Kyle Larson, a seasoned teacher and the founder of AIR Language, an English reading platform for secondary school students, shares the challenges he has faced in sourcing tailored texts and building a reading habit with learners.

Key talking points

✅ Text Selection: Kyle emphasizes the importance of offering students choice in reading materials, catering to individual preferences to foster engagement.

✅ Supporting Struggling Students: He advocates for a personalised approach, focusing on understanding students' specific needs through Reading Conferences and tailored goals.

✅ Cultivating a Reading Habit: Kyle discusses the gradual process of building a habit by setting achievable reading goals, catering to each student's level and needs.

✅ Addressing Economic Disparities: Recognising the challenge of access to books, Kyle shares strategies like classroom libraries and communication with parents to bridge the gap.

Throughout the episode, Kyle's insights highlight the significance of personalised approaches in ESL teaching and creating inclusive spaces for learners from various backgrounds. Kyle offers practical tips for educators facing similar challenges, emphasising the value of understanding students' individual needs to promote literacy and engagement in the classroom.

To learn more about Kyle’s work, visit his AIR Language website here.

To watch this episode with closed captions, click on the video below or scroll down to view the transcript.

Transcript

00:00:00:06 - 00:00:33:01
Laura
TESOL Pop Season seven Episode eight Hello, welcome to TESOL Pop: the mini podcast to visit teachers. My name is Laura and joining me today to talk about selecting and adapting greeting material is Kyle Larson. Kyle has been teaching since 2012. He started teaching in Mexico and has since taught in China, Colombia, and the United States. He's for all ages, from kindergarten up to university level, and he has a bachelor's degree in Spanish language and English linguistics from Western Oregon and a master’s in teaching from Northwestern University.

00:00:33:03 - 00:00:57:04
Laura
Currently, he's a high school ESL teacher and the founder of AIR Language, the English language reading platform for secondary school students and beyond. The platform consists of a library of books written and categorised by topic and level, paired with a system of reading conferences. In today's episode, Kyle will share what inspired him to focus on developing reading resources for his students.

00:00:57:06 - 00:01:21:16
Laura
And we're also going to explore challenges that we often encounter when it comes to selecting, reading material, differentiating it for different levels of students, and building a reading habit among our learners. At the start of this episode, we mentioned just a few of the places you've taught and the contexts and students you've worked with. What sort of challenges have you noticed in your teaching career that has led you to establishing AIR Language?

00:01:21:18 - 00:01:49:12
Kyle
Early on as well as as as of late, I've noticed that there were a lot of different levels of students within the same class, and I felt like every time I got caught up and I was able to at the very least accommodate in my instruction for everybody, a new student would come and I had to start all over.

00:01:49:14 - 00:01:51:16
Kyle
That was probably the biggest obstacle.

00:01:51:18 - 00:02:13:22
Laura
I bet a lot of lessons to be able to relate to that, that shifting landscape that is our classroom with new comers and different challenges that learners may face depending on the change of topic. What was it about reading specifically that inspired you to lean into this as a space and develop resources for learners?

00:02:13:24 - 00:02:41:04
Kyle
Well, my school (about, I think it was, eight years ago) took up the initiative of independent reading, and independent reading for everybody. And the reading was was a kind of levelled texts. And so I started doing it with my English learners. I found a lot of success. I also found a lot of pushback because the books were not written for high school students.

00:02:41:09 - 00:03:01:19
Kyle
So I started thinking, okay, how can we use reading to not only teach language, at least to teach reading, but to teach actual language? You know, students can listen to listen to books and they could read about topics that are pertinent to their lives.

00:03:01:19 - 00:03:18:18
Laura
With the context you're teaching in now in the States. Could you give us a little bit of insight to your learners and some of their needs? Because you're teaching language or developing their reading skills, do you find that your learners experience reading and access to reading can differ quite greatly?

00:03:18:24 - 00:03:41:02
Kyle
Yeah, well, I do a little experiment from time to time and ask students how many books they have in their class, in their in their homes. And a lot of them tell me they don't have any. Just like the access to books in like the encouragement of literacy. There's so much diversity in the classroom, especially where I'm at in Texas.

00:03:41:02 - 00:04:11:13
Kyle
We have students who come from very remote places in, say, Honduras, in Mexico, students who move here from Mexico City as well. So or from Venezuela, like wealthier areas in Venezuela. So we have such a huge, huge diversity of not just linguistic ability, but also, let's say, the value of reading or academic history.

