Laura, a beginning teacher, writes: "I would love to use some of your books and start some FVR, How do I do that if the school doesn't have extra money to buy books for FVR and books to read together?" Good question, and one that I get asked a [...]
I will be a guest lecturer at Kansas State University on April 3. Topic will be Effective L2 Reading Strategies. If you're in the area, let me or Miki Loschky, Ph.D., know.
My students have had success with Focused Reading Book Reports. These are not your typical summary book reports. They each have a specific point for students to concentrate on as they think about the book. Download these forms for free and try them out with some of your students. [...]
(This article was originally published in the International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching (IJFLT), Summer, 2005 edition under the title Another Win for Harry Potter: More Evidence of the Value of Free Reading. I'm still learning from this kid.) Here is the article in a pdf format. Have you [...]
Language is more than mere vocabulary and grammar. Authentic cultural stories like this one can help students to communicate. Students need to know the background information that these kinds of stories provide to understand the metaphor-laden speech and imagery that every native speaker uses all the time—up to six [...]
(This is a excerpt from my book and workshop: Hi-Impact Reading Strategies: How to Accelerate Fluency and Proficiency with Reading. Get the book in hard copy here and the eBook here.) When designing your Independent Reading Program this year, consider this. An interesting experiment is described in the book [...]