing interesting news articles.

3. If your student has children, encourage him/her to read to them. Discuss the importance of letting children see their parents reading.

4. Model what good readers do. (We don’t complete worksheets! We do talk about books and other things we’ve read!)

5. Encourage silent reading.

6. Spend time in our library and become an expert on books at your student’s level.

7. Talk about the strategies that good readers use: drawing conclusions, finding the main idea, reading for specific information, sequencing material, making predictions, understanding text organization, summarizing.

8. Encourage reading outside of the lessons.

9. Many of the lesson ideas on this site make use of "manipulative letters"; these could be magnetic letters like the ones that might be on your fridge, or "Scrabble" letter tiles, or ones you make yourself with a marking pen and card stock.

10. Include Word Recognition, Vocabulary Instruction, Fluency Practice and Comprehension Strategies in every lesson.

By raising students' awareness of reading as a skill that requires active engagement, and by explicitly teaching reading strategies, instructors help their students develop both the ability and the confidence to handle communication situations they may encounter beyond the classroom. In this way they give their students the foundation for communicative competence in the new language. Teachers can help their students become effective readers by teaching them how to use strategies before, during, and after reading.

Before reading: Plan for the reading task

v Set a purpose or decide in advance what to read for

v Decide if more linguistic or background knowledge is needed

v Determine whether to enter the text from the top down (attend to the overall meaning) or from the bottom up (focus on the words and phrases)

During and after reading: Monitor comprehension

v Verify predictions and check for inaccurate guesses

v Decide what is and is not important to understand

v Reread to check comprehension

v Ask for help

After reading: Evaluate comprehension and strategy use

v Evaluate comprehension in a particular task or area

v Evaluate overall progress in reading and in particular types of reading tasks

v Decide if the strategies used were appropriate for the purpose and for the task

v Modify strategies if necessary

2. Teaching Writing

1. Struggling writers tend to focus on the mechanics of writing rather than the ideas they are trying to express. As the tutor, you need to initially focus on reading the student’s writing versus evaluating it. Later when the student is more fluent will be a better time to focus on writing conventions such as spelling and punctuation.

2. Many students are very reluctant to write anything, let alone a complete essay. Start small and provide lots of topic suggestions

3. When students write about a topic that they know and care about, their motivation and ownership increase.

4. Encourage your student to write frequently and regularly.

5. Have your student read his writing aloud to you, and give positive feedback.

6. If you need help teaching writing, Steck-Vaughn’s GED Essay has an excellent step-by-step process that students seem to really like.

The easiest way to improve writing scores is to use the Fry Formula. The
students must write at grade level. It only takes a few minutes to show the students how to use this formula. Next, you spend an extraordinary amount of time on making sure that the opening sentences don't start with the, a, and, I or any other simple word. They must start with the most important part of the topic sentence by using a phrase.

1. Directions for Use of the Fry Readability Graph

· Randomly select three 100-word passages from a book or an article.

· Plot the average number of syllables and the average number of sentences per 100 words on the graph to determine the grade level of the material.

· Choose more passages per book if great variability is observed and conclude that the book has uneven readability.

· Few books will fall into the solid black area, but when they do, grade level scores are invalid.

how to teach speaking and listening

Here are some tips to teach speaking and listening to children.

1. Teaching Listening

1. Instruction.

Remember you are their model so always think about how you are going to introduce an activity before you go to class. Writing out instructions as part of your lesson plan will really help you to notice what language you are using with your young learners. You may find that your language is too complex for the beginner pupils.

Imagine yourself as a beginner learning a new language and see if what you say is too difficult to follow. You may need to modify what you say. Instructions, if well thought out and accompanied always with demonstration, can be communicated purely in English.

2. Class management

Don’t panic if you don’t speak the children’s first language. This won’t prevent a bond forming between you and the children. If they know you as the person who only speaks English then they will always want to communicate with you as much as possible in English.

Discipline can be easily understood by young children through your facial expressions and smiley/cross faces drawn on the board.

Feedback can also be understood clearly when you use your face to help express whether or not you are pleased with the work they produce.

3. Using a song

Prepare the learners before they listen to anything.

Show them pictures of characters from the song.

If it’s a song about teddy bears then bring in some teddy bears to show them. If the teddy bears sing sections of the song then use them as puppets and make them actually sing the song.

Use actions as much as possible to accompany songs so that the children can participate. This will help build their confidence, increase their enjoyment and give them extra clues as to the meaning of the words they are listening to.

They should predict, ‘imagine’, what they are going to hear. Again, sticking with the teddy bears, ask them if they think the teddy bear is happy or sad.

When they are listening they should always have something to do. They need a reason for listening. You could allocate part of the song to a small cluster of children so they have to listen out for their part and sing along to that part only.

Use the same song again and again. Listening is a difficult skill so building their confidence is vital at all stages of language learning. If they recognize the words they will be much more motivated. This is valid not only from a language point of view but also from a logical point of view. Listening to a song you know and like is always an enjoyable experience. Familiarity helps children feel secure.

2. Teaching Speaking

1. Songs and Chants.

Using songs and chants in class gives the children a chance to listen and reproduce the language they hear. They are working on the sounds, rhythm and intonation.

