4 Read alouds in the classroom

Tips for read-alouds in the classroom

See Avery, & Ehrlich (2011) for an expanded amount of tips. This is a very simplified summary:

• Present flashcards with key words selected from the book.
• While pronouncing a word, point at the drawing this word is referring to.
• Make a deep pause after pronouncing a word you are pointing at on a drawing.
• Repeat the specific word the drawing is referring to.
• Use gestures to suggest meanings of words not depicted in the respective drawing.
• Imply with your voice the emotion expressed in the book.
• Speak slowly, with exaggerated articulation of words.
• While you are reading aloud, point your face towards the audience. Children are quite sensitive to reading your lips as they are acquiring English.
• Focus on making this moment especial (not educative) for the children. A child who enjoys reading will become a self-motivated adult reader.
• Place the book on a side and upper towards the dominant hand so you can read out loud while pointing your face towards the audience.
  • o Another method is to place the book beneath your chin and read upside-down. Only do it this way if you have practice reading upside down.

Ona’s animal sounds:

Bilingual read alouds don’t need to be bilingual. As long as you use proper translanguaging strategies, translation may not be required word-after-word. In the following read aloud, the preservice teacher is using the following strategies:

• She uses flashcards with animals that will appear in the video
• She encourages students stay the names of animals in Lithuanian
• She picks key sentences that will be repeated in the text, and states the translation of those sentences prior to reading
• She wears traditional Lithuanian attire to imply multicultural meaning
• She positions the book on a side to read and let the voice waves move around, and show her mouth
• She shows the flashcard of the animal again once mentioned in the book, while showing the face to the front
• She speaks slowly
• She points at word after word while reading
• She explains two spelling curiosities in Lithuanian, but avoids giving a long lecture on the Lithuanian alphabet
• She explains two phonological curiosities in Lithuanian, but avoids giving a long lecture on the Lithuanian pronunciation

Watch her video:

Book selection

I am an author for children with specific preferences in terms of books. I am also a mother who did read alouds for my bilingual daughter. In my opinion, the best books  should be short, simple, and contain expressive pictures. I’ll explain what exactly I mean per each of these things:

Short: it should be a book that you can read out loud in no longer than 7 minutes. Longer than that, it should be quite engaging.

Simple text per page: It should have no more than five short sentences per page. A short sentence should be around 8 words long or less. Some pages may be longer, and the book could progress from simple to more complex text toward the end. If you observe strategy in this progression, it may be a good book for bilingual children.

Use simple grammar: Avoids subordination as much as possible, or complex or fancy grammar. Verbs that need more than one or two words to express an action or event could be quite difficult. A sentence like: “The dog should have gone earlier” is too complicated. It may contain one or another thing like this, but not too much.

Contains expressive pictures: The book should suggest the story through the pictures. The pictures in a page depict what is told in the text.

Doesn’t need to be a bilingual book: There are many books that contain both English and Spanish. When I read to my daughter, she either want to hear the English OR the Spanish, never both at the same time. There is a highly recommended book that uses Spanglish in a natural way: El Chupacabras.

 It tells a story: The book should contain or suggest a narrative chain of events that evolve and change something in the world of the characters. The book creates characters and makes them undergo challenges which resolve somehow at the end of the story. Books about colors, numbers, or shapes are just flashcards with a binding.

In my ideal world…

• Books for children wouldn’t teach about good behavior. Books would be ways for children have fun. Books would provide symbolic paths for children to make sense of the world.
• Many books would be written originally in all indigenous languages and in Spanish, not being translations of books originally written in English. Big publishers would publish all these kinds of books.
• Books for Hispanic children wouldn’t be only about tacos or about abuelas. Books would revolve around many kinds of topics even when not stereotypical to Hispanic culture.

Reading as a form of pleasure

The Morocan-born French author Daniel Pennac developed a manifesto about the purpose of reading as a form of entertainment. This approach creates self-motivated, independent readers that with strong comprehension skills. In my opinion, this helps create a relaxing atmosphere around read-alouds where students can exercise critical thinking to identify good and bad literature.

• The right not to read.
• The right to skip pages.
• The right not to finish a book.
• The right to reread.
• The right to read anything.
• The right to escapism (translating to another world through reading).
• The right to read anywhere.
• The right to browse.
• The right to read out loud.
• The right to remain silent (not having to discuss what one has read).

In Hispanic environments, read-alouds are theatrical performances that need to be loud, wide-gesticulated, with frequent interaction and interruption with the young audience. If you read Spanish, see Cova (2004).

Bibliography

This bibliography guide is a work in progress. Feel free to email me at adiazcoll@gmail.com if you find any reference that requires citation.

Avery, P. G., & Ehrlich, T. (2011). 50 strategies for teaching English language learners (4th ed.). Pearson.

Brisk, M., & Harrington, M. M. (2010). Literacy and bilingualism: A handbook for all teachers. Routledge. Pages 173-186.

Cova, Y. (2004). La práctica de la lectura en voz alta en el hogar y en la escuela a favor de niños y niñas. Sapiens. Revista Universitaria de Investigación, 5(2), 53-66.

Pennac, Daniel. (1997). Los derechos imprescindibles del lector. Norma.

Sample of the chapter found in: https://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/samplechapter/0/1/3/4/0134057295.pdf

Samway, K. D., Pease-Alvarez, L., & Alvarez, L. (2020). Supporting newcomer students: Advocacy and instruction for language learners. Norton/Tesol Press.

The whole book provide useful tips you can apply to read alouds in the classroom, but Chapter 6 is more closely connected to the topic.