We can find many simplified storybooks which have been graded with children learning English in mind. Most authors, however, consider that the use of authentic materials can be more fruitful: authentic storybooks provide examples of real language and are motivating as they introduce the real English-speaking world into the classroom. We can also find authentic books with high-quality illustrations which will play an important role in aiding comprehension.
However, in order to choose an authentic material, we should bear in mind several considerations:
It does not matter how simple our chosen texts may be, they should always be appropriate to the age, interests and goals of our pupils.
In order to understand literary texts our pupils need to be able to read at a reasonable speed for an extended period without fatigue. Our youngest pupils will not be able to do so, so we must use short, simple texts with illustrations.
We have to be aware of language difficulty. If we want our pupils to enjoy reading a text we should have in mind the following points: the vocabulary and syntax of the text should be within our pupils' grasp, and idiomatic language should be kept at a minimum. This way, our pupils should be able to infer the meaning of most of the unknown words from the context.
Therefore, if both sentence structure and vocabulary must be at a level they can understand, we will not be able to use classic children storybooks masterpieces.
Moreover, it is useless to choose texts of great stylistic complexity for the early stages of language learning. Style analysis should be based on the linguistic features with which our pupils are already familiar.
Finally, our pupils' understanding of a text can also be hindered by their lack of background knowledge of English-speaking countries culture. We must, therefore, bear in mind the amount of time we will have to explain background knowledge when choosing the texts.
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