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Reading

SOLVING READING DIFFICULTIES

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When there are problems with reading comprehension the key to solve the promlems is to identify the causes for the difficulties: lack of vocabulary, grammatical knowledge or skill in translation, or dyslexia, for example. The next step is to find the remedies.

The foundation for reading comprehension is laid in the elementary school or in the basic lessons. I have discussed these ideas under the last horizontal main heading ‘The structure of a text-book based lesson’ THE STRUCTURE OF A TEXTBOOK-BASED LESSON and expand the ideas at the end of this article.

  • the most important piece of homework: students study or translate the next chapter in the textbook in advance at home
  • if the students come to the lesson and understand, say, 80 % of the text, a lot of time is saved and a proper foundation for the lesson is laid
  • however we must remember that understanding a text is a much more profound process than word by word translation
  • we can teach reading only indirectly by giving tips on the process of reading but we have no idea what is really going on in the heads of the students when they are reading a text
  • becoming a good reader is a long process in the mother tongue and even longer in a foreign language; time, patience and guidance are needed
  • we can help students if we can identify what causes the problems in understanding: lack of vocabulary, unknown grammar, translation skills or reading strategies are inadequate

Those suffering from dyslexia are not lazy or stupid. They can’t help it but they can be helped by experts. On average every class has 2 – 3 students who need help either in reading or writing or both.

  • if the reason for reading difficulties is some form of dyslexia, a specialist’s help is neeeded, up to 10 % of students suffer from it and the issue was acknowledged by school authorities only 20 years ago and many teachers pay little attention to it
  • the symptoms of dyslexia can be manyfold: slow or erratic reading, weak short-term memory, mixing or ignoring letters, problems in concentration, often the same problems in writing
  • identifying dyslexia is vital since often these students carry a stigma of being lazy or stupid even if they are trying their best and it unnecessarily breaks their self-confidence

What I mean by reading here is reading comprehension as opposed to reading aloud in class, which was discussed under heading ‘Pronunciation’. Reading is sometimes taken for granted with a false assumption that everyone understands a sentence or a text in the same way if they master the basics of reading. This is wrong since the process of understanding a text is an individual process and there are many things that can prevent proper understanding.

A short individual discussion with a student about a text the students do not understand will reveal to an experienced teacher where the problem probably lies. Most likely it is one of the reasons below.

Common reasons for reading difficulties

  1. First of all the student’s vocabulary has to be wide enough to understand a text. If the student stumbles too often with unknown words, understanding the text turns out to be impossible. In the vocabulary section we already pointed out that there are many things the students must master in order to ‘know’ a word. In reading ‘the recognition of the written form’ is vital and so is knowing the ‘meaning’ of the word. Sometimes the context reveals the meaning but this ‘guessing game’, which is perfectly acceptable, is a skill of its own and has to be taught to students as well.
  2. Secondly, I also noted that in some simple situations it may be enough to know the words to understand the sentences or ideas. However, in most cases the students have to have some idea about the grammar of the new language; i.e. he/she has to know how to combine words, how they are arranged in a sentence. Knowledge of grammar helps us to guess the meanings of words. If the student is not able to translate a particular sentence or explain the meaning in his/her own words, the source of not understanding the sentence can usually be easily found by the teacher. But the trick is to let the student get stuck and pinpoint the difficult point him-/herself – and then you can find the remedy together.
  3. Thirdly, when I discussed the model for a text-based lesson, I strongly recommended that the students always study/translate the text for the next lesson in advance at home. I also discussed the reasons for it: saving time in the lessons and preventing frustration in class due to not understanding the text. The benefits of this kind of flipped learning are undeniable: The students come to school and understand most of the content of the new text. True learning can start!
  4. Fourthly, we teachers have to teach our students what to do at home when they study / translate the text at home. I discussed the ideas already in the model lesson. Everything becomes so much easier if the students have prepared themselves for the lesson. I think this preparation is by far the most important piece of homework, much more important than exercises (which are often mechanical).
  5. Fifth, every time I get a new class in junior high (aged 12) I check that they know how to translate a text since far too many students have no clue how it is done; how to use bilingual wordlists or a dictionary, for example. These student float somewhere in mid-air understanding only fragments of what they need to grasp.
  6. Sixth,as for translation at home I give my students three options: a) the text is fully translated in the mother tongue in their notebook, b) new words are translated with pencil in between the lines in the textbook, c) the translation is done immediately if I snap my finger in class, no need to write down anything.
  7. Seventh, there are many other things as for reading that we can teach our students. Linguists call them reading strategies but in simple terms they are just tips how to become a better reader. I will discuss these reading tips / strategies in another article.

