Harry Potter for English Language Learners
It helps immensely when reading texts in another language if the students have already been exposed to the text in their own language. This eliminates the need to explain the plot as you go and helps you focus on your real goal: the language. It also lets you examine English grammar before going into Spanish grammar, which sets up the schema that students will need in order to understand what is being said. A book that holds a student’s attention the whole time is, of course, very preferable, and Harry Potter is famous worldwide many would say for that very reason.
The new vocabulary in the Harry Potter books tends to stick around through the whole series, which is a great benefit. Lechuza (owl) and escoba (broom) are great examples. Many of the other new vocabulary words are more specific ways of describing words that students would already know, like vagar (to roam or wander) instead of andar (to walk) or enterarse (to find out about or become aware of something) instead of darse cuenta (to realize).
