ELTeCS Creative Reading April 14th

Creative Reading
ELTeCS Session April 14th, 2010

Pete Simms & Sasha Clarke

The British Council, 2013

Peter Simms /var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_1/175264918.doc The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.

ELTeCS Creative Reading April 14th

Reading Lesson Stages
As you know, there are several typical stages found in every lesson. These stages can broadly be categorised as tasks that are used pre-reading, during-reading and post-reading. In order to ensure that we share a common understanding of the stages and their aims, please look at the provided textbook excerpt and complete the table below. Here are the reading lesson stages from the Markets around the world text. Stage Question Pre-reading 1 Stage Aim e.g. to introduce the topic and activate any previous knowledge in the students. To encourage students to relate to the text To familiarise students with the text To encourage prediction of text content To introduce genre and format of the text

During reading 3

To set a Jigsaw reading task To encourage reading part of a text and not necessarily the whole text To focus the reader on particular content of the text To test comprehension of the text To extract the key information from the text To prepare students for the following task To present the content of the text To test understanding of the text by explaining to another student To give the text real world meaning by using it for communication To encourage retention of text content through giving opinions on it To expand on the themes of the text

Post reading 5

What do you think?

The British Council, 2013

Peter Simms /var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_1/175264918.doc The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.

ELTeCS Creative Reading April 14th

Pre-Reading
Suggestions for pre-reading tasks for Action Plan 8 material

Activity/Procedure Discussion Questions In pairs or groups students discuss their own ideas related to the topic. Questions can be provided or student can write/ask their own. E.g. What modern day inventions make your life easier or more enjoyable? Think of 3 inventions you couldnt live without. Share with your group and explain the reasons behind your choices. Prediction In pairs or groups students write some questions based on the reading topic. The teacher must provide some indication of the topic: a headline, illustrations ect. Their questions should focus on things that they would like to learn from the reading. The questions can then be used for the gist reading, as students skim and scan the text to see if their questions are answered. Students can answer their own questions or swap with another pair or group. Visuals Focus on the pictures or use other visuals of famous inventions and elicit vocabulary connected with the topic.

Aim To introduce the topic, activate schematic knowledge and personalize the topic. Discussing their own views before hand will generate more interest in the topic and make them more receptive to the article.

To encourage prediction which provides a purpose and makes the text more comprehensible. Prediction is a natural part of the reading process. In authentic contexts, readers usually have expectations of what they will find in a text before they start reading. Reading a text cold with no introduction (very unusual in real life) leaves readers with no framework and forces them to process context, grammar and vocabulary all at the same time. A difficult task in L1, in L2 it is nearly impossible to do effectively. Visuals provide an immediate connection to the text and shouldnt be underestimated as a resource. They can make the text more accessible from the start, especially for younger or weaker levels.

The British Council, 2013

Peter Simms /var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_1/175264918.doc The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.

ELTeCS Creative Reading April 14th

During-Reading
Activities and tasks to do in the during-reading stage:

Running Dictation Requirements: pen and paper and text excerpts. General Rules: Divide class into teams. In each team there is a reader and a writer. Paste texts (usually short text) around the room or in the hall if possible. Tell each the readers of each team that they will run to a text, read and memorize a part of it. As quickly as possible they will run back and dictate the text to the writer in their group. The writer writes while s/he goes back to read more text. The group that finishes writing their text first wins. Runners (readers) cannot write the words. They must dictate what they read in the text to the student writing. They cannot help in the writing but they can tell him/her how to spell words. The team that finishes first wins and reads out the text to the class. For feedback and error correction students compare their version to the original. Tips: Put students of mixed abilities together.

Ordering Task Requirements: A text with at least 3 paragraphs. A section of reading will be needed for each member of the group. General Rules: Put the students into groups of 3 or 4 (depending on the number of sections the reading has) and give each member a different section of the reading. Each group should have an entire text randomly distributed amongst them. Group members are not allowed to show each other their sections of text. Students should take about 5-10 mins to read, understand and take notes about their text. Once their preparation is complete, group members orally explain and summarize what they have read to their group members. The task is for the learners to put the text in order using the information they communicate to each other. Tips: An additional preparation stage can be added for weaker students. Provide the same section to groups and allow them time to discuss their excerpt together before re-grouping and exchanging ideas other member to arrange the entire
The British Council, 2013
Peter Simms /var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_1/175264918.doc The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.

ELTeCS Creative Reading April 14th

text. Omitting the oral component of this task would focus the students more on structure.

Reading Races Requirements: Comprehension questions and a text. General Rules: Students are given the text and questions. The objective is for students to race against each other and answer the questions as quickly as possible. Tips: -Set a time limit to encourage the use skimming and scanning sub-skills. -Allocate one point for each correct answer to encourage young learners. -The race can be done in two stages, the first section for gist and the second for detailed comprehension.

Jigsaw Reading Requirements: Several self-contained texts and open-ended comprehension questions for each text. For example, provide students with 3 texts about 3 different animals. General Rules: Divide the class into groups of 3 or 4 (depending on how many texts there are). Group members are not allowed to show each other their texts. Students should take about 5-10 mins to read, understand and take notes about their text. Once their preparation is complete distribute comprehension questions to all students for all texts. Students should take turns answering comprehension questions about their text. Tips: - Structure the activity clearly so that everyone knows exactly what they have to do and what they are reading for. - Give students the chance to choose which reading they want to read by providing them with the titles of each.

The British Council, 2013

Peter Simms /var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_1/175264918.doc The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.

ELTeCS Creative Reading April 14th

Meaning from Context

Read the sentences and look at the words in italics. Answer the following questions: a) What part of speech are they? (verb, noun, adverb, preposition etc.) b) What ideas have you got about what they mean? 1) I went to the shops and bought some apples and ghorks. 2) Yesterday we went zilching in the mountains. 3) Michaels dog had long trubby hair. 4) We left the bucket fraus the kitchen door and waited. 5) Since 1945, British society has declementated very much. 6) He read the passage inkfully. 7) Erics wife was a labber before they got married, and now she works as Erics secretary. 8) I stayed in a lovely borilla in Corfu for two weeks. 9) Deborah had eaten five or six cucumber sandwiches and was feeling a bit inaldate.

The British Council, 2013

Peter Simms /var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_1/175264918.doc The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.

ELTeCS Creative Reading April 14th

So, to recap

Pre-Reading

Brainstorming Prediction Questions Visuals Discussion

A reading lesson might contain:

Running Dictation Gap-fill During-Reading Reading Races Reordering a text Jigsaw Reading

Post-Reading

Comprehension Meaning from Context Discussion

The British Council, 2013

Peter Simms /var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_1/175264918.doc The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.