Practical ideas and activities

Photocopiable worksheets
Drama resources

READING
MATTERS
The Guide to Using Graded Readers
Alan Pulverness
 READING
MATTERS
The Guide to Using Graded Readers

Alan Pulverness
HELBLING LANGUAGES
www.helblinglanguages.com

Reading Matters
by Alan Pulverness
© HELBLING LANGUAGES 2007

Photocopying of materials from this book for classroom use is

permitted.

First published 2007

ISBN 978-3-85272-012-8
Photocopying of material from this book for classroom use where
indicated is permitted.

Every effort has been made to trace the owners of any copyright
material in this book. If notified, the publisher will be pleased to
rectify any errors or omissions.

Series editor Maria Cleary

Worksheets by Elspeth Rawstron
Design and layout by Quantico
Cover by Capolinea
Printed by G. Canale & C. Spa
Contents
Helbling Readers Structures and Grades 5
Why reading matters 6
Reading skills 7
Intensive and extensive reading 8
What are graded readers? 8
Why use graded readers? 9
How to use graded readers 10
The class library 13
Monitoring students’ reading 14
Using graded readers to strengthen language skills 16
Group reading 20
Evaluation 21
Where do graded readers fit in? 22
Holiday reading 22
Photocopiable Workheets 23
 HELBLING READERS STRUCTURES AND GRADES

Level Title Structures Grading Standards

A, an; adjectives; adverbs of

The Happy Prince and frequency; can; countable and
The Nightingale and the Rose uncountable nouns; demonstrative
adjectives and pronouns; have got; CEF A1 Breakthrough
1
How much/many?; imperatives; like/
David
love/hate/don’t like doing; subject
Cambridge ESOL KET
and the Great Detective Trinity Levels 1, 2
and object pronouns; plural nouns;
possessive ’s; possessive adjectives;
Fireball’s Heart present continuous; present simple;
question words; short answers;
some/any; the; there is/are;

a lot of, not much, not many; adverbs

The Red-headed League of manner; and, so, but, because;
be going to; comparative; have to/
CEF A1 /A2 Breakthrough /
2

Holly must; mustn’t; past continuous; past Waystage

the Eco Warrior simple; Cambridge ESOL KET
past simple v. past continuous; Trinity Levels 2, 3
The Surprise possessive pronouns; superlative; to
for purpose

cardinal/ordinal numbers; ever/never;

must/should need to/have to; one/
The Stolen White Elephant ones; prepositions of time, place and
movement; present perfect ; present CEF A2 Waystage
3

Ricky perfect v past simple; present

and the American Girl
Cambridge ESOL KET
continuous for future; question tags;
reflexive pronouns; relative pronouns Trinity Levels 3, 4
The Spring Cup who, which, that; so do I/neither
do I; too plus adjective; indefinite
pronouns; will; would like

causative have; could/was able to/

managed to; first conditional; futures
The Garden Party and Sixpence together; had to/didn’t have to; how CEF A2 / B1 Waystage /
4

long…?; make and let; may/can/ Threshold

The Kingdom of the Snow Leopard could for permission; might for future
Cambridge ESOL PET
possibility; present and past passive;
Operation Osprey present perfect plus yet, already, just; Trinity Levels 4,5
shall/could for offers; want / ask / tell
someone to do something

defining relative clauses; future

The Canterville Ghost continuous; modal verb would; non-
defining relative clauses; past perfect; CEF B1 Threshold
5

Daisy Miller present perfect continuous; present Cambridge ESOL PET

perfect future; reported speech/
verbs/questions; second conditional Trinity Levels 5,6
Red Water (wish); used to/used to doing; used
to/would; second conditional

5
 Why reading matters
Reading can be a source of information: we read to learn things about the world, to add to our store of
knowledge. Reading can also be a source of pleasure: we read to be taken out of ourselves, to add to our
awareness of things outside ourselves. Reading matters because it helps to develop students’ awareness of
other cultures, small (local) cultures as well as big (national) cultures. This increased awareness of others
works on an interpersonal level as well. It helps to develop empathy – the ability to understand other
people’s experience.

For foreign language learners, however, extensive reading – reading for pleasure – is even more important,
for a number of reasons.

MOTIVATION personally involved in the text. Texts read for

pleasure are no longer seen merely as vehicles
When students are engaged as readers, their for language learning. When they are drawn
interest in the topic or the story is a powerful into a story and their emotions and imaginations
source of motivation. Like any reader, they want are engaged, learners no longer see reading in
to read on, to find more information, or to find the foreign language as something they have to
out what happens next, and this pure enjoyment do – it becomes something they want to do.
of intellectual or emotional discovery can help
them to overcome the perceived difficulty of CONTEXT AND LEARNING
reading in a foreign language.
Research into memory and foreign language
REAL EXPERIENCE learning has shown that we are more likely to
retain new language items when we encounter
Most classroom tasks and activities are highly them in memorable contexts. Extensive reading
artificial. At best, in a role play or discussion, of stories that are amusing, scary, exciting or
for example, we may ask students to pretend romantic offers a wide range of contexts that
they are doing things with language in the will make new language easier for learners to
real world. But when they read for pleasure, recall – and to use.
students are using their knowledge of the
language for a real-world purpose. Reading for LONGER TEXTS
pleasure is not just another classroom activity,
but a real-life experience in which students can Most reading done in classrooms is restricted
simply enjoy texts written for them as readers, to short or very short texts. Extensive reading
not as language learners. provides the opportunity for learners to benefit
from the experience of reading much longer
IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY stretches of text. Reading longer texts, they
will begin to notice, for example, how some
Most of the reading material in textbooks language items are repeated, how others are
is restricted to purely referential (factual/ replaced, and how longer texts are organized.
informative) uses of language. When learners
are given the opportunity to read for pleasure, LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
they experience language used in more
representational ways, to stimulate their In addition to focusing consciously on the
emotions and imagination. forms and structures of the language, learners
can make great progress through exposure to
PERSONAL ENGAGEMENT rich and comprehensible language input. Most
teachers would agree that the more students
Having a real role as a reader, the learner becomes read, the better they read. But numerous
6
 research studies have shown that extensive meaning without feeling the need to look up
reading can have a beneficial effect on students every unfamiliar word.
language skills – i.e. that more reading not only For many learners one of the greatest obstacles
makes for better reading, but also for better to fluent reading in a foreign language is the
writing, better listening and better speaking! painstaking effort to decode texts at sentence
level, or even at word level. Lack of familiarity with
READING SKILLS the language often causes learners to lose control
of reading skills they confidently employ in their
Extensive reading naturally develops key reading first language. Extensive reading provides a natural
skills such as prediction and inferring meaning and motivating way of encouraging learners
from context (see below). As learners get used to transfer their first language reading skills to
to reading longer texts, their confidence grows foreign language texts, and to read fluently, with
and they are increasingly able to read for pleasure.

