Extensive Reading in English

Joe Gargery from Great Expectations, drawing by Roy Aron Myklebust

1 Aims and outline

2 Why extensive reading is important for foreign language learners (Ion Drew)

3 What materials are suitable for extensive reading (Ion Drew)

4 Three examples of extensive reading in class

4.1 The Twits -A reading project for the whole class at primary level (Turid Husabø)

4.2 How to use literature in the language classroom (Elisa Bjersand)

4.3 A project on easy readers in comprehensive school (Ernst Åge Johnsen)

5 Book reviews of children’s books and books for the primary level (Turid Husabø)

6 Recommended reading titles

7 Book ordering procedures

References

Suggested further reading

1 AIMS AND OUTLINE

This project has been financed by Statens Lærerkurs as part of the scheme of in-service training of teachers of English in Norwegian primary and secondary schools. In this scheme, the English Department at Sogn og Fjordane College has been given a coordinating function.

The aim of the project is to help teachers of English to make extensive reading a part of their pupils’ everyday language lessons. It discusses firstly why extensive reading is important for foreign language students, what materials are suitable for this purpose, and how both class sets and individual readers can be used in classroom. It gives three different examples of how to approach extensive reading in class:

• Turid Husabø describes in detail how Roald Dahl’s The Twits can become a reading project for the whole class at the primary level;
• Elisa Bjersand provides examples of pre-, while and post-reading activities in connection with Great Expectations for use in lower secondary school;
• Ernst Åge Johnsen reports on how easy readers were used at different levels in one particular school.

Although specific books have been used in each case, the idea is that the models described can be practised with any books. Since an important aim of the project is also to encourage schools to buy their own materials, an extensive list of recommended books and their approximate prices, as well as how to order and pay for them, is also included. Some of these books are reviewed in section 4.3 and section 5. Finally, a list of references and further reading is provided.

2 WHY EXTENSIVE READING IS IMPORTANT FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS by Ion Drew

Probably the most important issue challenging teachers of first and second languages today is how to help pupils to become more literate - to become better readers and writers. There is no doubt that teachers play an important role in inspiring the literary development of their pupils. Motivating pupils to become readers, especially during the early years, which are so important for later literary development, is certainly one of the most important tasks facing language teachers.

Although there is good reason to believe that pupils will improve their oral language by meeting English through the media of television, film and pop music, there are also many signs that children nowadays spend less time reading than they did a few decades ago. More responsibility thus rests in the hands of teachers today to stimulate the written skills in class.

The new curriculum guidelines, L97, clearly encourage reading extensively in English in a variety of genres. The genres that are mentioned include:

• fairy tales
• legends
• fables
• narratives
• short stories
• poems
• biographies
• plays
• articles
• teenage novels

From the sixth grade, for instance, pupils are actively encouraged to read and share with others at least one self-chosen book. In this way reading becomes a social, and not just individual, act. The importance of reading and working with a variety of texts is also stressed in the guidelines for in-service training following L97. People involved in education are aware of the value of books as learning tools. This applies as much to learning a foreign language as to other subjects because books open up to pupils an exciting world of facts, characters, settings and plots -namely the world of literature. By reading different books, pupils understand the characteristics of different types of literature. Reading stimulates writing. Reading narratives, for example, will provide pupils with the tools for their own narrative writing. Reading articles will show pupils the way to writing their own articles. Above all, books introduce young and intermediate learners to ‘a world of riches’, a world of which they can become life-long members.

Research into the benefits of extensive reading on language development shows clear trends. The experiment carried out by Elley and Mangubhai (1983) in eight Fijian schools provided important evidence of how valuable extensive reading can be for foreign language learners. In this experiment, classes where pupils were immersed in books were compared with classes that followed traditional textbook teaching. The results showed that over a period of time the book immersion classes made more progress in reading comprehension, listening comprehension, vocabulary and written composition - in other words in a wide variety of language abilities - than pupils in the traditional classrooms. Research conducted by Turner (1989) into the quality of written composition in different classroom environments, confirmed the superior results of reading classrooms compared to non-reading environments.

Although it is clear that extensive reading helps to improve language in general, it is at the same time accepted that the link between reading and writing especially has always been close. And since a lot of weight has always been attached to the assessment of written production in the Norwegian educational system, those involved in the education of children should always be looking at ways of improving the quality of writing. Extensive reading is one of the most effective ways of achieving this. However, writing is not the only area to benefit from extensive reading: vocabulary, syntax and the mechanics of writing, such as spelling and punctuation, are also likely to improve.

Furthermore, as far as everyday classroom practice is concerned, books provide the opportunity for a number of activities, both oral and written, related to the reading process. For instance, when reading a book in class activities may include making predictions about what will happen (pre-reading), dramatising scenes (during reading), and writing character descriptions or free writing tasks inspired by the content of a book (post-reading). If, on the other hand, pupils read different books, this allows them the opportunity to interact with teachers and with each other in order to share and discuss ideas and experiences based on their reading. A more detailed account of how books can be used in class is presented in section 4.

by Ion Drew

A great deal of recent discussion in educational circles has focussed on the term authentic literature. Some argue that all materials that foreign language learners read should be authentic. This view is probably a reaction to the artificial texts that characterised a number of textbooks in the past. Such ‘doctored’ texts, especially dialogues, were hardly regarded as representing the authentic language of the real world which pupils would eventually meet outside the classroom. The argument was that if faced with unauthentic language in their learning, pupils would hardly be able to understand the authentic language of native speakers in natural language use. Criticism of simplified written materials is indeed justified if these are badly written, uninteresting, difficult to read and lack the standard features associated with well-written texts.

However, it is dangerous to reach the conclusion that simplified texts in themselves are not suitable for foreign language learning. It is also dangerous to assume that if a text is simplified, it is thus not authentic. Even when learning their mother tongue, children often read materials that are simplified. For instance, when an adult reads a picture book to a child with its simplified language, it is one of the most important ways of teaching any child to read and write in its native language. Looking at it from another point of view, if texts are too difficult, then pupils may lose their motivation and confidence to read. So it is essential to clarify the issue of what constitutes authentic texts in the foreign language classroom..

When discussing this issue, it is perhaps best to start with the actual aim of a text. If the aim of a text is to communicate with the reader, many texts may accordingly be classified as authentic, irrespective of whether they are written for foreign language learners or not. Whether a text is communicative or not depends on how the reader responds to it, how the reader relates to it and what experiences it provides. Books that are poorly written are not likely to communicate with their readers as effectively as well-written books. Thus, books written especially for language learners need to be written by skilled writers. They need to be appealing, and should ‘create an effect through words’ (Carter and Long 1991:105). The qualities that these books should include are clear plots with a limited number of characters and sub-plots, a strong theme, and drama and tension.

Some scholars have even taken the difficult step of trying to define the term authentic. For Silberstein (1994:111), for instance, texts are authentic if they conform to the syntax, discourse structure, vocabulary and content of ‘real world’ texts. Alderson and Urquhart (1984:198) state: ‘We are committed to believing that simplified texts can be authentic.’. However, one of the best definitions of authenticity is provided by Swaffer (1985:17):

If one accepts this line of reasoning, it is the author’s intention to communicate that provides a text with the necessary features that make it authentic. And the authenticity of a text is complete if it communicates meaningfully with its reader. A wide range of materials, especially materials written for foreign language learners, thus become not only authentic but also especially suitable for the foreign language classroom. The essential point made by Day and Bamford (1998:64) is that the basis for judging the success or failure of language learner literature is identical to that of other writing: the response of its readers - the sense they make and the experiences they have. If a reader comes away feeling good about reading something, then the whole experience is authentic.

The conclusion reached by Day and Bamford (1998:97) in their extensive survey of extensive reading in the foreign language classroom is that language learner literature, ie books especially written for foreign language learners, and often known as easy or graded readers, is the obvious first choice of reading materials for all but advanced learners. These books provide varied, attractive material at different levels of difficulty. A huge market of graded readers allows pupils the chance of reading almost anything from Dickens to facts about sport, in a language that they can understand.

However, a range of other extensive reading materials must also be included for their potential educational value among foreign language learners. These include:

• children’s books
• learners’ own stories
• newspapers
• magazines
• children’s magazines
• popular and simple literature
• young adult literature
• comics

The success of these reading materials depends on whether they are attractive, interesting, at an appropriate range of levels, and of a suitable length - ultimately on whether they will encourage or discourage potential readers. The following is a short comment on some of these materials:

Easy/graded readers

These are sometimes original stories written on a scale of language difficulty of one (easiest) to six (most difficult). They may also be simplified versions of classics, allowing young readers the chance to enjoy some of the richest literature available, even though it is in simplified form. Such books should be judged on whether they are successful reading experiences in their own right; whether they communicate with their audiences of language learners, and are appreciated by them.

Children’s books

Even adults sometimes enjoy reading children’s books, which may be considered as highly useful reading materials for language learners. The language of these books is relatively easy, and they are often short with attractive layouts and many supporting pictures, making them ideal materials for early learners.

