Bow Valley College Readers: digital books not just for beginning literacy

You may have heard of Bow Valley College’s ESL Literacy Readers, but did you know that they are now available in digital format, and they’re not just for beginning literacy learners? It’s true!

Bow Valley College’s free ESL Literacy Readers are short, high-interest books for adults that address topics such as dressing for winter, job search, using the bus, parental leave, voting and much more.

Not only are the readers available in PDF format to print, but they are also available as digital books that display well on mobile devices and include audio of the stories. These stories have been popular especially with beginning literacy teachers, as it can be difficult to find high-quality reading material directed at an adult audience at the most beginning levels. However, there are seven levels available with the highest being appropriate for advanced ESL and perhaps even some pre-GED learners. 

And, in some cases, the same story is offered at multiple levels–great for multi-level situations. For example, Lien Buys Food is Level A and a higher level version, Lien Goes Shopping, is available at Level C. 

Ways to use them:

• Use them as a class or one-on-one reading text that you create pre-reading, during reading and post-reading activities for. Learners can access the digital books on class laptops or their phones. 
• Add links to level-appropriate stories to your class website or send links in whatever way you communicate with learners (email, text, WhatsApp). Suggest that learners read them on their own outside of class or after they’ve finished their work while in class. Choose a level that is easily read by learners for the stories to be used independently in this way. 
• Conceal the text from learners and use the audio found in the digital versions of the books as listening material for students to practice listening for the main idea and details.
• Use them in online classes and tutoring sessions, because they do not require any reformatting to easily share them in online instruction platforms such as Zoom and Google Classroom.

Take advantage of these high-interest books available at many levels and in digital format at the following link: Bow Valley College’s free ESL Literacy Readers!

For questions or comments about this Tutor Tip contact Tutor Training Coordinator, Meghan Boyle, at mboyle@literacymn.org.