Reading strategies

1. Predicting

1.1. Yet another great method for ESL reading comprehension practice—giving yours studens more creative freedom. Choose an individual paragraph and allow your students to discuss what will happen in the next one. This will open up discussion and get them really thinking in English. 

2. Extracting

2.1. This sounds surgical, but it’s actually one of the most fun methods here! Take a vacation with your students by using tourist board information or travel agent brochures. Utilizing tourist information or vacation brochures can allow your students to visualize the words in the text as they try to understand it more clear

2.2. Skimming

2.2.1. Skimming is an essential skill as it gives students an idea of what the text is about. It prepares them for the details they would like to know about the topic when they read closely for meaning.

3. Discussing

3.1. The exceptional reading comprehension methods above can all be combined with discussion-based activities that’ll allow students time to develop other sub-skills in ESL development.

4. Diving in

4.1. Using classified ads from newspapers or online websites is useful and fun. Your students must negotiate what the advertisement is selling or offering in a short paragraph containing a few sentences. Most classifieds are descriptive and enjoyable to students

5. Scaffolding

5.1. Scaffolding can come in the form of graphic organizers, concept-mapping, visual aids or fill-in-the-blank exercises

6. Scanning

6.1. When pairing reading passages with questions, train your students to look for the key word(s) in questions and then scan the passage for the same key word(s).

7. Context clues

7.1. Awareness of contextual cues can help your students guess meanings of unfamiliar words in context. This skill can be gradually mastered through practice.

8. Summarizing

8.1. Summarizing a passage is an effective way to gauge their understanding of the reading material. This can be conducted orally or written in a paragraph.