reading tutorial

[ ]TSL 3063 TEACHING READING SKILLS AND VOCABULARY IN THE PRIMARY ESL CLASSROOM

Week 1

Intensive reading and Extensive reading

Reading is an activity that can add someone’s knowledge about important news and

also some new vocabulary items. Realizing the importance of reading, some collages make it

as one of subject. There are two kinds of teaching reading; Extensive and Intensive. Extensive

and Intensive are different in some cases. This article provides three differences between

Extensive Reading and Intensive Reading; therefore Extensive Reading has more important

purpose compared to Intensive Reading in broadening students’ knowledge.

The first difference is that Extensive Reading covers large area, while Intensive

Reading covers narrower area. According to Graham Stanley, Extensive Reading involves

students reading long texts or large quantities for general understanding, with the intention of

enjoying the texts. It means that students are given freedom to choose their own topic which

they think are interested to be discussed. In this case, the students also have to find

supported articles related to the topic in order to give them background knowledge, so that

they know more about the topic they have chosen. It is different from Intensive Reading that

does not allow the students to find a topic they like. The topic is given by the teacher. The

students also do not necessary to look for supported articles because the topic which is

chosen by the teacher is usually short and easy to understand.

The second difference is about students’ activity in class. In Extensive Reading the

students’ activity is more complex than in Intensive Reading. The students, in Extensive

Reading class, usually are asked to write a summary after reading an article/ passage. As we

know, writing summary is not an easy thing to do. It allows learners to assert full control, both

of the main factual or fictional content of an article/ book, and of the grammar and vocabulary

used to express it (Bell, 1998). Besides, the students also will do a short presentation on what

they have read. By doing short presentation, the students will have knowledge of the right

preparation, self- independence and autonomy (Bell, 1998). While in Intensive Reading,

instead of writing summary and having presentation, the students are asked to answer some

questions related to the topic which is given by the teacher. Usually, all of the answers are

available on the text, so that the students only rewrite it.

The last, Extensive Reading will discourage the over- use of dictionary (Bell, 1998); on

the contrary dictionary is a must in Intensive Reading. It is true that dictionary have an

important place in reading activity, but as stated by Bell (1998) that the students will focus

only on the language if they always consult the dictionary every time they find an unfamiliar

word. They will not pay attention to the message conveyed. Bell also said that this habit will

cause inefficient reading and destroy the pleasure that reading is intended to provide.

Graham Stanley from British Council, Barcelona said that by avoiding dictionary, the students

are expected to be encouraged to jot down the words they come across in a vocabulary

notebook and they can look them up after they have finished reading. It will make the

students guess the meaning based on the context. By doing this, the students are able to

always remember the meaning of a word because they find it by themselves. Meanwhile in

Intensive Reading, students have to find difficult words while they are reading. The frequency

of using dictionary is often because in Intensive Reading, a text will be used to answer some


questions, so the students have to know the meaning of all words in the text in order to make

them easy to answer the questions.

In conclusion, through doing complex activities, Extensive Reading can broaden

students’ knowledge more than Intensive Reading. In Extensive Reading, students write

summary and do presentation which lead them to minimize the use of dictionary. In

opposition, the students’ activities in Intensive Reading are more limited. The activities

depend on the teacher’s guidance only. This kind of activities will not encourage students to

explore their abilities; they cannot broaden knowledge by themselves as well as in Extensive

Reading.

Week 2


The Importance of Learning Sight Words – Reading Essentials Ever wonder why your child’s teacher stresses the importance of practicing

the words on those dreaded flash cards in Kindergarten and First Grade?

Believe it or not, the top three hundred or so sight words make up about two-

thirds of all written matter. Imagine, then, how much easier it will be for your

child to read once she masters them!

Reading words as whole words is what more advanced readers do when they

read. As you read this post, you’re not taking the time to break down every

individual word you read into its basic phonemes (if you did, reading one

simple sentence might take all day!).

Advanced readers have enough practice with reading that almost all words

are familiar, and are recognized as a whole unit. For example, when you see

the word “family,” you do not have to sound out /f/ /a/ /m/ /i/ /l/ /y/, but rather

your brain recognizes the word, associates it with its meaning, and places it

within a logical context in the sentence. This enables you to read quickly, and

that in turn ensures that you understand what you are reading.

Your child will also begin to identify whole words while learning how to read.

For example, he or she will start to understand that the word “cat” is more

than just the letters “c,” “a,” and “t,” put together, that it is just the whole

word “cat,” and it will be associated with a small furry creature. Other whole

words that your child may begin to identify are sight words.

Sight words, also called high frequency words, are the words that appear

with the highest frequency in written text.

Some sight words, such as “at” and “an,” are phonetically regular and can be

sounded out by beginning readers. Many of them, however, are not (for

example “about” and “could”) and must therefore be recognized as whole

words. Even if a sight word is phonetically regular, since it appears with such

frequency in text it is better for the word to be read automatically. This will

speed up the reading process for a beginning reader, leading to greater

fluency and stronger comprehension.


There are many ways in which you can give your child practice with

identifying sight words and other whole words:

Expand your Letter Wall into a Word Wall: Prominently place sight

words, especially phonetically irregular words like “from” and “or,” on a

magnetic surface, whiteboard, bulletin board or other area. As your child

becomes familiar with other new words, include them on your word wall.

Word Games: Play word games such as Bingo and Memory, which

involve whole word recognition.

Flash cards: Give your child extra practice with sight words by running

through sight word flash cards.

Writing Activities: Offer your child the opportunity to begin writing

known words. Practice with encoding familiar words will help his

familiarity with new words.

Sight Words in Text: Pause to point out sight words when reading

with your child.

Playing Online Learning Games: The first level of Red Apple Reading,

for example, teaches the first 100 words from Fry’s word list, in

combination with beginning phonics skills.

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