Reading tools: audiobooks, karaoke and text 2.0!

Studies show that children that speak a dialect at home than is different from the one presented in school and in literature often struggle more with reading (Language in the Schools--Denham & Lobeck). Is this because their preferred language is not reflected in the books (as the study suggests), or could it also be that they don’t see themselves represented in the books they are reading (and are thus unmotivated)? While it is probably a combination of the two, minority students, especially in low income schools, often do not have access to books that interest them. Traditionally, many children’s books paint a rosy, white middle class picture of life that doesn’t resonate strongly with minority or low socio-economic students. If these students don’t relate with the themes or characters, they will likely not have very much motivation to read, which would then decrease their literacy levels. Thus it has become increasingly important for librarians to support publishers of minority authors such as Little Brown and to include multicultural literature in school library collections.

The study suggests that one way to help reduce reading deficits is for parents and adults to spend more time reading to children. While I agree that family reading time, where adults model positive reading behaviors alongside their kids, is beneficial for reinforcing positive reading behaviors, it isn’t the only way for busy families to support their children’s literacies efforts. Teachers can host family literacy nights and encourage parents to read to kids, but they can also empower students to develop their reading skills independently by providing them with opportunities and resources. These other options should be emphasized strongly and be made available to students and families, especially in cases where parents are uncomfortable with reading or too busy working to read to their kids.

The most common methods are probably having students listen to audiobooks while they follow along with the print copy of the book. But what if your library doesn't have audiobooks?

There are several websites that offer free audiobooks online. Here is a compilation of sites that include children's audio books: http://www.techsupportalert.com/free-books-children.

Another great resource for this is Librivox (http://librivox.org/). This website is a collection of audio books read by volunteers. Only the best quality books are included in the collection. Note: this would be a really fun project for practiced readers to work on!

Even if you do own audiobooks and print copies of the same book, how will the student know when to turn the page? Some audiotapes come packaged with the book and beep when you turn the page, but many do not have this feature.

Here are some free ideas of ways to help facilitate this type of learning:

Rosetta Project: http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library-audio.htm

This resource is a great repository of children's books, some of which are offered in a "read to me" format, where you listen to books page by page. Available titles can be found here: http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library-audio.htm

River Deeps "make a story" offers an interactive way to participate in creating and listening (as words are highlighted) to a story.

http://www.riverdeep.net/language_arts/edmark_lang_arts/MakeAStory/MakeAStory.html

Highlights Kids has nine animated audio books available here:

http://highlightskids.com/Stories/audioStories/audioStory_Top.asp

Karaoke:

Karaoke is a great, fun way to practice reading along, because words are highlighted as they are sung. Here's an online karaoke machine to a Justin Bieber song: http://www.karaokeplay.com/songs/love-me-5569.html.

Reading games:

Fun Fonix has a number of games that will help students learn to read: http://www.funfonix.com/games/

Videos:

Sadly Reading Rainbow is no longer being produced, but many publisher websites (or youtube) host videos of authors reading their books. My favorite is "There are Cats in this Book": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEEZfVfvuBg.

Reading Buddies:

Pair up teens, older students, parent volunteers or retired volunteers with younger students to practice reading aloud and listening to books.

Not so free, but very cool:

Leap Frog ""tag":

This kit requires that you buy a special "tag" pen and accompanying books. Children touch the pen to the page to listen to the page or to a particular word. I played with these at a public library and they were a lot of fun to use!

http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/006394.html (explanation)

http://www.leapfrog.com/tag/ (vendor - with video demonstrations)

THE FUTURE:

Something to look forward to in the realm of reading technologies is "Text 2.0". This helps readers learn how to skim and keep track of where they are on the computer screen. To learn more about this exciting new technology, check out this article from "Wired". It includes a video demonstrating the way the tech will work: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/eye-tracking-tablets-and-the-promise-of-text-20. Additional information is available here: http://text20.net/. I could see this being a great tool to use in the classroom to teach students how to skim. Many students don't realize that this is an acceptable and useful form of reading, especially in research and web-surfing contexts.