Motivating children to read English books with fun activities

Nicola Schofield
A child sat on a bed reading a book

Why is reading important?

Apart from being agreat hobbyand funactivity, it can help children improve in many areas of their lives through developingkey transferrable skills. Reading in their native language and English can bring a whole range of benefits. To engage everyone, they mustunderstand the benefits themselves.

Ask your students why it's important and create a mind map of ideas. You may alsowish to use some of the points below to start the conversation. Having a common idea that everyone agrees on can help build motivation and engagement in the classroom.

Improveslanguage skills

Regular reading develops children’s linguistic skills – it helps them learn goodsentence structure, grammar, vocabulary andimprovesspelling in their own language and in the English language too. Reading aloudalso strengthensknowledge of phonics and improvespronunciationand articulation.

Improves memory

It can help to develop knowledge of phonics and vocabularyrecall and improve focus and concentration– all necessary skills when learning a language.

Cultivates curiosity

Books help kids’ imaginations to growandencourage them to bemore open-minded. Theyhelp us to learn about other cultures and encourage us to think more creatively. Through subtle messages,readingbuildsanawareness of the world in which we live andenableschildren to formtheir ownopinionsand ask questions.

Creates empathy

Stories help to develop children’s emotional intelligenceandempathy towardsothers. Exploringtopics and characters allows them to learn aboutreal-world situationsand think about how they would feelinsomebody else’s shoes. It encouragesrespect for others’ feelingsas well asothercultures.

Reduces stress

It is a great way tocalm the mind and help us relax and destress. Children can learn to use it as a helpful tool in their day-to-day lives.

Develops key life skills

Children develop their confidence, communication, resilience, patience, social skills and connectwith the wider world, cultureand communities.

So how do we motivate our young learners(even our most reluctant readers)to develop a passion for reading?

Itmustbe fun,purposeful and relevant

Well-known adaptationscan remove barriers, support and encourage students’ imagination,andsparka genuine interest. Theygive purpose and relevance to the students as most students have watched a movieat some point in their lives and most students have afavorite movieor character.

Let your young learners choose

There are plenty of English Readers to choose from– if the students can choose their own readers, they will likely be more motivated and focused. Choice gives the students power and makes it more relevant to them. Ask your students to choose theirfavorite movieandhave a vote as a class. Get to know your students, find out what interests them, and base yourbook choice around this.

Rewards

To motivate students, theymust know that they aremaking progress. Reward students for their achievements – for example,createa vocabulary wall ora class book chart and give rewardslikeastickerora postcardto takehome.

Here are five practical, fun ideas on how to further motivate your learners and engage them in reading both in and outside the classroom.

1. Make a bookmark

Making abookmarkis a fun way to get children into the habit of reading more regularly. If they have their own bookmark, then they are more likelyto want to pick up a book and read it. In the activity, the children can make their ownbookmarkbased on theirfavoritebook as well asdraw a picture of theirfavoritescene.

There’s space for them to write about theirfavoritecharacter and any new words they have learned. Thebookmarkthen becomes not only a way tofind your page butitcanalsohelp kids engage in English conversations about the stories and make them feel like they are making progress.

2. Create a mind map

A mindmap is an activity that helps children to understand andanalyzewhat is happening in the book they have just read. Itis a great way to show their understanding of the story clearly. It could also be usedfor doinga short presentation on the book orfor helping towrite a short paragraph about it.

3. Write your own short story

This activity is creative and asks the children to choose theirfavoritereader. They then use their imagination to write a short story about what happens next. They can place charactersin a completely different story of their ownand send them off on a new, exciting adventureor decide what happens next in the original story.

Writing stories like this helps young people to explore their ideas, express their creativity and reinforcesentence structure, vocabulary and grammar at the same time.

4. Create a reading passport

Motivate childrenby giving them clear and achievable goals. Asking them to fill in a passport as they read a new book is a fun way to encourage them.

Each book allows each child to enter a different world andonce they have visited each place, they complete a new page in the passport and receive a stamp.You could even make this a class competition to see who can fill in the passport pages the quickest.

5. Create a character profile

Ask the children to choose theirfavoritecharacter and produce amovieposteron that person. Ask the students to draw a picture andwritekey details about the character, such as name, age, physical appearance and interests. This activity motivates the students as seeing theirfavoritecharacter in a different context can be entertaining and engaging.

With these simple activities, you can make reading a more enjoyable experience, as well as helping with learning English for kids and developing their overall reading skills.

Learn about our readers for young learners

More blogs from ɫèAV

  • A teacher stood next to a young students desk, the student sat at the desk is high fiving his teacher

    What is the ɫèAV Smart Lesson Generator?

