Primary education is the basic education which aims at preparing children

to attain the competence needed to advance further in making a worthwhile

contribution to society, which is constantly undergoing changes. In order to
fulfil this objective, teachers must keep abreast with current thinking, and
engage in training that will enhance the teaching - learning process.
In the first place many students want to read texts in English either for their careerers,for study purpose or

simply for pleasure. Reading is useful for language acquisition, provided that students more or less

understand what they read, the more they read is the better get it.

Several types of reading may occur in a

language classroom. One way in which these

may be categorized , as suggested by Brown

(1989) can be outlined as follows:

1. Extensive Reading:

Extensive reading on the other hand, involves reading of large quantities of

material, directly and fluently. It is treated as a means to an end. It may include

reading reading simply for pleasure or reading technical, scientific or professional

material. This later type of text, more academic.

 may involve two specific types of reading:

1. scanning: for key details.

2. Skimming: for the essential meaning.

1.1.Activities Activities may include exercises that are devised by the teacher in which
students scan for a single word or specific text.

 Activities may include exercises that are often carried on as a competition so

students will work quickly.
 Students use skills of prediction and anticipation. Students may do any of the
following:

1.1.1. Skimming:

A) Activities:

 Students must locate facts that are expressed in sentences, not single words.
 Although speed is essential and the teacher often sets a time limit to the activity,
skimming should not be done competitively. Students should be encouraged
individually to better themselves.
 2. Intensive Reading:
Intensive reading is used to teach or practice specific reading strategies or skills.
The text is treated as an end in itself.

2.1. How it look? (Characteristics)

 students identify key vocabulary
 students may draw pictures to aid them (such as in problem solving)
 texts are read carefully and thoroughly, again and again

2.2. Materials:
 usually very short texts not more than 500 words in length
 chosen for level of difficulty and usually, by the teacher

2.3. Activities:
Intensive reading exercises may include:

 looking at main ideas versus details

 making inferences.
 looking at the order of information and how it effects the message
 identifying words that connect one idea to another
 identifying words that indicate change from one section to another

1.5. Advantages

 It provides a base to study structure, vocabulary and idioms.

 It provides a base for students to develop a greater control of language
 It provides for a check on the degree of comprehension for individual students

1.6. Disadvantages

 There is little actual practice of reading because of the small amount of text.
 In a class with multi-reading abilities, students may not be able to read at their
own level because everyone in the class is reading the same material.
 The text may or may not interest the reader because it was chosen by the teacher.
 There is little chance to learn language patterns due to the small amount of text.
 Because exercises and assessment usually follow intensive reading, students may
come to associate reading with testing and not pleasure.
BEST PRACTICES FOR TEACHING READING
1. Assess level
Knowing your students’ level of instruction is important for choosing materials.
If students don’t understand the majority of the words on a page, the text is too hard for
them. On the other hand, if the student understands everything in the reading, there is no
challenge and no learning. So assess your students’ level by giving them short reading
passages of varying degrees of difficulty. approximate level and then hold a brief
discussion, ask some questions, and define some vocabulary to determine if the passage
is at the students’ instructional level. If too easy or too hard, adjust the reading passage
and repeat the procedure until you reach the students’ optimal

2. Choose the correct level of maturity.

While it’s important that the material be neither too difficult nor too easy, a text
should be at the student’s maturity level as well
it’s inappropriate to give children’s storybooks to adult or adolescent students. There are,
however, edited versions of mature material, such as classic and popular novels, for ESL
students, that will hold their interest while they develop reading skills.

3. Choose interesting material

Find out your students’ interest. Often within a class there are common themes of
interest: parenting, medicine, and computers are some topics that come to mind that a
majority of students in my classes have shared interest in. Ask students about their
interests in the first days of class and collect reading material to match those interests.
Teaching reading with texts on these topics will heighten student motivation to read and
therefore ensure that they do read and improve their skills.

4. Build background knowledge

As a child, I attempted, and failed, to read a number of books that were “classics”:
It is important for the teacher to anticipate which cultural references students might need
explained or discussed. This is not easy, of course, but can become so through such
techniques as related discussion before the reading (e.g., “Who knows what the American
Civil War was? When was it? Why was it fought?” or “Where is New England? Have
you ever been there? What is the climate like?”) A discussion before the reading on its
topics builds background knowledge and the comprehensibility of the text as well as
giving the teacher an idea of where students’ background knowledge needs.
 5. Work in groups.
Students should work in groups each session, reading aloud to each other, discussing the
material, doing question and answer, and so forth.
Working in groups provides the much needed interactivity to increase motivation and
learning. Students may choose their own groups or be assigned one, and groups may vary
in size.

6. Extended practice.
Too often we complete a reading and then don’t revisit it. However, related activities
in vocabulary, grammar, comprehension questions, and discussion increase the
processing of the reading and boost student learning.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/25-activities-reading-and-writing-fun
https://busyteacher.org/14461-how-to-teach-reading-skills-10-best-practices.html
https://busyteacher.org/4035-how-to-teach-a-perfect-reading-lesson.html
https://slllc.ucalgary.ca/Brian/611/readingtype.html#whatitisextensive