Reading for Fun

Inspired by a lecture given by Dr. Day about the benefits of Extensive Reading in a language
classroom.

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Outcomes: After completing the activity, students will be able to give a short explanation of what
they’ve just read to a classmate. They should also be able to identify the main events that occur
in the story

Class time: 40 minutes of reading, 10 minutes of discussion

Teacher preparation time: Virtually none. Teachers just have to be sure to have the books on
hand before the class begins.

Resources Required: A variety of books of different difficulty levels and genres. Students are
also encouraged to bring their own book if preferred.

Description and Justification:

For the first 30 minutes of class, students will be silently reading their chosen book. Students
should be encouraged to focus on the general idea or main events of the book rather than
focusing on the smaller details. If students encounter words they do not know, have them try
guessing what the word means before looking it up in a dictionary. Be sure to warn students
about choosing a book too hard for their level (ie. they shouldn’t be looking up every other word
they encounter). After 30 minutes have passed, students will break up into pairs and discuss
what they’ve read with each other. If everyone has finished early and if there is still time in the
class, randomly call on a pair and have them explain to the class what their partner has read.

According to some studies, extensive reading not only encourages strong growth in the students
reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition, but it also leads to the students acquiring a
more “natural” sounding grammar when speaking/writing. This is due to being exposed to
countless examples of the language being used in an authentic setting akin to that a native
speaker would encounter. Being able to quickly sum up and explain what you’ve just read is
also an important skill in the workplace and academia.