It's Book Week! 📚 and this has given me the nudge to think about my favorite fun, low-prep, low-stakes reading activities. When looking for an effective reading strategy I look think:
🌟 Is it simple?
🌟 Is it fun?
🌟 Does it support reluctant readers.
🌟 Does it builds student connections
A bonus is if it is low prep!
Here I will share a couple of reading activities that are my go-tos.
Volleyball Reading
I first Volleyball Reading during a TPRS training with Blaine Ray. It was a Spanish demo lesson, and I was a student. Even though I didn’t know Spanish, I felt supported as I tried this reading activity with my beginner-level reading buddy.
I later introduced Volleyball Reading to my Japanese language students, and it was an instant hit! This activity encourages risk-taking in a non-threatening, supportive environment. Perfect for building confidence and connection among learners.
How to 'Play': The students read in pairs. Person A reads a sentence. Person B translates it and reads the next sentence. Then Person A translates that sentence and reads the next. It’s a wonderful collaborative activity. Low prep for the teacher and low stakes for the student. Win Win!
Silly Voices Reading
I can't remember where I first came across this reading activity but it is so much fun to do with the class. Caution-it can get a bit rowdy but there is so much language being used it is worth it.
How to 'Play':
1. Choose different 'voices' eg small voice, big voice, scary voice, romantic voice, robot voice etc.
2. Choose the text-it works best with something that the class is familiar with eg a story you have co-created, a section of a class novel, a summary/recap
3. Read through as a whole class and check for comprehension
4. Divide the class into 2 teams
5. Each team practises chorally reading the text using each of the voices
6. Team A challenges Team B to read using one of the voices. Team B then challenges Team A to read using one of the voices.The teacher awards point for the best team effort. Repeat for another round.
Lots of fun!