Teaching English as a Second

Language
Chapter 8
Dr. Muhammad Kassim  
 TEACHING
WRITTEN
COMMUNICATION
SKILLS
 Teaching Reading
Comprehension Skills

All Cycles
 The SQ3R Strategy

1. (S)urvey the assigned reading by first skimming through it.

2. Then formulate (Q)uestions by turning all chapter headings and

subheadings into questions to answer as you read.
3. Next (R)ead the assigned section and try to answer those questions
you formulated.
4. Now (R)ecite the information by turning away from the text as soon
as you've finished reading the assigned section and reiterate it in your
own words.
5. Finally, (R)eview what you read by going back to your questions, the
chapter headings, and asking yourself what they are all referring to,
what they mean.
 K-W-L Chart

• K = What do I know already about this topic?

• W = What do I want to know?
• L = What I learn from this reading?
 Teaching Pre Reading

Why should teachers start with pre reading

activities?
Use pre-reading activities to prepare students
for reading
The activities you use during pre-reading may
serve as preparation in several ways. During pre-
reading you may:
1. Assess students' background knowledge of the topic and
linguistic content of the text.
2. Give students the background knowledge necessary for
comprehension of the text, or activate the existing knowledge that the
students possess.
3. Clarify any cultural information which may be necessary to
comprehend the passage.
4. Make students aware of the type of text they will be reading and the
purpose(s) for reading.
5. Provide opportunities for group or collaborative work and for class
discussion activities.
 Sample pre-reading activities:

• Using the title, subtitles, and divisions within the

text to predict content and organization or
sequence of information
• Looking at pictures, maps, diagrams, or graphs
and their captions
• Talking about the author's background, writing
style, and usual topics
• Skimming to find the theme or main idea and
eliciting related prior knowledge
• Reviewing vocabulary or grammatical structures
• Reading over the comprehension questions to focus
attention on finding that information while reading
• Constructing semantic webs (a graphic arrangement
of concepts or words showing how they are related)
• Doing guided practice with guessing meaning from
context or checking comprehension while reading
 More Pre Reading Samples
DISCUSSION. Create a discussion about the
topic. Teacher prepares 4 sentences expressing
opinions about the topic, then sticks them in 4
corners of the classroom. Students go and stand
near the opinion they disagree with the most.
(People usually want to explain why they
disagree with something.) They decide in their
groups what to say to the class about the topic
during a quick whole class discussion.
• I’VE LEARNED THAT… Ask students (in
advance) to bring in some objects related to
the topic of the up-coming reading and some
texts off the Internet about the topic. Students
explain why they chose these objects/texts
and give one example of a fact that they
learned from this extra reading.
• I’M LISTENING TO YOU: Ask students to work in
pairs. Challenge them to talk in English (and
only English) for 1 minute about a topic.
Student A talks first. Student B listens actively;
e.g. nodding, making appropriate eye contact,
saying ‘uh-huh’, ‘mmmm’, etc. Feedback: Did
the speaker feel listened to? Repeat with a new
topic, students change roles. Final feedback:
teacher highlights the active nature of listening.
• GUESSING FROM WORDS: Before students
look at the text they are going to read, the
teacher writes 5 or 6 words from the text on
the board and asks the students to guess the
topic.
• GUESSING FROM PICTURES: The teacher finds
3 pictures or objects which are connected to
the text and ask the students to guess how
they are connected. Students read the text to
check.
• GUESSING FROM SENTENCES: The teacher
dictates 3 sentences from the passage.
Students write them down and check with a
friend. The sentences go on the board if
necessary as a final check. Then the teacher
asks how these sentences might be
connected. What is the text about? Students
predict then read the text quickly to check
their predictions.
• HOW MANY WORDS DO YOU KNOW? The teacher prepares the
board by writing the letters of the alphabet in 3 or 4 columns. The
students form two lines standing behind each other (so in a class of
30, there will be 15 and 15. Use 2 colored markers so you know which
team wrote what. The first student at the front of each team gets the
board marker. The teacher gives a topic to the class. The 2 students
move to the board and write one word related to the topic on the
board next to the letter it begins with, then pass the marker/chalk to
the next students in their team and go to the back of the queue. The
2 teams compete to write as many words as possible on the board in
3 minutes. The team with the largest number of appropriate and
correctly spelled answers wins!
 
