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One of the most important concerns for teachers of second language reading is how to make their reading classes interesting， fruitful and efficient. To help teachers crack this hard nut， this article puts forward several factors for teachers of second language reading to take into account when they plan their reading lessons
Degrees of effectiveness in second language reading classes vary from one teacher to another. The consensus among teachers is that there are 5 factors to pay enough attention to when they plan reading lessons so as to make an effective reading lesson.
1. Reading materials are interesting for students
What feeling do you get when hearing the following words said by a reading teacher “Open your textbooks and turn to Page 10.” People who have graduated from high school still get the feeling of boredom at the mention of the word “textbook”. However， with the development of science and technology， teachers can supplement even textbooks that have been prescribed can with real and authentic materials like film posters， travel itinerary etc. Reading teachers can also ask students about the materials they are interested in. Questions that can be asked including：
●How often do you read？
●How does reading make you feel？
●What kind of books， magazines and newspapers do you often read？
●Do you have a favorite author？
2. The major activity of a reading lesson is students reading in person
There is a common phenomenon that some teachers are used to talking about reading， but few of them actually have students read in class. However， every reading class should have a real reading period for students to do actual reading where listening， speaking and writing should retreat to a position of secondary importance.
3. Activities and tasks allow the students to bring their knowledge to the reading passage
A problem is that some textbooks have passages that students have little in common with and have little interest in knowing about. Another problem is that teachers often teach this text from student’s zero comprehension. Such a lesson usually starts with the teacher saying the following： “Read the following passage and answer the five questions that follow”. However， teachers should first find out what the students already know about the topic. One method that will encourage students to build a personal connection to the reading passage is the KWL model. This acronym stands for three questions that students can ask themselves when they are given a reading passage： What do I Know？ What do I want to know？ What have I learnt？ 4. Activities and exercises have a teaching rather than a testing goal
Some teachers just keep testing students reading comprehension rather than teaching students how to comprehend. These teachers do not teach students how to answer comprehension questions successfully， but only correct the answers. Reading has become boredom for many students and they can hardly find any pleasure in the act of reading. This is because reading is taught as a decoding activity in this way. With a clearer idea of what reading should be， reading teachers will be better able to help students improve their reading ability by preparing and presenting lessons that focus on reading strategies that students can use independently. A testing focus will not bring independent， strategic readers. Reading teachers should always keep in mind “I am a teacher not a tester”.
5. Lessons are divided into pre-reading， during-reading and post-reading phases
Teachers should introduce the lesson objective to students at the beginning of the lesson and also encourage students to activate their prior knowledge on the topic. Next， the lesson should focus on the instructional objective-teaching a strategy or testing a strategy already taught-and this should take up most of the class time. An effective lesson begins with the teacher encouraging the students to make predictions about what they are going to read. The next phase is where the students read the passage and check if their initial predictions are correct or not. The final phase is where reading teachers design follow-up activities that practice skills like topic discussion， vocabulary development and critical reading and writing.
Hopefully， the above 5 factors are of great use to teachers of second language reading to make the reading lessons interesting， fruitful and effective. As an old saying goes， practice makes perfect， teachers of second language reading should actively put them into use.
References
[1] Richards， J.C. Methodology in language teaching[M]. Cambridge University Press， 2002.
[2] Farrell， T.S.C. Activating Prior Knowledge in Reading： The Teacher’s Role[M]. Cambridge University Press， 2000.
（作者单位：江苏省扬州中学）
Degrees of effectiveness in second language reading classes vary from one teacher to another. The consensus among teachers is that there are 5 factors to pay enough attention to when they plan reading lessons so as to make an effective reading lesson.
1. Reading materials are interesting for students
What feeling do you get when hearing the following words said by a reading teacher “Open your textbooks and turn to Page 10.” People who have graduated from high school still get the feeling of boredom at the mention of the word “textbook”. However， with the development of science and technology， teachers can supplement even textbooks that have been prescribed can with real and authentic materials like film posters， travel itinerary etc. Reading teachers can also ask students about the materials they are interested in. Questions that can be asked including：
●How often do you read？
●How does reading make you feel？
●What kind of books， magazines and newspapers do you often read？
●Do you have a favorite author？
2. The major activity of a reading lesson is students reading in person
There is a common phenomenon that some teachers are used to talking about reading， but few of them actually have students read in class. However， every reading class should have a real reading period for students to do actual reading where listening， speaking and writing should retreat to a position of secondary importance.
3. Activities and tasks allow the students to bring their knowledge to the reading passage
A problem is that some textbooks have passages that students have little in common with and have little interest in knowing about. Another problem is that teachers often teach this text from student’s zero comprehension. Such a lesson usually starts with the teacher saying the following： “Read the following passage and answer the five questions that follow”. However， teachers should first find out what the students already know about the topic. One method that will encourage students to build a personal connection to the reading passage is the KWL model. This acronym stands for three questions that students can ask themselves when they are given a reading passage： What do I Know？ What do I want to know？ What have I learnt？ 4. Activities and exercises have a teaching rather than a testing goal
Some teachers just keep testing students reading comprehension rather than teaching students how to comprehend. These teachers do not teach students how to answer comprehension questions successfully， but only correct the answers. Reading has become boredom for many students and they can hardly find any pleasure in the act of reading. This is because reading is taught as a decoding activity in this way. With a clearer idea of what reading should be， reading teachers will be better able to help students improve their reading ability by preparing and presenting lessons that focus on reading strategies that students can use independently. A testing focus will not bring independent， strategic readers. Reading teachers should always keep in mind “I am a teacher not a tester”.
5. Lessons are divided into pre-reading， during-reading and post-reading phases
Teachers should introduce the lesson objective to students at the beginning of the lesson and also encourage students to activate their prior knowledge on the topic. Next， the lesson should focus on the instructional objective-teaching a strategy or testing a strategy already taught-and this should take up most of the class time. An effective lesson begins with the teacher encouraging the students to make predictions about what they are going to read. The next phase is where the students read the passage and check if their initial predictions are correct or not. The final phase is where reading teachers design follow-up activities that practice skills like topic discussion， vocabulary development and critical reading and writing.
Hopefully， the above 5 factors are of great use to teachers of second language reading to make the reading lessons interesting， fruitful and effective. As an old saying goes， practice makes perfect， teachers of second language reading should actively put them into use.
References
[1] Richards， J.C. Methodology in language teaching[M]. Cambridge University Press， 2002.
[2] Farrell， T.S.C. Activating Prior Knowledge in Reading： The Teacher’s Role[M]. Cambridge University Press， 2000.
（作者单位：江苏省扬州中学）