Developing reading skill in a competence based curriculum

Imagine what your life would be like if you didn‘t know how to read. Approximately only 80% of the
world‘s population is reported to be able to read (Grabe & Stoller, 2002).

Reading is a fundamental skill for learners, not just for

learning but for life (Traves 1994) with reading being defined
as ―…the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and
interpret this information appropriately.

"Reading" is the process of looking at a series of written

symbols and getting meaning from them. When we read, we
use our eyes to receive written symbols (letters, punctuation
marks and spaces) and we use our brain to convert them into
words, sentences and paragraphs that communicate
something to us.

Reading can be silent (in our head) or aloud (so that other people can hear).
Reading is a receptive skill - through it, we receive information. But the complex process of reading also requires
the skill of speaking, so that we can pronounce the words that we read. In this sense, reading is also a productive
skill in that we are both receiving information and transmitting it (even if only to ourselves).
Do we need to read in order to speak English? The short answer is no. Some native speakers cannot read or write
but they speak English fluently. On the other hand, reading is something that you can do on your own and that
greatly broadens your vocabulary, thus helping you in speaking (and in listening and writing). Reading is
therefore a highly valuable skill and activity, and it is recommended that English learners try to read as much as
possible in English.

Why we need to develop reading skills?

L1 literacy leads to L2 literacy development awareness. Reading itself builds on oral language levels and
key factors that influence (L2) reading skill development include the ability to comprehend and use both listening
and speaking skills because you need to:

• Hear a word before you can say it.

• Say a word before you can read it.
• Read a word before you can write it. (Linse 2005)

What this tells us is that young learners need a firm foundation in auditory and oracy skills before they
can become proficient readers and writers of ANY language. Learning to read and then to write means the young
learner has to link what they have heard or spoken to what they can see (read) and produce (write).

Beginning reading: learning letters

Especially if the children‘s own language has a different alphabet it is important that they become familiar with
the shapes of letters and can begin manipulating them. The following holistic (they require using the body and
space rather than pencil and paper) activities help to give children a strong imprint of the shape of letters in their
mind‘s eye.

Body letters
Ask children to make themselves into the shape of given letters ‗make yourself an ‗s‘ etc‘. Children contort their
bodies into what they think the letter looks like.
You can model this easily by showing them an ‗x‘ by standing with your feet apart and your arms in the air and
wide apart. Or you can show a ‗T‘ by standing with your feet together and your arms stretched out to the sides.
Or ask children to make a letter and the whole class has to try to recognize what the letter is.

Tracing letters
Ask students to shut their eyes and with your finger trace a letter on their hand or back. They must tell you what
this is. They can play the game in pairs. There may be giggles from the ticklish in the class, but the activity
requires them to ‗see‘ the letter in their mind‘s eye and it‘s great fun, too.
Air writing
Before writing letters on paper, get all the students to stand up and you stand at the front of the class with your
back to them. Using your writing hand draw a big letter in the air saying its sound at the same time. Get the
students to copy you, moving their arms to form the letter in the air.

Letter sculptures
Give out plasticine (soft modelling clay) to all the children (half-cooked spaghetti works too, but is messier). Ask
the children to make certain letters (or words). They have to concentrate on the shape of the letter and its
proportions.
The children can choose their own letter and make a big one out of plasticine or card, then stick it on a large
piece of card. Give out magazines and newspapers and let the children look and find either words or pictures of
things that begin with the same letter. They cut these out and create a collage with their big letter. Decorate the
classroom with these posters.

Beginning reading: introducing letters

Before introducing letters, consider how children learn their mother tongue.

Foundations - The sound system of English

Begin by teaching children to recognise, understand and produce the spoken word through games, songs and
stories. Allow them to hear plenty of English from you, so try to maximise your English and minimise Mother
Tongue in the classroom (you can also use videos, tapes, songs etc) so they become accustomed to the sounds of
English. Encourage them to speak English by repeating you, joining in chants and songs and responding to
simple questions. This foundation is vital to make meaningful links to the sound system of English. Learning
sounds and letters without understanding any words is a purely mechanical and potentially off-putting experience
for them. Young children will quickly learn English words if you introduce them with a picture that clearly
shows the meaning or you can point to the object in the classroom e.g. chair, door, window.

Introducing letters
It is possible to introduce letters after only a few hours of English classes as long as the children have already
been introduced to English vocabulary – they understand the meaning of words and are able to recognise the
word when it is spoken. Doing a little regularly and incorporating reading and writing into every lesson is a good
idea. It gives the lesson variety and students are not overloaded.

Some suggestions for introducing letters

A TPR (Total Physical Response) action game.

Call out action words like swim, jump and hop while doing the actions and get the children to copy the actions
moving around the classroom as they are listening to the words. This type of activity ensures that children are
learning/practising the words meaningfully and by being physically involved they are enjoying the game which
makes the words more memorable. Getting children to move around in the lesson helps them to use up the
energy they have or energise and focus them if they are sluggish or distracted.

Revise new language from previous lesson e.g. children have to point at appropriate objects in the room as you
call out the names. Children do pick up new words quickly, but they also forget quickly, so it‘s a good idea to
keep revising and recycling vocabulary. When they are able to remember the words, they will feel a sense of
success and be motivated to learn more.