00:04:11:15 - 00:04:31:18
Laura
It's a complex issue, isn't it? Because not only are you maybe working with text that aren't relevant to your students' interests and their age group, like you mentioned before, but also your students are starting at very different levels both on a comprehension and language level, but also a level in terms of privilege and economics that can set them back.

00:04:31:18 - 00:04:38:18
Laura
So it's a really complex issue. Like you say, and it's difficult for us teachers to navigate just alone.

00:04:38:20 - 00:04:51:00
Kyle
Yeah, Yeah, no kidding. So I don't know. I'm sure that many people have had a lot of tools to figure it out, but I think every ESL teacher down here in Texas has this issue.

00:04:51:02 - 00:05:12:21
Laura
Well, let's try and tackle some of these issues. I think we're promising to deliver quite a lot, aren't we? The pressure's on in this episode to tackle some of these scenarios and share tips on what we can do because like you say, a lot of teachers can relate to this is complex issue in terms of access to resources and having the right resources when it comes to reading material.

00:05:12:23 - 00:05:17:06
Laura
So shall we tackle the first scenario? Are you ready?

00:05:17:08 - 00:05:18:16
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah, Let's do it.

00:05:18:18 - 00:05:32:01
Laura
Okay. Scenario one What should we keep in mind when selecting texts [reading material]? If we are so fortunate to have the option to choose texts whether it's online or physical texts reading material for our learners.

00:05:32:03 - 00:05:59:21
Kyle
Everybody's different. You know, every so every one of your students say they speak the same language or are from the same family; say they’re from the same family. They like different things, right? And they focus on different things when they're reading. So their language is going to develop differently. So I have kind of moved away from picking one text or even selecting texts.

00:05:59:23 - 00:06:23:16
Kyle
Maybe I'll suggest certain books for certain students, because I know my students and I know what they like, what they don't like. But I think giving students choice, relinquishing control is the best way. You don't get a whole lot of pushback when you say, okay, here are your books, here are your options we have this time now it's time to read.

00:06:23:18 - 00:06:30:19
Laura
I feel like we've tackled a quite significant, significant challenge really easily with that tip you said. Shall we move on to the second scenario?

00:06:30:21 - 00:06:32:10
Kyle
Of course.

00:06:32:12 - 00:06:50:14
Laura
So let's talk about struggling students. So you mentioned earlier we have students in our class and it can vary like a student's interaction with something can maybe dip or peak depending on the topic we're moving onto. What can we do when we find that a student is struggling with reading material?

00:06:50:16 - 00:07:13:00
Kyle
Yeah, I suppose the big question is why? And you can't answer that. Like answer it with a generalisation, you've got to tackle each individual student individually. What one student is...it’s about language and another students about topic, another students about time or energy. Okay. I know I have students who work 39 hours per week, so it's not full time.

00:07:13:04 - 00:07:23:06
Kyle
It's 39. So how do you accommodate for all of those varying differences? I think the only way is to just know your students.

00:07:23:08 - 00:07:41:02
Laura
How do you identify what your students’ needs are? So if you are noticing that a student is struggling in your class, how would you go about facilitating that needs analysis to identify whether it's like you say, a time issue or a language level issue or something else?

00:07:41:04 - 00:08:03:04
Kyle
A lot of my material has to do with getting to know my students, and additionally, Reading Conferences are fundamental to my classroom. So I sit down and I have them read to me, and I do that with two or three students every day. And if I can listen to them, read and I can ask them about ‘Hey, How many books did you read in the past, whatever?

00:08:04:23 - 00:08:16:06
Kyle
How many times, how much how much time did you read last week or yesterday? That's going to tell me a whole lot about what they're missing in terms of their language development.

00:08:16:08 - 00:08:33:11
Laura
Those tips that you shared very applicable, whether you have lower students who are struggling or even advanced students who are finding the text too easy, Getting to know your students, understanding their needs, communicating with them regularly is obviously essential. So I feel like we've covered like two scenarios with one, so I'm going to move into that in the next one.

00:08:33:13 - 00:08:53:10
Laura
Building a reading habit is really difficult. I find with my students, like encouraging them to read outside of the lesson time is something I've always struggled with and I don't think I'm the only teacher that's experienced that. Do you have any tips on how to curate a reading habit among your learners?

00:08:53:12 - 00:09:21:04
Kyle
Yeah, I think it lies partly in kind of like the habitual reading during class. If you're reading if they're reading habitually in class and they're starting to see the value eventually if you stick with it. The Reading Conference, as we as we hold it, centres on reading goals and every student needs something different. You're more advanced students.