Remember when you speak or sing keep it simple but very importantly, natural so that when they copy what you say they can have a chance of sounding natural.

2. Whole class chorus drills.

If you have a large class make sure the language they produce is not just confined to stilted whole class repetitions of sentences produced by you. If the class tries to speak at the same time they automatically slow down and the intonation and rhythm are lost. Whole class repetition does of course have its advantages as it allows weaker students to build confidence with speaking without being in the limelight. Do chorus drills as described above but limit them and always move on to letting individuals speak.

3. Real language.

As with listening, make sure they always have a valid reason for speaking. The more realistic the need for communication, the more effective an activity will be. In other words get them to ask their neighbour ‘Do you prefer chocolate or strawberry ice-cream?’ rather than saying; ‘What’s my favourite food?' This last question is just asking the children to guess rather than think. Avoid getting them to repeat sentences such as; ‘What is my name?’ or ‘Is this a book?’ Not only do you know it’s a book, so the interaction isn’t very interesting, unless the book is hidden in a bag and they are having to work out the contents, but also the response is limited to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. Closed questions are ok to lead onto something more with low level learners but be aware of not using them too often.

4. Further suggestions.

Vary the types of speaking and listening activities you do. Keep them interested by introducing new approaches to speaking in class. This could mean talking to different people, talking to different numbers of people, speaking as a whole class, half a class or in small groups.

For different levels in the same class you can ask them to listen for different things. Ask the weaker ones to tell you how many teddy bears there are in the song and the stronger ones to tell you what the teddy bears are doing in the song.

To make one activity suit all levels ask them to practice saying between five and ten sentences. This way the quick finishers have more to do and the weaker pupils still feel they have achieved the task if they have practised only a few sentences.

COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

What is Communicative Language Teaching?

Communicative language teaching makes use of real-life situations that necessitate communication. The teacher sets up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real life. Unlike the audio lingual method of language teaching, which relies on repetition and drills, the communicative approach can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise, which will vary according to their reactions and responses. The real-life simulations change from day to day. Students' motivation to learn comes from their desire to communicate in meaningful ways about meaningful topics.

Margie S. Berns, an expert in the field of communicative language teaching, writes in explaining Firth's view that "language is interaction; it is interpersonal activity and has a clear relationship with society. In this light, language study has to look at the use (function) of language in context, both its linguistic context (what is uttered before and after a given piece of discourse) and its social, or situational, context (who is speaking, what their social roles are, why they have come together to speak)" (Berns, 1984, p. 5).

Communicative Language Teaching aims broadly to apply the theoretical perspective of the Communicative Approach by making communicative competence the goal of language teaching and by acknowledging the interdependence of language and communication.

What are the goals of teachers who use communicative language teaching?

The goal is to enable students to communicate in the target language. To do this students need knowledge of the linguistic forms, meanings, and functions. They need to know that many different forms can be used to perform a function and also that a single form can often serve a variety of function. They must be able to choose from among these the most appropriate form, given the social context and the roles of the interlocutors. They must be able to manage the process of negotiating meaning with their interlocutors. Communication is a process; knowledge of the forms of language is insufficient.

What is the role of the teacher? What is the role of the students?

The teacher facilitates communication in the classroom. In this role, one of his major responsibilities is to establish situations likely to promote communication. During the activities he acts as an adviser, answering students' questions and monitoring their performance.

Students are, above all, communicators. They are actively engaged in negotiating meaning – in trying to make themselves understood and in understanding others – even when their knowledge of the target language is incomplete.

What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process?

The most obvious characteristic of CLT is that almost everything that is done is done with a communicate intent. Students use the language a great deal through communicative activities such as games, role plays, and problem-solving tasks.

Another characteristic of CLT is the use of authentic material. It is considered desirable to give students an opportunity to develop strategies for understanding language as it is actually used.

What is the nature interaction between student-teacher and student-student?

Teacher is the facilitator of the activities, but he does not always himself interact with the students. Sometimes he is a co-communicator, but more often he establishes situations that prompt communication between and among the students.

Students interact a great deal with one another. They do this in various configurations; pairs, triads, small groups, and whole groups.

How are the feelings of the students dealt with?

One of the basic assumptions of CLT is that by learning to communicate students will be more motivated to study a foreign language since they will feel they are learning to do something useful with the language. Also, teachers give students an opportunity to express their individuality by having them share their ideas and opinions on a regular basis.

How is language viewed? How is culture viewed?

Language is for communication. Linguistic competence, the knowledge of forms and their meanings, is just one part of communicative competence. Another aspect of communicative competence is knowledge of the function language is used for.

Culture is the everyday lifestyle of people who use the language. There are certain aspects of it that are especially important to communication – the use of nonverbal behavior, for example, which might receive greater attention in CLT.

What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills are emphasized?

Language functions might be emphasized over forms. Typically, although not always, a functional syllabus is used. A variety of forms are introduced for each function. Only the simpler forms would be presented at first, but as students get more proficient in the target language, the functions are reintroduced and more complex forms are learned.

