Webinar for TESOL EVO 2017 - Techno CLIL

1. Extensive Reading in the CLIL Class
Malu Sciamarelli
Techno-CLIL for TESOL EVO
2 February 2017

2. Formats of CLIL (Clegg, 2009)

3. What is Extensive Reading?
• Reading large quantities of text at an appropriate level of
difficulty as an effective way of acquiring a foreign language.
(Alan Maley)
• It is widely regarded as the single most effective way of acquiring
and maintaining a foreign language. (Day and Bamford)

4. Intensive Reading x Extensive Reading
INTENSIVE READING EXTENSIVE READING
Why? Language focus Fluency focus: acquiring a
foreign language
Amount? Very little A lot
Difficulty? Hard Easy
Who selects? Teacher Students
What? Text books Books at the right level
Where? In class In class first / home reading
Comprehension check? With exercises Not always necessary

5. Source: The Extensive Reading Foundation’s Guide to Extensive Reading

6. Source: The Extensive Reading Foundation’s Guide to Extensive Reading

7. Types of Extensive Reading Materials
• Graded readers: simplified / adapted editions of originals
• Graded readers: original stories
• Simple L1 reading materials: readers used to teach reading to L1 students;
unsimplified materials; other authentic, unsimplified, L1 reading matter
(magazines or periodicals)
• Student- or teacher-generated texts
• e-publications
• Online reading materials
Source: Extensive Reading: Maid in Waiting, Alan Maley

8. Practical Ideas:
before introducing Extensive Reading
Source: Extensive Reading Activities for Teaching Language

9. 1. Personal Reading Stories
• LEVEL: any
• AIM: to develop students’ awareness of the role of reading in their lives
• PREPARATION: discussion questions
• PROCEDURE:
• Introduce the discussion questions
• Focus on L1 or L2 reading, depending on your teaching contexts and
aims
• Model the activity by answering some questions from your own
experience
• Put the students in small groups to discuss the questions

10. Discussion questions:
• What are your first memories of reading?
• Did anyone read to you? If so, who? If not, why was that?
• What kinds of things did they read?
• Where did this reading take place? Were others involved?
• What kinds of things did you enjoy reading most?
• Do you still enjoy reading these kinds of things today? If not, how has your
reading changed?
• Which author or types of reading have been most important to you?
• What role does reading play in your life (e.g. as a parent, for work, pleasure,
etc)

11. 2. Reading and You
• LEVEL: any
• AIMS: to develop students examine their general reading habits and
attitudes, as well as their feeling about reading in L2; to give teachers
insights into students’ reading preferences and their attitudes toward
reading in L2 for enjoyment and learning.
• PREPARATION: questionnaire handout
• PROCEDURE:
• give one questionnaire per student
• When they have done, put students in small groups and give them time
to share their answers in no particular order
• After the group work, elicit answers from the whole class
• Collect the questionnaire for later perusal

12. Questionnaire:
• How much time do you think you spend reading in an average week?
• What kinds of things do you usually read?
• What is your favourite magazine / newspaper / book? Why?
• Who is your favourite writer? Why?
• Do you enjoy reading? Why / why not?
• What is the most interesting thing you have read about recently?
• Do you enjoy reading in English? Why / why not?
• If you could easily read anything in English, what would you like to read?
• Do you think reading in English helps your English ability?
• If yes, how? In what way? If no, why not?

13. 3. Getting Acquainted
• LEVEL: any
• AIMS: to get to students to know each other and to share ideas about
teaching
• PREPARATION: questions about reading handout
• PROCEDURE:
• give each student a handout
• Put them in pairs to ask the questions to each other
• After the group work, elicit answers from the whole class

14. Questions about reading:
• How much do you like reading in your first language?
• How much do you like reading in English?
• What difficulties do you have with reading in English?
• How much time do you spend each week reading for pleasure?
• What makes a book a good book?
• What kinds of books do you enjoy?
• Tell about a good book you have read recently.
• What is the best book you have read in English?

