Motivating children to read English books with fun activities

Nicola Schofield
A child sat on a bed reading a book

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 ¨C 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?¨C 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?¨C 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 ¨C for example,?create?a vocabulary wall or?a class book chart and give rewards?like?a?sticker?or?a postcard?to take?home.?

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Here are five practical, fun ideas on how to further motivate your learners and engage them in reading both in and outside the classroom.

1. Make a bookmark?

Making a?bookmark?is a fun way to get children into the habit of reading more regularly. If they have their own bookmark, then they are more likely?to want to pick up a book and read it. In the activity, the children can make their own?bookmark?based on their?favorite?book as well as?draw a picture of their?favorite?scene.

There¡¯s space for them to write about their?favorite?character and any new words they have learned. The?bookmark?then becomes not only a way to?find your page but?it?can?also?help kids engage in English conversations about the stories and make them feel like they are making progress.

2. Create a mind map?

A mind?map is an activity that helps children to understand and?analyze?what is happening in the book they have just read. It?is a great way to show their understanding of the story clearly. It could also be used?for doing?a short presentation on the book or?for helping to?write a short paragraph about it.??

3. Write your own short story?

This activity is creative and asks the children to choose their?favorite?reader. They then use their imagination to write a short story about what happens next. They can place characters?in a completely different story of their own?and send them off on a new, exciting adventure?or decide what happens next in the original story.

Writing stories like this helps young people to explore their ideas, express their creativity and reinforce?sentence structure, vocabulary and grammar at the same time.

4. Create a reading passport?

Motivate children?by giving them clear and achievable goals. Asking them to fill in a passport as they read a new book is a fun way to encourage them.

Each book allows each child to enter a different world and?once they have visited each place, they complete a new page in the passport and receive a stamp.?You could even make this a class competition to see who can fill in the passport pages the quickest.

5. Create a character profile

Ask the children to choose their?favorite?character and produce a?movie?poster?on that person. Ask the students to draw a picture and?write?key details about the character, such as name, age, physical appearance and interests. This activity motivates the students as seeing their?favorite?character in a different context can be entertaining and engaging.

With these simple activities, you can make reading a more enjoyable experience, as well as helping with learning English for kids and developing their overall reading skills.??

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    How to motivate and engage students with authentic video

    By Sue Kay
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    Sue Kay has been an ELT materials writer for over 25 years. She is the co-author of ÃÛÌÒapp's Focus Second Edition and is one of the co-founders of . In this article, Sue takes us through her experience of using video in the classroom and shows us how to motivate and engage students with authentic video.

    Videos are no longer a novelty

    When I started teaching in the early 80s, video was a novelty in the classroom. We only had one video player for the whole school and had to book it a week in advance. There was very little published material available, but thanks to the rarity factor, the students lapped it up.?

    There was no problem with getting them motivated, even if the lessons accompanying the videos were not particularly exciting and consisted mainly of comprehension questions. Lucky for me, our school had a very dynamic Director of Studies who gave great teacher training sessions and I was very taken with a presentation he did on active viewing tasks.?

    I was, and still am, a big fan of the Communicative Approach and I embraced the more interactive video tasks enthusiastically: freeze frame and predict, watch with the sound down and guess what people are saying, listen with the screen hidden to guess the action, etc.?

    When I¡¯m preparing a video lesson, I still try to include at least one of these activities because the information gap provides an ideal motivation for students to watch the video and check their ideas.?