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ESL forum >
Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > i put up with a lot of trouble (reading )
i put up with a lot of trouble (reading )
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vareste
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i put up with a lot of trouble (reading )
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Hello guys!
i have some problems with 4th grades in
teaching comprehension after reading! what methods should i use do u
think?
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2 May 2010
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blizzard1
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Hi vareste,
I can tell you what I do with my ss.
1.I always try to have some pre-reading activities which have key vocabulary from the text we are going to read. I use crosswords, opposites games, hangman, dictionary tasks, etc.
2.We read the text either in plenum, small groups or individually.
3.The ss underline new words and help each other to find the meaning of the words with the help of their dictionaries, sometimes they get the meaning from me or we work as a whole class writing new words on the blackboard.
4.Students answer comprehension questions about the text.
5.We review the answers and talk about the text.
NB I emphasize to my ss that they don �t need to know the meaning of every single word in order for them to understand the whole text.
Hope this might help you.
Have a nice Sunday!
Elizabeth
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2 May 2010
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mena22
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Hi vareste! Elizabeth has already given you some good suggestions. I would add these:
- As a pre-reading activity, ask the students to guess in pairs what the text is about from a picture, keywords, title, parts of the text, whatever. Make them share their ideas with the whole class. If their ideas were right or wrong that �s what they are going to find out while reading the text. I find this activity very important because it gives the students a purpose to read the text.
- After they read the text, always ask them if they were right or wrong and why. You �ll not only check their general understanding of the text, but you �ll also make them see how important the pre-reading activity was and next time they �ll put more effort into it.
- Divide the reading tasks. It �s much less boring and you �ll have exercises with different levels of complexity and difficulty, starting with the easiest one. For example, you may start with a multiple choice exercise (4 to 6), then have a True/False exercise with quotations from the text to justify the false ones, and, finally, sentence completing with information from the text or answering questions.
- If the students are still very young or low achievers, or if the text is difficult, then you should do something else: also divide the reading tasks according to the paragraphs, thus restricting the amount of text needed. For example, ask the students to reread the first two paragraphs of the text and do the multiple choice exercise. Then ask them to read paragraphs 3 and 4 and do the True/False, and so forth.
- Do an after reading activity - writing a parallel text, creating a dialogue from the text, sharing their personal ideas on the topic...
Hope I could help.
Have a nice Sunday,
mena |
2 May 2010
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class centre
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Normally I don �t have this problem since my sts have their own workplace ( we call it "office")
and I wander from one to another and listen to their reading and translation. It works brilliantly although is very tireful for me. But it lets the sts work at their own pace which is one of the basic conditions of successful learning. But sometimes we work all together ( jokes, conversations, games, songs etc.) So, before getting down to read the text the sts can get questions on it. So, they will be more eager to read and understand the text if they know what to focuse on. If you time it, it �ll contribute to their interest As soon as they find the answer to the first question, they underline it and put the number 1 etc.
Another way I use is the following. They have their text before their eyes. I translate the text deliberately making mistakes in translation. They have to react ( you choose how) which keeps them veeeeeery attentive. Then - after analizing the text we can recall all the new words they �ve found here ( from their memory and later from the list) Just give it a think and you can make reading into an attractive adventure for your students. Good luck!
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2 May 2010
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vareste
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thank you very much my collagues! i am sure these will work!
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2 May 2010
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vareste
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Class centre thanx but i have a question, do you translate the text in to the mother tongue?
But i have known that this is not a good idea for foreign lang. learners, am i wrong?
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2 May 2010
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mena22
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Well, I belong to the big group that believes we should use the mother tongue as little as possible. I think we could use that kind of reading exercise - translation - once or twice in a year, but definitely never on a regular basis.
Students have to learn how to infer the meaning of a word through the context. That �s essential to develop their autonomy. Besides, if we translate the text and they know in advance that we �re going to do it, why bother making an effort to understand it? And how will we evaluate their reading skills in English if we have translated the whole text?
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2 May 2010
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class centre
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Yes, We translate the texts when the children are very little and they make their first steps in reading and dealing with the foreign language. They have special books with texts and exercises on the text to complete after they understood it.They ask me questions on the text if they have some doubts. They get stars for completing the whole book ( it �s thin) . They are very excited about doing more and more and proceding further and further. Before letting them just read and understand the texts I need to make sure they are responsible in analizing the text and don �t miss anything important and useful. When they get bigger,they retell me the content of big passages from their book, but at any moment I can ask them - how did you understand this passage or that expression etc.
Yes, Mena, I understand your point, but it �s an old choice - fluent or correct speaking. The system I use allows to acheive both. And the habit to work attentively with the text is not in the last place in this process. Of course, it �s only a part of our lessons, all the other time we speak English as much as we can...
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2 May 2010
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manonski (f)
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I agree with Mena about translating. My thought is if I need to translate chunks of a text, it is because the text was not adapted to the level of my students or I did not have the right resources ready for them. The age level of my students is not important. I teach grade 1 to 6 and we do everything in English. |
2 May 2010
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