A double-whammy this week, as my usual Saturday blog
coincides with my posting day over at Do Authors Dream of Electric Books - the 25th of the month.
So, over there I'm posting about the reading scheme, Stories4Learning.
Below I post an interview with Dr David Rose, who set out to help the children routinely dismissed as 'not academic' - the children who reach Secondary School with poor literacy skills. Their education more or less comes to a halt, and their opportunities in life become very limited.
As Dr Rose puts it, 'In primary school you learn to read. In secondary school, (and after) you read to learn.'
Much of the groundwork for learning to read is actually laid before a child ever gets near a school. If a child is talked to by its family and told stories, if it's shown picture books and read stories - then that child will begin school with a larger vocabulary, a greater ability to listen to and understand instructions, a familiarity with books and stories.
This gives them a huge advantage over a child who isn't talked to as much, who isn't read or told stories.
And that's without even considering the children who speak a different language at home, but are taught in English.
If, because of this early handicap, you are slower to read than others in your class, that's humiliating. You may retreat from this and protect yourself by taking the stance that reading is 'stupid', or that you are not clever enough, and so might as well not bother.
If you find reading so slow and difficult that most of your energy is spent in simply figuring out what the signs on the page are, rather than understanding the information they convey, then reading is going to seem, even more, a pointless and frustrating activity, which you avoid whenever possible.
How much you will then miss! - Not only simple information, and entertainment, but insight into the motivations and emotions of others.
But I'll shut up, and let Dr. Rose speak for himself. (The video is about 8 minutes long.)
One of the great advantages of this form of learning languages - whether written or spoken, your own or a foreign language - is that it can be used for any age-group, at any level.
It also simultaneously teaches a subject and improves reading. For instance, if the subject you're teaching is geography, you take a short text from the geography lesson, and go through the stages of examining the text in detail, taking it apart and reconstructing it. The students not only improve their reading ability - they end by knowing the content of the text better too.
The text you use in class could just as well be about football, or ponies, or whatever else will interest the students.
Dr Rose has data from many schools, which demonstrate that the more able students continue to improve - but the 'less academic' students improve more, and improve faster. The method 'ladders' the weaker students up to a more equal standing with the best students.
Here, some of the teachers who use the Reading To Learn method in New South Wales, talk about it. (This video is about 3 minutes.)
And fare thee well...
 |
| Scherezade telling stories for learning: Art work copyright Andrew Price |
So, over there I'm posting about the reading scheme, Stories4Learning.
Below I post an interview with Dr David Rose, who set out to help the children routinely dismissed as 'not academic' - the children who reach Secondary School with poor literacy skills. Their education more or less comes to a halt, and their opportunities in life become very limited.
As Dr Rose puts it, 'In primary school you learn to read. In secondary school, (and after) you read to learn.'
Much of the groundwork for learning to read is actually laid before a child ever gets near a school. If a child is talked to by its family and told stories, if it's shown picture books and read stories - then that child will begin school with a larger vocabulary, a greater ability to listen to and understand instructions, a familiarity with books and stories.
This gives them a huge advantage over a child who isn't talked to as much, who isn't read or told stories.
And that's without even considering the children who speak a different language at home, but are taught in English.
If, because of this early handicap, you are slower to read than others in your class, that's humiliating. You may retreat from this and protect yourself by taking the stance that reading is 'stupid', or that you are not clever enough, and so might as well not bother.
If you find reading so slow and difficult that most of your energy is spent in simply figuring out what the signs on the page are, rather than understanding the information they convey, then reading is going to seem, even more, a pointless and frustrating activity, which you avoid whenever possible.
How much you will then miss! - Not only simple information, and entertainment, but insight into the motivations and emotions of others.
But I'll shut up, and let Dr. Rose speak for himself. (The video is about 8 minutes long.)
One of the great advantages of this form of learning languages - whether written or spoken, your own or a foreign language - is that it can be used for any age-group, at any level.
It also simultaneously teaches a subject and improves reading. For instance, if the subject you're teaching is geography, you take a short text from the geography lesson, and go through the stages of examining the text in detail, taking it apart and reconstructing it. The students not only improve their reading ability - they end by knowing the content of the text better too.
The text you use in class could just as well be about football, or ponies, or whatever else will interest the students.
Dr Rose has data from many schools, which demonstrate that the more able students continue to improve - but the 'less academic' students improve more, and improve faster. The method 'ladders' the weaker students up to a more equal standing with the best students.
Here, some of the teachers who use the Reading To Learn method in New South Wales, talk about it. (This video is about 3 minutes.)
Follow this link to the Authors Electric blog, and you can read about the Stories4Learning site, which I am developing with Alan Hess, a special needs teacher who lives and works in Switzerland.
And fare thee well...
 |
| Puss in Boots bows out - Artwork copyright Andrew Price |
