Information collection & exchange

Early stages of reading 
Proficiency level 
Low beginners 
Recognize letters and punctuation marks 
Materials to use 
Exercises which follow up on listening and speaking activities 
Everyday and general interest reading materials 
Transition to longer texts 
High beginners and intermediate students 
Skills and features of English to learn 
Use background knowledge to interpret text 
Discover author's purpose or theme 
Understand sequence of events 
Guess at meanings of unfamiliar words 
Materials to use 
Texts dictated to the teacher by the students 
Narratives of local folktales, history, national events 
Shorter selections from narrative and expressive writing 
Reading academic and professional texts 
Proficiency level 
High intermediate and advanced students 
Skills and features of English to learn 
Discover author's purpose 
Survey, skim, scan a text 
Evaluate a text 
Materials to use 
Extracts from school textbooks 
Reference ma

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Give careful thought to the appropriateness of the activities and materials which you use for teaching 
reading to your students. For example, while your students may be beginners, they will not need to spend a 
lot of time in basic literacy activities in English if they already have literacy skills in another language. By the 
same token, if you are teaching a class of students whose language proficiency is quite high, you would not 
want to devote a lot of time to academic reading tasks if your students never do this kind of reading in 
nglish for their other courses (science, mathematics, social studies, and the like). 
he following sections will present several broad categories of reading tasks. Examples will show how some 
 Ba
Th
of 
, you may have forgotten how it was to learn to read. It just seems natural to pick up a 
newspaper and scan the headlines, to read street signs as you walk along, to look at a piece of paper 
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It i
rea
un
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even be able to recognize whether two symbols are the same or different from each other. If you try to learn 
the writing system, you may at first be able to recognize only a few well known words. It may take quite a 
lon
Yo
(th
ed rudimentary 
reading and writing skills in some language, or if they are fully literate in their own language but need to 
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stu
ava
sug
wri
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the
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me or different. (From several letters, pick out those 
which are the same. From several letters, pick out one which is not the same.) They should he able to follow 
left
he new language which is taught during the earliest stages of literacy training should consist of vocabulary, 
s within a given period of time, both of 
hich are useful life skills. 
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of these tasks may be incorporated into language lessons and how bridges may be built between classroom 
reading exercises and the day to day experiences of the students. 
sic literacy and reinforcement of listening and speaking 
e starting point for all reading activities in any language are the basic literacy skills. As an educated user 
a language
ney and tell at a glance whether it is a one dollar bill or a five. 
s only when you find yourself in a country where the local language is unfamiliar to you that you begin to 
lize how important the basic literacy skills are. If that language uses a writing system which is also 
familiar to you, you can more fully appreciate the position of learners who need literacy training. When 
fronted with an unfamiliar writing system (e.g., Arabic, or the system used for writing Thai) you may not 
g time to sort out the connections between the spelling of words and their pronunciation. 
ur students will need literacy training in English if they have no reading and writing skills in any language 
e most serious need), if they have a few years of formal education and have develop
rn the writing system of English. There are several approaches to the teaching of basic literacy. If your 
dents need literacy training, you should consult the Peace Corps Literacy Handbook (Manual M-21 
ilable from Information Collection and Exchange) for detailed guidance. However, here are a few 
gestions for literacy training for those students who are already literate in a language which uses a 
ting system different from the Roman alphabet which is used for English. 
arners who are not experienced in reading the Roman alphabet require a considerable amount of pre-
ding instruction. They need extensive practice in listening skills, since the auditory channel will at first be 
major medium for new learning. Skill in visual perception also needs to be developed. In particular, 
rners need to he able to categorize letters as sa
-to-right and top-to-bottom progression. All of these skills are practiced in the exercise in Figure 5.1. 
T
formulate expressions, and sentence patterns which the learners can put to immediate use. They should be 
able to identify themselves and he able to give a few personal details such as age, marital status, residence, 
and occupation. They should learn to follow simple directions and to ask for clarification or help when 
needed. They can learn about timetables and completing assignment
w