Reading Groups – Part Two

In my previous article I talked about the structure of the reading groups, how I organise mine and my experience.  In this article I’m going to talk to you a bit more about the pedagogical benefits of the groups not only for the learners but also for me and my practice as a language learner and a teacher.

The benefits of reading out loud

As Gianfranco Conti has recently pointed out, reading out loud has lots of benefits:

·         Pronunciation practice

·         Speaking practice

·         Translation skills

It enables you as a teacher to hear your learners speak without background noise (I don’t overtly correct unless there is a major error or a question about how something is pronounced). Another thing you could do is listen along to the audio. This enhances the reading experience, it helps your inner voice. Conti points (https://gianfrancoconti.com/) out that if you read without knowing the correct pronunciation of a word (especially difficult in French) then you may unconsciously be reinforcing incorrect pronunciation. However, if you listen while you read, this inner voice is hearing the correct pronunciation and encouraging your accent etc when you speak out loud. You could listen to the audio in class, however, you would need to be aware of PRS licencing laws in your country.

Is this only for advanced learners?

No, I would say not. I’ve done this with beginners, improvers and intermediate groups in the same format. However, the books you read should be more carefully chosen. I wouldn’t suggest Le Liseur du 6h27 for any other than advanced groups as it is a bit too complex from a language point of view. You also can’t predict what will work and what won’t – Le Petit Prince went down a storm with the advanced group and one improvers group but it bombed with another intermediate group.  Such is life – on ne peut pas faire plaisir à tout le monde !

Is there anything else I could do?

Well yes, it would be nice to do a discussion about the book – like a real book club. I think it would bring the book to life, to discuss it and find out other people’s thoughts. Maybe, this is something we could bring to our group. But time is usually against us.

An author invitation would be great so if you, dear reader, know any authors who’d love to meet English speaking readers then I’d love to hear from them.

The effects of the book club on me, as a teacher and as a language learner

The book group initially encouraged me to start reading the book we were working on at the time (just in case there were any pieces of vocab that the learners asked about – I like to be prepared).  However, it has encouraged me to start reading and listening to novels in French now. I tend to listen to books when I run (I use the Audible app, but others are available) and also I like to read along with the audio at home too. As I’m not a native French speaker it really helps with my understanding and also my acquisition of new vocab. I do enjoy it too. I love listening to books in English and I feel that this is enhancing my knowledge of French. I’m still learning after all.

These are the books we’ve read so far

L’Etranger – Albert Camus

La Gloire de mon père – Marcel Pagnol

Le Petit prince – Antoine de St Exupery

La Femme au carnet rouge – Antoine Laurain

Le Chapeau de Mitterrand – Antoine Laurain

Le Liseur du 6h27 – Jean-Paul Didierlaurent

T’en souviens-tu, mon Anaïs – Michel Bussi

Le Tour du monde en 80 Jours – Jules Verne

Short Story

La Parure – Guy de Maupassant