PROCEDURES

What teachers should do to help students learn reading strategies:

• Teachers should model the process aloud: report as they go through the different stages of the reading process.
• Teachers should use certain teaching techniques to facilitate reading:  e.g. games: jump reading, pace reading, graphic organizers, jigsaw reading.
• Students need to read in class, and have enough time for discussing reading strategies with teacher and peers.
• Students should be encouraged to talk about strategies: mention the ones that can be used and those that they actually use.
• Teachers should promote the development of  reading habits.
• Students should be able to identify the purpose of reading in order to choose the reading strategies they need to use.
• The best way to foster the sustained use of strategies is by planning  pre-, while, and post reading activities.  The less independent students are, the more important pre-reading activities become.
• Pre-reading:  in order to prepare students for what they are going to read as a way to expose them to new vocabulary and see what the text is about
• While-reading: to help students understand the text.
• Post-reading: to connect their ideas/life with what they have read.

 Pre-reading actions:

• Assess students' background knowledge of the topic
• Activate students background knowledge.
• Teach key vocabulary.
• Help students identify the purpose of reading
• Guide students to get the gist of the topic

Sample pre-reading activities:

• Have a look at the title, headlines, subheadings and paragraphs to predict what the text may be about.
• Pay attention to images(pictures, graphics,  maps) that may add meaning to the text to activate background knowledge.
• Review and/or pre-teach key words whose meaning is critical to understanding.
• Brainstorm ideas connected to topic.
• Make associations
• Create questions about the topic
• Write before reading, then read to confirm.

While-reading activities

• Read instructions carefully
• Underline, highlight, circle unknown words.
• Use a dictionary.
• Organize information using semantic maps, graphic organizers
• Take notes
• Ask for clarification
• Try to answer questions asked before starting reading
• Reread, as many times as necessary.
• Order  lines or paragraphs
• Insert headlines or lines
• Scan for some items of information
• Skim for general idea/global understanding (gist)
• Complete sentences
• Identifying cognates
• Answer  questions.
• Decide true or false.
• Find the evidence.
• Find which concept is not mentioned.
• Find information that is not true
• Choose the correct image

Post-reading activities

• Discuss what was interesting
• Summarize the text
• Write a different ending
• Create a character poster