50 Read and Retell
Janelle Scott
Strategy Overview
Read and Retell is an amazing strategy to support oral language, “Read and Retell is an excellent strategy to use in order to allow children to transform a text into their own words, taking only what is really understood” (Mowbray, 2010, p. 10). Retells can do so much for a learner, such as, “Intensive reading, writing, talking and listening around a central theme, involving collaborative use of the language components. Active engagement with the text through multiple readings and re-readings of at least three different texts: the original text, the participant’s and then peer retellings” (Mowbray, 2010, p. 11).
Strategy in Action
Students can often get nervous when it comes to building their oral language skills because a lot of students are shy or unwilling to speak, especially in a classroom setting. This strategy of Read and Retell gives the children a chance to build on the skill of oral language in a way more comfortable for them as they get to use language, they are comfortable with and share things that seem important to them from the story when they are retelling it. This strategy can be adapted to student needs— it can be done whole class or in pairs. Check out the resource below that show the benefits of engaging in the Read and Retell strategy in the classroom. Read and Retell Resource
Related Resources
References
Mowbray, T. (2010). The power of read and rentell. Practically Primary, 15(2), 10–12.
