Reading Comprehension & Writing Expression

Reading comprehension and expressive writing go hand-in-hand. Learners are taught strategies that increasing their ability to understand, interpret, answer questions, sound out unfamiliar words, develop good vocabulary, make the connection as they express their thoughts in their writing. 

In this ongoing class, it's important for learners to connect what they already know to what they read. It helps them focus. Learners will actively engage in live discussions, ask questions about what they read, make "mind movies," look for clues to help them figure out what's important, what's the author's purpose, the main idea, supporting details, solution and conclusions. 

Learners will read aloud with their Teacher and other learners in the class. Together we will discuss the sequence of events, retell stories, discuss parts of a story [characters, setting, plot, problem, solution], inference, predicting and discussing ends and how the learner might change the ending or write their own. We'll read stories that are tall tales, fairy tales, fables, etc. and work on developing good vocabulary which is mostly learned through reading.

For learners to improve their English writing skills they have to practice writing as often as possible. Learners will begin journal writing on different topics. They will learn how to plan, revise, edit their work to help them express themselves well in their writing; learn the "hamburger" strategy that helps them plan a paragraph, and how to use graphic organizer that will help them plan and organize their papers. 

Learners will be taught several types of writing: narratives, informational; when ready, opinion and finally persuasive essays. We will review grammar and spelling basics which are the foundation of good writing. The more a learner writes, the better writer they will become.

Below is a general outline and structure of each class. This class is ongoing and each lesson is self-contained so learners can enroll at any time. It is highly recommended that a learner make a commitment to be involved in this course week after week to get the full benefit of improving their reading comprehension and expressive writing skills.

Here's a little bit about the class structure and content of the lessons. The structure and materials may change from time-to-time:  

March & April: Spring is in the air! - Let the reading and writing continue!
Rainbow, Lucky Times

Week of March 3rd: Introductions, course structure and outline, Making Connections, Parts of a Story [characters, setting, plot, problem solution]

Week of March 10th:  Setting up mind-mapping, storyboarding, short story TBA 

Week of March 17th:  Short story read aloud, main idea, supporting idea, using the Parts of a Story, drawing conclusions, making the writing connection 

Week of March 24th:  Short story read aloud, using the Parts of a Story, supporting details fundamentals of sentence & paragraph writing; discussion of ideas for journaling

April: Fairy Tales month long
May: Summer's coming!

Week of March 31st:  Short story read aloud, using the Parts of a Story, Introduction to Tall Tales

Week of April 7th: Short story read aloud, using the Parts of a Story, Introduction to Fairy Tales

Week of April 14th: Short story read aloud, using the Parts of a Story, grammar & spelling rules sequence of events, writing retelling of a short story

Week of April 21st: Holiday stories

Week of April 28th: Holiday stories

May: Visiting different genres 
Reading & writing continue 
Short story read aloud, using the Parts of a Story, grammar & spelling rules sequence of events, writing retelling of a short story

May: Poems, Rhymes
Poems & Nursery rhymes, introduction to the four [main] different types of poems, writing your own poem/s  how to write a Couplet & Haiku, writing your own poem/s 

Poems & Nursery rhymes, memorization of well known children's poems

June: School is out . . . but learning is not  

July: Short story read aloud, using the Parts of a Story, Introduction to Fables

August: Descriptive, Narrative, Opinion Writing

Ready to improve your "Reading Comprehension & Writing Expression" skills, enroll today and continue week after week, all year long improving your skills.

For academic purposes, cameras and mics must working and turned on for the duration of each lesson.

*** Subject and content subject to change