ESOL+Corner

//**Reading**//
■ Make sure your children still read age appropriate books in their first language. ■ Help your children understand a book in English by asking them to talk about it in their first language. ■ Recognize your children's successes in reading and offer praise. ■ Ensure your children are exposed to a wide range of reading materials in print and electronic formats, i.e. newspapers, letters, emails, the internet, recipes, TV guides, magazines, puzzle books, etc. ■ Encourage your children to read for different purposes: ■ Value your own reading and be informed by that of your children. Widen each other's horizons. ■ Read some of the books your children enjoy so you can share reactions and pleasure together. ■ Take an interest in books by favorite authors; talk about them and give them for presents. ■ Encourage your children to talk about books they have enjoyed or disliked. Foster thoughtful criticism and comment. ■ Let your children see that you sometimes need to discuss and clarify issues to help your understanding. ■ Discuss ideas, statements and underlying beliefs which are evident in newspapers, books, posters, advertising, the Internet, videos, video games and television programs. ■ Recognize that your children and you may have quite different ideas about what you want to read and respect choices made. Broaden reading experiences by exchanging books. ■ Read books that have been made into films or videos and encourage your children to talk about differences between the books and the video or film. ■ Talk to your children about how your parents read to your or told you stories. ■ When you watch the news on television, read the newspaper or listen to the news on the radio (especially in the car), discuss it. ■ When you watch a movie, talk about the characters, about how time and place were important in the movie, about the sequence of events in the movie and even a possible alternative ending. ■ Connect whatever your children watch on TV or plays in a video game to something in a novel or short story, or to personal experiences. ■ When something is difficult for your children to read, read it to them and then discuss what it is about.
 * reading biographies and novels
 * read and explaining instructions for using new appliances
 * reading interesting articles from the newspaper and the Internet
 * reading to a younger brother or sister* read to find out more information about a topic
 * read for fun and enjoyment.

//**Writing**//
■ Provide writing materials of all kinds, colors, textures and sizes: pens, pencils, felt tip pens, calligraphy pens, post-its. Whatever will invite your student writer to explore writing in original, colorful ways is appropriate. ■ To encourage revision, add highlighting pens, scissors, and glue. These materials facilitate adding, deleting, cutting apart and putting together ideas in different ways. ■ Create a photo album or scrapbook representing "a year in the life of." Work with your children to create a short introduction along with labels and captions that portray strong voice and word choice. ■ Provide a print-rich environment in your home with magazine subscriptions, books, maps, direction manuals, e-mail and cookbooks. ■ Encourage letter writing for developing a sense of voice, audience and purpose. Letters to relatives, sports figures, celebrities, businesses and organizations are some examples. Receiving responses will promote even more letter writing. ■ Encourage the writing and addressing of personal greeting cards, invitations and thank-you notes. ■ Have your children help in writing grocery lists and encourage them to write down clear phone messages. ■ Work with your children to keep a writer's notebook of observations, quotes, favorite words and future writing ideas. ■ Children often love to draw cartoons. Encourage them to add writing to the cartoons to make an illustrated story.