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Teaching material > Home reading for Pre-intermediate 7 graders
Home reading for Pre-intermediate 7 graders
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Naranjas
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Home reading for Pre-intermediate 7 graders
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Hello, my dear collegues!
I have a question for those of you who teach at school.
Do you know any modern book to read at home reading lessons at this level(Pre-intermediate level, KET-PET)?
We read Jacqueline Wilson in original(this is the school policy - from the 5th grade and on we read only authentic literature) this year and now we have 3 months left on smth else. But I �m far from being an expert in modern literature and I don �t know where to find an interesting book with good but simple English(Pre-intermediate level, KET-PET).
Thaks in advance!  |
12 Mar 2009
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mena22
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In Portugal many schools have the Penguin Readers collection in their libraries. It is an excellent collection with a great variety of books for 7 different levels of English. Another excellent collection is Oxford �s Hotshot puzzles. These are my favourite for elementary and intermediate students because the stories meet young teenagers � interests, the books are very colourful, with beautiful images, every 2 pages there is a puzzle to solve and they are adapted to the level we choose (the books are graded at 5 levels).
I �ve already made several tasks with a few of these books and my students always enjoy it.
Hope it helps.
Have a nice day.  mena |
12 Mar 2009
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libertybelle
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I �m not sure of your age group because I don �t know Ket-Pet system, but Longmann has a lot of materials.- if you Google Ket-Pet a lot of materials will pop up.
Have you read Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer or Oliver Twist?
Or perhaps, The Outsiders by Susan Hinton.
My 9th graders (age 14-16)loved The Body by Stephen King.(about being young in the early 60 �s)
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12 Mar 2009
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libertybelle
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Hi Mena!
Wow, I use those Hot Shot Puzzle books too!
I thought when she wrote authentic, she meant like classic literature.
Hmmmmm... not quite sure what that meant.
But Hot Shots are great, short and colorful, I agree.
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12 Mar 2009
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Naranjas
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Thank you for the answers but I was asking for something different.
First of all I need a modern author which means he writes in modern language and is still alive(like a book written 10 or 20 years ago, not 50) :)
Next I need original literature(not adapted with tasks and everything like Penguin - very good books, by the way).
Another thing is we need really authentic English and what I mean by the word is that it should be a British or American author with good language of his own(lots of synonyms, metaphors, jokes ans so on).
The age group is from 12 to 14 years old(I thought I made it clear when I told you they �re in the 7th grade, it turned out I was mistaken:)).
Hope somebody will help me... |
12 Mar 2009
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libertybelle
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I don �t mean to be rude or arrogant, but authentic language for 12-14 year olds is really hard.(and in my opinion, not very pedagogical)
Often, the story fits the age group but the language is too difficult in the authentic versions for ESL students or else the the language fits the age group, but the story is too "childish". That �s why most of us here use adapted versions.
As a native speaker teaching English as a second language, I wouldn �t do that.
I don �t mean to be judgmental, but that is my professional opinion.
I think my kids (who are the same age group as yours,) would lose interest and feel as if they weren �t good enough. I surely haven �t had enough time to teach them all the figures of speech, slang, grammar, metaphors and vocabulary to tackle modern literature in its original form.
That �s why Longmann, penguin, oxford and many other really good publishers make adapted versions that are faithful to the original story but adapt the language so the students understand and develop.
L
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12 Mar 2009
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Zora
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Well, since you are so enthusiastic about this - why not try the first book in the Harry Potter series?? It �s not that long and meets all your requirements... or you could do CS Lewis� book - "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" - it �s an older book and Mr. Lewis is dead now but the story is fairly short and easy to read...
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12 Mar 2009
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Naranjas
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To Libertybelle: it �s the policy of our school and I could do nothing about it, sorry
Though I must say the kids didn �t loose interest during the last 3 years, but it �s really hard for us teachers to choose the right book... I like the idea of Lewis, but the thing is we already are taking it in the 6th grade next year(I like the book very much). As for Harry Porter many of our kids have already read it, 2 of them even in English so it won �t be really amazing.
The thing is our director decided that the main aim is to teach them cope with real language as fast as we can. It �s not that boring for children as it may seem and they learn really fast, though we have to use many pictures/movies/songs/smiles etc. and spend loads of time on preparation.
I know my question IS hard, because I �ve already asked all Russian teachers I know and got the same answers... It is really not traditional to use original books so nobody knows what advice to give... I just thought maybe some of you read some books for pleasure and now will remember one or two and I �ll check on them.  |
12 Mar 2009
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Zora
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Well, If they are going to study the book next year, why not start off with the first book in the Narnia series? It�s called the Magician�s Nephew... It �s not directly related to "The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe..." but it sets the stage since it�s about their Uncle�s adventure�s in Narnia...
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12 Mar 2009
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Naranjas
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That �s so funny that two people as different as you and me think so similar... At the moment I �m ordering this very book...
Oh, I know you won �t believe me, but it �s really so!
P.S. I know the book very well - I read it when I was a child(not so long ago actually). |
12 Mar 2009
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Zora
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Stranger things have happened than two people, who love CS Lewis � books, having the same idea at the same time!  We are just on the same wave length!
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12 Mar 2009
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