Reading skills
There are a number of key reading skills which can help learners to get the best out of the experience of
extensive reading, and which can be developed with the teacher’s guidance.

Prediction 1 what it contains. For example, we often skim

As soon as we have some kind of clue about through a newspaper until we find a particular
a text (e.g. a title, a publisher’s description or article that we want to read.
‘blurb’, a cover illustration), we naturally start
to make predictions about the kind of text we
are about to read. We automatically activate Scanning
whatever knowledge we already have about Like skimming, this also involves looking
the subject, so that we are ready to receive quickly through a text, but with a more definite
new information from the text when we read purpose, e.g. to see if it is the kind of text we
it, and then we add this new knowledge to our are looking for, or to find a particular piece of
existing knowledge. This is the way we make information. For example, we scan timetables,
sense of texts, and it is a key reading skill. telephone directories etc. to find specific pieces
of information.

Prediction 2
Prediction is important not just before we Inferring meaning
read, but while we read, too. The process of When we meet unfamiliar words or phrases in
reading involves constant prediction, from a foreign language text, we can of course look
word to word, from sentence to sentence and them up in a dictionary. Knowing how to avoid
from paragraph to paragraph. At every stage, the pitfalls of a bilingual dictionary and how to
we use what we know so far to predict how get the best out of a monolingual dictionary are
the text is going to develop. As we read on, we themselves important support skills for reading
build up more information (either confirming in a foreign language. But our enjoyment of a
or diverging from our predictions), which then text can easily be lost if we read with a text in
forms the basis for our next prediction. one hand and a dictionary in the other. Reading
for pleasure will be more rewarding if we can
use what we know to make inferences about
Skimming what we do not know. Good readers – in their
Skimming simply means looking quickly through first language as well as in a foreign language
a text to find out the gist (what it is about) or – are good guessers. Extensive reading can help
7
 learners develop the confidence sometimes to structure), knowledge of vocabulary (e.g. word
ignore unknown words that are not essential to formation, synonyms, collocations), knowledge
understanding, or at least to guess the meaning of the text (e.g. information given before and
of unfamiliar vocabulary items. This is not just wild after the unknown item) and knowledge of the
guessing, however, but a process of ‘intelligent’ world (i.e. what the reader knows about the
guesswork. The reader uses knowledge of topic or the setting) to make connections and to
grammar (e.g. verb tenses, agreement, sentence make informed guesses about meaning.

Intensive and extensive reading

Most – if not all – of the reading that goes on in EFL classrooms is intensive. That is to say, it is more concerned
with form than with content. Texts are typically used for language-learning purposes rather than for any of
the reasons that learners might actually want to read in the real world, the world outside the classroom. Texts
are chosen (or specially written) to contextualize new language, to exemplify the use of particular grammatical
structures, to introduce new vocabulary. Hopefully, learners will find these texts interesting and useful, but they
are not primarily designed to be read for the intrinsic appeal of their content. Intensive reading may also be
concerned with developing specific reading skills (like those listed in Reading Skills on page 5), in other words
with the techniques that readers need to acquire. And intensive reading is usually a classroom activity.

Extensive reading, on the other hand, has much more to do with content than with form. As we have seen, extensive
reading is likely to produce dramatic improvements in learners’ language ability in terms of both receptive and
productive skills, but this is a positive by-product rather than a primary objective. Instead of developing particular
reading skills (though again this may well occur), the purpose of extensive reading is to develop the habit of
reading and thus to build up learners’ confidence about reading as something they can do.

What are graded readers?

Graded readers are books specially written at different levels for learners at different stages of learning a
language. They may be original stories written specifically for learners, or they may be adaptations of well-
known books originally written for a general readership. (Helbling Readers include both types.) The texts are
controlled in various ways, so as to ensure a satisfying, motivating and enjoyable reading experience.

VOCABULARY text. Feedback from teachers and students has

shown that this approach to vocabulary can be
Vocabulary is perhaps the most obvious source of very successful as long as the density of new
difficulty for learners. Some publishers insist on items is not too great and unfamiliar items are
their graded readers being written according to well supported by context.
very tightly controlled word lists, with a limited
number of words allowed outside the list and GRAMMAR
simple definitions given in footnotes. Helbling
Languages believes that their authors will Another major factor affecting readability is
produce better stories if they are not restricted grammatical complexity. Helbling Readers,
to a specific list of words, as long as it is always like those of most other ELT publishers, are
possible for the reader to retrieve the meaning controlled by a list of structures appropriate
from context. Surrounding context that helps to each level. These lists are based on the
learners to guess meanings, explanations within publishers’ awareness of the structures that
the text, and illustrations are all ways in which learners can reasonably be expected to know
new vocabulary can be introduced without at various levels. Closely connected to grammar
impeding the flow of learners’ comprehension is another element that can help to make a text
and without spoiling their enjoyment of the more or less difficult – sentence length. The
8
 simpler the grammar, the shorter and simpler me and I hope will concern others. I never
sentences are likely to be. write down. I only simplify the words and
grammar, never the content.”
CONTENT (Antoinette Moses, author of Red Water)

In addition to lexical density and grammatical One element of content that can be controlled
complexity, the third factor affecting readability at different levels is the amount of information
has to do with content rather than language. in a text and the ways in which that information
First, the topic needs to be one that will be is conveyed to the reader. Graded readers tend
interesting or relevant to the reader. Learners to avoid those features which make texts more
are simply more likely to read – and to read well challenging for readers in their first language,
– if they can make some connection between e.g. multiple narrative voices, complicated
the text and their own lives. subplots, unfamiliar (and unexplained) cultural
details.
Here is the view of one Helbling author on her
attitude to writing readers: In short, in graded readers all aspects of the
“When I write readers, I don’t think: ‘I am text – language, content, context – are selected
writing for language learners and therefore or modified so as to ensure that the foreign
I need to write something specifically aimed language learner has a smooth and enjoyable
at that market’. I write stories. I write the reading experience, without any uncertainty
stories that I want to read. Often they are about what the text is saying, and without the
issue-based and relate to issues that concern need for frequent reference to the dictionary.

