Styles of reading and making reading engaging

Reading is an important skill. Let's talk about it.

Styles of reading

SCANNING

SKIMMING

INTENSIVE READING

EXTENSIVE READING

SCANNING

a reading technique that is done by looking at the most important details of a text in a quick manner.

allows readers to locate “specific information” like names, dates, places, or facts which are usually noticeable in a text.

examples:

bus ticket, wedding invitation, airplane schedule

SKIMMING

also, a speed type of reading focuses on the “main idea” or “general overview” of a text.

examples:

newspaper, travel brochure

INTENSIVE READING

involves learners reading in detail with specific learning aims and tasks.

examples:

list the events in the story in a chronological order

EXTENSIVE READING

is done for fun and pastime, develops general reading skills

So how to make reading engaging?

There are three simple ways:

PREDICTION

You can get your students to predict what they will read. Use pictures, headlines, paragraph headings to get students to discuss what they think they will be reading.

A few key words can also be given out. They can be given all at once, or one at a time, getting students to change their predictions.

GIST

You can play 'screw up'. Take the chosen text and roll it into a ball. the students mustn't unroll it. Ask the students to get a general idea of the text by reading the outside layer.

SCANNING

Playing 'grass skirt' is a good way to practice this skill. Prepare some questions for the text and cut them into a grass skirt. Hang them on the wall (one per group) and ask students to race to retrieve a question, return to their group and scan the text to find the answer. The first group to finish wins.

the 3-2-1 strategy

It's a wonderful way to encourage students to summarize a text by focusing on the key points. Students will fill out a chart with information like this :

• Three things I learned
• Two interesting things I read
• One question I still have

The goal of this strategy is to encourage students to interact with the text - and to reflect on what they're reading.

SUMMARIZE THE STORY

If you want to make sure your students fully understand what they're reading, summarizing is a great way to start. It helps each student to practice expressing ideas in their own words.

CHORAL READING

In choral reading, the class tries to read a text in unison. This can get loud, but it's fun! If you catch anyone NOT reading aloud with the rest of the class, you can have everyone pause and start again. Choral reading is a good way to relax and decompress, encourage everyone to get active.