Slide the photos using the arrows. Which groups do you think your students want to be in? Those who enjoy your lessons or those who come there with little hope to learn anything.

The benefits of studying or translating chapters in advance at home

I perfectly understand if some of you wonder why I talk so much in favour of translating the texts into the mother tongue. ‘Translation’ is not a curse word for me and should not be for anyone else. I give up all translation the minute I know there is no need for it in my class. Let me clarify my points in the matter.

  • First of all, I want the students to learn to do translations at home and minimize the time spent on translating the text in class. Besides this is a way for the parents to get involved in their kid learning a new language. At school time is more wisely used in practising using the language than translating the text.
  • Secondly, I see no point in going through a text if it is not understood. It will only lead to restlessness in the class. If I am learning, say, Polish and understand next to nothing of the text, I cannot participate at all and I will find something else to do in class. Talk to my friends, fiddle with my phone or anything just to make the time go by. Too many students face this situation but feel ashamed to admit it or pretend not to care. itself
  • Thirdly, I cannot stand the idea of students sitting in lessons for many years learning just a few words when the learning process could be drastically improved by helping them to do the translation for every lesson. It might take a few lessons or a couple of weeks but in the end the students would thank you for doing it.
  • If some of your students have this problem, have a special lesson for them. If very many students suffer from this problem, ask your star students to teach the others how to do the translation in groups. I’ve bribed them with candy and doughnuts.
  • If lack of translation skill was the problem and my advice helped any of you, I’d like to hear about it. Stop teaching your language for a while and lay the foundation again. You will get the time back manyfold in better results and raise in students’ motivation.
  • N.B. The translation method itself, translating texts from English into the mother tongue and vice versa, is an appalling method and that is why I never learnt English properly at school in the 1970s.

Learning to translate a text is the foundation for understanding a foreign language and it is a massive boost to motivation and self-confidence. However, the final aim is to think in English and skip mental translations altogether.

Yleinen

Identify 22 strategies to learn new words

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Many students struggle in learning new words. Let’s give them a hand!

They do not easily come up with the strategies themselves but you have to tell them what the options/strategies are. That opens the ideal road for each student to utilize their own favourite strategies.

We all learn words in a different way. If our students experiment and find their own style / strategy / way of learning words, we have helped them much more than making them do a lot of exercises that actually do not work for them. This is what worries me in ready-made exercises.

The other articles under Vocabulary heading are

3 ways to enhance vocabulary learning

  1. The easy way out in making your students learn new words is to use the ready-made workbook exercises. Unfortunately, they are not always very motivating or do not match with the students learning style.
  2. In the 3rd model lesson article I suggest an oral pre-task in pairs as the solution at the beginning of handling a new chapter. This is my number 1 favourite. A lot of oral practice.
  3. The third option is to reveal the strategies below to the students and let them write exercises of their own, which is the point in this article.
  • Let the students get to know what strategies there are (use my version below or make a list of your own). This is a MUST even if you decide to nothing else about strategies. You can introduce them gradually or have a crash course lesson with all of them.
  • Use my exercise below (or one of your own) and let your students try to recognize which type of strategy it is in question in each case. This way the students will get an idea how to make word exercises.
  • Organize a lesson where your students make exercises to revise recently studied vocabulary. It is up to you if they write one type of tasks or make use of any of the strategy types.

22 strategies to learn new words

Here is the same list of vocabulary learning strategies that I introduced in the previous article. You can study them first but the main idea is to introduce at least some of them to your students. We all have our favourites and that is exactly what we are trying to do with our students, too: The minute they identify what the best ways to learn new words for them are, you have done a great job.

Nevertheless, before you do anything else you might ask your students to discuss in groups the ways they learn and practise words best. You will be surprised with their creativity when they present their own strategies.

I hope to be able to add some videos on these strategies later on.

