I packed my suitcase full of books before boarding the plane to Cambodia. The books ranged from Dr Seuss to chapter books with few pictures. Interestingly enough, the two books I used most often were the ones I had been most reluctant to pack: Dick and Jane.
What makes for a good ESL/teaching abroad book for students to practice reading? Below are the criteria I found to be most helpful for my beginning readers, and why the most boring books of my childhood were the most useful in teaching my Khmer students.
What makes for a good ESL/teaching abroad book for students to practice reading? Below are the criteria I found to be most helpful for my beginning readers, and why the most boring books of my childhood were the most useful in teaching my Khmer students.
Text includes:
- simple words they will find in their textbook's vocabulary (mother, father as opposed to mom or daddy)
- repetitive words. I forced my kids to sound each word out on their own (if I was reading one-on-one). For the majority, the conversation went something like this: "What letter is this?" "P." "What sound does it make?" "p-p-p." "Good! What letter is this?" "L." "What sound does L make?" I'd slide my finger under both letters until they managed to put the two together, and so on. Eventually, the child spelled out "play". By the time the word showed up again on the next page, the child had forgotten and had to sound it out again. By the third time, though, he or she was getting faster.
- words the child can sound out. Avoid words like "though", which contradict what they have learned so far. After all, it should read "thou-guh-huh", according to what you told them in class!
Pictures:
- familiar to the child. Do not choose books that illustrate a world the child has never experienced to teach a child to read. If the pictures have no meaning for the child, the text is not likely to either.
- illustrate what the text is saying. You can then point to the picture if a word's meaning is unclear. The child can also guess the word's meaning by the picture's context when reading on their own.
- simple words they will find in their textbook's vocabulary (mother, father as opposed to mom or daddy)
- repetitive words. I forced my kids to sound each word out on their own (if I was reading one-on-one). For the majority, the conversation went something like this: "What letter is this?" "P." "What sound does it make?" "p-p-p." "Good! What letter is this?" "L." "What sound does L make?" I'd slide my finger under both letters until they managed to put the two together, and so on. Eventually, the child spelled out "play". By the time the word showed up again on the next page, the child had forgotten and had to sound it out again. By the third time, though, he or she was getting faster.
- words the child can sound out. Avoid words like "though", which contradict what they have learned so far. After all, it should read "thou-guh-huh", according to what you told them in class!
Pictures:
- familiar to the child. Do not choose books that illustrate a world the child has never experienced to teach a child to read. If the pictures have no meaning for the child, the text is not likely to either.
- illustrate what the text is saying. You can then point to the picture if a word's meaning is unclear. The child can also guess the word's meaning by the picture's context when reading on their own.
Books I learned to avoid:
- Most Dr Seuss: while great for native-speaking English kids, the nonsense words and crazy illustrations confuse ESL kids.
- Books that illustrate a lot of wealth, depending on your audience. The two Dick and Jane books I had showed very little of the family's possessions. It didn't show their house and only a few toys or furniture at a time. Wealth is both foreign to the majority of students in developing countries, and in part "unattainable". A similar caution would be using books with only Caucasian characters. In many countries, such as Cambodia, pale skin is admired and envied. I appreciated books that show that dark skin is beautiful too.
- Science fiction, fantasy, etc. until the student is at an advanced ESL level. Even historical fiction may not be appropriate before the child can read well enough to focus on the story rather than the actual reading. The exception may be if the child reads these genres regularly in his or her own language(s).