Newspapers/magazines

For intermediate and advanced learners especially, these are excellent materials. The shorter articles found in tabloid newspapers, such as The Express, The Mail and The Sun, are especially appropriate. In addition, the colourful and attractive layouts of magazines, on a wide range of subjects from football to gardening, make it easy for readers to understand the content. This is especially the case with magazines written for children of various ages, which include many illustrations to assist reading comprehension.

Popular and simple literature/ Young adult literature

Many fiction and non-fiction books, if these are carefully selected, can be suitable for primary, intermediate and advanced level learners. One obviously popular choice for Norwegian learners is Roald Dahl’s books. As Day and Bamford (1994:104) argue, young adult literature, for instance The Diary of Adrian Mole, is an excellent forum for familiarising teenage students with other cultures. These books are often written in a colloquial language that appeals to language learners, since it represents the colloquial language used by native speaker teenagers. Teenagers can easily relate to the content of this type of literature, with its universal appeal, and above all, these books are usually immensely enjoyable to read.

An extensive list of recommended book titles is provided in section 6.

by Turid Husabø

"Those who don't read good books, have no advantages over those that can't read them."Mark Twain

"Any ordinary person may surround himself with two thousand books and from that moment at least have one spot on earth where it is possible to be happy." Augustine Birrell

"I have always imagined Paradise to be some sort of library." Jorge Luis Borges

"If I could find a good book to live in (-preferably with an astounding view to glorious mountainous hiking areas.)." Melanie and yours humbly.

Why do a readers’ project with the whole class?

Some experts claim that the only way to teach a foreign language is to immerse the pupils in the language. One way of immersing them is of course to speak only English in class. Another additional means is to use authentic texts. According to L97, this is going to be done now in lower forms, both individually and with the whole class.

In my experience, a lot of pupils are not introduced to the reading, especially of English books, in the best possible way. They are given a rather haphazard choice of outdated and often inappropriate literature which is seldom very stimulating or even adapted to their stage of reading ability or interests at their particular age.

The reason for this is that it has been very hard for English teachers to get hold of English books in Norway, or at all, that fulfill the very particular demands that we have on this kind of literature. The literature which is available has very often too difficult language or/and too childish content. In my opinion, it is therefore of vital importance that the right kind of books are selected.

Another matter of consideration is the fact that quite a few pupils don’t have any (or at least any good) reading experiences in their mother-tongue to draw upon when they are now expected to be able to read books in English.

In my opinion, the teacher ought to spend some time in the 6th grade trying to get all pupils in class to discover that reading is fun!

When all the pupils read the same book, it is a wonderful chance to do a lot of activities together for a longer period than when using the very short daily texts of the textbook. The mixture of expectations about the content and a wide variety of activities connected to the text, will hopefully create a positive feeling of suspense and fun. This feeling should then be able to remove some of the barriers that often stand in the way of pupils in the normal learning situation. The atmosphere of common joy and fun is a strong subconscious motivational factor. If the common reading project is a success, the pupils will hopefully get the confidence it takes to start reading a book of her/his own choice.

Many teachers believe that it is best if the pupils themselves decide what and when to read. This is of course in order once they have been properly introduced to reading ( which in my definition really takes place when the book is not read during one lesson.) In my opinion, it is a mistake to think that to leaf through an illustrated children’s book of a few pages is what reading is all about. Reading is really about being able to enter into the world of the book and demands time and concentration. To be able to read does not mean the same as to be able to read books!

Why The Twits?

Some English teachers are lucky enough to have discovered the world of literary delights themselves. They very often enjoy sharing this world with others and even act as missionaries, trying to introduce outsiders to it. Since it is very often hard to find a good choice of the books you are interested in Norway, any exchanges about books between the "saved" will also include tips about what, how and where to get hold of English books.

I used to be very annoyed about the dilemma that the language of the books I would have liked to use was often too complicated for 6^th graders, or that the content of the books with the appropriate level of English would be too childish. This is often the case with the majority of English children’s/youths’ books whether you look for them in Norway, or are so lucky as to be able to browse through well-laden English book shops.

Another problem is that 6th graders, if they read at all, tend to be divided by gender in their taste for reading material. Boys very often demand action, whereas girls often prefer romantic stories. Some authors, however, seem to be able to catch the interest of both groups. Roald Dahl is one of them. He is one of those fortunate grown-ups who still holds the keys to Never-Neverland. From his hand has come wonderful and magical stories which have the power to transcend age and gender, and enthral and bewitch us. Here, certainly, I can find the "wormhole" to the world of magical reader's delights I am looking for!

The length of the book would be the next crucial problem. George’s Marvellous Medicine and BFG were tempting, but I was afraid that they would be too long used as introductory books. Danny, the Champion of the World was in my opinion not short enough, even if it had all the other ingredients required.

Then I found The Twits. In my opinion, this book is ideal as an introductory book for 6th graders and even 5th graders. It is short, only 95 A5 pages, and these include a lot of illustrations.

A model project

Before I start telling you in detail about the book, I would like to point out that the project I did can be used as a model for other projects on almost any book you like. The ideas for tasks can be transferred and reworked as you see fit.

The plot

The plot of the book is a simple "goodies versus the very baddies". To relate it briefly, it is a gory and naughty story about a hideous old married couple, Mr and Mrs Twit, who don’t live happily together at all, but spend most of their time plotting tricks and playing awful practical jokes upon each other . These include such juicy details as the eating of spaghetti with worms and the putting of glass eyes in the most inappropriate places. (In my opinion something that catches the attention of most 6th graders and sadly that of some infantile teachers, too.) The Twits keep pets which they abuse. But the pets get the upper hand in the end. Everything is told in the special language of Roald Dahl, who loved to create new words and dared to tell a few more brutal facts than your kind aunts.

A more detailed plan of the project

My plan was to spend two weeks on the reading of the book, and this turned out to be suitable, although I must add that it would have been all right to spend more. But if the reading experience is to be in focus, I would say that two weeks are about ideal. NB!! After the actual reading was finished, I spent an additional week on diverse activities centred in the book.

I divided the book into eleven parts, my intention being to let the pupils read only five of these on their own. What I did was to read one part at school and then let them read the following part at home, without having gone through it at school at all, but supplying them with a glossary where they could find the new words which I had underlined in the copy(!).We would then continue the reading according to this pattern; at school I would read a new part aloud to them, and then they would listen and do nothing more with it, except of course that they would have to have understood the content to do the tasks and read the following part at home. To make it even clearer: no homework based on the text read at school.

Thus the pupils would listen to one part of the text at school being read with plenty of feeling by me, translating a few words as I read and explaining yet another few with my body-language. They were never given any glossary of these parts of the text, but the text was there in their copy for them to read if they so chose at home. Their homework would be to read the next part. In addition to the reading, they would have other tasks, related mostly to the part they had as homework.

At school I would check in various ways that they had done what they were supposed to do at home. I would then start new tasks with them that were made to be done at school. In this way the parts that they had as homework were further repeated and used as basis for tasks, thus securing further chances of understanding for the pupils who might have had problems with the homework. My intention was to convey and transfer all my own wonderful experiences with literature in general, and English literature in particular. Into this I mingled some of the grammar they had recently been introduced to. I added as many communicative activities as I could think of. There were games and tasks and there were writing activities. The pupils were also asked whether they would like to read the book to be tape-recorded after the first reading of it was finished. In this way the training of all the four skills was covered.

Motivating the pupils

I first introduced the idea in the early autumn; asking whether they thought that it could be interesting. Then I still waited until the dreary days of November before I read the first two chapters about Mr and Mrs Twit to them. I then asked the pupils if they found the content interesting and the language easy enough. But we did not actually start the project until after Christmas. I think that it must be up to the teacher how to approach such a project, but in my opinion one gains by letting it mature.

My evaluation of the project

You will have no problems getting through the book in six lessons. However, I strongly recommend that you at least spend another three to six lessons on post-reading activities like recording the reading (dramatised!!) of the pupils, writing process-oriented assignments, making and playing a dramatised version of parts of or the whole book, trying out the recipes from the book Revolting Recipes also by Roald Dahl or studying the characters and the structure more closely as literature. You may think of other or better ideas.

The pupils I worked with took it as a very welcome break among the many school routines. I took care to ask them nicely and politely whether they actually would like to do it. As I mentioned earlier, there is usually the problem about what to do with the slow learners. It will of course be up to your judgement whether your particular slow learners will benefit from taking part, or whether you simply cannot do such a project because it will single out a pupil or group of pupils negatively. In my classes we solved the problem by discussing it with the class teacher, who made her suggestions and who also talked to the parents of the child beforehand. As I have mentioned elsewhere, we lent the pupil a copy of the Norwegian translation, (Dustene). I think the pupils were rather fascinated by all the tasks that one could do that were all based upon the book. None of them complained about having difficulties with their homework. The glossaries I supplied them with were quite adequate. Some of them even claimed to have read through the parts that I read at school. In one of the classes a pupil had a turning-point in his career as an English-student. We did the role plays, and he acted his part so successfully that everybody was impressed. He was widely praised and his parents were told. At the end of the year it turned out that he had a totally new attitude not only to English, but also to other subjects.

