How To Teach Reading

Why teach reading?

There are many reasons why getting students to read English texts is an important partof the teacher's job.In the first place, many of them want to be able to read texts in English either for their careers, for study purposes or simply for pleasure. Anything we can do to make reading easier for them must be a good idea.

Reading is useful for other purposes too: any exposure to English (provided students understand it more or less) is good thing for language students. At the very least, some of the language sticks in their minds as part of the process of language acquisition, and if the reading text is especially interesting and enganging, acquisition is likely to be even more succesful.

Reading texts also provide good models for English writing. When we teach the skill of writing, we will need to show students models of what we are encourage them to do.

Reading texts also provide oppurtunities to study language: vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and the way we construct sentences, paragraphs and texts. Lastly, good reading texts can introduce interesting topics, stimulate discussion, excite imaginative responses and be the springboard for well-rounded, fascinating lessons.