Readers with original and engaging stories are a great way to get students interested in learning a language, without even realising it. Sue Leather, author of several Cambridge English Readers, explores some ideas for activities using readers in class.
What’s in a story?… Incredible potential for creative learning and teaching. Getting students involved in the story, and only then ‘teaching them language’ secondary to this, is a very effective way to develop learners’ reading skills. It can be challenging however to get your students into reading in the first place.
Here are 4 ideas to get your learners excited to read
1. One way of getting students involved in the story is to read a part of the first chapter, and then ask them to work in pairs and answer some questions about the chapter set by the teacher in advance. For example, the first chapter of level 4 ‘thriller’ reader The Amsterdam Connection ends with a dead body. Reading the first chapter to them is a good way to whet the students’ appetite for what comes next! You could also play the rest of the reader using accompanying audio to give the students some variety.
2. Another way of getting students into a book is ‘choose and tell’. Students choose an original reader they like the look of. They then go back to their seats and tell their neighbour why they’ve chosen it. Was it the cover picture, the blurb on the back, the colours…? This can then be extended by getting your students to look at the chapter headings in a reader and come up with alternative titles.
3. You could also try this speaking activity – ‘Why you should read this book’. Challenge the students to give a short, one-minute presentations on the book they’ve just read, trying to sell it to their classmates. In this case, less is more. Ask students to make it ‘short, snappy and memorable’.
4. You could also use role play, getting students to ask questions to a character within the story. Using the reader ‘Death in the Dojo’ as an example, you could dramatise the part where the protagonist, Kate, is lying on the floor injured. Take the part of Kate, lie on the floor and groan, while students try to find out as much as possible about the story by asking you questions.
For more lesson plans and ideas for teaching using readers, why not visit the resources sections for Cambridge English Readers, Cambridge Experience Readers and Cambridge Discovery Education Interactive Readers.