Good books for Japanese high school kids with mediocre English skills? for Questionland Seattle

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Good books for Japanese high school kids with mediocre English skills?

I teach in a high school in Japan, and some of my kids have mentioned that they`d like to try reading novels in English. I need some ideas for books that are easy enough for their limited English skills, but interesting enough for teenagers. Maybe something easy from the YA category?

A few of my better students have tried Harry Potter and Eragon, though I don`t know if any of them actually made it through an entire book. One girl mentioned that she gave up on Harry Potter because she had trouble understanding both the made-up fantasy terms and the British English used. So, what`s good but also easier than Harry Potter?

Lidididi asked in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report

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I have some experience working with Japanese students who are interesting in learning English. Although most of the students I worked with were either college graduates or in their 40's, I always recommended that my students read novels to improve their reading comprehension abilities.

Sometimes a student's reading "level" can be a problem as most of them have complained about understanding vocabulary.

However, many times my students explained to me that they had no interest in the books I recommended.

You could try introducing them to this book: http://www.amazon.com/Night-Aladdins-Palace-Earthquake-Disaster/dp/1470088436

It's a novel based on the experiences of a "gaijin" visiting Japan during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake disaster.

I guess my theory is: People will read what they're interested in reading. Try finding books written about Japan from a western perspective. Your students might find it engaging.

Good luck finding the right books for them :)

Justina Fever answered in Book Recommendations 22 days ago | Report

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Thanks for your question! Librarian nerds such as myself call these books "high-low" (or sometimes "hi-lo"), for "high interest level, low vocabulary requirement." You can find some lists by Googling those terms.

Scholastic has a very handy website where you can search for books by reading level and genre. You can even tell it which reading level and genre you want, plus the actual age of your students, and get lists of suggestions.

For Harry Potter read-alikes, The Secret of Platform 13 is probably my favorite. It has a few words that probably won't be familiar (ogre, fey, hag), but not the excessive Brit speak of Harry Potter. The Warrior Heir is a fun book about a high school student who suddenly realizes he's part of an ancient race of warriors and wizards. And the Gregor the Overlander series combines fantasy/sci fi and adventure.

If your students are interested in reading about the American high school experience, they might enjoy The Absolutely True Diary o f a Part-Time Indian, about a Native American teen attending an all-white high school. Shutout is a funny, smart book about high school girls, friendship, and soccer. And the Bluford High series are high-low books that feature mostly African American characters.

I hope some of these might appeal to your students. If you have questions about these, or would like other suggestions, just let me know. Thanks for going the extra mile for your students!

Cheers,

Hayden

hayden answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report

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Get them the English version of Battle Royale:

http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Royale-Koushun-Takami/dp/156931778X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1289967550&sr=8-4

I bet they will be able to relate to this novel really well. It's a Japanese author, the story is based in Japan, it's about teenagers and has bad-ass stuff like love, violence, and it's kind of subversive. Stuff teenagers love.

Plus, when they were finished they could read the original and compare.

Basil answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report

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How about Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones? The story is great, there's not a lot of made-up jargon like HP, and it's shorter. Plus, the movie adaptation is anime!

Sequels Castle in the Sky and The House of Many Ways are also quite good, if they like the first one.

Sacrelicious answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report

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