Enhancement of receptive skills will increase the rate at which students comprehend English language and allow students to practice new vocabulary in its context from the text. Rationale for text choice: This text is suitable for High Intermediate level. The class contains 19 students in the list from which usually at least 15 are present. The age range of the class is almost young and from different nationalities. The class is a mixture of male and female ( 1 1 men, 8 women) The text I have chosen is a piece of an article from a magazine from their course book, American English File B, page 83.
The vocabulary is rather advanced and the style is formal. I think it is interesting in terms of theme to students, because they are interested in health matters and the topic is a bit shocking too! In contrast with general views about being active and being healthy! Lead – in Task: (Appendix 1) I will show them two pictures, one coach potato and one athlete on the board; I will ask the class: ‘Winch one is healthier? ‘ “Which one will live longer? ” {They most probably will say the athlete! } “Which are you mostly similar to? Then I will write the title on the board and ask students to discuss in pair how they will complete the sentence: “The secret o a long and happy life is Rationale: By doing this activity the students will engage in the topic. They will predict. They also my use the vocabulary used in the text. Reading Task 1: 1 minute (Reading for the gist) (Appendix 1 and 2) Before starting will explain to them they don’t need to read every details, they should read quickly and choose important information. “Skimming-Reading quickly for gist of a passage. A typical skimming task would be a general question from the teacher… (Learning Teaching, Third edition 2005, Jims Scrivener, Macmillan) I’ll give them a copy of the text which is edited. The title is omitted (Appendix 2) I will chest the hand out (appendix 1) “please read the text quickly, in 1 minute, and answer the two questions. For the first question you should decide what kind of text is this and circle one. For the second you should see if you completed the title correctly or not, if not try to correct it. ” When they finish check their answers in pairs before whole class check and feedback. CICS: How many questions should you answer? (2) Should you read all the details? No) Should you read slowly? (No) How much time do you have (1 minute) I will discuss about question 2 a bit with the whole class. Sub skill: Reading the gist, understanding the main idea Feedback: 1 minute; I will discuss mainly the second questions and elicit their reasons for choosing the answers. I believe feedback is one important part of teaching language A lesson without feedback “is teaching that proceeds forward without reference to what impact this is having on the learner’… ” (Learning Teaching, Third edition 2005, Jims Scrivener, Macmillan) Rationale: This is the first time Students are exposed to the text.
It will help them come up with the main idea of the text, help them practice skimming. I do use instruction checking questions to make sure everybody knows what to do and how to read the text. Reading Task 2: (Reading for details) (Appendix 1 and 2)- 10-15 minutes – At this stage I will pre-teach some vocabularies and phrases using TTT approach: “very advanced age, single-handedly, centenarians, in the shade, use up, multiplying”. First give them handout#1(Appendix I-Reading Task 2) to see how much they can guess the meaning using the context.
I will demo the first one: “read first line of paragraph 2… Do they live long? (Yes), Were they young when they died? (no, old) and encourage class to guess the meaning using the context. They will do the rest in pairs and I will check them as the class. If needed, I will teach the problematic ones. Next, I will give them the copy of the book with the title (Appendix 2) and handouts#2 (Appendix 1- Reading Task 2). I will chest the hands out and will tell them they are going to read the text more in details and find out the answers for these 6 questions.
I will model the first one: “Was he an athlete? (no) a researcher? (yes) where is he from? (Germany) and highlight the part in which I found the answer. The students will do the task individually. Then they will check their answers in pairs. After that I will check the answers as class and give feedback again. In the feedback time I explain what aids they have in scanning to help them locate the answers fast, like: order of questions, key words, context Sub Skill: Guessing the meaning of unknown words or phrases from the context, Reading for details.
Rationale: Although there are plenty of new vocabulary items in the article, I think students would not have any significant difficulties in grasping the overall meaning of the text. I agree with Jeremy Harmer with reference to pre-teaching: “by giving them some or all those rods we deny them (a chance to practice tackling authentic texts)” (Harmer -203). In my perspective, students learn new words with reference to context which will enable them to grasp the word well.
Since I think they may be familiar with the some targeted vocabulary so first I ask them to do the task(handout #1) and then will teach any difficult ones by asking CSS, giving examples, synonyms. Another reason for testing them instead of presenting is to teach them how to find the meaning through the context. Then they will be able to read more life-like and naturally instead of checking the dictionary frequently. I used simple set of questions to encourage students scan the text and find out specific information, which is the aim of this task. You probably want tasks that encourage students to search for specific small sections of text which they can read more carefully to find a required piece of information…….. Students doing this will be reading the material in a similar way to how people might read it in everyday life. ” (Learning Teaching, Third edition 2005, Jims Scrivener, Macmillan) Post Reading Task: Speaking – 10 minutes – I will write 2 questions on the board: “1 . Do you thing Peter Act is right? Why or Why not? ” “2. Do you know any Centenarians? If yes are they lazy or active? I will do the demo by giving my personal ideas about the questions and encourage students to comment on my ideas, agree or disagree and give reasons. Then will put them in groups of 3 and ask them to discuss the questions. Then they will share their ideas with the class and I will give the feedback on the language they have used. Variation: Students can do it as a survey. Interview the class, 3 or 4 students and then give the report orally. The follow up to this activity could be writing the report and handed in to the teacher. If there is time it can be done in the class, if not as a homework.
Sub Skill: To use the language (Vocabulary), Fluency in speaking about their ideas on strange theories or opinions. Rationale: By offering the students the speaking activity I hope to encourage the students to try using the language from their own “store”. They will be enabled to try out the language that has not become their active personal “repertoire” yet. This activity may be fine to set up a balance more than some pressure. It is aimed at building and developing fluency and confidence of the students in practicing the newly learnt material.