The pupils were asked in the questionnaire about what they enjoyed most. The surprising answer was that most of them liked best being read aloud to! That really is something to be noticed in our modern times. Now, whether you think I am immodest or not about my talents: you really have to read as lively as you can, using body language and dramatising to an extent that you would not want to be caught doing by your colleges, enemies or whoever you might fear.

The front page drawing competition was also a success, as the prize turned out to be a copy of The Twits!

Do try to spend time on the recording of the pupils' reading of the book! They took it so seriously. Maybe, if they are very good and agree to it, their reading of the book could be used by the local radio station? Or at least be exchanged with friendship classes in other parts of the world (not English!).

I hope you were impressed by their poems! You should have seen some of the summaries they wrote; they really had picked up quite a lot of new words.

Finally, I would again like to draw attention to the importance of taking care to prepare yourself very well before the first lesson, or else you can risk ruining the whole project. A good beginning means an awful lot.

Good luck to you!

The Twits divided into 11 parts (the complete lesson plans of the first two lessons follow)

Homework 1

From the beginning to The Glass Eye

At school 2nd lesson

From The Glass Eye to The Funny Walking-stick

Homework 2

From The Funny Walking-stick to Mrs Twit Goes Ballooning Up

At school 3rd lesson

From Mrs Twit Goes Ballooning Up to The House, the Tree and the Monkey Cage

Homework 3

From The House, the Tree and the Monkey Cage to The Great Upside Down Monkey Circus At school

4th lesson

From The Great Upside Down Monkey Circus to Mr and Mrs Twit Goes Off to Buy Guns

Homework 4

From Mr and Mrs Twit Goes Off to Buy Guns to The Great Glue Painting Begins

At school 5th lesson

From The Great Glue Painting Begins to The Ravens Swoop Over

Homework 5

From The Ravens Swoop Over to The Monkeys Escape

At school 6th lesson

From The Monkeys Escape to the end

The Twits - plan for the first lesson

Aim: Get the pupils further motivated for the project. Teach them not to be distracted by a few unfamiliar words.

I started the lesson by handing out the copy of the book. I explained everything in both English and Norwegian to make sure that all the pupils understood perfectly, even the very slow learners. Concerning these, I had discussed the project with the class teacher before we started to get her opinion about how they could be expected to cope. It was then decided that one of the slowest learners was to be given a copy of the book in Norwegian translation as a support, but that the pupil would follow the lessons, with some extra help for the tasks. The assistant teacher would also take the pupil out from time to time to talk about the content to ensure that it was understood.

I then informed the pupils how we were going to do the reading. I also told them that we were going to complete the reading in two weeks. I must underline the importance of emphasising this because I think that the short time spent on the reading is motivating in itself. I told them that everything we did during these weeks would be centred around the book. There would be games, food made from Twits recipes, the recording of their reading, role playing, tasks, the writing of summaries and a front-page drawing competition.

I then proceeded to reread the introductory chapters plus a bit further (to the chapter about the Glass Eye) as lively as I was able to. I asked some questions to see if they had got the gist of the content.

Now - the first lesson of such a project is a very nerve-racking experience. There is so little to start from. The book’s content is barely introduced. So one will have to exploit some themes perhaps a bit more in the periphery.

One can of course do a pre-reading activity like:

• Show a picture from the book and ask them to do a brainstorming about what they think is going to happen;

• Then write a few lines to tell what they think will happen, individually or in pairs;

• There is also the possibility to talk about the author, and since he is in this case Roald Dahl, it is very likely that some of the children might have either seen a film like Danny, the Champion of the World or Mathilda or have read or listened to the reading of one of his other books;

• Talk about beauty and ugliness and what we do to our bodies nowadays. This subject will have to be taken up if you are going to read this book. There is of course the risk that this might trigger some kind of unwanted reaction among the pupils, but our modern bodily problems will have to be tackled anyhow so why not take it up in connection with this rather fairytale-like story;

• Talk about what people can do, or have done to their hair through history;

• The teacher makes a Find Someone Who, such as the following task for lesson 1:

FIND SOMEONE WHO

Evaluation of lesson 1 and some advice

It is not always possible to predict the reactions of the pupils. The importance of telling them that they are not expected to learn every new word must be stressed. This is what they are normally used to.

It is also important to tell them to use dictionaries or ask their parents if there are problems.

You must also tell them that the reading will get easier as they proceed because many of the words will reappear in later chapters.

Cajoling and bribery are means that I have used.

The Twits - Glossary for the part that was read at school - if you want to reread it yourself

impossible - umuleg

shampoo - sjampo/nera

hair-tonic -hårvatn

rub -gni

bald - skalla

trimmed- jamna til

nail-scissors -neglesaks

probably-truleg

____________________

forehead- panne

covered-dekka til

stuff- greier

sprouted-voks ut

revolting tufts- ufyselege buster

twit- dust

smooth -glatt

matted- jamnt

spikes- piggar

bristles- bustar

smudgy - skittent

gravy-brun saus

wipe-tørka

flannel-klut

---------------------

sticking-sat klint att

sleeve-erme

specks-småflekker

scrambled eggs-eggerøre

spinach-spinat

minced-opphakka

disgusting-ekkel

-----------------------------

peered- kikka

moustachy-skjeggete

objects-biter ting

escaped- unnsleppt

maggoty-full av spyflugelarver

mouldy-mygla

tinned-hermetiske

curling-krølla

explore-utforska

morsel-godbit

nibble-småknaske

foul-fml

-------------------------------------

at any rate-i alle fall

doubt-tvila

ugliness-å vera stygg

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wonky-kroket

crooked-skeiv

double chin- dobbelthake

stick-out -utståande

sunbeams-solstrålar

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wort-vorte

The Twits - homework 1

1. Start thinking about the front page. DON'T DRAW OR WRITE ANYTHING YET!!!

2. Read through the pages in the book that are your homework.

3. Find two crayons with different colours.

a) Underline the words you don’t understand at all in one colour.

b) Underline the words you think you understand, but aren’t quite sure of in a different colour.

4.Use the glossary and check the words, both the ones you did not understand and the ones that you guessed at.

5.Choose 10 words you want to learn and write them in your notebook. Practise the spelling

and how to say them (ask an adult if you have no clue)

6. Answer the questions that follow here:

    a)What words do you know that have to do with hairy faces?

    b) What can you do to take care of your hair?

    c) How would you describe Mr Twits in a few sentences?

    d) Tell about the revolting left-overs that could be found in Mr Twit's beard: Imagine! Invent something yourself!

    e) How would you explain what happened to Mrs Twit’s looks?

    f) How would you describe yourself?

        1. average 2. pretty (girl) handsome (boy) 3. breathtakingly gorgeous

Lesson 2 - The Twits

Aim: Keep them motivated

Set their imagination in motion by talking about the revolting left-overs in Mr Twit’s beard. Teach them about the importance of personal hygiene and stress how soap and water is better than scents and deodorants. Discuss the proverb: ‘Appearances are deceitful’.

Start the lesson by asking if there were any problems. Go through the questions. If you want to, you can ask them to read to each other in pairs. You may want to spend some extra time to check whether they are all comfy and happy.

The Twits - Glossary for homework 2

workshed-verkstad

tiny-bitteliten

-------------------------------------

thickness- stykke

gradually-gradvis

actually-faktisk

for the life of me-i det heile teke

---------------------------------------

possibly-faktisk

grinning-gliste

it jolly well-jammen santen

at least-minst

in comparison-til samanlikning

trembly-skjelven

-------------------------------------

by golly-jammen

dangling-dingla

went white-vart kvit

pointing-peika

badly-alvorleg

dribble-grina

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gasped-gispa

neck-hals

can’t bear it-held det ikkje ut

disease-sjukdom

how long have I got-kor lenge har eg att

put on-setja opp

solemn-høgtideleg

at that rate-med den farten

grizzly-ulveglis

clutching-klamra seg til

------------------------------

stretched-strekt

string-hyssing

gas sylinder-gassbehaldar

fixed-fast festa

wrists-handledd

upward pull-drag oppover

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intended-tenkt å

1. Underline the words you did not understand at all.

2. Pick out 10 words that you would like to remember and write them in your book.

The Twits - homework 2

1. Read through your homework pages. Underline the words like you did last time.

2. Find the words in the glossary.

3. Pick out ten words that you want to learn. Practise spelling and translation.

4. Write the words here:

5. Look at the pictures below:

NB!!! The teacher will have to find 4 pictures which show the story of the growing walking-stick, copy them and glue them onto the sheet.

6.How do you conjugate these verbs? You will find most of them in the chapter about the funny walking-stick:

To grow-

To shrink-

To stick-

To pay-

To creep-

To say-

To feel-

Ideas for tasks to use for the remainder of the second lesson

At the end of the lesson there is always the opportunity to play a word bingo.

Hand out the new tasks.

Read the next part to them.

A word jumble is usually quite popular. Here is one, but the pupils can also make them for each other.

Examples of poems written by 7^th graders

[1]

Mrs Twit is in bed

with a frog on her head.

[2]

Mr Twit smells like

shit!

