Working with Texts

1. Terminology Review
Reading, like listening, is a r _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ skill. There are two broad approaches to working with a text which mirror the way in which people naturally read. There is e _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ reading in which students gain an overall understanding of the text, or g_ _ _. When we pick up a newspaper we cast our eyes over the headlines and texts to choose an appealing article. This s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ skill, as such, needs to be developed. Secondly, there is I _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ reading in which students study language or information in detail to obtain s_ _ _ _ _ _ _ information. Looking at a menu in a caf we search for Whats the soup of the day? How much does it cost? and Is it served with bread? This skill is often referred to as s _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Its important to remember that reading aloud does not develop these skills but is a very useful tool to improve students p _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. .fold .... She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Freia Layfield, Lake School, 2012

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury Signifying nothing.

Freia Layfield, Lake School, 2012

Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)

1. Read the quote from Macbeth below. How does he feel? Why does he feel this way? She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, [emphasis added] Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury Signifying nothing. 2. Read the text again and think about the language below a) What is the effect of the following language? Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow from day to day
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to the last syllable of recorded time b) Find two examples of alliteration: ____ ____________________ and _______________________. What effect do they have on the text? c) What do the following words mean? creeps frets struts

d) Which expressions show how unimportant Macbeth feels our lives and achievements are? 3. Youre a modern day Shakespeare! Re-write the soliloquy in own words using only two sentences. ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________

2. Encouraging Reading
Along with developing our students reading skills we should also encourage reading outside the classroom. The experience of reading, graded readers or authentic materials, is both hugely motivational and empowering as you teach students to learn autonomously. The Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading has come up with the following acronym for teachers who are keen to implement a system in their schools.

S
Tips for funding:

Ask the principal or school for money Ask the students (for money or donations of books or to buy 2 books they like and donate to the school) Sponsorship of a task and the money collected buys books

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Local Donors purchase or subsidise books and get advertising in return Public Library lends multiple withdrawals Book Sellers sell and advertise in your school

3. And here are some more ideas for reading tasks:

Put the pictures of the text in order Read the text and find errors in the illustration or draw your own illustration to represent text Put the cut up paragraphs in order Find synonyms in the text Read and make a list of items related to the text, e.g. advantages and disadvantages, places to visit, jobs that need to be done Write a headline for the article Reinsert removed sentences from the text Write a reply Predict from the heading and picture which vocabulary will be in the text, then read and check Solve a problem Write the missing last paragraph of the text Discuss reactions to a text Act out a related story or dialogue Put a list of events in the correct order Order instructions e.g. for giving CPR, buying a train ticket Match recipe instructions with pictures Match topic sentences with paragraphs from a text Read and decide who wrote it, i.e. what type of person

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Convert information from a text into a bar graph of pie chart

Taken from: Learning Teaching by Jim Scrivener, Macmillan Heinemann, 2nd Edition, 1998, page 155-156 How to Teach English by Jeremy Harmer, Longman, 1st Edition, 4th

Impression, 1998, page 77-78

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Working with Texts

Read the text and draw a diagram to represent the life cycle of a silkworm.
The first diagram shows that there are four main stages in the life of the silkworm. First of all, eggs are produced by the moth and it takes ten days for each egg to become a silkworm larva that feeds on mulberry leaves. This stage lasts for up to six weeks until the larva produces a cocoon of silk thread around itself. After a period of about three weeks, the adult moths eventually emerge from these cocoons and the lifecycle begins again. The cocoons are the raw material used for the production of silk cloth. Once selected, they are boiled in water and the threads can be separated in the unwinding stage. Each thread is between 300 and 900 metres long, which means they can be twisted together, dyed and then used to produce cloth in the weaving stage. Overall, the diagrams show that the cocoon stage of the silk worm can be used to produce silk cloth through a very simple process.

Freia Layfield, Lake School, 2012

Freia Layfield, Lake School, 2012

Freia Layfield, Lake School, 2012

Freia Layfield, Lake School, 2012

Freia Layfield, Lake School, 2012