making the most of readers stra 25092014
DESCRIPTION
Workshop @Fachforum Englisch Kirchhain 27.09.2014TRANSCRIPT
“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”- Frederick Douglass
“A book is the most effective weapon against intolerance and ignorance.”
- Lyndon B Johnson
“Every reader finds himself. The writer's work is merely a kind of optical instrumentthat makes it possible for the reader to discern what, without this book, he would
perhaps never have seen in himself.”- Marcel Proust
“A man is known by the books he reads.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island.”- Walt Disney
“The unconscious process of language acquisition, such as
occurs when reading for pleasure, is more successful
and longer lasting thanconscious learning.”
- Stephen Krashen
INTENSIVE EXTENSIVE
In class Outside class
T chooses what & how Ss choose what & how
Concerned with form Concerned with content
To develop reading skills To develop habit of reading
Text for language learning Reading for pleasure
Maximum comprehension General comprehension
Ss do detailed exercises Exercises not focused on details
.•develops learner autonomy
• offers comprehensible input
• enhances general language competence
• helps develop general, world knowledge
• extends, consolidates and sustains vocabulary growth
• helps improve writing
•creates and sustains motivation to read more
•
•
•
“My students don’t read in their own
language. How on earth can I get them
to read in English?”
Relax and close your eyes.
We are going to create a story together.
Bruno, a poor coconut seller, stopped what
he was doing for a moment and sat down on
a low wall in front of the beach. He stared out
to sea with a broad smile on his face,
contemplating the vast emptiness, lost in
thought as he enjoyed a moment’s rest.
I will give you a couple of minutes to
imagine what Bruno is like. (mindmap)
Later, Clara came to the kiosk and
shouted rudely –
“Hey, you! Give me a coconut water!”
I will give you a couple of minutes to decide
what sort of woman Clara is. (turn taking)
Spring Cup by Christian Holzmann
Dialogue Writing
A few weeks later, at the restaurant,
Clara’s father bluntly asked Bruno –
“What kind of future are you going to
offer my daughter?”
I will give you a couple of minutes to imagine
how Bruna and Clara felt and reacted.
(cartoon offline/online www.tooondoo.com)
Zeca told Bruno all about a foolproof plan
he had to steal the official university
entrance exams, and secretly sell the
results before the day of the exam.
I will give you a couple of minutes to see the
situation in your mind’s eye.
Post its, Penzu diary (www.penzu.com)
Suddenly the doors crashed open and a
loud, firm voce cried out, “Police! Drop
your guns! Get down on your knees with
your hands above your heads!”
I will give you a couple of minutes to finish the story.
Happy vs. Tragic ending: groups or www.mailvu.com
Stimulating diverse
sensory images in
their minds leads
naturally to richer
production.
• Cover prediction: www.wordle.net/ www.tagxedo.com
• Ss choose book and introduce to others: classic
presentation or www.glogster.com
• What genre - adventure, thriller, love story?
Photocopy illustrations – put in order
• Pick out main characters –
what do illustrations tell us about them?
• Write down + description of characters
appearance/ personality – discuss
• Keep / check after reading OR use www.voki.com
poor tough bad-tempered
optimistic rich menacing
enthusiastic muscular gorgeous
thug hard-working fair-skinned
anxious criminal shy
BRUNO CLARA ZECA
poor anxious thug
optimistic rich tough
enthusiastic bad-tempered muscular
hard-working fair-skinned criminal
shy gorgeous menacing
• What’s happening in picture? How do they feel?
• What happened before / after?
• Write dialogue / act out: classic or
www.ScreenR.com, www.Mailvu.com
Bruno, a poor coconut seller from the favela, meets
Clara, a beautiful rich girl from Rio de Janeiro’s wealthy
Ipanema area, and they fall in love. But Clara’s father
doesn’t approve and stops the realtionship.
Then Zeca, a criminal from Bruno’s past, tries to
blackmail Bruno into helping him make some easy
money. Can Bruno stop Zeca, save Clara and convince
Clara’s father that he is right for his daughter?
Complete the sentences from the book: classic or
www.padlet.com
1. He was slim and good-looking with…
2. Bruno lived in a favela…
3. Soon after the police raid, Bruno and Clara…
Danger in the Sun by Antoinette Moses
Description with no verbs
• Read out first paragraph of 3 books
• Ss make up suitable titles
• Guess which title goes with which extract
• Copy titles and extracts from books
on to separate cards
• Ss match title and extracts
• Ss can prepare cards for each other
Discuss issues:
Classic or www.tricider.net www.spreaker.com
• How far do you agree with the following statements?
