Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Today's vs. Tomorrow's Reading- by Ruby
I would like to say that I completely agree with the author on that the purpose of intensive reading instruction is for students to develop reading skills and strategies gradually which can make their future readings easier. That is something new to me because I have been educated in Grammar Translation Method for more than half of my life. To me, learning English used to be endless reading and endless translation (into my native language, Mandarin Chinese). (Of course, since someday or another, I reached the point that I could read and comprehend whatever I read in English at the same time without translation anymore.) However, we focused on the contents, meanings and grammar so much that we have never thought about whether today's reading training can contribute to tomorrow's better comprehension or not. This is a precious moment when I got some epiphany about future reading instructions.
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[Sharon=Theabroma - I really need to get this sorted out! Apologies for inconveniences.]
ReplyDeleteThe "slow but steady" approach speaks to me as well, Ruby. I remember all to well what it was like in language classes to do well in grammar and tests - only to be assigned some story or article from a newspaper to read, and it took an hour to get through 1 tiny paragraph. It was so discouraging ... and I felt like I'd never be able to read or write anything in that language ... even at the "peanut butter & jelly" level (pre-school kid's traditional sandwich for lunch). I guess I was just stubborn and hung on, and eventually I could read a page without stopping every two seconds to consult a dictionary. I had a lot of classmates who just gave up. So this is a bright spot for me, as well: just a gentle stretch, and sometimes no stretch at all.
To me a principle implied here is that foward-looking thinking is important even in teaching English. I used to do quite a bit of business strategy, which involves envisioning a "big picture" and then from there laying out a path from point A to point B and finally to the destination. If a teaching has a clear roadmap in the head, the students could benefit from following a well-planned path in the learning process. Good thought for lession planning.
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