Why use graded readers?

Graded readers might seem to be a luxury, an additional resource for learners who have the time for some extra
material. In fact, they can have such a positive effect on overall progress that they should occupy a central place
in every language-learning programme.

CONSOLIDATION AND EXTENSION NEW LANGUAGE

Graded readers offer learners excellent Graded readers also provide opportunities
opportunities to consolidate their experience for learners to expand their knowledge of the
of the language they know and to extend language, as some of the vocabulary items they
that experience, as they meet known items in meet will be new to them. But since great care
new contexts. Learners often feel uncertain is taken to make the meanings of such items
about the limits of the language they know, quite transparent, with the help of illustrations,
about whether and how vocabulary and supporting context etc., this new language can
grammatical structures they have encountered easily be absorbed in the process of reading
in their textbooks can be transferred to without learners feeling any sense of difficulty
other contexts. Inhibited by this uncertainty, or lack of comprehension.
they may lack the confidence to experiment
and take risks with the language they are CONFIDENCE
learning. By providing exposure to language
at an appropriate level, used naturally in vivid One major obstacle to progress in learning a
contexts, graded readers can add depth and foreign language is lack of confidence and lack
breadth to learners’ awareness of language of confidence leads to underperforming, which
and increase their confidence about using in turn reinforces lack of confidence. Because
what they know. graded readers are designed to give learners
9
 a successful experience of reading, they can differentiate them from the textbooks used
increase learners’ confidence. So, as well as the in class, make them appealing to learners and
language benefits, graded readers can play an should help to establish a reading habit.
important part in enhancing learners’ image
of themselves as successful language users, STEPPING STONES
and thus create the ground for further success
that will boost their confidence, transforming Graded readers are designed to make the
negative feelings about themselves as language experience of reading as fluent and natural
learners into positive feelings of ‘can do’. as it would be in a first-language situation.
Language, content and text organization are
CONVENIENCE controlled in such a way that learners should be
able to read with pleasure, without the sense of
As well as being accessible and learner-friendly, frustration that arises when a text is too difficult.
graded readers have all the advantages of Graded readers thus provide excellent support
popular paperbacks: they are compact and for language learning and are an invaluable
handy to carry around, good to look at, with motivational tool. But graded readers should
attractive cover illustrations, and comparatively also be regarded as stepping stones, a bridge to
cheap. These ‘real book’ features all help to real, ungraded fiction and non-fiction.

How to use graded readers

There are two main ways of using graded readers – as class readers and as part of a class library. It is important
to understand the differences between these two approaches.

THE CLASS READER want to read, to find out if the book coincides
with or diverges from the mental picture they
A class reader is a book that is read by the are beginning to build up.
whole class. The book is probably chosen by
the teacher and read in lockstep (i.e. at the Arousing curiosity
same pace) by all the students in the class Use cover illustrations, titles, blurbs to get
over a period of time. As students may not be students anticipating the kind of text they
habitual readers in their own language, this are going to read.
can be an effective way of introducing the
idea of extensive reading. PREDICTION
Before choosing your reader, give your
students the questionnaire on reading habits Use openings, illustrations, chapter titles, key
to fill in (see page 23). words or quotations from the text for students
to make predictions about characters, setting
Below are some ideas for getting started, and plot.
maintaining students’ interest and encouraging
response. USING ILLUSTRATIONS

STARTERS * Guess the genre

Give students a photocopy of the cover
The purpose of these activities is to get illustrations of five titles and ask them to
students to the point where they are ready match them with the genres.
– and eager – to read. By giving them a little
information, the teacher can make students
10
Example: While reading
The Red-headed League Morality tale These activities have several different objectives:
The Canterville Ghost Thriller • to make sure that students have
Ricky and the American Girl Detective story understood what they have read
Red Water Ghost story • to get students to review, and if necessary
Fireball’s Heart Romance to revise, their original predictions
• to monitor students’ developing
understanding of plot and character
* What do the illustrations tell us about • to get students to make further predictions
the characters? about how the text is going to develop
Put the students into groups. • to maintain students’ interest in the text
Tell the students to look at the ıllustrations and to make them want to continue
in the book and pick out the main reading
characters.
Ask the students to discuss and write down * Summarizing and retelling
what the illustrations tell them about each Give students jumbled summaries – or
character. jumbled illustrations – to reorder.
Ask them to write a description of each Ask students to build up a visual record
character’s appearance and personality. of the plot (e.g. in the form of a graph or
Discuss as a class. mind map) as they read. They can compare
Tell them to keep their descriptions. After these graphic representations with other
they have read the book, they can check students in the class and use them as a basis
how accurate their descriptions were. for retelling the story so far.
Get students to summarize events by
* What is happening in the picture? retelling the story so far from the point of
• Put the students into groups. view of one of the characters. Give them a
• Give each group a different illustration. maximum number of sentences to use.
• Ask them to think about what is happening
in the picture and to write a dialogue. Using speech bubbles
• Ask the groups to act out their dialogues Use the Speech Bubbles worksheet on page 25.
for the class.
* Who said it?
* Telling the story Give students lines of dialogue and ask them
• Photocopy the illustrations from the book. to identify the speaker, the situation and
• Ask students to order the pictures and then what happened next.
tell the story. The story they tell may be
similar to or different from that of the book.
* Match
• After they have read the book, they can Fill in the speech bubbles on the worksheet
check how accurate their version of the with speech from the story.
story was. Students decide which character said what
and write the character’s name next to the
Tasters speech bubble.
Give students a small chunk of the text, either
printed or read aloud by the teacher, to take Example:
them far enough into the text for them to want From Fireball’s Heart “My people
to continue reading by themselves. always tell the
truth.”
Answer:
Strong Buffalo

