During the process of finishing this assignment, I did reading aloud twice by reading different books to two different targets. For the first experience, it wasn’t very successful and frustrating. I choose a booked published by East West publisher, called Winnie the witch. I like the story which has simple sentence pattern and surprised turning points hidden behind the story. It was simplified by the publisher and the illustration is not detailed on everything. Basically, a page contained a sentence and a picture that says about the sentence. So I think it shouldn’t be a problem for the first graders to understand. But things went wrong and I got frustrated at the end. Afterwards, I realized that it would be easier to do it smoothly if I had done some preparation before reading. The preparation before reading a book is the key point for a successful experience.
The second experience:After the failure for the first reading aloud, I did it for second time with different book to different targets. This time I make some effort on my targets and the book. Of course, I learn the lesson from my first experience. I did the proper preparation for the second reading aloud.
The children background: First, I choose only three students to be my audience rather a class of the first graders. They are the children of my colleagues and also my students. Two of them are the second graders, one girl, one boy and the other girl is the first grader who is my student now. I taught the two second graders a year ago when they were at their first graders. So I knew their ability very well. I asked their parents about their English learning after school, the two second graders go to the English cram school once a week, but the other does not attend any extra English lesson.
The book I read:The book I choose is “A Color of His Own” by Leo Lionni, who is one of my favorite writers. I collected a couple of his books such as Fish is fish, Frederick, Swimmy and so on. I truly love the story very much. Simple story lines with prediction features that the children can predict what will happen. The story outline is about a chameleon which is wondering why he couldn’t have his own color. Elephants are gray. Pigs are pink. Only the chameleon has no color of his own. He is purple like the heather, yellow like a lemon, even black and orange striped like a tiger! Then one day a chameleon has an idea to remain one color forever by staying on the greenest leaf he can find. But in the autumn, the leaf changes from green to yellow to red . . . and so does the chameleon. When another chameleon suggests they travel together, he learns that companionship is more important than having a color of his own. No matter where he goes with his new friend, they will always be alike. It’s about self-identity and appreciation of the companionship.
