NewsRecord Weekly Publication

The Lesson Plan
By Allan Siarot-Medoza Bautista

Read between 

the lines ___ 

Across the levels of learning, one of the emergent worse-case issues in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) reveals the basic education non-reader phenomenon.
This scenario of a NON-READER is caused by interlinked factors accumulating in alarming complexity if undetected for remediation earlier. The non-reader comes from high school and intermediate grades possessing reading miscues or disorders in pre-reading, oral reading, decoding, comprehension, and study skills. (Pesirla, 2005)

The Cebuano learner in the public schools is plunged into drowning in the deadly waters of English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction without the prior survival skills in the native language literacy upon entrance to the first grade. 
Bangs (1986) stresses that if the learner can read or even write in the native language, the learner can easily transfer these literary skills in learning ESL. Second language learning needs positive transference of the prior mastery of the first language content, form and use in oral and written communication. 
When a learner is not ready to read, no amount of force can make the learner read. Thuse reading readiness skills must be mastered first before learning beginning reading. (Pesirla)
So, when was the last date that you read a magazine, newspaper, newspaper, journal, book, or novel?
Right now, I am reading a life book entitled, Believe You Can: The power of a positive attitude by John Mason and the 2014 issue of Health and Home magazine. As a freelance and a feature writer, I need to learn from other adept writers because I do believe that learning is a continuing  process. Learning from other’s crafts and styles can make a person improve his/hers.
Anyone can be a reading teacher or facilitator where one can choose any venue like in a nipa hut, under the shade of a tree, community or day care center where one enjoys reading a book to a friend or neighbor.
In reading, any man enables him/her to  ponder the mysteries of the world, explores accumulated knowledge and contemplates the unknown. From this search, he begins to uncover some answers to questions. He or she stimulates to raise questions, and continues his/her pursuit for deeper understanding. 
Learners read well or poorly for certain definite causes and a teacher must be able to make an analysis of each case and determine just the points of strength or weakness before he/she can intelligently give help. 
There are various ways of assessing learners in terms of reading—anyone can almost use different strategies or approaches and instructional materials in wide circulation and in collection. On the other hand, intelligence is an important factor in reading ability. Studies show that correlations are as high as 0.906 between scores on intelligence tests and scores on reading comprehension rate. The average correlation between reading age and mental age is about 0.60. This indicates that mental maturity is essential for success in reading. (Alcantara et al: 61)
Through reading, one widens his/her horizon. It carries him/her to the wonderful world of words, sceneries and meaning. When one is called a VORACIOUS READER—a person is exceedingly eager to read and he/she craves more. 
This love potion this Month of Hearts that one can share or teach to others is the LOVE FOR READING. Go and register now for READ-A-THON.