Secondary Form 5
Reading–some dos and don’ts
DOs 
A. DO decide beforehand what is
important for pupils to do with the
Planning reading, and set SMART learning
objectives: “By the end of this
lesson, you will be able to...“
DO share the learning objective(s)
for the lesson with pupils and
ensure the objective(s) link to the
Learning Standard being addressed
or the Reading skills and strategies
being developed.
DO use pupil-friendly language
when sharing these.
Pre-lesson DO carry out a short warm-up task
activity linked to the topic of the text, to
focus pupils on the input. For
example, you could use a visual
(photo, video clip, cartoon or
diagram) to introduce the topic, or
invite pupils to think about what
they already know about the topic.
B. DO provide a task or one or two
general questions for pupils to
Using answer when they read for the very
general first time. In this way, you guide
ideas: the them to understand the main idea
first or meaning of the text and give a
contact reason for processing the input.
Discuss their answers before you
with the
continue.
text
If you want pupils to read aloud to
practise pronunciation, DO this at a
later stage. Only ask pupils to read
already familiar material aloud. Ask
them to read aloud simultaneously
in pairs and tell them you are
practising pronunciation. Help
pupils individually with
pronunciation or as a class if you
notice common problems.
DON’Ts 
DON’T prepare your lesson only in
terms of a page number or
exercise: “We’re going to do
Exercise 3 on page 97.”
DON’T forget to make pupils aware
of the learning objective(s) for the
lesson.
DON’T launch into a new topic
‘cold’ or without any introduction.
Pupils need to re-focus, settle and
tune in to the English lesson.
DON’T get pupils to read new
material aloud one by one. This will
not help either their Speaking or
their Reading development much.
Reading familiar texts aloud can
occasionally be useful for
pronunciation practice but – if done
with unknown texts – actually slows
down the reading speed, hinders
understanding and often
demotivates. Reading silently with a
supporting task is more effective for
taking in new information.
DON’T supply a list of ‘difficult’
words with a translation in the
pupils’ first language. This
encourages pupils to stop every
time they meet a word that is
unfamiliar. This is a poor reading
strategy and gets in the way of
1
 DO encourage pupils to ignore
words they do not know the first
time they read a text, so that they
can try to understand the main
points without getting stuck on
individual words.
global understanding.
Similarly, DON’T over-
teachvocabulary before reading.
DON’T give out the texts in
advance of the tasks – you may
then struggle to get attention back.

C. DO provide a specific task for DON’T forget to set a clear task

pupils to answer while they read for
Using a second time. Discuss their
details: answers to this task. If they haven’t
understood the input, ask if it is
further
contact necessary to read again. Provide
fresh tasks each time they read.
with input
DO encourage pupils to create their
own questions around the text,
either by hypothesising before they
are exposed to the text (e.g.
predicting), or to check
understanding.
DO encourage pupils to guess the
meaning of words from context, so
that they learn that they can
succeed in comprehending input
without understanding or stopping
at every word.
before pupils read: ‘Read and tell
me what it is about’ is not a task.
DON’T encourage pupils to stop at
every unknown word and don’t do
that yourself, either.
DON’T distract pupils by moving
around the room or speaking during
the Reading stages.
DON’T give answers to
hypothesesyourself, before pupils
have had time to think about their
own explanations.

D. DO use the topic or the language in DON’T go immediately to whole

the text as a stimulus for further class checks – leave time for peer
Applying activities. Help pupils at this stage feedback (in groups or with talk
information to produce their own spoken or partner).
and written language. Draw attention to
specific aspects of language or the DON’T expect pupils to be able to
concluding reproduce vocabulary as soon as
characteristics of texts.
(post- they meet it; they need to come
lesson DO work to help pupils understand across vocabulary in several
activity) and recycle vocabulary. Ensure that different contexts before they can
pupils know both the meanings of use it.
words and their usage. Create new,
active tasks to help pupils recall DON’T give a list of English words
and process ideas and vocabulary. with their first language
translations, either at the start of
the lesson or at the end, since this
won’t help vocabulary learning very
much.