Managing and running a low level Extensive Reading program

Rob Waring Notre Dame Seishin University

Why do ER programs fail?

  • The ER program is not part of the curriculum
  • Practitioners don’t feel involved or committed to it
  • Poor planning and poor aims
  • Reduction in enthusiasm over time
  • ER is forced on the students when they are not psychologically ready for it
  • Inappropriate materials (too many high level books)
  • The ER program is inflexible to changes
  • Poor introduction

Therefore, the program should

  • be part of the curriculum (required reading at first) i.e. it should be taken seriously
  • be well planned
  • should have built-in flexibility to be adaptable for future changes.
  • be balanced with other aspects of language acquisition
  • make sure everyone is involved
  • have clear aims and a vision
  • have a wide variety of interesting materials at the right levels - not only graded readers but also other simplified materials
  • have systems in place for cataloging, labeling, checking out, recording and returning the reading materials
  • have goals that set out how much reading should be done and by when
  • show teachers, parents and the administration that you take ER seriously
  • have targets of both learner and program attainment that clearly show the success of the program
  • be bigger and more resilient than one teacher and have sufficient support so that it will continue indefinitely
  • it should be able to survive:-
  • lost or mislaid materials
  • insufficient resources to maintain a library
  • teaching and financial resources being moved to other projects
  • a general lessening in enthusiasm after the highs of the ‘big start’

What will the program do?

It will …….

  • raise the learners’ reading ability and general English levels
  • have knock-on effects on their writing skills, spelling, grammar and speaking
  • motivate the learners to read, and learn from their reading

Planning

  • “think big, act small” (Hill, 1997)
  • You will need funding (and follow-up funding)
  • Eventually you will need 3-4 books per learner but 1-2 is ok as a start
  • Encourage learners to help build the ER stock
  • Use the school library to keep the books, If not available, then the book management systems should be simple and transparent
  • Make a grading scheme so that materials can be graded by difficulty (and age appropriacy)
  • Use a 6 to 8 level scheme (colours) going from the easiest materials to the more difficult.
  • Each book can then be numbered and coded by its level and book number (e.g. G4070 G = Green level, 4 = biographies, and 070 is the book number).
  • There is probably no need to put them in author or book number order.
  • Organize the book borrowing record system.

Example book borrowing sheets

Name / April 1 / April 8 / April 15 / April 22
Akiyo Nagai / G5345 / G2453 / G3232
Bert Nuefelt / Y1785 / Y2121 / Y2778
Shu Wei / P2352 / P2099 / G6435
Carlos Sanchez / 543 / 547 / 444

Figure 1. A simple checkout sheet for a single class.

Name
Akiyo Nagai / Number … 032012
Title / Book number / Date borrowed / Date returned
Alice in Wonderland / G5345 / April 13 / April 16
The green eye / Y1785 / April 16

Figure 2. A checkout sheet for a single learner.

Introducing ER

Explain to the learners the need for ER (Not doing this well is the leading cause of failure of ER programs). There are two things to focus on a) slow and easy and b) slow and easy

Start with class reading.

Choose a book that even the lowest ability student in your class can deal with.Buy a class set of this Reader for everyone (or they can share).

Day 1. In the last ten minutes of a class show the book to the students and tell them you’ll read it with them (or they can listen to the book’s CD). Read a few pages together. Stop at the end of a few pages and they close the book. Ask what is happening, what do they think will happen next? Etc. DON’T GIVE THEM A TEST! Make the reading low key with a focus on enjoyment and fluency. Take in the books.

Day 2. Remind them of the story in the previous class. Hand out the books, and read on a few pages. Stop them just before an exciting event. They close the books and check they understand and guess what happens next. Take back the books.

Day 3. Remind them of the story and finish the book. Ask what they thought of the story and this type of reading. DON’T GIVE THEM A TEST!

From Day 4 for about 10 classes. Repeat with a second or more books until they feel comfortable with this reading. Each new book should be a little more difficult than the previous one.

Move onto Individualized reading

When you feel they are getting used to the non-threatening nature of the reading, it’s time to introduce them to individualized reading.

  1. Put out a selection of books on a front table for them to look at. ONLY PUT OUT EASY BOOKS because if they see difficult books, they will react against them.
  2. They choose one that are interested in and find their comfortable reading level. They read the first 2-3 pages of a book they like and answer the following questions
  • Do they need to use a dictionary? (Yes –> get an easier book. No ->it’s the right level.)
  • Do they understand it? (Yes –>it’s the right level. No -> easier book)
  • Can they read quickly?(Yes –>it’s the right level. No -> easier book)
  • Does it look fun to read? (Yes –>great. No -> a more fun book)
  1. Check out the book.
  2. They read silently in a Quiet Reading Time. (You can put up a notice on the board to ask for complete silence- “Quiet! People are having fun!”)
  3. Teacher monitors their reading by going around asking quietly ‘Is the level ok?’ ‘Is it easy for you?’ ‘Is it enjoyable?’ ‘Do you understand it?’ etc.
  4. They can take it home to finish it and be told when to return / finish it. For their first book, give them a couple of weeks or so and give them more silent reading time in class – maybe the last 10 minutes of each class.
  5. At first don’t ask them to write a short report on the book because that will make them react negatively against the reading. You can check they understand in other ways. For example, they can tell their friends about a) the story b) what they thought of it.
  6. They return the book to a ‘drop box’. Learners help to check the books off the sheet. Then the books are returned to the library / stock.
  7. They choose another book. The cycle continues.
  8. Learners can be graded on ….
  • the number of books read
  • the quality of the reports – if you decide to ask them to do it
  • their improvement in reading ability.

Example Book report – beginners – fill in the blanks

Name ______Title______Date ______
This book was a) fun b) ok c) boring
This book was a) easy b) ok c) difficult
This book is about ______
My favorite character was ______
I didn’t like ______
I thought this book was ______
Etc.

Example Book report – higher levels – one’s own writing

Name ______Title______Date ______
Retell the story in 100-200 words
Write 100-200 words about your impression of the book.

The learners also need to know:-

  • the goals of the ER program
  • when they have to return books;
  • how much they need to read either by number of books or page targets (a book a week at their level)
  • how many books they can borrow
  • how their reading will be evaluated (if at all)
  • when they have access to the library
  • whether they have to do follow up exercises or write reports etc.

Finally, you will need to know how to assess the learners and their reading and find ways to determine how the program is meeting its goals