1. Esanova Lobar
Practising reading strategies

3. Reading Comprehension
the ability to make meaning out of text.
Students must:
• Be able to make personal connections with the text
• Understand meaning of vocabulary used
• Understand text structure
• Understand purpose for reading

4. Reading Comprehension Skills
Decoding
• Ability to use letter-sound relationships to decipher words
Fluency
• Automaticity, appropriate reading rate
Vocabulary knowledge
• Breadth, and depth, of vocabulary knowledge is important,
i.e., not just the number of words students know, but the
depth of their understanding
Background knowledge
• A conceptual framework, or context, into which students
can fit new ideas
Knowledge of comprehension strategies

5. Teaching Comprehension to ELLs
Issue:
Limited vocabulary
Different background
knowledge
Lack of effective strategies
for comprehension
Solution:
Explicit teaching of
vocabulary
Preview unfamiliar
concepts/ideas before
reading. Create connections
to familiar concepts
Teach comprehension
strategies through modeling

6. Modeling Reading
Model effective reading strategies, such as
re-reading.
This part didn’t make sense.
I think I’ll re-read to see if I get it the second time.

7. Teaching Vocabulary
Focus lesson on key words
Teach vocabulary intentionally
• Explicit definitions
• Use cognates when possible
• Use “student-friendly” definitions
• Writing activities
• Classroom discussions
Use context to teach words with multiple meanings

8. Vocabulary Strategy: Index Cards
Include:
• Cognates
• Synonyms/Antonyms
• Picture
• Other concepts that help them relate to the word
Help students “own” words
• Interacting with the vocabulary helps students
understand that words aren’t just something they need
to study
• By creating their own meaningful definitions, students
are empowered to analyze new English vocabulary, and
draw on their own knowledge as a resource

9. Preparing for Reading
Establish goals for reading
• Anticipation guides
• Focus questions
• Making predictions
• “Gist” statements
• These are “golden nugget” statements: concise ideas
about what might happen based on provided information
from the text (such as key vocabulary).
Focus on vocabulary concepts
• Preview key words & other vocabulary
Explore/activate background knowledge
• Provide bridges between new concepts and what
children already know

10. Role of Native Language
Strong literacy skills in native language transfer to
second language
• The level of reading skills in native language is an
important predictor of successful second language
reading acquisition
“The effects of primary language instruction
are modest, but they are real and reliable.”
— Claude Goldenberg

11. Making Predictions
Younger children
• Based on pictures
Older children
• Graphs
• Illustrations

12. Strategies for Effective Reading
Relate vocabulary to cognates
Use cues from illustrations
Re-read
• Excellent strategy for building fluency and reading
rate.
Read aloud
• Practice comprehension skills through listening to oral
reading.
Keep reading logs

13. Language Strategies for Mastering
Academic English
Using description
• Characteristics
• Locations
• Dimensions
Asking and answering
questions
• What
• When
• Where
• Who
• Why
Signal words
• Sequence
• After, before, finally,
now, then, while, etc.
• Restatement or synonym
• Also, for example, just
as, too, etc.
• Contrast and compare
• Like, similar to, etc.
• But, unlike, yet, etc.

14. Thank you
for
watching!