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 * Everyday language * Putting the speech bubbles in order
• Fill in the speech bubbles with everyday • Put the students into pairs.
language from the story and make cards. • Ask them each to choose a dialogue from
• Put 2 chairs at the front of the class. the story and write it randomly in the
• Invite 2 students to the front. speech bubbles.
• Tell them that they are two strangers • They should then ask their partners to
sitting on a park bench and that they will put the dialogue in the correct order and
have a conversation. number the speech bubbles.
• Give one of the everyday language cards to
one of the students. Example:
• Tell him/her that s/he should try to From The Spring Cup
include this everyday language in his/her
conversation with the other student.
• The student with the card starts the
conversation. Caroline: I’m so
nervous. I must win,
I must, I must.
* Writing dialogues Fred: Don’t
Fill in the speech bubbles with speech from
worry. You will
the story.
win this time.
Put the students into teams. Caroline: Fred why
Give each team a speech bubble with text. do you think I’ll win?
Ask them to write the dialogue that I never win, I always
comes before or after that speech bubble. come second! Fred: I just
Students should try and remember what have a feeling
was said. that you will.

Example:
Caroline: That’s not
enough, Fred. A feeling is
From Ricky and the American Girl
not enough.

Fred: Be more
A fireworks party? confident. Hey,
You’re a good luck, sis.
bit late for fireworks,
aren’t you?

* Find the mistakes

Then ask them to act out the dialogue for Give students a summary of the story so far,
the class. containing a number of errors which they
have to correct with the right information.
* Write speech bubbles for the
illustrations Response
• Put the students into pairs. The purpose of these activities is to enable
• Ask the students to write speech bubbles students to respond to what they have read
for 2 or 3 of the illustrations in the book. without the need for any specialized critical
• You should give them different illustrations vocabulary. Tasks that call for creative or
from their partners. imaginative variations or extensions to a text
• The students then ask their partners can provide an indirect means of response for
to match their speech bubbles with the students who would find it impossible, or at
illustrations. least difficult, to give their opinions directly.

12
 * Rewriting tasks * Creative summaries
Ask students to provide alternative endings, Invite students to produce very short texts,
to rewrite parts of the text from a different such as blurbs or mini-reviews. Although
point of view, to change reported speech to they involve minimal output, these tiny
direct speech or vice versa. summaries can only be produced after very
thorough processing and consideration of
* Creative additions the whole text. The same principle can be
Get students to add to the text, providing extended to the production of non-verbal
sequels describing what happened next, ‘texts’ such as cover designs and movie
‘prequels’ narrating the events that took posters, which call for a similar ability to
place before the beginning of the story, or identify and select key features.
interludes filling gaps in the narrative.

The class library

Once students have become accustomed to extensive reading, the class library offers a freer and more
individualized approach, where students can choose their own books and read at their own pace, with minimal
intervention from the teacher. With the class library, it is no longer possible – or necessary – for the teacher
to control and direct students’ reading with various classroom activities. The teacher’s role becomes more
organizational, as a provider of resources, a guide and a monitor.

SETTING UP A CLASS LIBRARY and the students’ own experience of books

at different levels. Since there is bound to be
The greater the potential choice of books in the a range of motivation and language ability in
class library, the more enthusiastic students will any group of learners, the class library should
be about using it. How to achieve this breadth include more than one level of readers, so that
of choice will depend on local circumstances. students have the freedom to select easier or
It might be possible, for example, for the class more challenging texts.
to borrow a selection of books from the school
library if there is one. Or parents might be asked Of course, students also vary in their tastes and
to support the project by supplying books. interests. For example, some students will enjoy
Another way to get started might be for each thrillers or adventure stories, while some will
student in the class to buy a different reader, prefer historical fiction or love stories. Others
which would instantly create a wide choice of may not enjoy reading fiction at all, but may
books for the whole class. However it is done, be motivated to read about their hobbies or
the important thing is to provide an experience other interests. To enable students to make real
of browsing and choosing books similar to reading choices, a class library needs as much
the experience of scanning the shelves in a variety as possible in terms of genre and subject
bookshop or public library. matter.

STOCKING THE LIBRARY CHOOSING WHAT TO READ

Graded readers are published at different In order to make appropriate choices, students
language levels according to size of vocabulary need to develop ‘browsing skills’, so that they can
and range of grammatical features. Some series make the best use of the information provided
are also designed for different age groups. The on the book covers. They may also need some
best guide to the right levels for a particular guidance on choosing the best level for their
group of learners is probably a combination stage of language development.
of teacher’s awareness of students’ abilities
13
 Here are some ideas for supporting students’ Scanning
book choices:
* Book rush
Identifying genre Invite students to pick a book from the class
library. Give them a strict time limit (say, 5
* Matching minutes) to find out as much as they can
Ask students to match a selection of titles, about the book and tell the class about it.
blurbs, cover illustrations, chapter headings,
representing a variety of genres. Choosing the level

* Categorising * Blackout
Give students short extracts from a range of Give students a long-ish extract (say, a couple
different books. They have to decide which of pages) from a reader a little beyond their
genre each extract belongs to. current level. Ask them to black out (like
this ) any unknown words and then
Sampling to see if they can work out the meaning of
the blacked-out word and how much of the
* Snippets whole text they can understand. This should
Distribute mini-extracts from different books help to give them the confidence they need
to all the students in the class. In groups to choose books that are linguistically a little
students choose the most interesting extract(s) more challenging rather than always choosing
to tell the class about. ones that are easy for them to read.

Monitoring students’ reading

Students can be encouraged to develop the habit of reading if they are made to feel part of a reading community.
One way to achieve this is to ask them to keep a record of what they have read and how they have responded
to different texts. These records can be shared with other members of the class, to help them make their own
choices. Here are some ideas for monitoring students’ reading and sharing their reactions to what they read.

