[etni] Re: Extensive Reading
- From: Rivka Lewenstein <rlewen@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 00:32:01 -0800 (PST)
Patricia wrote:
<Hi Rivka and all other folks, <SNIP>
I actually had nothing to do with the original posting about dyslectic kids -
Batya just happened to mention the readers I sell that also have audio discs
with the story read aloud - but I'll add my two cents here anyway...
<SNIP> As far as I know there is no special rule about dyslectic kids and
extensive reading. However, they do not need simplified books just because
they can't read. If they understand the language at class level there are
several things a teacher can do. <SNIP>
Simplified books have nothing to do with dyslectic kids, IMO. Most of the
students in our school read graded readers, simply because they're easier (not
everyone can deal with books written for native speakers) and shorter (reading
a full-length book is hard for many students). I certainly encourage my
higher-level 11th and 12th grade students to read full-length original books,
but I don't force them to do that, either. There are plenty of high-level
graded readers, as well, and I'd rather they read a book that doesn't overwhelm
them and enjoy it than read an original book.
<SNIP>1. Get the student to watch a movie without subtitles - but don't
forget that you should watch it first! The student should give the DVD/video
to you first for checking. <SNIP>
Audio books are all text, albeit spoken, so it makes sense to use those
instead of books for those who can't read. However, movies are a different
story, IMO. You can watch a whole movie without understanding a word of what's
being said, and still understand most of it just by what's going on on the
screen. So I'm not crazy about that idea.
<SNIP> 2. Which is what I do! Get a computer literate student in the class
to
download a spoken book (there are lots of sites out there for free that the
kids use) and burn it onto a CD for his/her LD friend. Then the LD kid can
both read and listen to the book (in silent reading classes as well.)
One of my grade 10 students just finished Harry Potter this way. <SNIP>
Great idea, so long as the student can deal with texts on that level. BTW, if
your student got a free Harry Potter, audio book, it was an illegal version.
Legally, only books in the public domain can be freely downloaded (unless the
copyright holder decides to give away his or her book, which is definitely not
the case with HP).
<SNIP>3. Download any free ebook onto the student's computer (your
recommendation?) and have him/her listen to the text with Readplease, a free
download from www.readplease.com <SNIP>
Great idea, again only if there are books on the students' level.
<SNIP>4. Get a friend to scan a book onto the computer and do one of the
above. <SNIP>
Other than the copyright issue, that is...
Obviously the readers Batya mentioned are not for everyone. Most of them are
meant for lower-level students, which is the level Batya is teaching. The free
solutions you suggested are wonderful for those students who can't deal with
reading but have a high level of English. Unfortunately, not all of our
dyslectic students are at that stage...
All the best,
Rivka
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