[3]

Have you ever heard

about anything so absurd

as a Roly- Poly bird?

[4]

Mrs Twit

In the cradle lay beauty-babe-Twit

But she soon got uglier bit by bit

Soon she got a glass eye

and oh - have you heard -

she was eating cute birds,

in the Wednesday bird pie!

How absurd!!

[5]

A POEM ABOUT MRS TWIT

Mrs Twit was ugly, and you asked why?

Because she has ugly thoughts in her mind.

She had a glass eye, don't ask me why.

But the glass eye always looked the wrong way

and she played a lot of tricks with her eye.

And her walking-stick she used to scare all living things away.

She was really ugly, oh my!

[6]

Mr and Mrs Twit didn't really fit.

He tied her to a balloon,

so that she could go to the moon.

But she went down,

and hit him in his crown!

Role plays for chapters in The Twits

Role play 1

A You are Muggle-Wump leading the difficult and very busy operation of gluing the carpet and the furniture to the ceiling. You give a lot of orders. Be nice to those who are quick and yell (and swear, a little) at the lazy and clumsy ones. Use a lot of bird names!

B You are The Roly-Poly bird. You try to help as well as you can, but you have to do everything with your beak and claws (mouth and legs). You get tired rather quickly and you are in everybody’s way and maybe you are also a bit lazy...

Role play 2

A You are Mr Twit, and you are stuck, glued to the floor, upside down. You are terribly angry and you blame your wife, the monkeys and the birds. You threaten them and then maybe you begin to feel scared...

B You are Mrs Twit, and you too are stuck. You blame your husband and you ramble on about how he has ruined your life and how beautiful you were when you were young and about how filthy and smelly and absolutely horrible your husband is. You swear that you will divorce him when you get away!

Role play 3

A You are Muggle-Wump and you have just built a tree-house to live in.

B You are The Roly-Poly bird and you tell the monkeys about the winter in the cold north.

Role play 4

A You are Mrs Muggle-Wump and you tell the class about your little-monkey-hood in Africa.

B You are Mr Muggle-Wump and you disagree with your wife sometimes and try to make it look as if you are a tough guy.

C You are the Roly-Poly bird who tries to tell something about all the animals you know in Africa.

The Twits - a questionnaire

A link to a questionnaire for the students and teachers to evaluate the project.

Books by Roald Dahl:

How to get hold of the complete project of The Twits

You can buy everything included in the project in an A4 compendium by writing to:

Høgskulen i Sogn og Fjordane,

AØS, engelsk-seksjonen, PB 133,

5801 SOGNDAL

Pre-reading, while reading and post-reading activities in connection with Great Expectations (GE)

by Elisa Bjersand

Drawings by Roy Aron Myklebust

Pre-reading activities for GE

While reading activities for GE

Post reading activity

One useful way of approaching literature in the language classroom can be to divide the tasks into pre-, while- and post-reading activities. The pre-reading activities should stimulate the students’ curiosity, and prepare them for what is coming. Some lexical difficulties can be overcome if the theme and/or some of the vocabulary of the text has already been presented to the student. It is important that the pre-reading activity provides the student with a moment where she can think and concentrate quietly on her own to recall relevant experiences.

The while-reading activities should aim at deepening the students’ understanding by encouraging them to look more closely at the text. These activities also give the teacher an opportunity to check how the reading is progressing and whether the students like and understand the text.

Post-reading activities encourage reflection after the text has been read, and allow the students to deepen their understanding of, and learn strategies for talking and writing about literature. All of these three stages should provide the students with possibilities for communicating with each other in the foreign language. The activities that are included here both for individual readers (The Reading Scheme) and for class reading (Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, Oxford Bookworm Reader Edition) will follow this structure. The Oxford Bookworm’s Teacher’s Guide has suggestions for pre-, while and post-reading activities for GE, (and other books in the same series), and the suggestions are often very good.

Pre-reading activities for GE

Letter-writing

This activity is quite time-consuming, and may be started towards the end of a lesson, and finished as homework.The finished letter may be shared with other students in the coming lesson.

‘Your father or mother calls you in from the street. In your living room there is a lawyer waiting. He is a very serious man, but he has good news; an unknown uncle has left you a nice sum of money for your education, and to give you a good start in life. The money will be yours on the condition that you keep in touch with your uncle’s family, and tell them what you intend to do with the money.’

Write a thank you letter to the family, telling them of you plans for the future.

The students can take some time in class the next day sharing their letter. The letter can be glued to a poster in the classroom, and kept for later reference; how are the student’s plans, hopes and dreams different from Pips’? What happens to him?

Introducing vocabulary

This useful pre-reading activity can be used with almost any text, and it does not take long to prepare.

Select 10/20 words and expressions from the first chapters of the text. Write the words on the black-board or on an overhead, and show them to the students.

EXAMPLE

a) Ask the students to draw an arrow horizontally on a page, where one end of the arrow is marked with a plus (+) for positive, and the other with a minus (-) for negative. Ask them to place the words along the line, making sure that they have looked up difficult words. To illustrate, the teacher can select one of the words, for example ‘opportunity’, and place it very near the plus sign to indicate that this word in nearly always positive to her. After the students have finished this activity individually, they work together in pairs, (or in groups of 3-4), comparing their choices. If desired, the teacher can draw the arrow on the blackboard, and the students can present their choices, explaining their placing of the words.

EXAMPLE

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

+ (positive)                                                                                                                                - (negative)

OPPORTUNITY                                                                                 GRAVESTONE

b) Ask the students if they can imagine what the story is about. Who are the main characters? Where does the story take place? What do the characters do?

c) Placing the words according to positive and negative associations is relatively difficult, and instead one can ask the students to look up the words, and make sure that they have understood the meaning. The next step is to encourage the students to try to imagine what the story is about. Who is in the story? Where does it take place? What do the characters do?

Chapter headings

Take the first ten to twelve chapter headings, and put them in random order on the blackboard.

A chronological list of the first twelve chapter headings:

Pip meets a stranger

Catching a convict

An opportunity for Pip

A present from a stranger

Pip’s sister is attacked

Great expectations

Pip arrives in London

Visiting Mr Whemmich and Mr Jaggers

A visit from Joe

Pip and Herbert talk about love

Pip attends a burial

Pip discovers the truth

a) Let the students work alone first, suggesting which chapter follows which chronologically.

b) Choose two different options. Discuss the results. Do any of the chapter headings apart from Great Expectations sound like a good title?

While reading activities for GE:

Click on Word Puzzle to find a worksheet for this activity.

1) Can you find ten words from Chapter 1 of Great Expectations?

Click on Chapter-summaries (After having read a chapter, in this case, Chapter 6) to find a worksheet for this activity.

Below you will find three versions of a summary of Chapter 6 of Great Expectations. Let the students read the three different summaries, and let them choose the one they feel is closest to the actual truth. There is no right/wrong answer here, although version b can be seen as the most truthful if one ignores the last few sentences. The point is that the students discuss the summaries, and give reasons for their choices. The group should justify why they have chosen that particular summary. For homework, the students can be asked to write their own summary of the chapter. As a follow-up activity, students can be asked to make tasks like this one for each other.

a) A stranger approaches Joe and Pip in the pub and asks if Joe is willing to let his apprentice go. Joe says that he has to be compensated because he will lose a great deal of profit if Pip is no longer to be his apprentice. The stranger is a very grave man with large hands that smell of perfume. The stranger says that Pip has ‘great expectations’, and that he is to be taken to London and educated by himself no matter what Joe says. Mrs Joe thinks that this plan is particularly good, but Biddy agrees with Joe, and is angry because Pip is going. Mr Pumblechook is happy for Pip, because he has always been Pip’s friend. Pip leaves his home town with a heavy heart because of the disagreement with Joe.

b) A stranger approaches Joe and Pip in the pub, and asks if Joe is willing to let Pip go. Joe says that he will never stand between Pip and fame and fortune, and the stranger thinks Joe a fool because he will not take money. Mr Pumblechook is very happy to be Pip’s friend at this moment, and completely reverses his behaviour towards Pip. Pip is convinced that Miss Havisham is the person who is sending him to London, to be educated as a gentleman, and thinks that Miss Havisham plans for him to marry Estella. Biddy is unhappy that Pip is going, and asks to go with him. Pip agrees to take her, but Miss Joe refuses to let her nurse go. Joe is very jealous because of Pip’s ‘great expectations’, and wants to get an education too.

c) A stranger approaches Joe and Pip’s party in the pub where Mr Wopsle is reading from the newspaper about a man who is being tried for murder. The stranger is angry because he feels that Mr Wopsle and the others are judging the poor accused man before he is found guilty. The stranger asks Joe if he is willing to let Pip go to be educated as a gentleman because Pip has great expectations. Pip is very sad because he has to leave Joe, and Joe sees this and does not want Pip to go. He asks the stranger if they can have some time to think about this. The stranger refuses, and Pip is taken to London immediately.

Making newspaper articles

The frame for this activity is that the students are journalists working for a sensation-seeking newspaper. The material for the newspaper articles come from key incidents from parts of Great Expectations that the students have read. The students can be either journalists or characters from Great Expectations who are interviewed.

