On Teaching Reading

We follow a Freirean literacy framework. In this framework, when literacy functions as a social awakening and empowering action, developing literacy skills becomes more meaningful to adolescent and adult learners and they are more likely to engage and aim to master these skills. Our goal is to help immigrant learners realize the life altering powerful nature of literacy, that is not just a requirement to “pass the class,” but is a requirement for living a more fulfilling life.

We use varied teaching practices to reach this goal. We use traditional and non-traditional literacy building methods that move away from rote learning exercises (choral reading exclusively), and instead, aim to make literacy experiences highly relevant, contextualized, social endeavors that engage students in seeing and naming their world with curiosity and more clarity.

The aim of reading is meaning making, this is true for beginning readers and more experienced readers. Exposure to and frequent use of authentic texts is crucial to model the complexities and richness of language. ELs at all levels, but especially at the bridging and expanding levels, should be asked to engage in interpretive tasks with authentic texts. In all levels, we strive for automaticity in decoding, while also teaching students a myriad of meaning making techniques and strategies that aid them in tracking meaning before, during, and after they read. We do this as we build background knowledge using a variety of verbal and non-verbal techniques. In honoring the interconnectedness of these communicative domains, we aim to produce readers who confidently consume, critique, mirror, and expand the ideas they encounter in print. Ultimately, we strive to nurture writers and creators of texts.