Reports and reviews ***** = a ‘must-read’

**** = highly recommended
* Book report forms *** = recommended
Use a standard book report form (see page ** = not bad
26) for students to record information about * = not very good
books and make recommendations to other
readers. * Reviews
Give students examples of ‘capsule’ reviews
* In-book reaction forms (like the one below). They can use these
This is a simple form to be filled in by each examples as models for writing their own
student who reads the book. As more reviews in, say, 150-200 words, of books they
students read the book, the form builds up borrow from the class library.
into a record of all their reactions.
Red Water is an exciting new thriller by
Star rating Comment Reader Antoinette Moses. The story is about two
teen hackers Tricia and Daniel who discover
that a local company could be involved in
a sinister plot to trade carbon. To Tricia’s
horror, she also finds out that her father is
14
 involved in the plot and that their lives are of paperbacks (e.g. “The characters are
in danger. Tricia must now do everything brilliant, the dialogue sparkles…and it’s
she can to protect her family and Daniel. hilarious”; “Brings the past to life”; “A
The story is beautifully written and the plot highly original thriller with one of the
is fast moving and keeps you on the edge cleverest detectives in crime fiction”). Again
of your seat throughout. As well as being a these examples can be used as models for
really enjoyable story, Red Water has taught students’ own ‘rave review’ quotations,
me a lot about carbon trading and has also and can be stuck on the covers of books in
made me think more about where the food the class library.
in our supermarkets comes from. Brilliant!
I thoroughly recommend it. * Blurbs
Some readers may not include back cover
Summaries blurbs, while others may not give very much
information about the book. Ask students to
* Quotable quotes supply their own blurbs for books they have
Give students examples of quotations from read to help their classmates decide whether
book reviews used on the front covers or not the books might interest them.

Posters
Ask students to design posters for their favourite books in the class library. These posters may
be based on a very simple design representing a key element of the book. Or they may be more
complicated collages, combining many different ideas from the text. In both cases students
can be asked to explain their choice of design and to answer questions about it from other
members of the class.

The
Kingdom
of the
Snow
Leopard
(Samples poster)

WIDER READING COMMUNITIES different countries. Students can be encouraged

to form their own local reading groups, or to
Reading groups visit the websites of other EFL reading groups for
A reading group is a small group of people who example http://www.encompassculture.com.
meet regularly, usually in each other’s houses, Some research into reading groups on the
to discuss a book that they have all agreed to Internet will help students to set up their own
read. Reading groups (sometimes called book reading group.
clubs) have become very popular in many
15
 Using graded readers to strengthen language skills
The primary objective of an extensive reading programme should remain reading for pleasure, and language
learning benefits, though significant, will tend to be incidental. It would certainly detract from this objective if
texts were to be used like other classroom texts, for language practice. However, this is not to say that we should
ignore the part that can be played by extensive reading texts in terms of language acquisition.

VOCABULARY ENRICHMENT ORAL FLUENCY

Recording new vocabulary Oral book reports

Encourage students to keep vocabulary Have a regular slot in the lesson where students
notebooks, recording not just words and simply tell each other about books they have
definitions, but examples from the text and a been reading. To begin with, you can supply
note of the context in which a word or phrase is language support in the form of sentence frames
used. Vocabulary learnt in this way is likely to be and key words and phrases, but as students get
recalled more effectively if it is encountered in used to the task, it should be possible for them
the vivid and memorable context of a story. to talk without this scaffolding.

Students can also be asked to look out for Dramatic reading

and keep notes on different uses of familiar Students prepare a dramatic reading of an
vocabulary items. To take a simple example, extract from a book they are reading or have
the word ‘head’ in its most literal sense will just read. Invite the rest of the class to ask
probably have been learnt at a fairly early questions for the reader to answer. The aim
stage, while its more metaphorical uses (as in of the activity is to make other students want
‘head of the company’ or ‘head of the queue’) to read the book.
may not be quite so well-known.
Role play
Meeting metaphors and identifying Students work in small groups. One student
idioms in each group is responsible for selecting a
Learners are likely to encounter far more scene from a graded reader for the group to
examples of idiomatic and non-literal uses dramatize. Again, this should create interest in
of language in graded readers than in their the book amongst the rest of the class.
language textbooks. As with other vocabulary
items, these can be collected and stored with a DRAMATIZING THE TEXT
note of the context in which they occur.
* Acting out scenes from the story
Collecting collocations Pick a scene from the book and dramatize it.
One of the most useful aspects of vocabulary for Put students into groups.
learners to be aware of is collocation. Knowledge Give them roles.
of collocations is what enables us to speak and Let them rehearse the scene.
write fluently. But collocations cannot easily be Ask them to act out their scenes.
learnt; they are acquired through experience Let them choose another scene and ask
of the language. And readers provide a great them to dramatize it and write the script.
opportunity for learners to add to their store of
collocations.