(Chapter 17)

a) Before dividing the class into groups, put the headlines on an overhead or on the blackboard. Ask the students if they remember which incidents the headlines refer to? Who was present when the particular events took place? What kind of information would the journalists be after, and what would be important to include? Make notes on the blackboard or on the overhead for later reference.

b) Divide the class into groups and ask them to appoint a journalist, characters who are to be interviewed (for instance, an eye-witness or a policeman), and a group editor who should be responsible for spelling and editing language.

c) The stories are given to the teacher, who is responsible for checking them for mistakes. If the contributions are made on a computer, editing is easy.

Post reading activity (can be while-reading as well)

1) Character-posters:

Let students work in pairs or in groups to make a character study of the various characters. A worksheet has been provided for some of the characters,   where a drawing of the character is put in the centre of an A-4 sheet of paper. 

• Joe Gargery

• Estella

• Miss Havisham

Let the students find

• things said about a character
• things said by the character about himself/herself
• the students’ assumptions about the character and write them down around the illustration.

This relatively easy post-reading activity is useful because it teaches students how characters are represented in texts, and can also be made into a creative activity if the students themselves draw the characters, or cut out appropriate illustrations from magazines or newspapers. This activity is also useful in that it results in a product that can be a starting point for discussions, and that can be useful for revision.

by Ernst Åge Johnsen

A. Introduction

B. Selection of texts

C. Questionnaire

D. Answers to questionnaire

E. Teacher’s review of books

F. Extracts of pupils’ own reviews

A Introduction

L 97 prescribes the extensive use of texts in the classroom, and particularly the concept of ‘authentic materials’. There is an important debate as to the validity of such a concept, but I have chosen to interpret the concept as a text that is not primarily written for teaching and learning objectives in an ESL classroom, but a text with a message in its own right. Texts that are adapted to different levels may still be considered ‘authentic’. They are admittedly ‘doctored’ in the sense that certain words have been taken out to fit a particular level, yet their basic message stays intact. Such a text can still be seen as ‘trustworthy’ and ‘reliable’, which are the two primary meanings of ‘authentic’. Some of the readers selected for my project are easy readers only in the sense that some of their authentic content is selected to suit different levels, as is the case with The Experience of Love (cf Section B 1).

I have worked with the texts at Kaupanger Skule, in co-operation with Arne Bjelde (levels 3 and 10), Arvid Refsnes (level 7) and Kari Lise Svedal (level 8). They teach English at 4 different levels, and have found the offer of easy readers valuable for their classes.

The primary objective of this project has been to talk about the texts in the class, and to offer them as individual readers, as group activities, or as projects. Secondly, there was a review of them in class by me, where I tried to make pupils conscious of criteria for good or bad texts. Then they discussed what the ‘quality’ of texts meant, as this kind of evaluation has been turned into an important objective in L97. Afterwards, the pupils were given some instruments for evaluation of texts, so that they could do it on their own. In today’s society, where pupils are exposed to such an overwhelming amount of texts from everywhere, they need to get used to the idea of choosing what they find stimulating, helpful and good.

After having worked with the texts for two months, the project resulted in pupil reviews and summaries as well as new ideas for class activities in connection with the texts. A selection of the reviews is included in extracts of pupils’ own reviews (cf Section F).

B Selection of texts

The following texts were used, which is a selection of easy readers as well as traditional authentic texts which have not been ‘doctored’. The number behind each title indicates which class level they are recommended for. They have been grouped into five different topics:

1. Love stories

M. Marland. The Experience of Love. Longman Imprint Books 9

M. Villeneuve. Ulster Story. Longman 8

These stories are compared in class with those in various weekly magazines and youth journals.

2. Cultural understanding and internationalisation

This topic is an important one in L 97, and African, Asian as well as American and British texts are compared and discussed.

J. Graves. King in a Cage. Aschehough 8

E. Amadi. The Great Ponds. Heinemann’s Readers 7

W. Windsor. Slaughter in Soweto. Aschehough 6

C. Achebe. Winds of Change: Modern Short stories from Black Africa. Longman 8

D. K. Swan. Tales from Hans Andersen. Longman Classic 1

D. Byrne. Gandhi. Longman 7

A. Gordon. The Falkland War. Aschehough 8

L. Blake. The Flaming Cross. Aschehough 7

M. Farrell. The World of English. Longman

O. Frank. Anne Frank. Penguin 4

3. Useful and exciting facts

A. Donkin. The Unsinkable Titanic. MacDonald Young Books 4

L. Sealey. Migration. Tanum Norli 1

L. Sealey The Weather. Tanum Norli 3

L. Sealey. Dolphins. Tanum Norli 2

P. Humphrey. The Food We Eat. Evans 1

D. Mackay. Crocodiles are Dangerous. Longman 1

J. Potter. Animals in Danger.Oxford Bookworms 1

A.R. Bolitho. Study English for Science. Longman 8

J. Escott. Lost in New York. Longman Original 2

B. Pennink. This is New York. Heinemann 7

4. Curiosity and discoveries

J. Swift. Gulliver’s Travels. Longman 5

R. L. Stevenson. Treasure Island. Longman Classic 4

J. Macintosh. Exploring our World. Macmillan 5

G. Gerngross. African Adventure. Longman Young Readers 3

Haeus. Famous Firsts 2: At The Poles. Samlaget 5

J. Escott. The Climb. Longman Originals 3

L. Sealey. Man on The Moon. Tanum Norli 2

L. Sealey. Across The Ocean. Nelson 2

5. Football

K. Wilson. Football. Evans 5

D: Mackay. The Football Book. Longmans 1

A. McLean. Garry’s First Season. Longmans 1

The books were distributed after I had presented them in class as reviews. Then the teachers helped me organise a system where pupils could choose them on an individual basis. They were also asked to fill out the questionnaire (cf Section C) when they had read a text. After two weeks they came back and told about each book, and handed in the questionnaires. I was generally impressed at how much they had read. One seventh grade class of 17 pupils had finished 12 texts of between 10 and 50 pages.

One of the titles in each class was chosen for listening comprehension. Lost in New York was used in two of them. We did not finish it in class, but the pupils enjoyed listening and talking about what they had heard.

After four weeks, I spent considerable time in class trying to explain what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’ literature. The pupils became engaged in the discussion, and were interested in the concept of ‘message’ although they did not have clear ideas of what it meant. We also discussed ‘content’, and how much can be learnt about science, biology, history and social science through ‘content-based instruction’, and using English as an important tool.

Some of the pupils had special interests, and were particularly interested in books like Dolphins, Crocodiles are Dangerous, The Unsinkable Titanic and Hamas the Diver, which proved the point that content-based instruction can be successful. The love stories were mostly read by the girls, but even some boys ventured into the topic, yet without revealing it to the rest of the class.

I tried to engage the class in a discussion of quality and particularly about what they had watched at home on the computer or video. Pupils brought games to class, and some discovered the emphasis on violence in most of them. I tried to recommend CD ROM programs like Encarta, The Dorling Kindersley Series, Kidlink and MIRC chats as alternatives. The good thing about today is that alternatives exist, but pupils are in desperate need for demonstration of how good they are. When they find out, they will use them, particularly for content-based instruction in a number of subjects both in and out of school. Section E shows what most of the pupils had at home.

C Questionnaire

We want you to fill out this in order to tell us what you think about the stories\texts you have read. Use English as best as you can, and tell us also if there are texts you do not like. We are interested in what you think about the language, the persons you meet and the new information that you learn from reading. Thank you for your help:

Boy girl age class level

Name of story\ book:

Number of pages:

What do you like about the text?

What is it that you did not like about the text?

How many times a week do you: Read English: Listen to English:

What type of English do you read or listen to? (Give names of stories or books, computer programs, CD -ROMs, CDs, magazines about football, cars, computers, animals etc):

D Answers to questionnaire on what pupils read, listen to or look at in English:

Computer games: Nintendo 64, Star Craft, Sin City 2000, Duke Nuke (CD ROM), Man United; ACE Ventura, Playstation games (Powersoccer Actua), Championship Manager; Soccer; Microsoft, FIFA 98 EA Sports.

Football: Fifa 98, Man. United, Liverpool and Arsenal magazines, Goal.

POP: Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, Absolute Music, Dakota Moon, and Metallica, Magic cards

Video: Titanic, Eraser, and Killing Streets

Internet chatting: Http://www.MIRC.co.uk (good chat-rooms)

E Teacher’s review of books

The following are examples of my reviews and presentations in class at the beginning of the project. I tried to communicate the importance of both focusing on what one sees as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in order to arrive at a sensible conclusion or evaluation that can help readers decide what to read and which title to choose. The pupils’ own reviews were less critical, and focused more on plot and personal experiences while reading. Generally speaking, however, they impressed me with what they had gotten out of the texts, and above all how many texts they had read. One seventh grade also chose Round The World in Eighty Days as a class reading project. They seemed to enjoy both reading as well as working with their written assignments.

