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I think it should be a necessity . I have decided to devote a whole session every two weeks for story reading – this is not common and my students are expected to have a special copybook for this purpose .
Do you believe that reading is the most important skill to develop good writing ? Definitely yes . Reading is basic and essential to develop other skills such as listening , speaking , cognitive , analytical and no doubt writing . I encourage my students to read and discover , to learn and imagine . When you come across the word in its different shapes and depths and use it , you acquire the tools to write . Then we need a bit of inspiration . Can you share with us how this skill can be handled in the classroom ? What methods do you use to encourage your students ’ creativity ?
• It can be a short story in pictures , a gapped story .
• I may give my students a longer story to prepare at home . They are told to write : the summary , description of the characters , setting and prepare their questions to ask and parts of the text to enact . They write , talk and listen . Besides they may be imagine a completion or an alternative ending , or a different start .
• The READING CIRCLE - I mean when you divide the group into : character describers , summarizers , word detectives , illustrators , alternative ending creators , actors , etc . It is
something that may enable the whole class to understand the story and give a little bit of theirs . By the way , you cannot encourage your students to be creative if you are not creative yourself Games are often used in the Language classroom . Do you have a favourite one that you usually play with your students ? Am I a funny teacher ? Do I use games ? Yes I do . Puzzles , tongue twisters , crosswords ... Any game that looks practical , meaningful and relevant ( linguistically and notionally ). Games as well as story reading motivate the young learners and create the classroom dynamics . The new school year is about to start . What is your “ welcome back to school ” activity ? Some of the “ welcome back to school ” activities are to ask students to write their Bios and About Me , to write a school Promise and Oath .
What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your teaching career ? The biggest challenge any teacher faces is how to reconcile between what we , teachers , are told to do and what we expect ourselves to achieve .
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