Ask students first to notice pairs and groups of

words that commonly go together. Then they
should decide on a way to record the collocations
they collect, for example by topic or by key word.
16
Example: won’t try to escape if they are here.
Dramatized excerpt from The Kingdom of the You won’t put their lives in danger.
Snow Leopard If I don’t return with the Shining Star,
my friend here will shoot them. Two
The Room in the Castle (Pages 52–55) silenced shots and your precious sister
(The man, Jake, pushes open a wooden door in and your best friend will be dead.
front of them. The other man shines a torch in (There is a silence.)
Tom’s face. He can’t see anything.)
Mahir: I will take you to the Shining Star.
Tom: What’s happening? But I warn you now, it is a dangerous
journey. Are you prepared to face the
(Jake pushes him into the room and dangers ahead?
then closes the heavy wooden door. Jake: I am prepared to face anything for
Tom blinks and looks around him. He the Shining Star.
sees a man with a gun near the door
and Mahir and Tara sitting on the floor
in the far corner wearing their masks.) Original excerpt from The Kingdom of the
Snow Leopard (Pages 52–55)
Jake: (He pulls off the golden dragon mask
and laughs) The perfect disguise. Eventually, Mahir stopped and he pushed
Only one person is allowed to wear open a wooden door in front of them.
the golden dragon mask. Somebody shone a torch in Tom’s face. He
Tom: It’s you. We saw you outside the couldn’t see anything. “What’s happening?”
school gates and in the airport. he called out. Mahir pushed him into the
You’ve been following Mahir. room and then closed the heavy wooden
Jake: Sit down and shut up. door.
Mahir: Do as he says, Tom.
(Tom looks from Mahir to the man. When his eyes got used to the light, Tom
Then he goes and sits down. saw that there were three other people in
The other man comes and ties his the room. Near the doorway, there was a
arms behind his back and ties his feet man with a gun and sitting on the floor in
together.) the far corner were two people in masks.
Tom recognized the masks immediately
Mahir: (calmly) What do you want from us? – the golden dragon and Princess Kia.
Jake: I want the Shining Star.
Tom turned round to face the masked man
(Tara draws in a sharp breath) behind him. The man pulled off the golden
dragon mask and laughed. “The perfect
You and your father are the only two disguise,” said the man. “Only one person is
people in the world who know where allowed to wear the golden dragon mask.”
it is.
Mahir: (calmly) Then you don’t need Tom “It’s you,” said Tom. “We saw you outside
and Tara. Let them go and I will take the school gates and in the airport. You’ve
you to the Shining Star. been following Mahir.”
Jake: (He laughs loudly) Do you think I’m
stupid? Do you think I don’t know “Sit down and shut up,” said the man.
your powers? I’ve been watching you
for months. With one tiny flick of “Do as he says, Tom,” said Mahir from the
your wrist you can paralyze me.These corner. Tom looked from Mahir to the man.
two are staying here. I know you Then he saw the gun pointed at him and he
17
 went to sit down. The other man came and * Building a character
tied his arms behind his back and tied his feet Put students into small groups.
together. The thick rope cut into his wrists. Give them an everyday situation.
Tell them to think what that character
“What do you want from us?” asked Mahir. would do in that situation and to write a
There was no anger or fear in his voice. short dialogue. This will help them to think
more about the characters.
“I want the Shining Star,” said the man. Tara
drew in a sharp breath but Mahir remained Examples:
calm. “You and your father are the only Holly the Eco Warrior – Holly goes to the
two people in the world who know where supermarket.
it is.” The Kingdom of the Snow Leopard – Mahir
stops a fight at school.
“Then you don’t need Tom and Tara,” said Red Water – Tricia stands outside a
Mahir calmly. “Let them go and I will take supermarket handing out leaflets.
you to the Shining Star.” The Spring Cup – Caroline wins another
The man laughed loudly. “Do you think show jumping competition.
I’m stupid? Do you think I don’t know your
powers? I’ve been watching you for months. * The character’s life outside the book
With one tiny flick of your wrist you can This activity will encourage students to
paralyze me,” he said. think more about the characters in the story.

“These two are staying here. I know you Put students into pairs.
won’t try to escape if they are here. You Tell them that they will write an interview
won’t put their lives in danger. If I don’t between a TV presenter and a character
return with the Shining Star, my friend here from the book. They can choose the
will shoot them. Two silenced shots and character.
your precious sister and your best friend Tell them that they can expand on the
will be dead.” information already there in the book. They
should think about what films, books or
There was a silence. “I will take you to the sports the characters would like.
Shining Star,” said Mahir. “But I warn you
now, it is a dangerous journey. Are you Example:
prepared to face the dangers ahead?” What’s Mahir’s favourite film? (The Kingdom
of the Snow Leopard)
“I am prepared to face anything for the Maybe he would like a martial arts film.
Shining Star,” said the man. What’s Holly’s favourite TV programme?
(Holly the Eco Warrior)
* Script writing Maybe she would like documentaries about
Put the students into teams. the environment.
Each team chooses an incident from the
story. They should not mention the character’s
Each team writes a short script and acts it out. name in their scripts.
The other teams must act out what happens • Then they act out their dialogues for the
before or what happens next. class.
They must write the script from memory. It • The other students must try and guess who
doesn’t need to be completely accurate but the character is.
it should be based on the text and it need
only be very short.

18
* Guess the character * Miming actions 2
• Give each student a character role card. Students mime an incident/action from the
• Ask them to write notes about their story. The other students must guess who
characters and be ready to answer questions the characters are and what they are doing.
about them.
• Ask students to sit in a circle with 2 chairs in Examples:
the centre or put 2 chairs at the front of the Holly the Eco Warrior - Holly climbing up
class. into the tree house.
• Invite 2 students to sit on the chairs. The Kingdom of the Snow Leopard – Tom
• Tell them to ask each other questions to trying to eat the hot spicy food.
find out who their characters are. The Surprise – Dacty breaking out of the
• The other students should guess who the 2 egg.
characters are.
* Happy endings
* Character conflicts • Put the students into groups.
• Put the students into pairs. • Ask students to write an alternative ending
• Give each pair two characters and tell them for the story.
that they are stuck in a lift together. They • Ask them to write a dialogue and act it out
must decide what will they talk about. for the class.
• What questions will they ask each other? • Then ask the class to choose the best
• Tell them to write a dialogue. alternative ending.

Examples: Props, sets and costumes

Red Water – Tricia’s father + Daniel Marsh or
Winston’s Wife + the Sweeper * Thinking about settings
The Kingdom of the Snow Leopard – The King Design sets, props and costumes for the
+ Jake story.
The Spring Cup – Mr Morley + Mr
Winterbottom * Thinking about atmosphere
Holly the Eco Warrior – Holly + her father, Alan Create sound effects to accompany scenes
from the story.
Note: You should try and choose 2 characters
with a conflict to make it more interesting. * Working with props
• Put the students into small groups.
* Miming actions 1 • Give each group a prop from the story.
• Pick out some verbs from the story. Choose
verbs that can be mimed. Examples:
• Write them on cards. Ricky and the American Girl - a firework
• Put the students into teams. The Kingdom of the Snow Leopard – Tara’s
• Hand a verb card to each team. silver and sapphire earring or a mask
• One student from the first team mimes the Holly the Eco Warrior - a mobile phone
verb. Red Water – a leaflet
• The other teams must guess what the verb The Spring Cup – a cup
is and then describe an incident in the story
using the verb. Ask students to write and act out a scene
• Award points to the successful team. from the story using the prop.
• Then the next team mimes their verb.

