Strategies to teach literacy by Laurine Cabiling

Interactive read-alouds

lcabilin0025_1_1 — 2025-08-10 19:28:57 UTC

Reading stories and books out loud using prosody, "facial expressions, different voices for different characters, and gestures while encouraging the active participation of the listeners through prediction, discussion, and checking for understanding."

Through the teacher modeling how to read stories and book with the proper facial expressions and prosody, they are helping EL students better understand what the story is about. If some of the EL students have very little English understanding, the way the teacher is reading may provide a hint of what is happening in the story, along with exposing them to the language.

lcabilin0025_1_1 — 2025-08-10 19:30:37 UTC

Ch.10 : Moving into Reading

Repeated Reading

lcabilin0025_1_1 — 2025-08-10 19:39:01 UTC

Having the students write a script from or based on a story that was read to them or they have read themselves. This allows for the students to practice writing, reading comprehension, and fluency. The students practice reading comprehension and fluency by having to reread the story multiple times to fully grasp the story line and determine the dialogue of the story. Then the students must practice writing by creating their script. Lastly, the students practice fluency once more as the student explains or may act out the scenes they have drawn/wrote.

By having both EL and native English students practice repeated reading, they are building the necessary skills to better understand the different aspects of literacy.

lcabilin0025_1_1 — 2025-08-10 19:39:19 UTC

Ch. 12 Repeated reading

Supporting Bilaterally Awareness

lcabilin0025_1_1 — 2025-08-10 19:47:33 UTC

Having students different languages exposed to the class through books, posters, writings on the board, or some other way allows for students to show that the teachers value their home language, and allow the students to use knowledge from their first language to support their understanding of texts.

Furthermore, having the students be exposed to different cultures and languages, it allows for a greater opportunity for the students to learn about their differences and how different cultures express thoughts and emotions differently.

lcabilin0025_1_1 — 2025-08-10 19:48:16 UTC

Ch. 16 Bilingual Books and Labels

Free Voluntary Reading (FVR)

lcabilin0025_1_1 — 2025-08-10 19:54:08 UTC

By allowing students to choose books they want in their reading level allows for them to be exposed to and learn a wide variety of vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and support reading comprehension. This is especially can be important for EL learners as they should be at the minimum exposed to the language, even if they are unable to fully comprehend the information. One of the ways teachers use FVR to their advantage when teaching ELs is through the introduction of graphic novels as they expose the students to the English language, but still allows for the students to follow along the story through the pictures and actions happening within it.

lcabilin0025_1_1 — 2025-08-10 19:54:21 UTC

Ch. 35 Free Voluntary Reading

Small Reading Groups

lcabilin0025_1_1 — 2025-08-10 20:01:21 UTC

Teachers create groups of four to six students who are on about the same reading levels which is based on the teachers running records and their cueing systems. The students will all be given the same book, then the teacher will do a book walk with the entire group to come up with some predictions on what will happen in the story. From there the teacher will listen to each student read the story and ask questions. As the teacher works with one student, the others must be reading the story quietly and at their own pace. This style of teaching allows for the teacher to understand what the students need and allow for additional support to those students who require it. For example, the teacher does not need to do small groups for only reading, but instead can have a small group for anything subject like math, science, or history. The goal is for the teacher to provide as much support as needed for the student to succeed at whatever objective they currently have in place.

lcabilin0025_1_1 — 2025-08-10 20:01:35 UTC

Ch. 32 Guided Reading