120 hr. TEFL Course Module 3-Reading (Pt.1)

Module 3: Reading

3.1 Developing reading skills

Imagine that teaching a student to read in a new language is like building a house. You cannot start off by building the attic; you have to work your way up from the bottom. As we discuss how to help students develop reading skills, we will start with the basics, move on to lower-level reading skills, such as comprehension, and eventually discuss such higher-level reading skills as identifying purpose and intent.

3.1.1 Beginning to read

As you begin to approach reading with your students, it is important to remember that all of them may be coming from different backgrounds and therefore may need different levels of instruction. For students whose original language does not share the English alphabet, that is where you need to start. For students from all native languages that share an alphabet with English, though, it is important that you go over the way words are sounded out because even if the students are familiar with the English alphabet, the sounds of this new language will likely be unique and somewhat foreign. 

Phonemic awareness: We discussed phonemes in detail in the previous module when we reviewed linguistics, but it is important to also mention phonemic awareness here because it is such an important part of the reading process. To help your students improve their phonemic awareness, you will expect your students to be able identify, understand, and manipulate phonemes. Helping your students gain phonemic awareness will give them the ability to break down and learn new words by themselves.

• Phonemes are unique to each language, so your students may have difficulty adjusting to learning new ones. They will likely need help understanding the structure of new phonemes and understanding how to sound them out. 

• Your students may naturally think of the phonemes in their native language, which could be in direct contrast with English phonemes. If you are aware of phonemes in your students’ native languages, you can use this to your advantage. Otherwise, it may be a good idea to try to train them to avoid this kind of thinking.

• Making the process of improving phonemic awareness more fun and active is an effective way to increase engagement and understanding. Try activities that turn phonemic awareness into a game or require your students to get up, move around, and be active.