• Things are not the way they are just
because that’s the way they are. We can change things. We can live the life we want.
• A movie or a book can really impress you and completely change your way of
thinking?
• You should only date people of the same
race or from the same socio-economic
background as yourself.
• It’s okay to bully people who are smaller
or weaker than yourself.
• ‘The end justifies the means.’
Reflection Boxes
Draw links between the themes
explored and readers’ own lives and
Experiences.
Simple, everyday subjects.
More personal, tricky issues
Use the text
• Mix up sentences from paragraph
• Ss sort them out
• Variation - mix up sentences from first
paragraphs of two books
Then he took a couple of deep breaths. He
had never been anywhere like this before in
his life. At five minutes to eight, Bruno was
standing outside the restaurant. Okay, here
we go, he said to himself and he opened
the main door. Beads of sweat started to roll
down his face as he stood petrified between
two large marble pillars, staring at the door.
At five minutes to eight, Bruno was
standing outside the restaurant. He had
never been anywhere like this before in his life.
Beads of sweat started to roll down his face as
he stood petrified between two large marble
pillars, staring at the door. Then he took a couple
of deep breaths. Okay, here we go, he said to
himself and he opened the main door.
Chain stories - sentence from book:
Classic or www.edupad.ch.
“This was the day Bruno’s life was going to change
forever.”
Each S adds a sentence to continue story
If difficult, can say ‘Pass’
= Drop Everything And Read
Clap hands, shout, ‘DEAR time!’
Ss & YOU read for about 10 minutes
• To maintain interest
• Make sure Ss understood what read
• Monitor understanding of plot / character
• Review / revise original predictions
• Make further predictions
• Make Ss want to continue reading
Give jumbled summaries / illustrations:
Ss reorder.
• Ss summarize events by retelling from point of view of
one character: classic or www.voicethread.com.
• Give maximum number of sentences.
• Build up visual record of plot: www.padlet.com
• graph / mind map
• compare, retell
?
?
?
?
?
5
Bruno’s
dilemma
4
Zeca’s
evil plan
3
Clara goes
to favela
2
He meets
her father
1
Bruno meets
Clara
The Coconut
Seller
• Give summary so far, with mistakes
• Ss correct
• Ss keep vocabulary notebooks:
www.penzu.com
• words, expressions, idioms, collocations
with examples from text
• Oral book reports – students tell each other
the story: www.spreaker.com
• Dramatic readings of extracts:
www.cueprompter.com
• Role play
• acting out scenes
• write script (www.edupad.ch) and dramatize, in teams
• act out what happens before and next
• Mime incidents / actions, others guess.
• Mime word from story, others guess, then describe incident from story with the word.
• Write interview between TV presenter and character from book, act out without name, others guess who it is: www.spreaker.com.
The Virtuous Circle of Reading
The more students read,
The better they get at it.
And the better they are at it,
The more they read.
• Is there anything you would like to change in the story? Give details.
• Suggest other ways in which the story could end: www.flipsnack.com
• Interludes - filling gaps in narrative
Rewrite from different point of view
• Sequels – what happened next?
• What took place before beginning?
• Short summaries, blurbs, mini reviews:
www.spreaker.com, www.flipsnack.com
• Movie posters, cover designs: www.glogster.com
Comprehension
True / false / doesn’t say
Answer questions
• Write a 150-word summary, but deliberately include 3 incorrect pieces of information
• Exchange with a partner and try to discover the mistakes
Characters
• Who is your favourite character?
• Why? Portrait: www.glogster.com
Plot and theme
• Write a short summary of the events in the story by retelling it from the point of view of one of the characters.
Helbling Readers
Red Series – young teenagers
Blue Series – teens / young adults
Grading on back cover – level for CEF + Cambridge / Trinity exams
• Accompanying audio CD
• Rich variety of before and after activities
• Reflection boxes throughout story, make
• parallels with S’s own life & experiences
• Audio books – full version of story on MP3
• Downloadable worksheets and tests
• Downloadable teacher ’s guide
The Educational Platform
Free teacher registration
Easy-to-use learning management
environment
1000s of free interactive activities
• Set up + personalise individual/class tasks
• Set deadlines at a click
• All exercises are self-correcting
• Immediate feedback and detailed progress reports on all students
www.helblinglanguages.de
Enjoy!
Dr. Thomas Strasser
www.learning-reloaded.com
@thomas_strasser
www.helblinglanguages.com/mindtheapp
https://facebook.com/thomas.strasser969
Images: www.pixabay.com (CC), Google CC search, FlickR