It's (almost) summer holiday time!
Have you got your teen's text list for 2023?
Are you nervously thinking about how your teen will cope with the challenges of the next year level?
Relax, I've got some tips for you to help your teen prepare well for the year ahead!
In addition to making sure they do their school holiday homework, of course.
Reading the text list
By now your teen should have received their text lists. Here are my tips on how to help your teen make the most of the summer:
- If your teen is not a strong reader:
- Read the text together! Have two bookmarks in the same book if you're sharing a book, and read it concurrently. Check in with each other as you're reading ('wow I didn't expect that to happen' 'what do you think of xyz behaving like that' 'I don't get this chapter at all, what do you think is happening')
- Read the chapter summary alongside the actual chapter. This is especially helpful for students who struggle with stories that have a lot of perspectives or jumps in time!
- Print out a character map or timeline for your teen to look at as they read. This is particularly helpful if your teen struggles to remember who the characters are or if the book covers a lot of events!
- If your teen is a strong reader:
- Note down the themes first, assign each theme a colour, and annotate as they read. I have a detailed video here about this process.
- Read study guide notes alongside the text. Compare with your teen what the guide says and what they observe in the text. (The guide says that theme xyz is shown when character does this, do you think so? Why or why not? What do you think this chapter shows about theme xyz?)
- Get your teen to write some reflections at the end of each chapter or section. Use the following questions to get them started:
- What questions do you have about what's happening? Or about the characters?
- What does this chapter/section show you about 'theme' or 'character'
- How does the writing style or the structure of this chapter/section communicate the story or theme?
Developing a wider reading habit
In the new study design, there is a new emphasis on students reading widely, and being able to pull inspiration and ideas from what they read. Here is what I suggest you do with your teens over the summer holidays:
- Read long form articles together. These are 'deep-dive' articles into a particular issue, person or topic. New York Times (amongst others) is particularly famous for this kind of journalism. Talk about what you learnt with each other. What surprised you? Did it change your perspective on something? How did the journalist weave a narrative around such a complex issue? How did they revisit the idea in different ways?
- Read poetry together. Poets have an amazing gift of capturing ideas and emotions in very, very few words. Find out what your teen's 'writing about...' theme is for 2023, and find poems about that theme. Poetry Foundation is an amazing resource and are searchable by theme.
- Listen to podcasts together and use it as a launching pad to talk about wider issues in the world. I highly recommend ABC Conversations, Maintenance Phase, and Vox's Unexplainable.
Build your teen's vocabulary
It is our experience that teens who have a narrow vocabulary often struggle to express their ideas - they literally don't have the words to communicate what they mean!
I suggest making vocabulary learning a regular part of your teen's reading practice. When they come across an unfamiliar word: highlight it, look it up, use it in a sentence!
Below are a few resources for you:
- If your teen has an android phone or iphone, Google has a free 'word of the day' function. This article explains how to get it on your device here.
- Vocabulary.com is a great resource for many students too
- We have 3 Vocabulary Expansion Packs targeted at junior, middle and senior high school levels on our very own site! They are printable pdfs with hundreds of words that (I think) are required knowledge as teens progress through high school.
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