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Hook, Book, Look, Took: Herwindy M Tedjaatmadja and Willy A Renandya Keep It Simple
Hook, Book, Look, Took: Herwindy M Tedjaatmadja and Willy A Renandya Keep It Simple
Introduction to guide the children to think about creative interpretations and variations
how to apply the message in life (the within each of the steps. The name
Are you teaching English to young Look), and to summarize the lesson is also quite catchy and easy to
children and looking for a simple in such a way so that the children remember, which we think is another
lesson framework that you can use finish the lesson with a concrete plus point.
and reuse productively? takeaway (the Took).
The Hook Book Look Took
The Hook Book Look Took (HBLT) We stumbled on this lesson structure lesson structure
lesson structure might be the answer. quite accidently when someone
Originally developed by Lawrence O mentioned it casually to us and We describe in Table 1 below our
Richards and Gary J Bredfeldt (1998), said that she fell in love with it the version of the HBLT lesson framework.
HBLT is a four-step strategy that is moment she learned about it and We have kept the terms the same but
particularly popular with Sunday had since then tried it out with her given different meanings to the four
school teachers. The four-step lesson Sunday-school children. It dawned steps, in particular the Book and Look
structure enables the teacher to on us almost immediately that this steps, so that they are more reflective
introduce and prepare the children could be adapted for teaching English of current theories of and principles
for the lesson through various fun to young children. The structure is for teaching English to young learners.
activities (the Hook), to focus the simple, which goes down well with We describe the four steps along with
children’s attention on the contents teachers working with young learners, the language learning principles that
of a section of the Bible (the Book), and is versatile enough to allow for underpin the steps in the table below.
Tell and check. The students are paired up and assigned as either a teller d. The teaching methods suggested
or a checker. The teacher reads a section of the story and asks the teller for this step are geared towards
to retell that portion of the story to the checker. The checker checks if developing learners’ implicit
the teller has included all the relevant details. This technique keeps the knowledge of the English
students on task when listening to the story as they have to do the telling language, which is consistent with
and checking afterward. The telling and checking can be done in either SLA theories (Ellis, 2005).
English or in the pupils’ first language.
Listen and draw. The teacher can ask the students to draw pictures in
response to what they are listening to to represent their understanding
of the story. Listening and drawing keep them productively occupied
throughout the lesson.
Expressive reading. Read with expression so that the story comes alive and
the words become more vivid and meaningful. Use different voices when
reading a dialogue. Bring a lot of excitement to your voice so that the
children know that you are excited about the story. Slow down the speed
to create suspense and read faster when the story gets exciting.
Some teachers value student read-aloud and often ask pupils to do choral
reading. While this activity can be useful (e.g., for fluency development),
this can be a chore after a while and students may get bored.
Spaghetti
Messy, spicy
Slurping, sliding, falling
Between my plate and mouth
Delicious
Conclusion is also well-suited for young children Ellis, R. (2005) Principles of instructed
before they can read independently language learning. System 33,
As is clear from the foregoing and later benefit even more from pp.209-224
discussion, the HBLT lesson structure is engaging in extensive or pleasure
simple but flexible. The four steps are reading (Renandya, 2007). Jacobs, J., & Hannan, D. (2004)
easy to remember but flexible enough Combining cooperative learning
for teachers to carry out the steps We have included a HBLT planner in with reading aloud by teachers.
according to their preferences, teaching the appendix and hope that you will International Journal of English
styles and creativity. The language use it when you plan your HBLT lesson. Studies, 4(1), pp.97-118
learning principles that underpin this
lesson structure are sound too and Krashen, S.D. (2009) Language
reflect what second language experts REFERENCES Education: Past, present and future.
believe to be important for teaching Blok, H. (1999) Reading to young RELC Journal, 39(2), pp.178-187
young learners. The key steps of the children in educational settings: A
HBLT lesson structure, the Book and meta-analysis of recent research. Nation, P. (1996) The four strands of a
the Look, reflect a balanced view of Language Learning, 49, pp.343-371 language course. Tesol in Context, 6(2),
instructed language learning principles pp.7-12.
that promote both meaning-focused Elley, W.B. (2001) Book-based
and language-focused learning (Ellis, approaches to raising literacy in Nation, P. (2007) The four strands.
2005; Nation, 2007) through the use of developing countries. International Innovation in Language Learning
high interest story books (Elley, 2001). Journal of Educational Research, 35 and Teaching, 1(1), pp.2-13
The teacher read-aloud methodology (2), pp.127-135
Odean, K. (2003) Reading aloud to Herwindy Maria Tedjaatmadja and Dr Willy A Renandya
children: Tips for parents. Retrieved
on 12 April 2012 http://www.
kathleenodean.com/tips_reading.htm.
Herwindy Maria Tedjaatmadja is a lecturer at the
Renandya, W.A. (2007) The power of English Department, Petra Christian University, Indonesia.
extensive reading. RELC Journal, 38(2), She holds an MA in English Language Teaching from
pp.133-149 Assumption University of Thailand. She also had the
opportunity to work as the language advisor in British
Richards, L.O., & Bredfeldt, G. J. (1998) Council, Bangkok from 2004 to 2006. Her academic and
Creative Bible Teaching. Chicago: research interests lie primarily in the areas of materials
Moody Publishers development and teaching methodology.
Email: willy.renandya@nie.edu.sg
Website: http://www.nie.edu.sg/
profile/willy-ardian-renandya