    By Thomas Gardner
    Reading time: 3 minutes

    How much of your valuable time is spent on planning and administrative tasks instead of teaching? While 93% of educators start their careers to positively impact students' lives, over 75% end up overwhelmed by these non-teaching duties. But we have a tool to help lighten the load.

    Introducing ɫèAV Smart Lesson Generator– a fast, integrated and efficient solution to streamline lesson planning, allowing you to focus on teaching. Let’s explore the Smart Lesson Generator:

    Meet the new ɫèAV Smart Lesson Generator

    The ɫèAV Smart Lesson Generator allows you to create engaging and appropriate lesson plans in seconds. It is connected with ɫèAV courses designed by experts and aligned with the Global Scale of English (GSE) to ensure effectiveness.

  • A group of students hugging a teacher

    How to use praise to motivate your students

    By Joanna Wiseman
    Reading time: 3 minutes

    Praise in the classroom is a valuable resource that every teacher has in their toolbox.It can encourage struggling students and reward learners who have been studying diligently and working hard on their language skills.

    But not all types of praise have the same effect. Let’s take a look at different types of praise and how you can use it to boost your learners’ motivation andself-esteem.

    Different types of praise in the classroom

    There are three types of praise that teachers commonly engage in - but they’re not all equal and are not all desirable:

    • Personal praise: Here you praise a student for a specific ability or quality. For example, you might say something like,“You have a great memory for vocabulary”.
    • Effort-based praise: Thisis when you comment on a student’s efforts. For example, you could say,“I can see you tried really hard with this vocabulary homework – well done.”
    • Behavior-based praise:This type of praiseis where you comment on how a student is acting, an example would be,“You were really paying attention during the vocabulary lesson – good job.”

    So how – and when – should we use these types of praise in the classroom?

    Try not to praise ability

    The first type of praise – personal praise – should be avoided in the classroom.has shown that this type of praise doesn’t have a beneficial effect on motivation.

    In fact, praise for intelligence actually has a detrimental effect on student achievement. When students were praised for their intelligence, they tended to care more about their performance goals – the score they achieved on a test, for example. Learning goals, like mastering a new skill, became less important to them.

    Moreover, personal praise has been shown to undermine student resilience in the face of failure. Students showed less persistence when it came to challenging tasks and less enjoyment of the challenge. They also performed more poorly than children praised for effort.

    Furthermore, when you praise students for their ability, they also tend to see intelligence or aptitude as a fixed trait. However, students who are praised for effort are more likely to see ability as something they can improve on. This feeds into the development of a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset.It’s important toinstilla growth mindset in learners to enable them to reach their full potential.

    How to praise effort and behavior

    When it comes to praising effort and behavior, what’s the most effective way to do it? Here are some techniques to employ:

    1. Be specific

    General praise such as “Good job” isn’t nearly as effective as a comment that shows you’ve been paying attention to what the student is doing. A precise compliment will make a much bigger impact on a student, for example:“I was really impressed at how hard you concentrated during the listening exercise. Well done.”

    2. Give praise in the moment

    Immediate praise doesn’t need to be disruptive, but it shows students that you are paying attention and noticing good behavior and effort.

    3. Avoid comparisons with other students

    Instead of saying, “You got the best mark in the class – well done!” say something like,“You got a really high score in the reading test. Your hard work has really paid off this term.”

    4. Keep track of praise

    Before your class, choose three or four students you’re going to praise that day. That way, you can be sure that each and every student will benefit from the motivational power of effective classroom praise!

    5. Personalize your praise, depending on the student

    Young students enjoy being praised publicly, but shy students, older children and teenagers prefer positive feedback to be given quietly.

    Don’t overpraise and watch your positive bias

    It’s important to be sincere. Older children, especially adolescents, have an extremely low tolerance of insincerity. So, don’t be tempted to praise students too often, or too effusively – it can actually have a negative impact on your relationship with your whole class. Insincere praise can lead students to question your judgement.

    It’s also really important to be aware of your positive bias.that teachers consistently give students of color more positive feedback on their work. It’s done with good intentions, but it can actually be harmful. If you regularly overpraise students for minor achievements, it can imply that you have low expectations for these students. And, this can make your students feel like they might not be capable of fulfilling the high expectations that you should have of them.

    So, instead of overpraising, focus on giving specific, immediate praise to motivate your students, boost theirself-esteem and unlock their potential.

    Find out how tonurture creativity in your learnersand this post will tell you how topromote student happinessand wellbeing.

  • Coworkers talking together in an office by windows

    Unlocking economic potential with language learning

    By Samantha Ball
    Reading time: 5 minutes

    As demographic shifts and technological advancements reshape the global workforce, the gap between the skills people have and the skills they need continues to widen. This "skills chasm" is particularly evident in language learning, where traditional education systems often fail to keep pace with the demands of the modern economy.