16/6/2021 Video 7: Tips for Lion Readers: Meet Apathy with Intrigue | Coursera

0:00 [MUSIC] Welcome back to Teach English Now. Let's have a discussion about what we just learned from
Dorothy's attempts to help out the Lion. The Lion represents perhaps our most modern student. Many
students, especially teenage students, are still finding themselves, have particular interests, and may or
may not have a love of reading. To be honest you will encounter a lot of readers that simply don't see
themselves in the material you are presenting. Whereas the Scarecrow may lack the skills to read, and the
Tin Man fails to see reading as interactive, this kind of learner might be called the unengaged learner.

0:39 What do you do with students who just don't care? Well, let's look at what Dorothy did to help our
unengaged lion.

0:48 First of all, try immediacy.

0:52 By immediacy, we mean that you focus on the here and now, on the context that the learners themselves
are most familiar with, themselves.

1:01 One useful technique born out of a theory called the language experience approach demonstrates that
reading selections that are generated from life experiences of the students are more interesting and
engaging. In essence, a teacher listens to students, writes down their experiences. And then the
students, who are quite familiar with the experience, can see themselves in print. Notice for example, that
Dorothy sat down and listened to Lion talk about flowers. Then she wrote a story about it, and had the Lion
read and post the story on his blog.

1:36 I remember the first time I learned this writer's trick, in six grade. I told a story to my sixth grade class
called, Room 18 and the Jungle Safari. And I had each student star in one of the many adventures within
my small story. I remember how each student was huddled around me as I told my story. And I realized the
reason why. Students love to hear about themselves. And that is one of the strengths of the language
experience approach.

2:03 And the language experience approach has another added benefit, especially for English as a Second
Language learners.

2:10 After a teacher constructs a story about a student or students, you can use the story to reinforce phonics,
punctuation, syntax, and vocabulary. In other words, because students are familiar with the story, the
English becomes easier to comprehend. And students are more likely to work through the difficulties of the
English to understand the story in its entirety.

2:34 So, our first tip, make things personally meaningful and immediately useful. Remember our word,
immediacy.

2:43 Second of all, try autonomy.

2:47 By autonomy, we mean that you allow students to find literature that reflects their current interests and
ideas. You may wish to provide lists and give suggestions, but within certain limits. You are allowing, at
times, your students to explore on their own and find items of high interest. You will find that a number of
ESL textbooks already make predictions on what the authors believe are high interest topics. And you
should consider carefully what these experts think your learners will be interested in. However, every once
in a while you will run across that one difficult reader, that one student that doesn't seem interested in what
everyone else in the class is interested in and may I suggest that you start doing a little exploring. Find out
that learner's hobbies, interests and background. And then find books and other reading material that might
best suit what that reader might be interested in. You may discover that as you find literature that reflects
that one student, that student will respond in a remarkable way. Did you see how our lion lit up with
excitement when he realized that Dorothy had specifically looked for books just for him? Remember when
trying to help a non-engaged reader sometimes giving them some autonomy over their reading is just the
thing.

4:08 Finally try future authenticity. By authenticity, we mean that the readings that you give the students can
and should come from the real world whenever possible. ESL teachers are always using real items like
travel brochures, menus, maps and so forth. By future authenticity, we refer to the idea that you should
be giving students information that is not only real, but that they can imagine using for future context and

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16/6/2021 Video 7: Tips for Lion Readers: Meet Apathy with Intrigue | Coursera

situations. For example, giving them a reading or a script about going to a restaurant in London, only
makes sense, if they can imagine themselves going to London. If you can help sell the idea of a future
context to them, the more likely they will be willing to read the story.

4:57 Often when selling a future context, I will begin a reading by saying something like, some of you will
someday go to this place, it is an amazing place. Let me tell you about it.

5:08 Or, if I'm talking about a future event, I might say, have any of you ever imagined what it is like to be in a
movie?

5:17 I'll bet someone here someday will be on TV.

5:20 Maybe even a star like the person we're going to read about.

5:24 So did Dorothy do any activities that involved an authentic future context? Do you remember that Dorothy
invited the lion to go to the Emerald City, and the reading she gave him, a brochure, was authentically
and personally related to a future trip they were planning to take? Pretty impressive. By the way, planning a
trip around a reading is a great way to ensure future authenticity. So there you have it. Dorothy tried
immediacy, autonomy, and future authenticity to engage the non-engaged reader. Immediacy, as we have
defined it, means to use a student's own story and context in the readings you present. Autonomy means to
allows students some freedom to choose material they might be interested in. And future authenticity
means to give learners a reading that can speak to a real future context.

6:17 An easier way to think about this is that non engage readers are often most interested in themselves,
immediacy. Others like them, autonomy, and then the larger world around them, future context. Think of it
as three concentric circles. Self, others, and the world.

6:38 Well, that is a lot of information. And we've now arrived at the end of our yellow brick road, or at least the
end of our first module. In the next video we'll make sure to review and summarize all of that information
that is certain to be dancing around in your head. Stay with us as we clarify, and thanks again for joining us
on Teach English Now. [MUSIC]

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