Do you have any tape or CD materials available with your readers? Do you encourage students to get listening exposure in other ways, beyond what you do in class?

One of my intermediate students recently told me that he listened to the attached CD after he read the book, and he understood it better than when he listened to the CD before he read the book. So, it might be a good idea to read first and then listen to a CD.

What I have been doing is that I video tape myself telling stories and I have the videos available on my webpage (it is only available on the IBU campus for IBU students). My students can access it and watch me tell a story. I have done this because it may be easier for low level students to listen to someone they are familiar with than listen to someone they don't know.

Has the level of your students affected your decisions about whether and/or how to implement ER?

The students are becoming worse and worse every year in their ability, motivation, moral standard, academic skills, and manners. I will never abandon reading. Reading/Listening is the only path for language acquisition. I started bringing in the "Reading Tree" by Oxford to the class. Several years ago, someone told me that starting with the Heinemann 600-word level would be too difficult for college students, and I did not believe it, but it has become true. I have to be flexible with objectives. The objective for the first semester is for them to be able to read at the 1100-word level, but now it is the 600-word level for half of them. The required amount of reading is still the same. For evaluation purposes, I may need to create a different cloze test.

Is anyone else in your department/school doing ER? Any cooperation there?

Yes. The English department in the 4-year section of IBU has decided to implement ER beginning this year. The core instruction is Intensive Reading, and ER is supplementary.

Any comments on the response you've had to your approach from other faculty, administration, library staff, etc.?

I have worked as an adjunct at several different universities. At every school people (teachers, staff and students) welcomed the new approach. I was always given good support and the library staff was very cooperative.

However, at my main school, despite the evidence, some English teachers cannot understand the value and power of reading. They are mostly English literature teachers. They don't read our research papers. They trust their personal experiences and friends' opinions regarding teaching methods. When I tell them that we use statistics for data analysis, they are surprised.

Was there a particular experience, article, presentation, epiphany, etc. that got you started with ER?

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