 Through Reading Activities
1.Identify topic sentences and the main idea of
paragraphs.
2.Distinguish between general and specific ideas.
3.Identify the connectors (however, moreover, thus,
etc) to see how they link ideas within the text.
4.Check whether or not predictions and guesses are
confirmed.
5.Skim/scan a text for specific information.
6.Answer literal and inferential questions
7. Guess word meanings by using context clues, word formation clues
or cognates
8. Effective dictionary use
9. Scan and skimming for specific pieces of information
10. Pay attention to the grammatical function of unknown words
11.Predict text content
12.Analyze connectors and key words
13. Identify topic sentences that contain the main idea of the
paragraph
14. Use "fix-up" strategies, such as rereading, to repair comprehension
when it breaks down.
15. Use visual and sensory images such as graphic
organizers to identify the main idea or themes of a
text 16. paraphrase for the purpose of summarizing
17.Distinguish between general and specific ideas
18. Time readings for achieving automaticity
19. Recognize connecting ideas via connectors
20. Distinguish between fact and opinion
21. Recognize lexical clues (e.g. reference words)
22. Make conclusions and drawing inferences
 Post Reading Questions/Activities
1. True and false statements
2. Identify theme
3. Fill in graphic organizers
4. Cloze exercise
But!!!!
What about interactive post reading activities?
 Role Playing
If the text is in the form of a dialogue, the
students can act out the parts. This is especially
effective if the story - or part of it - is a strip-
cartoon.
In other texts, students can be given roles based
on characters in the story.
Or, in the case on non-fiction, roles related to
the situation of the text can be acted out.
 Retell the Story
This can be done from the point of view of one
of the characters, or from a more impersonal
perspective. It can help to list the important
verbs from the text in the present tense. The
students can then retell the story, changing the
verbs into the past tense.
 Identify Differences

The students listen to the teacher reading a text

with some changes. Initially, this is an individual
activity. Then, in pairs students discuss their
findings. This activity is ended after class reports
from groups of four, each reporting one change.
As a variation, the reporting can be done
competitively by assigning two groups to write
the changes on the board with a time limit.
 Character Studies
This works well when using a class reader. Choose
some of the main characters from the story. Create a
grid on the board [or photocopy]. Write the names of
the chosen characters along the top. Then write
personal information down the left hand side. For
example: age, interests and hobbies, education, family
background, problems in life, ambitions... In pairs or
small groups, the students can discuss their answers.
When finished it can be interesting or amusing to
compare the ideas from the different groups.
 Which Character?
This also works well when using a class reader.
Copy descriptions of characters from the book,
blanking out their names. Write the names of
many of the characters from the book on the
board, or on the photocopy. Students need to
match the names and descriptions.
 Continue the Story
This can be done orally first, then as a writing
exercise. The writing can be done in the class or
as homework. Often it works well to begin the
writing in class to make sure the students have
the right idea, and then continued for
homework
 Reconstruction of a Text
Find a short text and photocopy it. Cut the
sentences out and paste them to pieces of card.
Give each student a card. They are not allowed
to show their text to the other students, but
must read it aloud. The group must decide on
the order of the sentences.
 Treasure Hunt
This works well as an occasional activity with
children and teenagers, especially if you are
lucky enough to have an outside space, or more
than one room to use. Prepare some small gifts
and hide them well. Then write clues around the
room(clues that provide information related to
the text). The clues can lead to the next clue,
until the treasure is found. Once or twice a year
is probably enough for this kind of game.
 Add-on Information
The entire class adds to existing information in
this exercise. Student 1 recalls a piece of
information. Student 2 repeats that information
and adds another piece of information. Student
3 repeats what was given by 1 and 2 and adds a
third piece of information. This continues until
all the students have had an opportunity to
contribute. Note: The add-on information does
not have to follow the sequence in the text.
 TV Reporters

Students can pretend to be television reporters

with two minutes to sum up the highlights of the
"story." They work in small groups to decide on
the highlights which are written as news prompt
on a laptop or a large piece of paper put on a
stand.
 Main Ideas List

Students list the five (or more) main ideas of the

text beginning with the most important to the
least (not following the order in the text). This
can be done in a Round Robin type of activity, in
which each student is a group of 4-5 students
takes turn saying one main idea.
 Teacher-absent Student

A student becomes the "teacher" and explains

what was covered in class with a student who
was absent. This is a good and meaningful
activity because the students are trained to
decide important aspects of a lesson. The
activity may become really entertaining when
the teacher plays a role of a real teacher the
class know.
 Debate

The students can take specific sides of a topic

and debate an issue. Depending on the levels of
students, the activity can range from the
students just mentioning likes and dislike to a
real debate activity.
 Hot Seat

One student becomes the writer of a text or a

character in a text, answering the class s
questions. The questions can be creative, whose
answers are not found in the text. Here, there is
aspect of unpredictability, which is one
important characteristics of real communication.
Funny answers are expected, and these are the
interesting part of the activity.
 Clipping

In groups, students produce a poster containing

several pictures related to the topic of the text.
These pictures could be contained in the text or
produced by the students themselves. Then,
representative of each group describes the
picture to students who play the role guests of
an exhibition.
End of Chapter 8
GOOD
WORK BUT
NOT
GOOD
LUCK !