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Using these cues is one form of “strategy” we use when we take
meaning from text without actually “reading” it.
What are other strategies you use during the day when you need to read or write? • Write what they say on the board, saying each word as you write it. If necessary, prompt your learners by offering some examples, like: “reading” the subway schedule by looking at colored lines, etc. • Explain the following: These are good strategies, ones that everyone uses, and it’s good to have developed them. (For example, if I can’t understand a manual that explains how to do something on my computer, I get a coworker to read it through with me, step-by-step, as I try to follow it. I may have to read the steps out loud as I work on the computer. I have to use the pictures or diagrams to help me understand.) But what happens when you need to read something and these strategies don’t work well enough? Then what do you Understanding What Reading Is All About 11 NCSALL Teaching Materials do? (Prompt a few answers if they are stuck by offering examples like: use a cheat sheet, etc.) You are studying here because you want to improve your reading skills, which will expand the range of strategies you can use to meet reading demands. Note to Teacher To prepare learners for the homework, remind them of the reading items you brought in (toothpaste tube, permission slip, etc.). Then ask for a couple of volunteers to give an example of what they think they might bring in. Homework: • Have learners bring in text items from their daily lives (home, school, work) that they need to read or want to read. Ask them to bring in about three items each. Remind them of the things you have used as examples from your own life. • Ask learners to think about what strategies they use to understand what something says when they can’t completely read it. 3. Wrap up: • Review any new vocabulary words you have jotted down Note to Teacher on the newsprint. If you have more advanced learners who are comfortable with writing, you can suggest a writing activity instead of a paired oral activity for wrap-up. Have learners write the answers to the questions at left in their notebook. Collect the notebook, review their responses and questions, and give them your responses in writing as well, right in the notebook. This kind of “dialogue journal” provides another opportunity for reading. • Have learners copy the new words into their notebooks. • Give learners about five minutes to reflect on the lesson. Do this by grouping learners into pairs and having them ask each other: ⇒ Did you learn at least two new things from today’s class? ⇒ What were they? ⇒ Is there anything you still have questions about or aren’t clear about? If so, what? • Have one person from each pair summarize comments or questions back to the class. It is not necessary to identify who made the comments or asked the questions. • Answer any questions. 12 Understanding What Reading Is All About