Moving on with Reading: Essential Reading Skills for All Levels by Ruth Mitchell
Moving on with Reading concentrates on reading and comprehension while introducing new vocabulary. Lists of the most frequently used words from Levels 3-14, PM Readers are used, in active learning methods, giving students a sound base for early reading or learning English.
From the Author – Ruth Mitchell B. Teaching and Learning, Dip. TESSOL.:
I have experience in private tutoring, teaching in primary schools and in the ESOL Dept of a secondary school (9yrs). During the last 16 years, my passion for reading has seen me work concurrently at a high and low decile school as a Specialist Literacy and ESOL Teacher. I’ve taught many refugees for whom education has been a new experience and migrants from over 30 countries. The work created during these years has been published in four books which cover oral language, reading and spelling. During the last ten years I have also completed many in-depth assessments on children who have difficulty learning. The reports and recommendations from these have proved very useful to teachers, parents, and at Individual Education Plan meetings.
Who would use this programme?
This programme has been produced for use by teachers and educational assistants, who are working with individuals, withdrawal groups or class reading groups. Parents may also find it useful to reinforce their child’s sight words and comprehension. Students needing this programme are those who:
- Have learnt the first 20 sight words but continue to need intensive teaching
- Have a learning disability
- Have poor attention and/or memory
- Have special needs
- Have a non-English speaking background
- Are refugees with no educational background
How is this programme different to just using flash cards?
Reading is not reading unless the text has meaning for the reader. This programme endeavours to embed the required sight words into meaningful text. A story is followed by activities that promote comprehension in an effort to discourage the students from becoming word-readers with no understanding. Games are provided with each set of words to make learning of the words and revision fun.
STUDENT PROBLEMS:
Students needing intensive teaching …
Some students have poor visual memories and therefore need to have sight words specifically targeted. The structure of each unit means that there are many repetitions of these words throughout the unit. Supplementing this are a variety of games. The assessment chart allows the teacher to make frequent checks to make sure that previously learnt words are not forgotten. Some students have poor phonemic awareness (see page 12 for more detail). It is important to address this problem, but while doing this, a sight word learning approach will get the student started on the road to reading. For some students, once they have a knowledge of words, the related phonics have more meaning for them, making it easier to remember.
ESOL Students …
Each level in the book begins with a set of sentences which use the key words in the story that follows. Key nouns are illustrated next to the sentences so that ESOL students are not only learning sight words, but are increasing their vocabulary of things around them.
Age related problems …
Some students who arrive from another school, are years behind in their reading. This programme should help to fast-track these students into the higher levels without having to go through all the junior readers. If they are nearly heading off to intermediate or high school there simply is not the time to go through the normal acquisition processes.
Prior to Moving On With Reading
Moving on with Reading is the second of two books. The first book is Getting Started in Reading.
Author: Ruth Mitchell B. Teaching and Learning, Dip. TESSOL.
Extent: A4 Photocopiable Teacher Resource – 148 pages
Suitability: Early Years + [Levels 3-14 of PM Readers]
Published: 2015
ISBN: 9780908326129