I am grateful for being given the opportunity of working with the teachers in Kaupanger Skule for two months, and I have learnt a lot about methodology in this period. Some extracts of the pupils’ own reviews are included at the end. They show how the pupils reacted to some of the texts (cf Section F).

This is New York, 1982, 30p

This is a black and white photo review of New York. Figures and facts are old and pictures too. The language is easy, boring and without challenges. It gives a good short historical survey as well as descriptions of famous places. Can be used in grades 4-5

The Food We eat, 1992, 30p

Easy language in this richly illustrated colour review of food and nutrition. Pictures are good for discussions, and lots of information about where foods come from. Teachers will have to invent questions, as the book does not help. Useful for food discussions. Can be used in grades 2-5.

Dolphins, 1973, 16p

Richly illustrated in colours. Easy language and vocabulary list. Good for discussions of natural science. Interesting details and good questions. Can be used in grades 2-4.

The Weather, 1978, 15p

An exciting picture book of weather that includes interesting facts from science. Some advanced facts, but easy questions for pupils at the end. Can be used in grades 4-6.

Migration, 1974, 16p

Exciting colour picture review of migration among birds and fish. Includes good questions for discussions and vocabulary list. Can be used in grades 2-4.

Crocodiles are dangerous, 1975, 16p

Exciting colour picture review of a tragic story of a fish which was eaten by a crocodile. Charming morality. Can be used in grades 1-3.

Famous Firsts: 2 At The Poles, 1972, 16p

Exciting black and white pictures of Peary and Amundsen’s conquests of the poles. Easy reading and vocabulary and questions with keys. Can be used in grades 4-6.

Man on the Moon, 1973, 16p

Boring story about a space ship, and colour drawings are bad. Easy language, but questions are meaningless. Can be used for interested pupils in grades 3-4.

Across the Oceans, 1973, 16p

An exciting colour review of historical crossings by different nations and vessels. Good for discussions and geography as well as for technology discussions. Good questions and drawings. Can be used in grades 4-6.

The Football Book, 1972, 15p

Good colour review of a small boy’s introduction to the game. Lots to talk about, but old team arrangements. Can be used in grades 3-6.

African Adventure, 1995, 16p

Exciting colour picture story about a birthday and a dream of Africa nicely put together. Sends a strong message of protection of animals. Good for projects and language quizzes. Can be used in grades 3-6.

Hamad the Diver 1992, Longman Structural Readers 2, 32 p

Hamad is a pearl diver in Kuwait who struggles to feed his family. His wife dies, and wants him to remarry in order to fend for the children. Fatima is a rich woman in Irak, who is looking for a husband- and what do you think happens? Romantic and simple picture story in colours. Unchallenging language. Interesting about pearl diving in the Middle East. Difficult language activities. Can be used at levels 4-7.

Intermediate/secondary level

Garry’s First Season, 1977, 16p

Pathetic story about the bad Garry who never scores but who rises to become a star. Doubtful morals. Good colour drawings and language contains interesting match reports and interviews. Exciting for football fanatics. Raises some interesting team issues. Can be used in grades 4-10.

Animals in Danger, 1998, 21p

An exciting book that sends a strong message of protecting animals. Beautiful pictures and interesting examples of what can be done. The issue of zoos is discussed intelligently as well. Good questions and exercises. Excellent for science in English. Can be used in grades 6-10.

Lost in New York, 1995, 32p

Exciting story about a boy who comes to New York to meet his family and ends up being lost and in a lot of mischief. A different kind of tour in New York that is integrated into a lot of excitement and suspense. Good language and surprise end. Can be used in grades 6-10.

The Unsinkable Titanic, 1998, 45p

A well-written colour picture account of The Titanic’s fate told from the point of view of a little girl. Easy language and contains a lot of interesting documentary details and beautiful drawings. Use in combination with other documentaries. Can be used in grades 6-10.

Anne Frank, 1998, 60p

A moving classic in the genre of a young girl’s diary from W.W.II. Exciting and simple language. Interesting documentary pictures from the family album. Good as a comparison with other language translations.. Good vocabulary and comprehension hints. Excellent for discussions of humanity vs. fascism. Can be used in grades 6-10.

Football, 1976, 43p

An advanced book on English football history. Tries to be international but falls down as nationalist in attitudes. Old figures and bad black and white pictures. Contains glossary and control questions for understanding. Boring, and only for pupils interested in English football history. Can be used in grades 7-10.

The Experience of Love 1980 150p

The following 22 authentic texts are taken from the above title, and are included to be used in very different grade levels, ranging form intermediate to advanced.

At The Dance 10p

Shellie has moved to a new village in Trinidad and falls in love with Rosalie, a half Indian and half-Black girl. At the dance he tries to make her see him. Easy language and can be used in grades 6-10.

Lunch Counter 4p

Fred falls in love with 15 year old Marion and tries to impress her with his cooking. Mrs O Neill, her aunt, tries to prevent the affair. Easy and humorous reading. Can be used in grades 6-10.

In Blackberry Time 6p

Interesting meeting between Tom the farmer and the roaming Polly. A cultural divide between two life styles. Advanced language. Can be used in grades 8-12.

Sonia 8 p

Interesting, but difficult story about a group of boys on vacation in South Africa anxious to chase girls. Sonia, who is the daughter of the boardinghouse landlady, is unattractive, but interesting because of her personality. Fatty falls in love with her, but the story ends tragically. Can be used in grades 9-12.

The Young Couple 13p

A brilliant description of English Cathy and Indian Naraian who move to India as two innocent love birds: Cathy meets the strain of moving to a totally different culture and sees Naraian changing in front of her eyes, when coming to his own culture. Tension rises. The language is advanced and poetic. Can be used in grades 9-12.

The Sautane 9p

A boring and difficult story about Lucy and Henry who learn to know each other. Advanced language can be used in grades 9-12.

The Magic Barrel 16p

This exciting love story is about a young and serious Jew in New York who goes to a matchmaker to find a wife. The story is humorous and interesting as it shows that traditional matchmaking does not put love marriages high on the social scale. Other considerations such as background and wealth count as well. But the young man ends up having his will after all, but not without a surprising twist at the end. The language is advanced and challenging. Can be used at grade levels 9-12.

Snowdrops, 7p

A small and charming love story about a young schoolboy who is in love with his teacher, Miss Webster. He is sad to find that she does not care about him, but about a 20-year-old man who was killed in a bike accident. Lyrical and simple language from a boy’s perspective. Can be use at grade levels 8-12.

The Touch 9p

A tragic love story from Ireland where Kate’s father is a vengeful man who prevents his daughter from marrying the farmhand Brian. Beautiful, but with advanced language. A story that explains the horror of arranged marriages. Can be used at grade levels 10-12.

A Trip to Southwell 16p

An exciting story about Alec who falls in love with younger Mavis. She is mysterious and reserved and hard to charm, as opposed to his other girlfriends. Her mystery makes him curious. He cannot forget her even if he tries. He goes to see her again a last time. Challenging, but exciting language. Should appeal to young people who have been in love. Can be used at grade levels 8-12.

A Sense of Shelter 12p

William is awkward and intelligent in school and makes up his mind to propose to Mary. She is athletic and popular and William is full of academic ambitions. Boring boy in a boring school. Language is very difficult and makes one lose interest. Can be used by bright pupils at grade levels 10-12.

Arise my Love 6p

A moving story about Frank and Fibi who grow up together on the Caribbean with their grandma. Fibi was a Mulatto after a tragic love story of her mother’s. Mother died young: Frank adores Fibi, but has a strong sense that she will run into difficulties. Racial issues and guilt-ridden love are turned into a beautiful and lyrical story. The language is fascinating, and the tragedy of a fishing community makes for interesting reading at grade levels 8-12.

Visitation 0,5 p

A lyrical poem about someone who is wondering why his beloved has picked someone else. Difficult language. Can be used at grade levels 10-12.

First meeting with a possible Mother in Law 1 p

Very difficult poem that hardly appeals. Can be used at grade levels 12.

In the Rubber Dinghy 0,5 p

A poem about lovers in a dinghy. Difficult to grasp. Could be used at grade level 12.

Roses at the Breakfast Table 0,5 p

Short poem about a rose as a symbol of love. Difficult to identify with. Can be used at grade level

10-12.

How Have I Been since I Saw You Last? 0,5p

Interesting poem about somebody who has had lots of meaningless relationships and still longs for another. Challenging language. Can be used at grade levels 10-12.

The Picnic 2 p

Epic poem about Ruth who goes to a picnic with her beloved. Exciting and funny. Simple language. Can be used at grade levels 8-12.

'She Works at Tasks 0,5p

Difficult poem about a woman who always works. Hard to understand. Can be used at grade levels

10-12.

Where shall we go? 1p

Poem about a man who waits for his beloved and becomes increasingly irritated. She turns up as if nothing has happened. Difficult to understand. Can be used at grade levels 10-12.

None as Much as You 1, 5 p

Love poem that is hard to grasp. The message is that love is not reciprocated. Can be used at grade levels 10-12.

Love Song 0,5p

Charming epic poem about a boy who admires a girl at a distance. Exciting and lyrical. Could be used at grade levels 8-12.

