| The learning objectives for improving reading skills | | | | organizers to identify the main themes of a text |
| are general learning strategies that students | | | | - distinguishing between general and specific ideas |
| develop as they perform various tasks and | | | | - recognizing connectors |
| activities--from pre-, while-, post-reading. They are | | | | - recognizing lexical clues (reference words) |
| all intentionally structured to broaden the students' | | | | - making conclusions and drawing inferences |
| background, knowledge and skills, and may also to | | | | What Teachers Need to Know about |
| be helpful with other subjects as well, (hopefully!) | | | | While-Reading Strategies |
| Many of the same strategies are "re-entered" via | | | | While-reading strategies are challenging and |
| different activities allowing students to practice | | | | sometimes difficult to teach because different |
| using them with different texts. | | | | students need different strategies. Also, not all |
| While Reading Strategies Help Improve | | | | students are properly taught these strategies in |
| Understand the Deeper Layers of a TextThese | | | | their native language. |
| strategies help ESL students cope with | | | | Questions for Teachers to Think About |
| problematic and grayer areas of the text such as | | | | - Identify those strategies that you currently use, |
| identifying the main ideas of a text, identifying | | | | activities that help teach your students, and new |
| cause and effect as well as fact and opinion, | | | | ones that you think would be beneficial. |
| which are also difficult for them to do in their first | | | | - Identify your approach to while-reading activities |
| language. While reading activities include: | | | | in the classroom. |
| - guessing word meanings by using contextual | | | | - Identify those strategies you already use. |
| clues, word formation clues or cognates | | | | - Identify those strategies you would like to try |
| - scanning or skimming for specific pieces of | | | | and incorporate in the classroom. |
| information | | | | - Identify your concerns regarding while-reading |
| - predicting text content | | | | strategies. What are the rewards that students |
| - identifying topic sentences that contain the main | | | | and teachers can gain while using them? |
| idea of the paragraph | | | | - Identify some of the problems and difficulties |
| - using visual and sensory images such as graphic | | | | you may face while teaching them. |