Multimedia approach to English language classics

by Kathleen
(Coffs Harbour, Australia)

Since different children learn differently, one idea is to take a great classic book and go at it from several mediums in the one time frame.

You can read the book with your children PLUS play an audio version in the car (recording your own is the cheapest way and not inconvenient if you happen to be reading it to them at home anyway)PLUS show them a video of a classic version. You can break it up into chapters if you don't want to give the game away or leave this till last. And as movies are always different to books, you can talk about how and why the story was altered and get them thinking about what they would do if they were making a movie version.

For classic works with fairly complex language above the child's own reading ability, this helps them become familiar with it and learn stretches them (eg helps them learn new vocabulary as they hear it from the book and see the images that go with it on the screen).