5 Fun Activities to Improve English Reading Skills for Eighth Graders

Eighth Grade is the last year in the middle school for students. It is the best time to boost literacy skills as the brain development of children is at the highest pace. The Rajasthan 8th board results 2019 are yet to be released, but the history is expected to repeat itself. Numerous students pass with flying colours in the core subjects except for English. For the students who haven’t cleared their basics in the language scoring high marks is nearly impossible. If the children lack interest in learning grammar, asking them to cram the rules don’t help. Reading is a robust tool to encourage teenagers to enhance their communication. When they read, slowly they become familiar to a variety of concepts in English. It introduces different genera and style of writing.

Most of the 9th grader focus more on their career development rather than reading proficiency. A large number of total students in Rajasthan join coaching to prepare for the college entrance exams early on. Therefore, eighth grade is the best time to brush up on their reading. Good reading comprehension can prove valuable to the students for their entire lifetime. Even after the completion of their school, they’ll have to read books in college.

Here are some fun activities teachers can conduct in the class to enhancing the reading skills -

1. Dialectical journals - A dialectical journal is a double-entry journal used by the readers to express their own thought, opinions and beliefs opposed to the author of the story. Write down a phrase, sentence or dialogue from the story they relate to on the board. When you are reading literature to the students, ask them to divide the page into two part. On one side they will write what the author wants to imply by the text, while on another side what they think the character should have said otherwise. This activity helps the students to dig deeper into the mind of the character. They explore the various situations/ plots in the story by putting themselves in the character’s shoe.
2. Create a comic strip - This assignment is for boosting their imagination and creativity. Once you have completed a novel or a chapter from their English reader books, assign each of the student a small section of the story. Ask them to create comic strips that explain the entire sections. Read the comic they have written aloud in the class. Call the other students, let them explain each character based on the pictures,
3. Reading Books with Similar Themes - Pick a fictional book that is from a different genre but runs a similar theme to the story or novel the children already have understood. The vocabulary will be repeated in the next book though in a different manner as every author has his own writing style. This will help them to interpret the similarities and differences in the literature.
4. Puppet Show - Organize a puppet show based on the literature they have read. In order to hold a show, they will have to write the storyline and the dialogues that perfectly sums up the text. It will also indulge the younger audiences (students from the primary classes).

5. Describing characters - Handle each of the students a colourful sheet. Fold it thrice to divide it into eight parts & number each of the surface. On the front section, ask the students to write the name of their favourite character. The other seven parts will be used for explaining -

1. Emotions / feeling the character has undergone.
2. Conflicts and changes in their behaviour and thinking pattern.
3. Dressing style.
4. People value the most and why.
5. When the characters were wrong/right on their part.
6. How they will deal with the circumstance the characters faced in real life.
7. Write an alternate ending of the story.