  1. Link the new word with a picture or photo.
  2. Link the new word to your mother tongue.
  3. Write the unknown words of the chapter on a paper and make up a mindmap or a story.
  4. Associate the new word with another (funny) word, story or setting. Explain to your pair how the association works for you.
  5. Record a word list on your phone ( word in mother tongue – 1 sec pause– English word). Listen to it many times. (The favourite of my wife!)
  6. Make word lists (mother tongue – English), cover up the other side and say the words aloud or write them down before checking. (My favourite + I make orally sentences of my own))
  7. Make or have a look at a word list (mother tongue – English). Then make an exam for yourself or others.
  8. Say or write a sentence where you use the new word.
  9. Tell a story in your group where you use the new words. (Humour is the best medicine!)
  10. Make two-sided word cards and use them in a game.
  11. Learn words in groups (linked with a topic, nouns, adjectives etc.). Write them down in a grid or an excel file.
  12. Use word formation technique. One word leads to a family of words.
  13. Find synonyms or opposites for the word.
  14. Make a gap exercise of the lyrics of a song.
  15. Consult a dictionary (online or hard copy).
  16. By doing various exercises (crossword puzzles, gap filling, hidden grid odd one out, etc.)
  17. Guess the meaning of new words on the basis of the context.
  18. Make use of free computer vocab exercises provided by publishers +
  19. Give a definition of a word and your pair has to guess which it is (e.g. it is an adjective which means the same as ‘adequate’ – well ‘enough’ or ‘sufficient’)
  20. Your say a word and your pair has to give a definition for it or explain it in another way (a vaccination – well, it is a shot given with a needle so that you do not get a disease)
  21. Make use of the free vocab learning computer programmes in the internet.
  22. When reading extra English materials such as magazines or books, take out your notebook and write down new words and phrases that you find interesting and useful.

Look at the examples below and decide which of the 2 2 types it is.

Sample A Work in pairs and point at the following ‘objects’: a bridge, a church, a river, a boat, a river bank, a pedestrian, a tall office block. Make up an oral story where you use these words and any other words. Each students making a short story of his/her own OR each student continuing the story by one sentemce, for example.

PANKKIASPHALT
BANAANISCHOOL
ASFALTTIBANK
KOULUBANANA
Sample B Which of the 18 choices is this one?

Sample C nation, international, nationality, national, native

Sample D weak – strong, interesting – boring, lazy – industrious

Sample E brick, concrete, seam, fireplace, chimney, flame

Sample F duty free, customs, metal detector, security check, passport control, gate

Sample G marvellous, superb, wonderful, terrific, excellent OR terrible >< awsome, terrific ><awful, day >< night, nearby >< remote

Sample H guarantee: I can guarantee you that the toaster is new.

Sample I gloves, extension cord, bulb, broom, hoover: Last Saturday when I began cleaning my garage, I put my gloves on and first used the broom to get rid of the sand. It turned out to be too dusty a job and therefore I fetched my vacuum cleaner. I have no electricity socket in my garage so I had to pick up an extension cord for the hoover. Next the bulb was gone and I had to open the garage door to see something. …

Sample J

DEYSHUTTLE
CMNUISQMBL
ULORTEPOIC
SCETUNNELI
TESPOLVCDH
OAKTARMACE
MLOSKSWXZV
SNZBIENOLK
AIKORVAEYG
PLATFORMTL
Find the 10 words linked with ‘travelling’. The words can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal and even backwards. (N.B. This is a demanding task. If all the words were horizontal or vertical, the task would be easy.)

Sample K: strawberries, blood, cherries, most roses, tomatoes // grass, leaves, moss, cucumber // banana, sun, lemon, butter, cheese OR strawberries, blood, cherries, most roses, snow, tomatoes // grass, leaves, desert, moss, cucumber // banana, sun, lemon, butter, cheese, polar bear

Sample L: Look at the photos below. Which ‘vehicles’ can you find in the photos? Make a(n oral) story using the photos.

Sample M:

Sample M Which strategy is this one? Why is it particularly good for group work?

Sample N below

LAMB
SHAVE
ADRESS
ABOVE
ENTER
DOOR
The hints can be given as pictures, definitions, in mother tongue, in a gap sentence etc.

Teach your students to make this kind of exercises and they will learn the words while doing so.

Sample O O Sole Mio, It’s Now or Never sung by Raimo

“When I first _______ you with your smile so __________ my h_________ was captured my s__________ surrended, I’d s_________ a life time waiting ______ the right time, now that you’re here the _________ is here _____ last …

https://raimoenglish.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/its-now-or-never.mp3

Sample P Hemingway, “Farewell to arms” garrison, casulty, rifle, ward, wounded, ambush, bullet

Did you notice how I made you go up and down the strategy list when you were making up your mind? This way the strategies will stick better in your mind and you have learnt many of them at least on the level of recognition. I did not actually teach you the strategies but made your learning possible, in CLT style.

  • The next article deals with what is meant by knowing a word and some other basic ideas on vocab learning
  • In the following two articles I will demonstrate what you need to take into account when you make you students write vocabulary tasks themselves. Practical tips!
  • Knowing a word, What does it really mean? Passive and active vocabulary.
  • Getting students to design vocab tasks, Points 1-10, more detailed advice how to do it in practice
  • Getting students to design vocab tasks, Points 11-22, practical advice

The point in this article is to identify and memorize as many of the 22 strategies of learning vocabulary as possible.