The Climb, 1992, 48p

This is a well-written story that is both a thriller about climbing as well as human relationships. Easy to read and good language. Secrets are revealed gradually. Good for discussions about climbing techniques and risks. Combine it with technical details. Good pre- and post writing activities. Do not reveal the ending! Can be used in grades 7-10.

Exploring our World, 1972, 60p

An excellent review of brave conquests around the world in a historical context. Includes fascinating polar, underground, jungle as well as mountain expeditions. Instils a strong attitude of excitement and challenges into the reader so that he understands the human drive for new experiences. Appeals to the explorer type of pupil. Language is advanced, personal and exciting. Contains good questions and vocabulary. Can be used in grades 7-10.

Study English for Science 1980, 100p

A very advanced but exciting science book which includes important knowledge for pupils about nutrition, biology of the human body, plants, animals as well as computer technology. It also raises issues of pollution, energy consumption in a pedagogical way with lots of good language and content assignments to go with them. The pupils will learn a lot if they are motivated for individual work with the book. It requires independent work for clever and curious pupils with a bent for science. Can be used in advanced classes like 10-13.

Gandhi by Donne Byrne 61 p

This is an exciting story about an individual and a politician. It describes his weaknesses as well as his strength. He stole as a child, and fought against the Untouchables getting a seat in Parliament. On the other hand, it explains well his non-violence and fasting strategies. It describes his success in South Africa, as well as in India. He succeeded against the British, but failed to keep India as one nation. Good black and white photos, but no explanations of terms, which require pupils to have some background knowledge before reading the book. Can be used at grade levels 8-12.

Ulster Story by M. Villeneuve, 44p. 1977

This is a moving story about Patrick and Linda who fall in love in a divided Irish town in 1977. The story contains the usual conflict of love across religious and cultural barriers. Sceptical parents are convinced in the end, and there is a dramatise episode of IRA and UVF violence that adds an element of political discussion. Love wins over political propaganda, but there is a sensible compromise at the end. The story has a list of words at the end that is quite insufficient. Teachers need to fill out the picture. Melodramatic, but worth reading. Can be used at grade levels 8-12.

Round the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. Longman Classic. 60p

Engaging simplification of a famous story. Full of exciting episodes from different countries. Good illustrations in colour. Simple, but challenging language. Good comprehension exercises and vocabulary. Can be used at grade levels 7-12.

F Extracts of pupils’ own reviews

Øivind:.. F had a bet with some guys on the Reform Club where he used to go. The bet was about that a man could go around the world in eighty days so then P.F. had to prove that it could be done.

Ina:.. What I did not like was some difficult words.

Per: The book was boring.

Marit: I did not like that they wanted to kill Aoda.

Atle: I LIKED BEST Indians.

Rune: When they had to order a special train to make it it was exciting.

Renate: I like it because you learn English better and you learn to read English better too.

The Story of Pop (grade 8):

Ole Einar: this book is about the story of pop. It starts with Americans’ first rock stars Bill Haley and the Comets in the 50s, and ends with Elton John in the middle of the 70s. The whole chapter four in this book is about four boys in Liverpool called the BEATLES. In 1962 made the Beatles their first record, it was called ‘Love me do’. The Beatles became England’s most famous band ever. The band has made over 15 records. The rock and roll was a new kind of music only for young people. Before the rock and roll there was only music for adults and not for the youngsters. The young people had listened to their parents’ music, worn the same clothes as them and not cared about looking cool. After the rock came, the young boys and girls started to party and to care less about their mothers and fathers. After reading this book, I found out that this was the start of independent boys and girls.

Hamad the Diver (grade 8)

Kenneth: The story of Hamad the diver is told by his gradson. Illustrated by Mervin Swart. Hamad is from a country called Kuwait, it is not so big, but there are many cities. Hamad is an Arab; he is a seaman on a boat with other seamen. They are diving after pearls which they sell and get money to help their families. When Hamad has used all the money for the family, they are poor. But Hamad is a good diver. In the city Basra lives a beautiful and rich woman, the father will that she marry a good man. She will marry a man who finds a pearl like an egg. The woman to Hamad is rich and she dies, and Hamad is sad. He cannot take care of the family alone so poor he is. Hamad hears about Fatima who will marry. He makes a boat with a friend and sails out to the sea. He is there in five days and the last day he finds a pearl like an egg. He goes to Fatima and when she sees the pearl, she marries Hamad. Then they get rich and get a new mother and all of them live happy.

Slaugher in Soweto (grade 8)

Lasse: It is a very exciting book about two brother Marcus and Thon Nalanga. They are two black boys who live in the city Soweto where it was war between the black and white people. The book is about how the boys experience the war. In the book we follow the boys in good, bad and sad things that happen. Along with the boys we also follow their mother Betty Nalanga. We follow the boys when white people are attacking the black people, and when the boys almost lose their lives. Slaughter in Soweto is a very exciting book about a subject that is very interesting.

The Falkland War (grade 8)

Vidar: Mick lives in Liverpool. He left school when he was 16 years old. He had nothing to do, so he joined the army. Mick was the perfect soldier with great physics. After a while in the army, he went home to his mum. He bought her a new colour TV. When he watched the news one day, he saw that there was war between England and Argentina. On the Falklands. He went back and joined the army. They stormed a beach on the island. Mich ran and ran and all the time he pulled the trigger on the gun. When it got dark, he went up on a hill. He heard some people talking. He stepped forward and surprised them. Mich could not kill them. Then the sergeant came. They hit and hit each other and suddenly the sergeant fell to the ground. They buried him right there. After the war, Mich paid himself out of the army and went home. He got well known as a very good guitar player.

The Flaming Cross (grade 8)

Eirik: Linda Blake writes this book. It has 40 pages. The book is about the Ku Klux Klan and a very young doctor. The doctor Jane grew up in New York. As a child she was very smart. She was among the top 100 students in the USA. When she had finished college, she went to Hicksville to work as a doctor there. When she recommended abortion for a friend in town, they drove by the KKK who set her house on fire. She had then to go through a blockade before she came to the train to escape.

Peepo!

Themes: Rhymes, count to three, mother & father, scenes from a baby’s life.

7 scenes + 7 repetitions of peepo!

Small print

Beautiful drawings

For 2-4th grade

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Themes: Days of the week, fruits, numbers up to ten, adjectives .The ‘eaty’ life of a larva.

Small print

Very simple colourful drawings

1-2 sentences a page

12 pages with text on

12 pages with drawings

For 2-3 grade

Diana, Princess of Wales

Theme: A very polished story about Princess Diana

Hardback

11-12 broken lines a page

4-5 words a line

Past tense

Simple language

A5 13 pages with text, 24 pages total

5-7th grade

The Kidnappers

Themes: Magic, airport, Switzerland, picnic, a kidnapping, dreams,

Direct speech

Small print

Drawings

Past tense

4-5 sentences a page

32 pages

4-5th grade

The Jokers

Themes: Friendship, twins, riding, the circus. Also added at the end two stories from Greek and Roman history about twins.

Small print

Up to 10 full lines a page

Past tense

Drawings

6-7th grade

The Scarf

Theme: Winter

Big small print

Drawings

2 short sentences a page

24 pages

Simple language

Past tense

2-3rd grade

Hard to Please

Theme: About inventing funny activities

7-14 lines a page

31 pages

Past tense

Small print

Drawings

6-7th grade

The Snowman

Theme: Winter

Big small print

Drawings

2 lines a page

16 pages

2-3rd grade

The Lost Puppy

Theme: Simple story about a lost puppy

Big small print

Drawings

2-3 lines

Floppy’s Bath

Theme: A dog becomes dirty while hunting rabbits.

Big small print

Drawings

Past tense

1 sentence a page

16 pages

1-2nd grade

Pirate Adventure

Themes: Magic, beach, pirates, party.

Small print

Drawings

Past tense

3 sentences a page

24 pages

3-4th grade

Wizard Blot

Themes: Clothes, spells, alliterations

Two stories about clocks (rhymes)

One story about people and junk (play with language)

Environmental

Small print

Drawings 4-5 lines a page

24 pages

4-5th grade

Big R

Themes: the cattle drives, a boy and his horse, ‘cowboyish’, a girl rides a horse, a dust storm.

Smallish print

Drawings

5 lines a page

24 pages

5-6th graders

Mog and Barnaby

Theme: Friendship between a cat and a dog.

A flap-book, thick good paper with small flaps to open

Small print

Drawings

1 short sentence a page

19 pages

1-3rd grade

Mog and Bunny

Themes: a cat and his day, a family, a thunderstorm.

Small print

Drawings

1-3 sentences a page

30 pages

3-5th grade

Mog on Fox Night

Themes: Eating up your food, foxes eating bin-bag-food, kitchen things.

Small print drawings

Varying amount of sentences on the pages

30 pages

3-5th grade

Mog in the dark

Themes: dark, garden, birds, dogs, verbs, African animals, imagination,

Questions/negations

(Repetitions)

Small print

Drawings

1-5 simple sentences a page

44 pages

3-5th grade

The Jigsaw puzzle

By R. Hunt and A. Brychta

Stage 7

Themes: Jigsaw puzzles, back in time, soldiers, being afraid

Small print

5 lines a page

4th to 6th grade

Spot Goes to a Party

Eric Hill

Flap book

Thick paper

Drawings

Mostly big small print , some small print

Themes: A puppy goes to a party.

