Topic:
Digital Reading Journeys: Using AI and Online Tools for Script Acquisition and Literacy

Category: Innovations in ER (Use of digital tools and AI)

This presentation highlights how digital technologies and AI-assisted reading tools can enhance extensive reading for learners of non-Latin-script languages. Drawing on my current use of AI in Arabic language learning and my professional background in teacher training, I showcase practical tools for pronunciation feedback, automatic glossing, and text simplification. Participants will learn how these technologies support sustained engagement and reading fluency while respecting the learner’s cognitive load. The talk situates AI within broader pedagogical principles—autonomy, motivation, and cultural literacy—demonstrating how teachers can integrate digital extensive reading into classrooms and self-directed study.

Topic:
Beyond the Watering Hole: Why an Extensive Reading Program Failed and How Yours Can Succeed

This presentation chronicles my experience with the life cycle of a well-intentioned but ultimately unsuccessful extensive reading program at a university foundation program where I worked. The university’s experience with the extensive reading program, M-Reader, proved the adage true: you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. Despite strong beginnings, simply providing access to books proved to be insufficient to foster a culture of reading. My collogues and I observed the initiative gradually fade due to a series of overlooked challenges and institutional miscalculations. This session will serve as a cautionary tale, outlining the key factors I identified in the program's decline. However, the primary focus of the session is on the valuable lessons I learned. Through my reflection and research, I have distilled this experience into a set of guiding principles that can help educators avoid common pitfalls. I believe that analyzing this failure is not an exercise in blame, but a critical step toward building a robust and engaging extensive reading program that genuinely enhances students’ learning and life.

Topic:
Coaching for Reading Culture: Making Extensive Reading Work

The success of Extensive Reading (ER) depends not only on how many books students read but on how effectively teachers coach them. A strategic, reflective approach helps maximize learning outcomes. This presentation introduces six essential coaching elements effective in EFL contexts. First, teachers identify student interests to personalize reading. Second, they set reading thresholds—the minimum input for ER success. Third, effective questioning develops critical thinking. Fourth, motivational systems sustain long-term engagement. Fifth, fluency grows as phonics instruction is embedded naturally through repeated read-alouds. Sixth, positive teacher language nurtures confidence. Drawing on ten years of classroom experience, this session presents practical examples of how these elements shape reading habits and performance. Together, they demonstrate how teacher coaching transforms ER from a simple reading activity into a sustainable, engaging process that fosters motivation, fluency, and long-term personal growth.

Topic:
Beyond Reading: Designing for Language Output

Why can fluent readers still NOT speak? Many students have ample exposure to English through reading, yet struggle to produce meaningful language. Reading proficiency alone doesn’t reflect overall language competence. This presentation will explore effective ways to bridge the critical gap between input and output, recognizing that reading should serve as a launchpad rather than a final destination. The speaker will introduce two integrated learning systems that support this transition: KiriVoca’s Echo Builder, which internalizes the process of building and expanding sentences through vocabulary practice, and Kirispeak, which transforms storybook-based input into authentic language use through a distinctive content and delivery model. Complementing these systems are certification programs, contests, level-based assessments, and interactive events, forming a comprehensive learning journey that drives both progression and performance. This session is essential for anyone keen to understand the foundations of K-Edu’s success and track Korea’s growing global influence in reading-based English education.

Topic:
Integrating Inquiry and Quiz Books for Literacy

This presentation introduces a combined approach using stage-based Inquiry writing and KRSA Quiz Books to support extensive reading (ER).
Inquiry prompts guide learners from simple responses to genre writing and critical thinking, strengthening vocabulary and expression. The Quiz Books, developed by KRSA reading experts, include quizzes for one hundred leveled titles in each Graded level and provide systematic comprehension checks that motivate young readers. Together, these tools turn ER into active literacy practice and connect to the nationwide English Literacy Certification, helping students build confidence, track progress, and develop sustainable reading habits.

Topic:
Why we read? English fluency and EQ in a Mongolian classroom

Why do we want students to read? What do we want them to get out of the stories and books we ask them to read? If we use an Xreading approach with students reading different texts at different levels and in different genres, what themes and ideas can we as teachers then use to discuss student reading as a class? What activities in and out of class can we use to unite students reading at different levels and different texts? Two teachers -one American and one Mongolian- working together in a Mongolian High School here in Ulaanbaatar have been exploring these questions in their classroom practices for years separately and now we have the opportunity to work on these questions together through co-teaching. We will discuss both models and the work we are doing to more fully engage students and their parents in their reading and in their learning English. 

Topic:
Why we read? English fluency and EQ in a Mongolian classroom

Why do we want students to read? What do we want them to get out of the stories and books we ask them to read? If we use an Xreading approach with students reading different texts at different levels and in different genres, what themes and ideas can we as teachers then use to discuss student reading as a class? What activities in and out of class can we use to unite students reading at different levels and different texts? Two teachers -one American and one Mongolian- working together in a Mongolian High School here in Ulaanbaatar have been exploring these questions in their classroom practices for years separately and now we have the opportunity to work on these questions together through co-teaching. We will discuss both models and the work we are doing to more fully engage students and their parents in their reading and in their learning English.