Essential Conditions of Flow in Reading

FlowInReading400x300Presentation for the Seventh Annual Extensive Reading Seminar, Sunday September 28, 2014 Keisen University, Tokyo Japan.

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Research strongly supports concept of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), and reading is known as one of the most common flow activities. When students experience flow, they become so absorbed and captivated by the experience of reading that they lose their sense of time and place, and the pleasure of reading becomes its own intrinsic reward. In this paper, the author will (1) define flow, (2) outline the essential conditions of flow in reading, and (3) suggest activities that will help teachers facilitate flow for language learners in extensive reading classes.

Story Pods for ER Classes

StoryPods500x375This is a poster presentation for the Seventh Annual Extensive Reading Seminar, Sunday September 28, 2014 Keisen University, Tokyo Japan.

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Practitioners of ER need classroom activities for students that (1) facilitate intrinsic motivation through the power of story grammar; (2) provide comprehensible input to promote language acquisition; (3) encourage interaction around story themes, and (4) that inspire learners to read more outside of class.

Self-contained “Story Pods” provide these four benefits and more through interactive story activities that teachers can easily create for their students. The presenter will define the key elements of a good story (i.e., story grammar), outline the basic features of a story pod, and give examples of story pods for use in the ER classroom.

“Teaching Vocabulary” by Michael Lessard-Clouston

Book Review, Published in VERB Vol. 3 Issue 1, Spring 2014TeachingVocab

New teachers need essential knowledge based on sound theory and best practices, which they can readily use in the classroom. Experienced teachers need the same knowledge to refresh themselves in current developments so they can keep growing as teachers.

To meet these needs, TESOL Press has provided a series of short, introductory books (15 at the time of this writing) on various topics, including such titles as “Classroom Research for Language Teachers,” “Teaching Reading,” and “Teaching Vocabulary.” This review focuses on “Teaching Vocabulary” by Michael Lessard-Clouston. . .