19
 * Movie pitch This extreme compression forces them to
A ‘pitch’ is the attempt by a screenwriter consider what features of the original are
to sell an idea for a film to a producer or a absolutely essential to any retelling, and the
studio boss. It has to convince the listener creative task is also a great deal of fun in
that the story would make a good film. In itself.
groups, students take it in turns to pitch a
book they have read. After they have heard Q&A
all the pitches, the group decides which Students prepare a set of 10-15 questions about
idea will be ‘greenlit’ (i.e. given the studio’s a book they have read to be answered by other
approval). students who have not read the book. In order
to answer the questions, the other students
CREATIVE WRITING in the group will be forced to imagine what
happens in the story. Their answers will create
Haikus and mini-sagas a parallel plot which may be quite close to the
Students compress the plot of a book they original, or may tell a very different story. In
have read into a haiku (a seventeen-syllable either case, the activity should create interest
poem) or a mini-saga (a fifty-word narrative). in reading the book.

Group reading
So far we have assumed that there are enough different titles available for each student in the class to choose
a book to read individually. Ideally this is the way a class library should work. But there may be occasions
when there simply aren’t enough books for the library to work like this. It may sometimes be more practical
for groups of learners to read the same book. This will create a situation a little more like using a class reader
than a class library. The essential difference, however, is that the learners will still have chosen to read the book
(albeit from a narrower selection) and they will still be reading at their own pace. Activities to support group
reading should therefore encourage learners in the same way as individual reading tasks. The only difference
is that the teacher can make use of the fact that a group of individuals happen to be reading the same book.

BEFORE READING WHILE READING

Gist tasks Collecting information

Give students a list of things to find out / key Ask each student in the group to collect
questions to answer when they read. If your information about different aspects of the book
students enjoy competition, this might be (e.g. different characters, settings, situations).
arranged a reading race. At certain stages of their reading groups can
come together and share the information they
Prediction tasks have collected.
Give students some snippets of information
from the book (e.g. chapter headings or lines Preparing questions
of dialogue) and ask them to predict how these While they read, students prepare questions
fragments might be connected. As this task will for the other members of the group, to test
be highly speculative, it should provide a good their recall and their understanding. At lower
basis for group discussion. levels these questions can be purely factual,
while more advanced students may ask about
characters’ motivations, cause and effects, etc.

20
 AFTER READING Analysing the characters
Get students to complete the Character
Role-based discussion Worksheets on pages 29 and 30.
Groups discuss the book they have read with
students in role, either as characters from the Adaptation
book or as people who might have a special Students plan a film adaptation. Each member
interest in the story (e.g. parents, teachers, of the group has a different role in the film
police officers, friends) crew – writer(s), director, producer, casting
director, camera operator, composer etc.

Evaluation
In a sense, reading should be its own reward, but the school or parents, or the students themselves, may
demand some way of evaluating the effectiveness of an extensive reading programme. Here are some
suggestions.

‘Can do’ statements Scales

Take the objectives of the reading programme Ask students to self-evaluate on a number of
and simply re-cast them as ‘can do’ statements. scales describing different reading sub-skills.
For example, if a student is able to say “I can For example, in response to the statement
read a 60-page book at a 1500-word level “I can work out the meaning of unknown
with the occasional help of a dictionary” – vocabulary”, students could be asked to locate
and if the teacher is able to verify this – the themselves on a line:
evidence of what the learner can actually do
should be more convincing than the results of Always
a conventional test. Often
Sometimes
Questionnaires Rarely
Another, less direct means of evaluation is Never
to use a questionnaire to gather data from
students about their reading habits. Finding The results obtained from the whole class using
out what they read, how often they read and scales like this will give the teacher a clear
for how long, what they find easier and what picture of what skills need to be developed
they still find difficult, what strategies they use in future reading classes. (See also the self-
to overcome those difficulties – again, all this assessment record on page 31)
‘soft’ qualitative data will give us a much more
reliable reading profile of the class than the
results of a test.

21
 Where do graded readers fit in?
An ‘extensive reading programme’ sounds as though it is a stand-alone course. It may be possible to organize
a separate reading programme like this, with lessons set aside for activities to support students’ reading,
separate materials, a separate programme of homework, etc. But in most schools time is limited, language
classes are only allocated a few hours a week and there are too many other demands (curriculum, textbook,
exams) to be able to afford the time for extensive reading to have its own separate programme.

It is probably more realistic in most school situations, therefore, to integrate extensive reading into the
language programme. Since most, if not all the reading will be done at home, this need not take up a great
deal of class time, but it is important to create space in the timetable for the kind of extensive reading
activities described earlier in this guide. The reading programme is like a plant that does not require daily
attention, but that will wither if it is not fed at all.

Holiday reading
Many people look forward to holidays as an opportunity to do some reading. Students can be given longer
reading assignments for the holidays, and it should not be unreasonable to expect them to read two or
three books during a long summer break.

Without the support of regular classroom checks, however, they will need some kind of task framework
from the teacher to encourage them to keep up their reading. They can be asked to keep a reading diary,
keeping a day-to-day record of their reading and their thoughts and feelings about the books they have
chosen. The holidays also provide an opportunity for the kind of tasks that can be undertaken over a longer
timescale, such as compiling character profiles, building up plot graphs and diagrams, and comparing and
contrasting whole books.

The most important principle when designing tasks for holiday reading is for the tasks to support the
students’ reading and not to become an obstacle that gets in the way of their reading.

22
 PHOTOCOPIABLE WORKSHEETS
READING HABITS WORKSHEET

1 Which do you prefer?

a Watching a film
b Reading on the Internet
c Reading a book

2 How often do you read a book?

a Once or twice a year.
b Only if I have to for school.
c I read all the time.

3 How do you choose books to read?

a My friends recommend them to me.
b I read the blurbs on the back covers.
c I look at the illustration on the cover. If I like it, I buy it.

4 What kind of books do you like reading? Tick (4).

Mysteries
Thrillers
Science Fiction
Detective Stories
Romances
Horror Stories
Adventure stories

5 What was the last book you read?

___________________________________________________________________________
6 What kind of book was it?

___________________________________________________________________________
7 Write a brief summary of the plot.

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
8 Who was your favourite character in the book and why? Describe him/her.

___________________________________________________________________________
9 Did you enjoy the book? Why/Why not?

___________________________________________________________________________
10 What is your favourite book? Why is it your favourite book?

