Chapter 10: Taken as Read: Teaching Reading Lessons 141
Make sure that your students have a copy of the alphabet in the correct order
as well. They need it when using the dictionary.Practise the alphabet in a fun way by using popular acronyms or abbrevia-
tions and see if the students know what they mean. Try these for example:✓ ATM: Automated teller machine
✓ BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation
✓ BMX: Bicycle motorcross
✓ DVD: Digital versatile disc
✓ SMS: Short message service
✓ UNICEF: United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund
Reading whole words
Remember how you were taught to recognise individual words back in pri-
mary school? The teacher would hold up flashcards and the kids shouted the
words out. Well in EFL, lower-level students learn word by word too.Write new words on the board as soon as the class has repeated the pronun-
ciation. At the same time, help your students to read well by pointing out
spelling patterns. After all, English is notoriously difficult to spell and pro-
nounce even for native speakers, so reading aloud can be very daunting for
EFL students.These simple examples of English spelling rules make a world of difference to
people learning to read in English:✓ The letter e after a vowel and consonant together softens/lengthens the
vowel sound. Compare rid and ride, mad and made, or cut and cute.
✓ When the letter ‘s’ is between two vowels, it’s pronounced like a z – rise
/raiz/, present /prezənt/ and pose /pəυz/.
✓ At the beginning of a word gn, kn, and pn are pronounced /n/.
✓ Wh is pronounced /w/. There’s no need to pronounce the ’h’.
✓ Wr is pronounced /r/. The ‘w’ is always silent.
You probably know all these rules instinctively but your students need you
to spell them out. If you think of any other rules, make a note of them as your
students will be eternally grateful.