esl reading material

7/30/2019 ESL Reading Material

1/18

By Nell Novara


2/18

Textbook

ESL readersBlogs

NewsLiterature


3/18

Superficial Understanding

(newspapers, common lit) Imaginative Understanding (literature)

Precise Understanding (both)


4/18

Benefits:

Practical vocabularyCommon grammar

structureCultural information

Current events


5/18

What to look for?

Topical

Thought provoking

Avoid anything too polarizing

Avoid satire (at lower levels)


6/18

CNN

The Guardian

BBC

See list in textbook


7/18

Pre-article questions

What is your countrys view of ____ ?

Is _____ a problem in your country?

What is your personal opinion of _____ ?

Pre-article vocabulary definition

Read article

Post-article vocabulary

Post-article discussion

Do you agree with this article?

What would most people in your country agree/disagree with in this

article?

Does this change your earlier opinion?

ALWAYS encourage text specificity!!!!


8/18

Racism/Media power

Gun control
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/07/george-zimmerman-sues-nbc-trayvonhttp://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/27/time-to-face-facts-on-gun-control/http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/27/time-to-face-facts-on-gun-control/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/07/george-zimmerman-sues-nbc-trayvon


9/18

Problems with using literature

Incorrect grammar

Outdated words

Styles can be confusing (stream of consciousness,etc.)

EXAMPLE: Gertrude Stein, Buttons

Benefits

Sense of achievement

Easy cultural lesson

Fun!
http://www.bartleby.com/140/1.htmlhttp://www.bartleby.com/140/1.html


10/18

Examples:Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, fairy

tales, translated texts

Things to look out for:

- Technicality is IMPORTANT, students may overlook

words and grammar because they already know the story

- Are they actually reading?- Can they summarize and paraphrase for you?

- Are they defining new words?


11/18

DO choose something with relatively easy vocabulary DO choose short pieces, and if longer, break up

assignments

DO choose pieces with universal themes

DONT choose anything that requires a great deal ofhistorical context this is not a history lesson

DONT choose anything too obscure- students may want

to do further research on the piece, and they quite enjoy

working with canonical authors


12/18

Differences between a regular literature course and anESL course

Define general themes/plot

Pre-story vocab definition

Define characters if necessary

Provide guided questions

Post-Reading

Vocab work

Summarizing

Pre-story vocab definition Define characters if necessary

Provide guided questions


13/18

Margaret Atwood, Happy Endings

http://ebookbrowse.com/happy-endings-by-margaret-

atwood-pdf-d107082835

Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html
http://ebookbrowse.com/happy-endings-by-margaret-atwood-pdf-d107082835http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.htmlhttp://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.htmlhttp://ebookbrowse.com/happy-endings-by-margaret-atwood-pdf-d107082835


14/18

Can we teach poetry?

Pros

Creative

Vocabulary practice

Familiar themes

Cons

Structure

Confusing


15/18

What to look for

Common themes

SIMPLE vocabularyShorter poems work best

Relatively common grammatical

structure

Rhyme?


16/18

Functions more like a regular literature

lesson

Vocabulary

Read through (silently, then aloud)

Examine meaning

Discuss views and opinionsDiscuss figurative language (common

similes, metaphors, etc.)


17/18

William Carlos Williams, This is Just to Say

Langston Hughes, A Dream Deferred

Shel Silverstein, Whatif

Emily Dickinson, Faith is a fine Invention

Dorothy Parker, Observation

Edna St. Vincent Millay, First Fig
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15535http://www.cswnet.com/~menamc/langston.htmhttp://faculty.weber.edu/chansen/humanweb/projects/MeghanUng/whatif.htmhttp://www.poemhunter.com/poem/faith-is-a-fine-invention/http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/observation-2/http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/first-fig/http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/first-fig/http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/observation-2/http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/faith-is-a-fine-invention/http://faculty.weber.edu/chansen/humanweb/projects/MeghanUng/whatif.htmhttp://www.cswnet.com/~menamc/langston.htmhttp://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15535


18/18

Micro-fiction

Six word memoirs

Hemingway

Parables

Sufi/Zen
http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/http://www.litkicks.com/FlashFictionhttp://www.detoxifynow.com/zen_parables.htmlhttp://www.detoxifynow.com/zen_parables.htmlhttp://www.litkicks.com/FlashFictionhttp://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/

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