15. Practical Ideas:
introducing Extensive Reading
Source: The Extensive Reading Foundation’s Guide to Extensive Reading

16. 1. Whole Class Reading
• It models ER by asking students to do some reading as a class so they
get used to the idea of reading a longer text.
• LEVEL: any
• AIM: to make the reading easy and focus on enjoyment and quick
reading so you can later contrast it with the more difficult reading
they are probably doing in their textbook.
• PREPARATION: one very easy book for every two students.
• PROCEDURE:
• Show the book to the students
• Read a few pages silently to a pre-set point .Close their books and give them to
you
• ‘Who are the characters?’ ‘Where does the story take place?’ ‘What is
happening?’ ‘What will happen next?’
• Answer the questions with their partner. Then answer them as a class

17. • The following class: remind students of the story from the previous class.
They predict what will happen next
• Read a few more pages with them. Follow up with a few simple
questions
• Continue this for a few classes until the book is finished
• Explain the aim of this type of reading is not to study language but for
them to practice reading and build reading speed and the reason they
can do this is that it’s easy
• Repeat these steps with other books until the students get the idea of
easy reading

18. 2. Self-selected Reading
1.1. Student orientation:
• Emphasize that the textbook and the Extensive Reading should work
together
• Read for fun: put the language they learn in their textbook into practice

19. 1.2. Student’s first book:
• Selection of the easiest books from your library
• They can choose any book they want to read
• Once students have chosen a book, they read silently in a silent reading
time
• Go around the class quietly asking questions. ‘How is the book?’ ‘Is the
level OK?’ ‘Is it easy for you?’ ‘Is it enjoyable?’ ‘Do you understand it?’
and so on
• If it’s not suitable, allow them to change their book
• They can bring it to every class - silent reading time

20. 1.2. Out of class reading:
• Initially, this can be for a very short period, for example 20 minutes a
week
• Slowly increase the amount of reading each week
• Objective: one book a week

21. Evaluating Extensive Reading?
• As long as students are reading a book at their level, there is then no need
to test their comprehension
• Extensive Reading is not about testing
• It is about helping students to build their reading speed and fluency, and
become more confident readers in English

22. Projects
• Book reports, summaries, presentations and posters
• Re-tell the story in 4 minutes, then again to another person in 3 minutes and to a
3rd person in 2
• Game: key lines from the story and test them on who said them, or places they
visited
• Have a wall chart
• Keep a ‘reading log’
• How their story relates to their life (or not)

23. Projects – Writing
• Write a different ending to the story
• Make a short poem about the story, or from one character to another
• Draw a map of the places in the story and follow the route describing what
happened where
• Write about an imaginary day with one of the characters
• Write a letter / email to one of the characters

24. Advantages of ER
• It develops learner autonomy
• It provides Comprehensible Input
• It enhances general language competence
• It helps develop general, world knowledge
• It extends, consolidates and sustains vocabulary growth
• It feeds into improved writing
• It creates and sustains motivation to read more
Source: Extensive Reading: Maid in Waiting, Alan Maley

25. Further reading:
• Extensive reading: why it is good for our students… and for us, Alan Maley:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/extensive-reading-why-it-good-
our-students%E2%80%A6-us
• Extensive Reading and Language Learning – Oxford University Press Blog:
https://oupeltglobalblog.com/2017/01/11/extensive-reading-and-language-
learning/
• Science Has Great News for People Who Read Actual Books:
https://mic.com/articles/99408/science-has-great-news-for-people-who-
read-actual-books#.xi2hp3GZN

26. References:
• Bamford, J. & Day, R. D. (ed.) (2004), Extensive Reading Activities for Teaching
Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Clegg, J. (2009), ‘Education through a second language: conditions for success’ in
CLIL Conference Proceedings 2008, Norwich: Norwich Institute for Language
Education.
• Maley, A. (2008), ‘Extensive Reading: Maid in Waiting’ in Tomlinson, B. (ed)
English Language Learning Materials: a critical review. London/New York:
Continuum pp.133-56.
• The Extensive Reading Foundation’s Guide to Extensive Reading available at
http://erfoundation.org/ERF_Guide.pdf

27. Thank you!
The C Group
www.thecreativitygroup.weebly.com
email: creativity_group@yahoo.co.uk
Malu Sciamarelli
www.malusciamarelli.weebly.com
email: malusciamarelli@gmail.com