Techniques and Activities

Topic 1: Techniques and Activities

Refer to screens 4-7 as you read.

Sample Student Book Activities for Teaching Reading

The activities on screens 4-7 are common activities for teaching reading. They are organized into three groups according to their skill focus. The three groups are: decoding, understanding meaning, and application of information. Navigate to screens 4-7 to view activites. Refer to them as you read.

Decoding

Students need to be able to decode. This means they have to recognize letters and know their sounds. Minimal pair activities ask students to discriminate between letters that have similar shapes or sounds. Look at Activity 1 on screen 4. In this activity, students review pairs of letters that can be confusing. For example, they have to remember the shape and sound of b vs. p and l vs. r.

Other activities focus on recognizing words. In Activity 2 on screen 4, a word search activity, students review the names of colors. They need to remember the words and the way they are spelled to find them in the grid.

Readers decode throughout the reading process. Often textbooks have activities in the pre- and post-reading parts of the lesson that focus on decoding. The textbook pulls out letter pairs, words, or sentences for intensive practice.

Techniques and Activities

Read the text. Refer to screens 5-6 as you read.

Understanding Meaning

Students need to understand the meaning of what they read. Activities at each stage of a PDP lesson can help them with meaning. Sometimes they match a picture or summary to a reading passage. Sometimes a matching or checking exercise is a pre-reading activity. In Activity 3 on screen 5, upper primary school students look at, or preview, a text. They look at the picture and predict content. In this way, they activate background knowledge. Checking the type of text shows they understand the text structure. They also understand the text type or genre. Identifying the genre uses top-down processing.

In Activity 4 on screen 5, students read a text and then they scan for specific information. They underline the sentences that give them the answers while they are scanning. Scanning uses bottom-up processing. This is a post-reading activity that shows they understand the meaning of what they read. Underlining or circling makes the activity more kinesthetic. Textbooks often ask comprehension questions after students read. In Activity 5 on screen 6, students read a letter and answer questions. You can have students work in pairs to make these activities more interactive. Other common textbook activities used to check understanding include:

true/false statements

cloze activities

multiple choice questions

Topic 1: Techniques and Activities Refer to screens 6-7 as you read. 

Application of Information

Students need to apply, or use, the information they get from reading. Some textbooks provide graphic organizers for this purpose. Graphic organizers can be a during- or post-reading activity. They help students to process and organize the information they are reading. It is similar to taking notes, and can help students learn how to take notes. Graphic organizers also appeal to visual and kinesthetic learners. In Activity 6 on screen 6, students read the text and write details in the chart.

In Activity 7 on screen 7, students read a text and then complete a brochure for a club. This is another way of using the information in a practical way. Students often complete a form or other type of document during reading, but they may also do it after they read.

Another way to use information is to have students apply it to their own lives. This is personalization. In Activity 8 on screen 7, students read about three interesting places to stay. Then they discuss where they want to stay and why.

Topic 2: Supplementing Materials

Look at the picture of microwave popcorn. Think about ways you can use this in your classroom. Then read the text.

Realia and Authentic Materials in the Classroom

In addition to the textbook, you can bring in various types of authentic materials or print-based realia. These can provide more reading practice on similar topics to your textbook topics.

Magazines and newspapers are very useful. Often there are photos with the stories or advertisements. You can cut out the photos and the articles and have students match the photos to the articles. In addition, you can remove the headlines from short articles or stories and have students match the headlines to them. You can also ask students to read about a famous person in a magazine or online and then fill out a timeline or some other form or diagram.

Many objects, especially products, have text on them. Look again at the picture. It shows the directions for making microwave popcorn. You can cut up directions like these and have students put them in order. Forms, instructions, and signs also use language in a natural context. Using this sort of realia with level-appropriate text can be fun. It can also motivate your students.

When using text-based realia or authentic material, it is important to choose texts that students will be able to read easily. They should not contain too many unknown words. If the material is too difficult, students may become frustrated.