ICT in English classroom for teaching reading

ICT does not only offers the teacher the opportunity to enhance their curriculum, but it provides learner ample opportunities to improve. Using ICT can help students with poor reading skills since they are more accessible and handy too. Implications in the classroom. It does not only affect the way children learn but, it also affects the way we teach . Children will be exposed to different things at a different time from when using more traditional materials ( speech -text connections and make the work he had done a tangible thing can be examples) As teachers, we also should develop the ability to ” edit” materials in order to avoid distractions or to extend them to higher levels.We should teach students to look for the best information and materials online and to be more independent . We should be able to provide continuous support to learners and help them in the development of skimming and scanning strategies. Assessment is also greatly modified since it gives us the opportunity to create more personal and faster ways of assessment; at the same time, they can help us in the placement of students according to their reading levels and select a specific area or sub-skill we want to emphasize.

How to do it? 

The internet alone offers many options and ideas to include in our classes, here are some links that you might find useful to read or to apply:

This link can help you create stories and texts in general for your students to enjoy: http://bookbuilder.cast.org/

This one provides a source of reflection for us as teachers: http://cte.jhu.edu/TeachingExceptionalCHildren-JC.pdf 

This link can show you how helpful this kind of activities can be: http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/technology/lewis_rdgsftware.html

This one provides material for reading: http://www.eslgold.com/reading.html

This one offers reading material practice: http://www.tv411.org/reading

Here you can find interesting reading lesson plans: http://www.eslflow.com/readinglessonplans.html

Reading strategies can be transferred from one langauge to another. Supporting pupils to continue (or start) reading in the first language can be beneficial as the reading strategies the child learns such as developing an understanding of genre or knowledge of beginnings, middles and endings and sequencing of stories can be transferred when English is learned.

Mantralingua and Milet have a huge range of dual language texts available for purchase. The International Children's Digital library contains a vast range of storybooks in 61 languages available for reading online (a great free resource - especially useful if funds are tight regarding ordering hard copy books).

Being online, children can access it at home, so you have a source of home reading material as well, which can support the development of independent reading strategies.

Newbury Park Primary School has developed an excellent booklet 'Language of the Month Activities' which is full of practical and fun ways of enabling children to learn about and share their knowledge of languages.

Using visuals and audio to make texts comprehensible: Considering how to make reading accessible, enjoyable and relevant? Clicker 5 and 6 are excellent ICT programmes that allow teachers to create assisted reading grids, supportive word banks and stories supported through photos, pictures, animations, video and audio. 

Available through Crick software, they have perfected the programme to make it very easy for teachers and pupils to use. You can even get your pupils to make talking books (English or dual language) for other pupils in the school. 

Conclusion.

In this ever-more demanding world of foreign language education, we need to be very aware of the evolution of technology so we can take advantage of this knowledge and apply it in our classrooms, especially when it comes to the development of skills such as reading that are sometimes hard to motivate in our students. The use of ICT’s for reading can be quite useful for us if we have the courage of experiencing something new and the will to take our students to higher levels of proficiency.