Introduce 7 letters phonically (explained below).

Practise the new letters along with others they have already learnt.
Introduce a new song or chant and practise. Or introduce new vocabulary and practise. It is possible to have a lot
of input in every lesson. Don‘t underestimate what children can learn and give them plenty of opportunities to
pick up new language.

Story: This is a great way to practise and/or introduce language meaningfully. See previous webpage on using
stories with juniors for more ideas.

A quiet game/task based on the story - drawing and colouring in. Allow for quiet activities to allow children
to process the language, have a rest, and for you to monitor them and have one-to-one dialogues with them about
what they are doing. For example if they are drawing a picture which includes target vocabulary of animals, you
can say
‗that‘s a lovely blue tiger or ‗what a funny dog‘ etc: allowing them to hear the target language in a personalised
context.
Phonic approach
A phonic approach is far more useful initially than learning the names of the letters.
‗Knowing‘ the alphabet, as in reciting the names of the letters in the correct order, is not useful if the children
aren‘t able to match the sound with the written letter.

Phonics lesson
Prepare 26 flash cards, each one with a letter of the alphabet in lower case (it is also possible to buy ready-made
letter flashcards, as well as cards that show common letter combinations such as ‗ow‘, ‗ee‘, ‗ea‘ etc).
Show the letters one at a time (not all at once, introduce around 7 each time) and say the sound the letter makes.
For the letter ‗c‘ use the ‗k‘ sound as this will be more useful initially.Let the children hear the sound and
encourage them to repeat it.

Practise:
Hold up a letter and ask ‗Is this a /b/?‘ or ‗What is this?'.
Pin the letters on the board and ask children to run up one at a time and ‗slap‘ the letter you call out (phonically).
Ask the children if they know any words that begin with this sound. This is great for using what they already
know and making the strong connection between words, letters and sounds.

Beginning reading: recognition games

Games are motivating and help make language memorable, so try to think of lots of fun ways to practise the new
letters and sounds that you are introducing to the children.

Run and point

Pin up the letters that you have introduced to the class so far on the walls around the classroom at a height the
children can reach. Nominate one student and say ‗Juan, run and point to /s/‘. The child must look around and
find the correct letter and run up to it and touch it or point to it. (Model the activity so that the children are clear
about what they have to do).
You could then turn this into a race. Divide the class into two groups. They stand in two lines at the front of the
class or down the centre of the room (it‘s great if you can move furniture to the sides of the room). The children
at the front of each line are the runners. You say the sound of the letter and the one to reach and touch it first is
the winner. They then go to the back of the line and the next two children are the runners for the next letter. It is
fine if other children in the team help the runner – it‘s not a test but a means of helping children learn the sound-
letter link.

What begins with /b/?

Ask the question with all the letters the children have been introduced to. They can tell you any words they know
that begin with that sound. This is great for them to make their own connections between the letter and the
sound. You may be surprised at how many words they know – even ones you haven‘t introduced in class.

Hold up the letter

Get the children to make cards with the letters they know. Call out a sound and the children have to hold up the
corresponding letter. This game allows all the children to join in and to focus on processing the sound-letter link
without having to produce any language.

Recognising the letters

Produce handouts like this:
n hnm
o aodg

Children have to recognise which is the same letter and simply circle it or maybe colour over it. The letters are
actually very similar in shape, so it‘s important that children can differentiate between them.

Beginning reading: learning words

It is a short journey from letters to words. In order to introduce words, show pictures and words together and
sound out the phonics.

E.G. /c/ /a/ /t/ = cat

Move you finger under each letter as you sound it. Remember not all languages are written in the same direction.
Encourage the children to read with you.
Word building
Word tiles – get the children to make 26 letter tiles out of cardboard (old cereal boxes will do) by simply cutting
out small squares and writing each letter on them. a
Each child has their letters spread out in front of them. Call out a word they have learnt e.g. cat and the first one
to find the right tiles and put them in order must put their hand up. This encourages quick eye movement over the
letters, recognition and letter combining.

Races – for fun you could challenge the children working in pairs or threes (to encourage cooperation and peer
teaching) to make as many words as possible in a specified time.
As each child has their own letters, they can play with them at home or if they finish an activity early and see
how many words they can make. Later they can move into building short sentences.

Worksheets
You can produce easy worksheets like this:

What animal?

c_t

d_g

a_t

Children fill in the gaps. If you can add a picture of the word too: it will make it all the more meaningful.

atc = gdo = npe =

Children unjumble the letters to make the word. You could also do this on the board with children coming up and
doing the activity one at a time.

Word searches
These are good for children to recognise words within a jumble of other words. It makes them concentrate and
‗see‘ words on the page. Children have to circle or colour the ten key words in the grid.

Animals

Children have to find the ten animal words in the box. You can either give them the ten words at the bottom to
help them look. Or attach the pictures of the animals to the wordsearch.
BIRD, CAT, COW, DOG, ELEPHANT, FISH, LION, MOUSE, SNAKE, TIGER
Crosswords
Children look at the picture, have to remember the English word and then have to write the word – spelling
correctly – to fit it into the crossword. This worksheet is also a good record of vocabulary for them to keep and
refer to.