Students work on all four skills from the beginning. Just as oral communication is seen to take place through negotiating between speaker and listener, so too is meaning thought to be derived from the written word through an interaction between the reader and the writer.

What is the role of the students' native language?

Judicious use of the students' native language is permitted in CLT. However, whenever possible, the target language should be used not only during communicative activities, but also for explaining the activities to the students or in assigning homework.

How is evaluation accomplished?

A teacher evaluates not only the students’ accuracy, but also their fluency.

How does the teacher respond to students errors?

Errors of forms are tolerated during fluency based activities and are seen as a natural outcome of the development of communication

Total Physical Response

What is Total Physical Response?

Total Physical Response (TPR) is one of new methods developed by James Asher, a professor of psychology at San José State University, California, USA, to aid learning foreign language. TPR is a language learning method which is based on the coordination of speech and action. It is linked to the trace theory of memory, which holds that the more often or intensively a memory connection is traced, the stronger memory will be. In TPR classroom, students respond to commands that require physical movement.

Asher defines that the method of TPR relies on the assumption that when learning a second language or a foreign language, that language is internalized through a process that is similar to first language development and that the process allows for long period of listening and developing comprehension prior to production (www.wikipedia.com).

TPR is based on the premise that the human brain has a biological program from acquiring any natural language in the world including the sign language of the deaf. The process is visible when we observe how infants internalize their first language (www.tprsource.com/asher.htm). Asher looks to the way that children combine both verbal and physical aspects. A child responds physically to the speech for the parent. The responses of the child are in turn positively reinforced by the speech of the parent. For many months the child absorbs the language without being able to speak. With TPR the teacher tries to mimic this process in class (www.tprworld.com/organizing).

TPR is also named the comprehension approach since of the importance given to listening comprehension. In TPR, students listen and respond to the spoken target language commands of their teacher. If they can perform the teacher’s instructions it means that they know the meaning of the words.

What are the goals of TPR?

TPR was developed in order to reduce the stress people feel when studying foreign language and thereby encourage students to persist in their study beyond a beginning level of proficiency. Teacher who use TPR believe in the importance of having their students enjoy their experience in learning to communicate in a foreign language (Larsen and Freeman; 2000:113).

What is the role of teacher and students?

In the teaching learning process using TPR method, teacher plays an active and direct role. According to Larsen and Freeman (2000: 113) teacher is the director of all students’ behaviors. Asher (1977) as quoted by Richard and Rodgers, (1986: 93) states “The instructor is the director of a stage play in which the students are the actors”. It means that teacher is the one who decides what to teach, who models and presents the new material, and who selects supporting materials for classroom use. Teacher is encouraged to be well prepared and well organized so that the lesson flows smoothly and predictable.

Learners in TPR have the primary roles of listeners and performers. They listen attentively and respond both individually and collectively. They have little influence over the content of learning since the content is determined by the teacher who must follow the imperative form for lesson (Richard and Rodgers 1986:93). According to Larsen and Freeman (2000: 113), the students are imitators of the teacher’s nonverbal model. There will be a role reversal with individual students

directing the teacher and the other students.In TPR, learners monitor and evaluate their own progress. They are encouraged to speak when they feel ready to speak that is when a sufficient basis in the language has been internalized.

What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process?

The first phase of a lesson is one of modeling. The instructor issues commands to a few students, then performs the actions with them. In the second phase, these same students demonstrate that they can understand the commands by performing them alone. The teacher next recombines elements of the commands to have students develop flexibility in understanding unfamiliar utterance. These commands, which students perform, are often homorous.

After learning to respond to some oral commands, the students learn to read and write them. When students are ready to speak, they become the ones who issue the commands.

How the interaction occur?

The teacher interacts with the whole group of students and with individual students. Initially the interaction is characterized by the teacher speaking and the students responding nonverbally. Students perform the action together. Students can learn by watching each other.

How are the feelings of the students dealt with?

One of the main reasons TPR was to reduce the stress people feel when studying foreign language. One of the primary ways this is accomplished is to allow learners to speak when they are ready. Forcing them to speak before then will only create anxiety.

Another way to relieve anxiety is to make language learning as enjoyable as possible. The use of zany commands and homorous skits are two ways of showing that language learning can be fun.

How is language and culture viewed?

Just as with the acquisition of the native language, the oral modality is primary. Culture is the lifestyle of people who speak the language natively.

What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills are emphasized?

Vocabulary and grammatical structures are emphasized over other language areas. These are embedded within imperatives. The imperatives are single words and multi-word chunks.

Understanding the spoken word should precede its production. The spoken language is emphasized over written language.

What is the role of the students' native language?

TPR is usually introduced in the students' native language. After the introduction, rarely would the native language be used. Meaning is made clear through body movements.

How is evaluation accomplished?

Teachers will know immediately whether or not students understand by observing their students' action. Formal evaluations can be conducted simply by commanding individual students to perform a series of actions. As students become more advanced, their performance of skits they have created can become the basis for evaluation.

How does the teacher respond to students errors?

Teachers should be tolerant of the students errors and only correct major errors. Even these should be corrected unobtrusively.