Adapting the Retelling or Summarizing Step

The Read Naturally Strategy programs include a retelling or summarizing step in which students write about the story. This benefits all students but is especially important for expanding the language skills of multilingual students. Consider providing additional language support for English learners by adapting the retelling step.

A student learning English can benefit from retelling the information from the RNL or Encore II story orally instead of in writing. The student has the opportunity to express ideas in English and use the vocabulary from the story. The teacher has an opportunity to define difficult words, explain misconceptions, and assess whether the student understood the story.

Alternatively, a student learning Spanish can benefit from retelling the RNL—Español or Encore II—Español story details orally in Spanish. As stated in the previous paragraph, this method has the advantages of expressing ideas in the target language, using the vocabulary from the story, and receiving immediate feedback from the teacher.

Another option is to replace the Retell step with a vocabulary activity. A student selects words underlined during the cold reading (to review a student's difficult words in Read Naturally Live, click the Teacher menu and choose Review Work), looks up the words in the glossary or a dictionary, and writes the definitions of the words as they were used in the story. Finally, the student writes original sentences using the words.

Learn More About These Read Naturally Strategy Programs

Read Naturally® Live and Read Naturally® Live—Español Individualized reading intervention program using web-based software  Learn more about Read Naturally Live  Learn more about Read Naturally Live—Español

Read Naturally® Encore II and Read Naturally® Encore II—Español New individualized reading intervention program using printed stories and audio CDs Learn more about Read Naturally Encore II Learn more about Read Naturally Encore II—Español