Why is reading important? 

Apart from being a great hobby and fun activity, it can help children improve in many areas of their lives through developing key transferrable skills. Reading in their native language and English can bring a whole range of benefits. To engage everyone, they must understand the benefits themselves.   

Ask your students why it's important and create a mind map of ideas. You may also wish to use some of the points below to start the conversation. Having a common idea that everyone agrees on can help build motivation and engagement in the classroom. 

Improves language skills 

Regular reading develops children’s linguistic skills – it helps them learn good sentence structure, grammar, vocabulary and improves spelling in their own language and in the English language too. Reading aloud also strengthens knowledge of phonics and improves pronunciation and articulation.  

Improves memory 

It can help to develop knowledge of phonics and vocabulary recall and improve focus and concentration – all necessary skills when learning a language. 

Cultivates curiosity 

Books help kids’ imaginations to grow and encourage them to be more open-minded. They help us to learn about other cultures and encourage us to think more creatively. Through subtle messages, reading builds an awareness of the world in which we live and enables children to form their own opinions and ask questions. 

Creates empathy 

Stories help to develop children’s emotional intelligence and empathy towards others. Exploring topics and characters allows them to learn about real-world situations and think about how they would feel in somebody else’s shoes. It encourages respect for others’ feelings as well as other cultures.  

Reduces stress 

It is a great way to calm the mind and help us relax and destress. Children can learn to use it as a helpful tool in their day-to-day lives.   

Develops key life skills 

Children develop their confidence, communication, resilience, patience, social skills and connect with the wider world, culture and communities. 

So how do we motivate our young learners (even our most reluctant readers) to develop a passion for reading? 

It must be fun, purposeful and relevant 

Well-known adaptations can remove barriers, support and encourage students’ imagination, and spark a genuine interest. They give purpose and relevance to the students as most students have watched a movie at some point in their lives and most students have a favorite movie or character.  

Let your young learners choose 

There are plenty of English Readers to choose from – if the students can choose their own readers, they will likely be more motivated and focused. Choice gives the students power and makes it more relevant to them. Ask your students to choose their favorite movie and have a vote as a class. Get to know your students, find out what interests them, and base your book choice around this. 

Rewards  

To motivate students, they must know that they are making progress. Reward students for their achievements – for example, create a vocabulary wall or a class book chart and give rewards like a sticker or a postcard to take home. 

As a teacher, I realized that planning had become an 'automatic pilot' routine from which I did not learn much. Like many others, I thought scales such as the Global Scale of English (GSE) or the Common European Framework of Reference are just that; references that are beyond the realities of their lessons.

However, I've seen that the GSE is a very powerful resource to help us at the level of planning. 

If you're using a coursebook you may have noticed that, after completing one of the books in the series, students move up one level, such as from elementary to pre-intermediate or from intermediate to upper-intermediate.

We all understand what it means to be an elementary or intermediate student. These levels are usually defined in terms of structures – conditional sentences, passive voice, and tenses – Simple Past, Future Continuous, etc.

But why do students want to learn English? Using it means being able to listen or read and understand, interact with others, and communicate in writing. Even if it is parents who enroll their children in language institutes, what they want is for them to use the language. We can see a mismatch between how levels are defined and students' aims to study English.

Here's how the GSE can help English language teachers

First, you need the right scale for your group – Pre-primary, Young Learners, Adults, Professionals or Academic, which can be downloaded at:

https://www.pearson.com/languages/why-pearson/the-global-scale-of-english/resources.html

Focus on your students' level. There you will see all the learning objectives that students need to achieve to complete the level at which they are and move on in their learning journey.

What are learning objectives? They are can-do statements that clearly describe what students are expected to achieve as the result of instruction. In other words, these objectives guide teachers in our planning to help students learn.

When we plan our lessons, rather than working at lesson level only, we should reflect on how the activities proposed are referenced against the learning objectives of the level. We may see that some activities need some adapting in order to focus on the selected learning outcomes.

