Free Audiobooks for Teens

Hopefully all of you read to your children when they were small.  That experience is cherished by both parents and their children.  You can still enjoy a similar experience  listening to an audiobook. The skills of an audiobook listener are very similar to the comprehension techniques used by readers.  Listening gives you the freedom to improve vocabulary and understanding without being constrained by word recognition and decoding.  It builds background, and increases fluency, understanding, motivation, and vocabulary.

Direct instruction in content vocabulary can result in a gain of 300-400 words per year.  Students who wish to advance, need 2,500 to 3,000 new words per year just to keep up.  The only way to accomplish this is to read widely.  A fifth grader reading an hour a day will read 2,250,000 words.  Between two and five percent of those words fall into the unknown word category.   They can learn five to ten percent of those words from a single reading of a text which results in a gain of 2,250 new words per year. 

    

If you aren’t an avid reader, you can fall behind your peers quickly.  Encourage your teen to start listening to books, if they aren’t prolific readers.  It is a painless technique that allows you to multi-task.

Why:

You are more likely to stick with an audiobook, so there is more of a chance you will remember what you’ve learned

You can listen while exercising, walking the dog, and driving to work or school

You can listen to texts above your reading level and gain vocabulary

The music of the words, prosody, can improve understanding (Shakespeare)

The Mathew Effect applies.  The more you read or listen the better you become at reading and listening.

It’s a myth that listening isn’t reading

Sync YA Literature into Your Earphones - http://www.audiobooksync.com/free-sync-downloads/sync-schedule-13/

Free - Public library – Overdrive, One Click Digital   
Pay sites - Audible.com, iTunes

Works Cited

Anderson, R. C., Paul T. Wilson, and Linda G. Fielding. "Growth in Reading and How Children Spend Their Time Outside of School." University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Center for the Study of Reading, Sept. 1986. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/18003/ctrstreadtechrepv01986i00389_opt.pdf?sequence=1>.

Cunningham, Anne E., and Keith E. Stanovich. "What Reading Does for the Mind." A Virtual Classroom. California State University-Northridge, July 2001. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://www.csun.edu/~krowlands/Content/Academic_Resources/Reading/Useful%20Articles/Cunningham-What%20Reading%20Does%20for%20the%20Mind.pdf>.

"Promoting Vocabulary Development Components of Effective Vocabulary Instruction." Texas Education Agency. Meadows Center For Preventing Educational Risk, 2002. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://resources.buildingrti.utexas.org/PDF/redbk5.pdf>.

Rideout, Victoria J., Ulla G. Foehr, and Donald F. Roberts. "GENERATION M2 Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds." Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Family Foundation, Jan. 2010. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/8010.pdf>.

Shaywitz, David A. "The Elements of Success Talent and Hard Work, Yes, But Plenty of Other Ingredients Seem Essential to Achievement." Wall Street Journal 15 Nov. 2008: n. pag. Wall Street Journal. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB122671469296530435?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB122671469296530435.html>.

Sullivan, Alice, and Matt Brown. "Social Inequalities in Cognitive Scores at Age 16: The Role of Reading." Centre for Longitudinal Studies. Economic & Social Research Council, Sept. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. <https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cls.ioe.ac.uk%2Fshared%2Fget-file.ashx%3Fitemtype%3Ddocument%26id%3D1719&ei=rIfiUqHRJoTDoAT3yoGIDg&usg=AFQjCNFmEQw1q-QzwyqqQ9RStYp49rwDuw&bvm=bv.59930103,d.cGU>.

Wren, Stephen, Ph.D. "Developing Research-Based Resources for the Balanced Reading Teacher: Vocabulary." BalancedReading.com. http://www.balancedreading.com/vocabulary.html, 7 Aug. 2003. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.