Strategies for Students of ESL (English as second language)

·         Strategies for Students of ESL (English as second language)

The following strategies are meant to assist ESL students in improving their reading skills on their own.

·         Review each paragraph after reading it. If you are confused, find the topic sentence, again.

·         Look for transitional words, phrases and paragraphs, which change the topic.

·         Read the first and last paragraph of your text or the first sentence in each section.

·         Monitor if you have missed an idea, backup and reread.

·         Pay attention to vocabulary. Collect new words in a notebook especially for that purpose. Look up the new word in a dictionary and study its meaning. Try to fit the right synonym into context of the sentence. It is a good idea to learn the antonym of the word at the same time. Reading for vocabulary is very important in improving your reading comprehension.

·         When you are building your vocabulary, concentrate on roots, prefixes and endings. This will help you tremendously to recognize new words you will come across.

·         Ask yourself questions about each paragraph. Write the answers down in a notebook.

·         Move ahead on your own, reading as much as possible in the new language. Broaden your background knowledge by reading as many magazines, newspapers and books that you possibly can.

·         Get together with classmates and discuss reading material. This is a great way to improve comprehension.