At the level of planning as well, I also use the GSE to analyze the activities proposed in the materials I am using. Let me tell you what I do. Let's take listening, for instance. You may use the downloaded scales or the Teacher Toolkit that the GSE provides. Let's run through how this works. 

The challenge of teaching business English to C1 level students

Once your English students reach a B2 level of English, they’re fairly competent communicators. For many learners, their motivation to improve starts to suffer when they reach this intermediate plateau. They understand almost everything and can express themselves clearly enough - so why would they want to continue learning English and achieve a C1 level of English?

The CEFR describes C1-level learners as proficient users of a language. C1-level students have a high proficiency in English and perform well in an international work environment.

How can we help our upper intermediate students reach this level and see the benefits in their own lives and careers? Here are nine steps you can take as an English language teacher to help your students achieve language proficiency.

The educational choices available to children are evolving rapidly with apps, online courses, digital games, recordings and videos becoming easily accessible. However, amidst this technological advancement, human evolution has not suddenly accelerated, and the primary aim for teachers remains unchanged - helping children make sense of the world and leaving their mark on it.

Here are five essential ways we can achieve that for every child, regardless of their circumstances, whether it's teaching English or fostering everyday learning and education.

Summer is here and so are English language intensive courses. Adults and teens are lining up at your classroom doors, full of enthusiasm and ready to learn English. But soon they’re staring out the windows, looking up at the bright blue skies and wishing they were on the beach, or - frankly - doing anything but studying English for the next 100 hours.

So how can you turn it around and keep your learners on track and motivated this summer?

Systemic racism has a negative impact on the education of many students across the world. This can start as early as preschool.

Studies have also shown a correlation between teacher expectations and student achievement. Worryingly, these expectations can be negatively affected by racial prejudice.

Education should be a powerful force for social change

In recent history, various events have sparked a global uprising against systemic racism and discrimination. Protests have touched every part of society, from arts to sports to politics to education. A key demand is for real, structural change to society so that the lives of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) are valued as they should be. 

Mutuma Ruteere, former UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, said that “education has a central role in creating new values and attitudes and providing us with important tools for addressing deep-rooted discrimination and the legacy of historical injustices.” 

Promoting diversity and inclusion

As we look to the future, and imagine a world we want to live in, it’s important to examine how we create these materials and courses. Our aim is to ensure that what we produce is bias-free, inclusive and actively anti-racist.

Education will always remain a key instrument for disarming ignorance and bigotry.

We set up an Employee Resource Group (ERG), which has created a set of principles for Pearson authors and editors. The group’s aim is to lay the groundwork for courses that reflect all parts of a diverse society. 

The guidelines were developed by our BAME and African American ERGs. Ade Gachegua led the project alongside internal and external consultants, including the author of the Black Curriculum Report, Dr. Jason Arday. 

Challenges to overcome together

The guidelines identified five main challenges and suggested the following ways to overcome them:

1. Underrepresentation 

Are people from a BIPOC background equally represented in educational products? The guidelines recommend that people of different ethnicities should be included in all course material and portrayed as equal to one another.

Choosing texts and pictures which promote racial equality is also important. 

2. Exaggerated negative associations 

Negative associations are exaggerated when unfavorable characteristics or traits are linked to people of minority ethnicities again and again. This is how stereotypes are built and reinforced in the minds of learners.

We can take steps to prevent this by choosing our language carefully, avoiding racist texts and refuting any suggestion that behavior is linked to one ethnicity more than another. 

3. Limited positive associations 

Stereotypes of all kinds can be harmful - even positive ones. The guidelines recommend including people from minority ethnicities as positive role models in all contexts, not just the ones they might be traditionally associated with.

This way, we broaden our learners’ horizons and show them that they have the potential to succeed in any field, regardless of their background.

4. Missing stories 

When it comes to contributing to public life, individuals from minority ethnicities are often overlooked. For example, when it comes to history, educators tend to disregard contributions from ethnic minorities.

It’s not because their contributions are less significant, but because the long history of racism has led to their contributions to public life being more limited and deliberately overlooked. 

