teacher عضو مميز
عدد الرسائل : 133 مقر العمل : شفشاون
| موضوع: reading activity 2 الثلاثاء نوفمبر 18, 2008 3:51 am | |
| reading task - Holidays on the web
Simple search tasks are incredibly easy to set students using the web as a language learning tool. They don't have to be particularly complicated, or even well-researched, although this helps! A simple task I have used with students is to set your students the task of finding out about holiday information (although the same process could be used for just about any type of information, for example buying a car or presents for your family)Firstly, prepare a worksheet something like this:"The 14th of next month is my girlfriend's birthday. I would like to take her to Rome the weekend afterwards (18th - 20th). Can you find out how much it would cost for two return air fares from London Gatwick? When we get there we need a place to stay, but I don't want to spend more than 100 Euros a night. Can you find a hotel near the city centre? I would also like to find out what plays are on at the theatre…"You could alter this. For example to review sports vocabulary, you could ask them to find out what sports are popular in your chosen destination. This can work quite well on its own, but to make it more communicative, get your learners to work in pairs or small groups of three with each group finding out about a different city with a set budget. The class then decide which city would be best - perhaps based on information about your personal tastes and interests, so they have to decide which city break would be best for you. If you only have one or two PCs available for your class, set different students the task over the course of a week before conducting a discussion at the end. You can control the answers more, and speed up the task by suggesting sites for your students to use, but this may remove a degree of authenticity from the task - most of us, faced with this kind of task would either use a selection of known names, or go to a directory. Teaching poetry using DARTsDirected activities related to texts (DARTs) are activities which get students to interact with texts. Their aim is to improve students' reading comprehension and to make them critical readers. Here are some examples of DARTs that are based on the poem "When I heard the learned astronomer" by Walt Whitman.When I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.Reconstruction activities
When I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, I …
When I heard the learned astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, The remaining lines of the poem are below, but they are in the wrong order. Decide what order the lines should be in, and say why. a. Till rising and gliding out I wandered off by myself, b. Looked up in perfect silence at the stars. c. How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, d. When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, e. In the mystical moist night air, and from time to time, f. When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, [/size] Analysis activities
- Text segmenting activity
- This poem seems to divide into two halves. Find the halves. Then give each half a label.
Questioning activity Teacher's questions As you read the poem, look for answers to the following questions::
</LI> </LI> What word is used to describe the astronomer? How did most people react to the astronomer? How did Whitman react to the astronomer? Why do you think he reacted in this way? Why do you think Whitman used the word "gliding" instead of "walking" in line 6? What contrasts can you find in the poem? For example, Whitman is with many people at the beginning of the poem but he is on his own at the end of the poem. Why do you think Whitman uses these contrasts in the poem?
Students' questions Write 3 - 5 questions on this poem. Swap them with a partner. Answer your partner's questions. What would you ask an astronomer if you met one? If you had had a chance to meet Walt Whitman, what would you have asked him about this poem?
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Jigsaw reading This is an approach to reading that involves the students in speaking and summarising skills. It is very useful when working with short authentic texts such as newspaper articles. Jigsaw reading can be done in two ways
Two separate stories If you have two news stories that share a theme - for example two separate stories on crime - prepare comprehension questions for each story. Give one half of the class (Group A) one story, and the other half (Group B) the other. The students read their article, answer the questions and check understanding. Students then pair up with someone from the other group and tell them about their story, and listen to the other one. To help students remember their story you may get them to take notes. Alternatively, the students can keep the article with them to refer to. Be careful though, as lazier (or ingenious) students will either read the article aloud, or simply give it to their partner to read!!
One story split in two Some stories can be clearly divided in two. Follow the same procedure as above, but giving each group only one half of the story. When the students are recounting their half of the article, make sure that the student with the opening half goes first. </LI> Once the students have orally exchanged stories, they should then read the other person's article. As a refinement, you can give student B questions to quiz student A about their article. Jigsaw reading is a great way to introduce speaking into a reading lesson. It provides a real opportunity for genuine communication. In real life, we may tell people about a news article we have read, so this is a classroom activity that is fairly authentic. Working with classroom readers There are many ways you can work with classroom readers that are more inspiring and engaging than standard approaches, which can have negative effects on learning. Answering questions may become simply a repetition of what is written in the story. The simple retelling of a paragraph may become an instrument to "drill and kill" students' use of language. Comprehension questions may turn into a dissection of the text, while the pleasure of reading is left aside. We can help children experience the story from the inside out, not from the outside looking in. The key word is "engagement". Helping learners become better readers (and writers) implies dealing with the organization of ideas: the know-how to distinguish a main idea from a secondary one, and it means that students must be aware that there are connections between ideas at paragraph and text level. Activities designed for readers must not be artificial but opportunities to engage the students' minds, interests and feelings. Some activities to do with texts Pre-reading activities
Predicting from... first or last lines visuals a key word the title
Matching titles of books with extracts Ordering pictures from the story and predicting the order in which they will appear Asking about pictures Brainstorming related vocabulary Post-reading activities
Matching pictures and quotations from the text Casting film stars to act the different characters Interviewing the characters Creating a time line of the story Dramatizing a part of the story Questioning the author of the book Creating a new character Writing the diary of one of the characters Writing a review for a specialized magazine Designing a poster to advertise the book Changing the end of the story Comprehension activities: Reordering sequences from the story Writing questions on the text Taking notes Inventing another title Un-jumbling texts Correcting a summary
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