Research has clearly shown that young readers identify words more easily in predictable sentences. The combination of sentence patterns used by children and basic sight words is the major feature of ELF.
Overview of a basic teaching sequence for ELF books
1. Talk about the theme of the book. Elicit much as you can from the child(ren). Refer to the title or ‘name’ of the book as something to show what the book is about.
2. For each page, ask a question the elicits the text of that page. Example:
Text: The owl comes out at night.
Question: ‘What comes out at night?’
3. Let the child answer the question in his\her own words. Generally this will be the same as the book. You may need to prompt child to answer in full sentence; e.g., ‘The owl comes out at night’.
4. Ask the child to read ‘the sentence or part that says that’.
5. Child reads text.
6. Develop word recognition and comprehension by having child answer other questions with reference to the text; e.g. ‘I am thinking of a word that is the name of an animal that has big eyes, can see in the dark and flies. Find the word for me.’
7. Child finds the word and points to it and reads it.
8. Go to the next page.
9. When the book is completed, have the child interpret the book by drawing, retelling, and making a personal book with examples of his/her own.
Additional ideas are found in the Teachers Guide.
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