___________________________________________________________________________

© Helbling Languages - Please photocopy this page 23

 PHOTOCOPIABLE WORKSHEETS
PLOT DEVELOPMENT WORKSHEET
Write two or three sentences in each box.

INTRODUCTION How does the story start?

BUILD-UP / DEVELOPMENT What happens next?

CLIMAX What’s the most exciting or important part of the story?

CONCLUSION / RESOLUTION What happens in the end?

24 © Helbling Languages - Please photocopy this page

 PHOTOCOPIABLE WORKSHEETS
SPEECH BUBBLES WORKSHEET

© Helbling Languages - Please photocopy this page 25

 PHOTOCOPIABLE WORKSHEETS
BOOK REPORT

Title………………………………………………… Level…….…………

Author………………………………………………

Publisher……………………………………………

Describe the book in one or two sentences. What type of story is it?
Where / When does it take place? Who are the main characters?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………

Write a few sentences saying why you liked (or didn’t like) the book.
E.g. What were the best things about the book? What other books did it
remind you of? What kind of reader do you think would enjoy this book?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………

Would you recommend this book to other readers? (Tick (4) one.)

Strongly recommended

OK, but not very exciting

Not recommended

Level (Tick (4) one.)

This book is:
quite difficult to read just about right really easy to read

What question(s) would you like to ask the author?

…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………….......

26 © Helbling Languages - Please photocopy this page

 PHOTOCOPIABLE WORKSHEETS
VOCABULARY WORKSHEET

TITLE: ......................................... CHAPTER: .....................

NOUNS
Write below. Use them in sentences.
Noun Sentence

ADJECTIVES
Write new adjectives below.
Decide if they have a positive ( ), negative ( ) or neutral ( ) meaning.

_____________________________ ____________________________

_____________________________ ____________________________

_____________________________ ____________________________

_____________________________ ____________________________

_____________________________ ____________________________

_____________________________ ____________________________

© Helbling Languages - Please photocopy this page 27

 PHOTOCOPIABLE WORKSHEETS

ADJECTIVES
Write the adjectives in sentences.
Story Sentence My New Sentence

1 _____________________________ ____________________________
2 _____________________________ ____________________________
3 _____________________________ ____________________________
4 _____________________________ ____________________________
5 _____________________________ ____________________________

VERBS + PREPOSITIONS
Write the Verbs + Prepositions in sentences.

1 _________________________________________________________
2 _________________________________________________________
3 _________________________________________________________
4 _________________________________________________________
5 _________________________________________________________

NEW IDIOMS
Idiom Meaning
I’m on top of the world. I’m very happy.
1 _____________________________ ____________________________
2 _____________________________ ____________________________
3 _____________________________ ____________________________

USEFUL EVERYDAY LANGUAGE

Fill in the speech bubbles.

28 © Helbling Languages - Please photocopy this page

 PHOTOCOPIABLE WORKSHEETS
CHARACTER WORKSHEET 1

1 Who are the main characters in the story? Write their names below.

2 What are their functions in the story? Write sentences about each character.
The questions below will help you.

Does s/he save somebody’s life?

Does s/he make a protest?
Does s/he make an important decision?
Does s/he discover something?
Does s/he change his/her opinion?

3 Choose 4 characters and write character profiles as below.

CHARACTER PROFILE
Name:

Nationality:

Profession:

Appearance:

Personality:

Likes/Dislikes:

4 Which characters do these adjectives describe? Write the adjectives in the boxes.
Add some more of your own.

cowardly brave honest dishonest clever stupid kind

unkind calm wise good evil bad cruel

5 Write the adjectives in the table below.

Do they describe the hero or the villain of the story?

POSITIVE (HERO) NEGATIVE (VILLAIN)

© Helbling Languages - Please photocopy this page 29

 PHOTOCOPIABLE WORKSHEETS
CHARACTER WORKSHEET 2

In pairs:
Student A: Choose a character.
Student B: Ask questions to find out who the character is.

• What colour hair has s/he got?

• Where is s/he from?
• What is his/her job?
• Which adjectives best describe his/her personality?
• What does s/he like doing?
• Add extra questions:

1 Which is your favourite character? Why do you like this character?

Give reasons.

2 Which is your favourite incident in the story? What does it show about
your favourite character?

3 Create your own new characters.

HERO VILLAIN

Name: Name:

Nationality: Nationality:

Job: Job:

Appearance: Appearance:

Personality: Personality:

Good Deeds: Bad Deeds:

30 © Helbling Languages - Please photocopy this page

 PHOTOCOPIABLE WORKSHEETS
READING SELF-ASSESSMENT RECORD

TITLE: .........................................
DATE: .........................................

1 Tick (4) the phrase which is true for you.

At the end of more the same less

this book I feel confident confident

talking about characters

understanding the plot

of a story

working out the

meaning of unknown
words

understanding idoms

about reading a story in

English

2 Tick (4) the phrase which is true for you. Then give examples from the story.

I have learnt some a lot of

new words

useful expressions

new idioms

3 The most exciting thing that happened in the story was:

.......................................................................................................................................

4 Circle the word that best describes the ending.

The story had a happy / sad / exciting / interesting / satisfying / unsatisfying /
good / bad ending.

5 What did you think of the book? Circle a, b or c.

a It wasn’t bad.
b I enjoyed it.
c It was brilliant. You must read it.

© Helbling Languages - Please photocopy this page 31

 Notes

32
Reading Matters is for teachers who want to incorporate reading into the language
classroom. It explores different approaches to reading and identifies the distinctive
features of graded readers.

Reading Matters is packed with practical activities to make the most of your
Helbling Readers. It also includes photocopiable worksheets and lots of ideas for
dramatizing the texts.

The Stolen White David and the Great Fireball’s Heart The Canterville Ghost The Kingdom of the
Elephant Detective The Surprise The Garden Party and Snow Leopard
The Red-headed League Ricky and the American The Spring Cup Sixpence Operation Osprey
The Happy Prince and Girl Daisy Miller Red Water
The Nightingale and the Holly the Eco Warrior
Rose

the great new series of beautifully illustrated graded

stories for teenagers, each with its own Audio CD and
a wide variety of activities

www.helblinglanguages.com