Idea — On-screen reading habits differ from paper: readers skim more, follow links, and miss detail. Teaching reading online means teaching screen-specific strategies. Example — A student reading a Wikipedia article on a phone may…
Idea — Extensive reading programs give students access to large quantities of level-appropriate text to read independently, for pleasure, and without analysis. Example — Drop Everything And Read (DEAR): 10 minutes per class of free-choice…
Idea — Critical reading means evaluating the writer’s purpose, assumptions, and evidence — not just retrieving information. It is usually taught at B2 and above. Example — A student asks not just ‘What does the…
Idea — Pre-teach only vocabulary that will block comprehension entirely. Leave the rest: inferring from context is a reading skill, not a failure. Example — ‘Deforestation’ in a climate text may need pre-teaching. ‘Rapidly’ does…
Idea — Reading rarely happens in isolation outside the classroom. Integrating it with speaking, writing, or listening creates richer, more authentic tasks. Example — Students read an article, discuss the argument in pairs (speaking integration),…
Idea — Reading aloud trains pronunciation and fluency. It does not practise reading comprehension: the cognitive load is on performance, not meaning. Example — A student reading aloud attends to pronunciation, stress, and pace. Their…
Idea — Good comprehension questions test understanding, not memorisation. They require learners to process meaning, not copy a line back from the text. Example — Weak: ‘What does Marta say on line 3?’ Strong: ‘Why…
Idea — A good classroom reading text has a genuine communicative purpose, real information value for the learner, and a level that is reachable. Example — A real flyer about a local event beats a…
Idea — Graded readers are books written or simplified to specific CEFR or headword levels, enabling extended reading pleasure at an accessible level. Example — A B1 learner reads a graded adaptation of Sherlock Holmes…
Idea — Intensive reading requires careful, slow processing of meaning, grammar, and vocabulary. It is what most students call ‘reading’. Example — Comprehension questions that require quoting specific lines, or tasks that ask learners to…