Book Club

Imagine your students, sitting in small groups of five or six, earnestly and eagerly holding a conversation in English. Imagine the topics being learner-generated and the discussion natural, like a conversation among friends.

In Book Club, this is not just a glorious pipe dream. It’s reality. We use a specific set of research-based comprehension strategies to provide a framework for English language learners to use. Once students know the strategies, they can take it from there. The result is more reading for pleasure, wider vocabularies and incorporating higher-order thinking skills (such as analyzing and evaluating stories and the ideas in them) in class discussions. In addition, students in Book Club have many opportunities for negotiating for meaning in every conversation.

Beginners

We hold Book Club for beginners as well as intermediate and advanced students. For high level beginners we use the modified versions of our books (available for free download at www.press.umich.edu/esl/) and adapt the comprehension strategies to their proficiency levels. For low level beginners, we use a variety of reading materials, including, in Family Literacy Adult ESL classes, children’s books.