The Joy of Reading the Bible

Abstract

The purpose of this textbook is to help Christian students in Korea to read interesting stories in the Bible as they discover the joy of reading while at the same time developing their English language skills through extensive reading (ER) and intensive reading (IR). The Bible is appropriate for ER because it contains many amazing stories, plenty of vocabulary and as well as a variety of genres such as history, poems, songs and letters. The Bible also teaches about the culture and religion of the society in which the people in the biblical stories lived. In addition, there are meaningful lessons and numerous opportunities for students to share their thoughts and feelings after reading the Bible stories. In order to provide assistance for students who are in need of additional assistance in reading, supplementary reading materials have been added in the 'Let's Read More' section of the textbook. This section consists of short passages and fun activities that students can do for additional reading practice. All of the activities in the textbook adapt communicative approaches in which students engage in various types of interaction. The target learners are 12 years old and they are currently enrolled in a Korean elementary school. All of the students want to read the Bible in English while at the same time developing their English proficiency through extensive reading. The students' English language proficiency level is intermediate-low according to the ACTFL. Furthermore, most of the students come from a Christian background, so they have some prior knowledge about the Bible since they have had some experiences of reading the Bible in Korean. The class consists of 15 students of mixed gender in a Christian elementary school. Classes will take place twice a week for one year. Before each class, students are given a reading assignment from the Children's Bible which contains 365 stories designed for young readers. Each lesson is divided into three stages. The text book will focus on stories from the Old Testament which will provide many opportunities for the target students to engage in meaningful activities as they read and share their thoughts with each other.