My teacher can't read properly - The Dolphin Pool with YLEs

One of the things I like to do with my YLE classes is to review a graded reader by reading it badly. Sounds a bit daft I know,  but for my way of thinking, if the teacher's making mistakes, it's alright if the kids do too!

This works as a listening exercise, as well as a (mostly) model for pronunciation, and gives learners time to think about the words & be reassured with how they will say them. No more than one 'mistake' at a time is challenge enough.

Importantly, reading out loud is not 'a test' or final proof of understanding, internalising the vocab etc. It is hard to do, as we are doing different things to reading silently (eg skipping words we are not sure about, just like the teacher told us to do!). Of course, I would like the higher frequency words to have gone in & be recyclable by now, but new ones (eg met for this first time in this book such as 'whale') or hard ones (eg 'through') ain't no biggie if we need help. Help provided to if, as in this case, we are a weaker class and struggle a bit with confidence. Nudging along and finishing is an important landmark for us all - no need to sweat on the hurdles.

listen to ‘The Dolphin Pool’ on Audioboo

Would love to know if other teachers have tried this and if it was successful/fun?