I suspect it is more common to read one or two novels, along with a good many short class stories. Let´s look at the high end of the spectrum: some TPRS teachers read as many as four separate novels in the course of a school year. That is, in order to read a novel that is above their students reading ability, teachers are dramatically decreasing the time available to read in class. Perhaps TPRS teachers who choose to teach whole class novel units (often structured by teachers guides) fear that the novel will not be comprehensible to students without their guidance. One point of particuar interest to TPRS teachers is Miller´s critique of reading whole class novels (that is, everyone reads the same novel together). Although Miller writes from the perspective of a reading teacher, there is a lot here that should inform the practices of TPRS teachers who believe that reading is an essential part of second language acquisition. I just got around to reading The Book Whisperer and, judging by the amount of requests I see on twitter for teachers guides to TPRS novels, I suspect I am not the only one who unwisely relegated this title to the “someday, if I have time” book pile. This review is not exactly timely given that the author of this best-selling book, published in 2009, has already published a follow-up titled Reading in the Wild. ![]() “…Donalyn Miller has solved one of the central problems in language education.” -Stephen Krashen
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