Readers

Stephen Krashen claims that 'when second language learners read for pleasure, they can continue to improve in the second language without classes, without teachers, without study and even without people to converse with' (Krashen 1993). But how can we get our elementary students to read for pleasure?

I think one of the main issues about reading and elementary students is that of confidence. They think 'I couldn't possibly read a book in English' or 'I haven't got enough grammar, enough vocabulary...' Unfortunately, we teachers sometimes think that too. We also tend to equate ÔsimpleÕ with 'boring'. What if a book was so clear, so simple and so exciting, that students could just pick it up and read it?

It's this aspect of stories which has the power to 'hook' your students, keep them reading and keep them learning.

Here is a short extract from my Level 1 reader The Big Picture. Vocabulary items, such as 'locker', have already been introduced in pictures. My hero, Japanese photographer Ken Harada, has been kidnapped.

The car stopped and the fat man pushed me out. I didn't know where I was. I couldn't hear the city. Now I was very afraid.
'You're not going to kill me, are you?' I asked.
The fat man said, 'No noise, OK?' He pushed me into a house. It was cold. Then the fat man looked in my jacket. 'Where's the film?' he asked.
'What film?' I asked.
'Ah!' he said. 'What's this?' He found the key. The key for the locker at Tokyo Station. I didn't speak. Then he smiled.
'I know what this is,' he said. 'It's a key for a Left Luggage locker in Tokyo Station. Tell me the number now, or you're dead.'

'It's number 42,' I said. The fat man put something over my mouth. I couldn't speak. He tied my arms to the chair with ropes. I couldn't move. Then he left me.

You can see that the language is simple but exciting; it has the elements of a real story.

Our elementary students could read this and enjoy it, but how do we get them into the story in the first place? Building their confidence is crucial. I have a number of activities that I use to entice students into reading. One that I tried recently was playing the audio cassette of the first chapter of Just Like a Movie, my other Level 1 reader. I gave the students two or three focus questions before listening. The cassettes are very well read and offer a variety of voices, and the students really enjoyed listening to them.

My third way is for teachers to get their students into extensive reading with some well-chosen activities.

Just Like a Movie is a thriller set in Toronto, with the first chapter ending on an interesting note. I always find that if there's a good 'hook' at the end of the first chapter, it's actually very hard to get students to stop picking up the book and reading. After listening, I gave them the question: 'What happens next?' and asked them to come up with three ideas with their partner.

Here are some more 'enticers':

1. If I have an assortment of readers, I often use 'choose and tell'. This involves the students coming to a desk at the side of the room and choosing a reader that they like the look of. Then they go back to their seats and look at the front cover, the blurb on the back, the pictures inside and the first page. Then they tell their partner why they chose it. Was it the cover picture, the pictures inside, the colours?

2. Matching titles with the descriptions from the backs of readers. Can you match the titles and 'descriptions' of these Level 1 readers?

• John Doe
• Just like a Movie
• The Big Picture
• Help!

• Brad Black goes to the movies every weekend with his girlfriend, Gina. They are happy, but they have no money. Then Brad has an idea and thinks that real life can be like the movies - and that's when things go wrong.

• Frank Wormold is a writer. He doesn't have much money and his wife is unhappy. To help him finish one of his stories he starts to use a computer. But the computer gives him more help than he wants. Then he really needs 'help'!

• The man they call John Doe lies in a hospital bed. He watches and thinks but says nothing. The doctor wants to know who he is. But John Doe doesn't answer his questions. Then, after John Doe leaves hospital, the doctor finds out more about him than just his real name.

• Tokyo. Ken Harada takes photos for newspapers. But life gets dangerous when Ken takes a photo of a sumo star. Someone wants the photo badly. But who? And why? You can make this activity a little more dynamic by giving half the students a title and the other half a description. Each student has to find his or her 'other half' as quickly as possible. After the matching exercise, ask students to choose which reader they'd like to read.

To sum up, there are three simple things you can do to help your elementary students enjoy extensive reading:

• Firstly, believe that you can do a lot with very little language.

• Secondly, choose interesting and exciting stories that will 'hook' your students.

• Thirdly, take the time to 'entice' your students into a story with an activity. This will give them confidence and increase their motivation to read!

Krashen, S 1993 The Power of Reading Eaglewood Colorado: Libraries Unlimited