Reach Reluctant Readers & ESL Students in 5 Easy Steps

There are few things more challenging than motivating a student who doesn’t want to learn. But as all good teachers know, no such student really exists.

After working with remedial learners in the ESL program at my junior high school, I truly experienced the struggle to motivate those borderline students who seemed to be constantly exposed to failure. I also experienced the success that is possible if you put in the extra effort with those students. It was only after experimenting with different learning techniques and personalizing the curriculum to suit my students that I found the key to reaching these reluctant readers.

Roadblocks for Reluctant Readers
Many of these readers have poor reading strategies; others are discouraged by varying degrees of failure; some are too scared to even look at a text. Many of my students became passive when faced with a reading text. Initially, I tried to simplify their exercises, provided easier language input, gave them a choice in their graded assignments, but to no avail. None of these techniques helped me with motivating them to read even a simple text.

My first roadblock with these reluctant readers was my textbook. Many schoolbooks have far more texts than are needed or texts that may not be suitable in one way or another. Some teachers assign supplemental reading materials to make up shortcomings in the textbook, but those extra assignments can further intimate readers. Because of these shortcomings, I look for ways to motivate my ninth grade students beyond the framework of the text.

It became clear to me that creativity and the choice of text would be the key to success with these students. I have experimented with multiple teaching strategies that have reading and language implications in an attempt to engage students in my ESL classroom.

Here are the 5 foolproof tips I discovered to motivate even the most reluctant student.

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