It’s important that educational materials include these ‘missing stories.’ This helps learners to develop a richer and more diverse view of society and its participants. 

5. The ‘problem’ frame 

Educational texts often speak about people from BIPOC backgrounds as helpless victims of their ‘own’ disadvantage. Instead, we need to view racism as a systemic, social and institutionalized problem, external to the individuals that it affects. 

Authors and editors use the guidelines and an accompanying checklist to ensure that our courses reflect all parts of a diverse society. This means that you can be confident that the classroom materials you’re using to teach your students will empower each and every one of them to reach their full potential.

You can apply this checklist to your own teaching and resources to help you ensure that what you are covering is diverse and inclusive. Making for a more positive classroom experience for all. 

Further reading

If you’d like some practical tips on making your classroom more inclusive, look at our blog post on the importance of teaching values to young learners. You can learn about bringing cultural diversity into your classroom as well. 

When you’re teaching English to young learners, you might find that there are a few students in your class who are struggling. But sometimes it can be hard to tell why. Is it because their language level is low? Or are they finding classroom work difficult because of a general cognitive difference, like dyslexia? 

You are nervous, yet excited. You want to appear relaxed and fun, but still be taken seriously. Most of all, you are keen to make an excellent first impression.

With all that in mind - planning your first English classes of the year can be a daunting experience.

Here are six things to consider when planning your first classes:

1. Set clear aims

Whether you are teaching young learners, teenagers or adults, it’s important you discuss the aims and objectives of the course from day one. You’ll need to learn more about your students' needs to do this. Why are they learning English? Do they want to prepare for an official exam? What activities do they enjoy? What things do they need to improve the most?

The way you do this will depend on the age of your learners. For example, with adults and teens, you could get them to interview each other and write a report about what they found out. With younger children, do a survey they can complete using smiley faces.

2. Find out students’ interests

Although you should understand your students' needs and why they want to learn English - to help make your classes relevant and engaging - you should also discover what they enjoy doing outside of class.

To do this, get students to write mini bios you can stick around the classroom. Or have them prepare presentations where they share something they are passionate about with the rest of the class - using coursebooks. As a class, go through the contents page, vote on which topics students find most interesting, and start with those.

3. Break the ice

You want your first class to be fun so that students are motivated, and associate English language learning with something they can enjoy. Ice-breakers can also be an excellent way to get to know each other and learn about your students' current level of English.

Activities where students have to ask each other questions work well.

4. Provide a comfortable environment

Young learners and teenagers tend to be shy at the start of a course - especially if they don’t know each other. Develop a rapport and break down boundaries by including team-building activities in your first class. Your aim is to have all the students feeling more comfortable with each other before the end of the lesson so that there are no awkward silences in future lessons.

5. Manage expectations

Managing expectations is an essential part of a teacher's job. Make sure in the first class you are clear about what you expect from your students and what they can expect from you.

Have students brainstorm the rules for the class and then make a big poster or ‘class contract’ which all students have to sign. Display the poster on the wall so you can always refer to it if someone misbehaves.

Try to keep the rules as positive as possible. Instead of writing: 'Don’t speak your first language', write: 'Try to always speak English and ask if you don’t know a word'. If you are feeling really brave, you can even get your students to devise a list of rules for you which you can display on the wall next to theirs.

6. Make it challenging

It’s great making your first lesson fun - but there’s nothing more motivating than leaving a new class and feeling like you’ve made a good decision and you are going to learn lots (and you aren’t wasting your time or money). This is especially important for adult learners.

So, as well as getting to know each other and finding out their needs, teach them something new. This could be 10 new pieces of vocabulary, how to structure a letter or report, or a list of resources they can use at home to practice their English.

No two teenagers are the same. Within all of our classes there tends to be not only a range of English proficiency levels, but also general learning styles, maturity, motivation, and personalities. This diversity can bring some challenges, but also opportunities to vary your classroom activities and teaching methodology.

Here are some ways to help deal with mixed-ability classes and ensure all your students experience success in their language learning journeys.