Reading starts early
First Impressions starts the new academic year with a look at some new readers for Primary, Secondary, and adults.
Helbling
Young Readers is a new series of graded readers for Primary Schools
in 5 levels. They're bright, attractive, and are fun to read. All the
stories have very attractive full-colour illustrations, and are specially
written to appeal to young learners of English and to introduce high-frequency
words in order to promote fluency from an early age. Each story is carefully
graded and language is presented both as lexical groups and language functions.
The books have fun open-out flaps with a picture dictionary. All the texts use an open type font which has been devised to help children with reading difficulties.
The activities often link in with other curricular subjects and allow the readers to interact with the story. Before and after reading activities preteach and practise words and structures and provide skills and pronunciation practice.
Accompanying Interactive Whiteboard compatible CD-ROMs include a complete reading of the story, chants and games and link to the Young Readers website.
The latest titles to join the series are A Christmas Present for Barney Bunny, Henry Harris Hates Haitches, and Lost on the Coast, which tells the story of what happens when a baby whale is stranded on a beach after an oil spill. Lots of people come to look but no-one knows what to do until Rawiri arrives. Rawiri has got a plan. Is his plan good enough to save the whale?
Reading
about the world we live in is a great way to get students to develop
their world knowledge while reading in English. Cambridge
Young Readers: Factbooks: Why is it so? is a series of twenty
non-fiction science readers designed to engage younger children in the
world around them. The books are designed to encourage children's natural
curiosity by offering answers to the questions they ask about the world.
'Why
does water freeze?', 'Why does my heart pump?', 'Why Do Bridges Arch?',
'Why Do Swings Swing?', 'Why Do the Stars Shine?'. These are some of
the questions the books explain (and also some of the book titles).
The series aims to extend children's knowledge and curiosity while simultaneously
helping to develop their reading skills and language acquisition.
The series will be of particular interest to teachers with bilingual Science classes. The titles are based on the following science strands: Life science, Physical science, Earth and space science. They can be used for independent reading and pair and whole class discussion.
There are also new titles in the Cambridge Discovery Readers and Cambridge English Readers series. The Discovery Readers are written and selected with teenage learners in mind, with a mix of original fiction, adapted fiction and factbooks. Apart from integrated comprehension activities to encourage independent learning, the books come with a CD-ROM with vocabulary games and complete audio recordings allowing students to practise new language and improve listening and speaking skills. There are aBooks and audiobooks for every title.
The English Readers are all original stories at seven levels from Starter to Advanced, written specially for learners of English. There's a wide selection of titles, from thriller to romance, with international settings to appeal to a broad range of interests. Not Above the Law, Dragon’s Eggs, Berlin Express, and Big Hair Day are just some of the new titles on offer.
Reading
& Training Discovery is a new series of readers from Black
Cat/Vicens Vives. They have all the features of the graded readers in
their Reading and Training collection but with a factual rather than
a literary focus.
Graded grammatically and lexically, the series is designed for teenagers, young adults and adults who, through reading about subjects of interest, can improve their English and broaden their knowledge at the same time. As with other Black Cat readers, they include dossiers, Trinity exam-style activities and internet projects.
One of the many great things about the Internet is that many publishers include samples of their new titles online so you can really see how the book looks. Click on the titles below to see samples of these readers.
Exploring Places takes a look at the first explorers who set off knowing nothing about where they were going or what they would discover. Who were these remarkable people and why did they risk their lives to explore the unknown? Where is the final frontier and who is ready to explore it?
How
many different languages are spoken in London? What’s the Square
Mile all about? How did Piccadilly get its name? All is revealed in
London,
another new title that includes dossiers on London's writers as well
as its parks and museums.
Another new title from Black Cat/Vicens Vives is Cultural Links by Philippa Bowen and Margherita Cumino. The book consists of 7 Files designed to help students to discover the English-speaking world, providing links through the British Isles across North America, India, Australia, New Zealand and more. Each File consists of two parts: the first deals with the topic and the second focuses on teenage issues and challenges the students to think about themselves and the world around them.