Teaching comprehension through reading and responding to film

Do the children in your class struggle to make deeper meanings from the written texts that they read? Have you ever wondered about using other forms of narrative to teach reading comprehension? Early fluent readers can struggle as they deal with increasingly complex written texts, and short films are the perfect resource for teaching comprehension strategies. They are also motivating and engaging texts for collaborative response and meaning-making. This Minibook offers insights into the transferable strategies that readers use when comprehending narratives. It draws on the experiences of a group of primary teachers and children who engaged in a ten week Film Talk project, suggesting activities and prompts for talk that might frame and support strategy development. With a strong theoretical base, and empirically researched approaches, the Minibook offers practical support for teachers to teach comprehension and to reflect on the power of incorporating films into the literacy curriculum.