Mainly questions and answers.

2 sentences a page

22 pages

2-3rd grade

Starting school

By Janet and Allan Ahlberg

Themes: starting school activities, Engl. traditions, harvest, Halloween, Christmas. Very detailed

Nice drawings

Very nice for reading aloud to 1-3 graders

Small print, but big letters

Up to 7 lines a page

32 pages

For reading themselves: 3-5th grade

My cat likes to hide in boxes.

Eve Sutton

Themes: Cats, nationalities, activities, fantasies

Drawings

Repetitions

Gradually more text in repeated sentences

Rhymes

Simple short sentences

32 pages

2-3rd grade

Mr Nosey

Roger Hargreaves

Very little book (15X15)

Thick solid paper

Very simple drawings

Themes: being nosey, occupations, activities

Up to 10 full lines a page, long sentences

36 pages, text on half

4-6th grade

Also by same author, same style:

Mr Clumsy

Themes: being clumsy, daily activities, occupations

Mr Small

Themes: being small, comparison, miniature world, small jobs

Mr Mean

Themes: being mean, helping people

Mr Skinny

Themes: being thin/fat, telling a story

Little Miss Curious

Themes: Repetitions, story, asking questions

Prince Cinders

By Babette Cole

Themes: looks and the modern male’s problems with modern Cinderella

Sophisticated drawings

2 sentences a page

28 pages

3-6th grade

Princess Smartypants

By Babette Cole

Themes: Tasks for princes given by liberated princesses

Sophisticated drawings

2 sentences a page

32 pages

3-6th grade

Sheep in Wolves’ Clothing

Satoshi Kitamura

Themes: Sheep as humans, going by car, boat, wolves as crooks.

Detective story, but very childish

Drawings 2-8 lines a page

Lots of direct speech

28 pages

4-6th grade

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig

By Eugene Trivizas

Themes: Inverted story of the three little pigs and the big,bad wolf..

Modernized, happy ending

Drawings up to 15 full lines of text childish

4-6th grade

The Jealous Giant

by Kaye Umansky

Themes: A female wrestler cooks dinners for a lazy giant. She gets a new coach, quits cooking. The giant becomes jealous, but changes to the better& wins her back

Illustrated

A5, 6-10 lines a page short sentences

30 pages

5-7th grade

The Gingerbread house

By Adele Geras

Themes: houses, maps, gardens, girls/boys, making up stories about people, fairy tales, suspense

Simple drawings

No colours

Full page A5 of text every other page / or drawings

59 pages

6-7th grade

Virtual Friends

By Mary Hoffman

Themes: No friends/ bored, dead mother, kind father, father’s friend computer freak, invent a friend- the imaginary becomes real.

Illusrated non-colour

Full pages of text alternating with illustrated pages, every other A5

4 chapters

5-7th grade

The Go-Ahead Gang

By Robert Swindells

Themes: Gang in 40s-50s;Games they played, 2 girls/ 4 boys, bullies, helping the others, the outsider, danger, suspense, thoughtless activities.

Illustrations, no colour

Big small print

A5

44 pages of text out of 87

6-7th grade

The Butterfly Lion

By Michael Murpurgo

Themes: Boy miserable at boarding school. Runs away. Old lady takes him in. Tells story about a lion from South African veld. Tear jerker.

Illustrated, black & white

A5 128 pages

From 7th grade

Delilah Alone

By Jenny Nimmo

Theme:

Illustrate black&white

111 pages

6-7th grade

The Sleepover Girls go Spice

By Lorna Read

Themes: competition and rivalry between girl gangs like Spice girls. School singing competition

No illustrations

Big small print 29 lines a page

94 pages

A5

English for Beginners

Ladybird

Theme: First dictionary, numbers, days of the week, months

Simple, nice, hardback

23 pages; 2 pages of grammar at the back

6 words + illustrations a page

1-3rd grade

Football socks

By Sue Swallow& Fiona Waters

Themes: a football match between teachers and pupils; a pet cat, football language

Hardback

2-3 simple sentences a page

21 pages

Colour illust.

3-5th grade

Ging Gang Goolie, It’s an Alien

By Bob Wilson

Themes: Imaginative about funny aliens, partly presented as a cartoon. Visiting a boy scouts’ camp, included; instructions about scouts’ tricks Twisted sense of humour!! Lots of neat, funny details!! Playing with language.

Print 14

Lots of black& white illust.

64 pages

For childish 8-10th or mature and clever 7th and up

Books from the library in Sogndal.

The Food We Eat

Paul Humphrey

Themes: Educational, names of food, where it is produced, it's contents of nutrients, slightly scientific. A story about a family.

About 3-4 sentences a page

30 pages

Hardback

Illustr. in colour

3-5th grade

Penrose and the Sharks

By Su Swallow and Fiona Waters

Themes: Childish story about kind pirates, dolphins and sharks.

Print 14

Present tense!!!

Illustrated

Hardback 20 pages

3-5th grade

Chalk and Cheese

By Adele Geras

Themes: A story about 2 very different sisters,7 and 9, one is tomboy, the other dainty lady. Dancing ballet in The Nutcracker, about gender roles.

A5, average half a page of text with max. 16 lines of 5-6 words

64 pages

6 chapters

Big small print

Illust. in black & white

5-6th grade

The Train robbers

By C. Carver and C.H. Stowasser

Oxford colour reading books

Themes: Name tags on things, tasks at the end

Grade 3F

32 pages

2-3 sentences a page

Print 14

Present tense

3-5th grade

A Mouse’s Diary

By Michelle Cartlidge

Theme: Life of a mouse, very human.

15 brief texts

7-8 sentences a page

Hardback

A5 past tense

Colour Illustr.

29 pages

For very childish 3-4th graders

Thomas is different.

Gunilla Wolde

Theme: about discovering your sex, 3-4 year olds.

Hardback

Present tense

Colour illustr.

2-4 sentences a page

1-2 grade

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

By Jonathan Langley

Theme: the fairy tale

Beautiful drawings

Almost A4

22 pages

Max 12 lines of text a page

4-6th grade

Emma’s Baby Brother

By Gunilla Wolde

Theme: A story about Emma 4-5 years and her baby brother

Hardback

2-3 sentences a page

21 pages

Present tense

Small print 12

1-3rd grade

Little Stupendo

By Jon Blake

Theme: About Great and Little Stupendos, a stuntman and his daughter. A stuntman afraid of spiders, competition between the brave man and the little girl. Simple language.

A5

Big small print

Black & white illust.

Past tense

Half a page of text on the average

60 pages

5- 7th grade

Baby's Yellow picture book

From Ladybird

Hardback

A5

24 pictures and words

Very big small print

1-2 grade

T's MiIne

By Rod Campbell

Theme: very simple about wild animals.

Flaps;10x10

Hardback

Mix of very small print and big

Present tense

2 sentences a page

1-2 grade

6 RECOMMENDED LITERATURE FOR PRIMARY/INTERMEDIATE AND SECONDARY SCHOOL

The following is a list of books published in the UK which are recommended for use in primary and secondary schools. Some of the books are reviewed in sections 4 and 5. The list is of course not complete and many other books are also suitable. The books have been divided into four main categories:

• Children’s books for very young learners
• Easy/graded readers for primary/intermediate levels
• Easy/graded readers for lower secondary school level
• Popular literature

In the list below, information is provided where possible about which category each book belongs to, for example romance or adventure, the title, author, publisher, the ISBN number, and the estimated cost. The same list can also be used as an order form from Blackwells University Bookshop, York. Simply use the far right column to order a book and to state how many copies you would like. If you would like one copy of My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes, write the number 1 in the column called quantity where this book is mentioned. If you would like five copies of The Snowman, write 5 in the quantity column, and so on. More information about ordering books is provided in section 7.

A printable copy of the booklist

Easy/graded readers for primary/intermediate levels (levels 4-7)

Easy/graded readers for lower secondary school level (levels 8-10)

Popular literature (levels 5-10)

7 BOOK ORDERING PROCEDURES

Blackwells University Bookshop, York, will be happy to receive orders for the books listed in section 6. Please use the list in section 6 as an order form together with the form below. It is also possible to order the books through your local bookshop, but this will probably take longer and is likely to be more expensive.

Click here for printable  : ORDER FORM

Carter, R. and M.N. Long. 1991. Teaching Literature. Harlow, Essex: Longman.

Day, Richard R. and Julian Bamford. 1998. Extensive Reading In The Second Language               Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Elley, Warwick B. and Francis Mangubhai. 1983. The impact of reading on second language                learning. Reading Research Quarterly, XIX/I:53-67.

Atwell, Nancy. 1987. In The Middle. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Giæver, Kristin. 1994. Leseverksted. Oslo: Gyldendal.

Greenwood, J. 1988. Class Readers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Oxford Bookworms Teacher’s Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press.