00:09:21:04 - 00:09:48:12
Kyle
Maybe they need those like more analytical skills, right? Finding theme or characterisation in a book. Your lower level students, then maybe they need, maybe they need phonics. But a lot of your students who don't want to read, maybe they need a goal, something to work toward. So basically what I've done and I've seen success in this is as their reading goal.

00:09:48:12 - 00:10:07:24
Kyle
I write down - and this pops up on their version of the [Air Language] app. So the teacher writes it down, it pops up on the [Air Language] app I write down, will read for..., and I ask them, ‚ ‘how many days per week are you going to read?‚ And then they tell me, and then I say, ‚okay, how how long each time are you going to read for how much time, How many minutes?’

00:10:08:01 - 00:10:32:07
Kyle
So there was a girl she was reading four times a week for 10 minutes. And then this past week she started reading five times a week for 10 minutes. So it doesn't have to be these huge jumps. It's all gradual. But if you focus on growth, I think that'll capture a lot of your students in terms of your students who maybe they just don't see the value in reading.

00:10:32:12 - 00:10:49:18
Kyle
I think pulling students aside and giving them, like we said, a space to be imperfect. And then you ask them, ‘hey how are you doing with your reading goal? How many, how much are you reading?’ That encourages kids so much.

00:10:49:20 - 00:11:11:02
Laura
I think for a lot of students, they may not have spaces at home where they’re recognised for reading, and it's not a topic of conversation necessarily. You mentioned there like acknowledging their progress, setting goals, setting realistic bite sized goals and reviewing that and acknowledging that and celebrating that, it can be really important when students feel seen.

00:11:11:04 - 00:11:12:13
Kyle
Yeah, absolutely.

00:11:12:15 - 00:11:30:23
Laura
One of the things I'd like to revisit that you mentioned in your teaching experience and where you're teaching now, is that not all of your students have access to books at home. And I know AIR Language is, is an app where they can access them on a device, but even then, some students may not have access to devices.

00:11:30:23 - 00:11:48:00
Laura
So we do face the challenge of having students that may be economically disadvantaged and that creating barriers for them to create that reading habit that you mentioned. I wonder if you have any insights on how you navigate this in your school and in your teaching practice.

00:11:48:05 - 00:12:11:14
Kyle
We tried to communicate goals with home. That's one of the biggest things is when parents and teachers are on the same page. So that's one thing. Another thing is, like you said, access to books, access to literature at the lower levels. It's very difficult to find what they need in a paper book, right? Because they need to hear the language, too.

00:12:11:16 - 00:12:37:07
Kyle
I have a library of books in my classroom, so the library and students know that they can take those, but that's not enough. Teachers need to to pick books out. They need to know their libraries. We need to let students borrow them. You know, it's important to welcome students, to let them know that might make them feel seen.

00:12:37:09 - 00:12:47:19
Kyle
You know, they feel seen like, ’hey, this is what you need in your life.’ And they present them with a book. ‘If you don't like it, we'll get a different book.’

00:12:47:21 - 00:13:09:14
Laura
It sounds like this is part of your kind of orientation to your classroom as the students get to know you. That space, that reading space and a library that you have is something that students know that they can access very early on, regardless of what their background is. So it doesn't kind of, you’re not highlighting students who are from a disadvantaged background.

00:13:09:14 - 00:13:13:00
Laura
You're making it a space that's owned by everybody.

00:13:13:02 - 00:13:27:04
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah. And when you ask those little questions about their lives, genuine, genuine curiosity. Yeah, right. When you're genuinely curious, curious about your students, you learn those little details that have big impacts in their lives.

00:13:27:06 - 00:13:39:06
Laura
Kyle, thank you so much for sharing your insights today and sharing your experience. It's been really interesting learning about AIR Language and the context where you teach. It's really fascinating talking to you. So thank you for your time.

00:13:39:08 - 00:13:40:17
Kyle
Thank you for having me on.

00:13:40:19 - 00:14:03:03
Laura
To learn more about Kyle's work at AIR Language, go to AIR Language Learning.com There are samples of books there for you to check out and you can contact Kyle if you have any questions about the books he has or the context that he just described today and the challenges he walked through. If you have a question or an idea that you'd like to pitch for the TESOL Pop podcast, you can contact us via Instagram, Facebook or the website TESOLPop.com

00:14:03:05 - 00:14:15:08
Laura
Finally, you can support the work we do at TESOL Pop by leaving a rating and review wherever you listen to the podcast, by sharing today's episode with your teaching community, or by even buying a coffee at ko-fi.com/tesolpop

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