Reading Activities

     In this opportunity we will see an activity we could use to help students to better reading. As we know reading is a receptive skill, every skill needs a lot of practice to master them, but it should be step by step or one step at a time. Thus, as teachers (or prospects of) we should use every tool we know to make students be familiar with, and then they will read with less problems, I mean they will be able to guess the meaning of the word because of the context they have in the text. I entirely agree with the comment Mr. Michael Hoey made about reading “What I did not realize was that it is often possible to guess the meaning of rare words from their context…” Here is the reading activity:

     
     First of all, teacher should talk about headlines he or she just saw or read on the newspaper before coming to class. Then, show worry or surprise because of one of the headlines impacted him/her. After that, ask students if they remember headlines that impacted them as well.

     
     Second, find some headlines in old newspaper or on the Internet and bring them to the class. There should be at least two headlines per student. For example:

Difficult Times Ahead
Forgotten Brother Appears
James Wood to Visit Portland
Landscaping Company Disturbance Regulations
Man Killed in Accident
Mayor to Open Shopping Mall
Mustang Referral Customer Complaint
Overwhelming Response of Voters
Passerby Sees Woman Jump
President Declares Celebration
Professors Protest Pay Cuts
Tommy the Dog Named Hero
Under Pressure from Boss
Unexpected Visit
Widow Pension Pay Committee

     Once, students have headlines in their hands. Teacher should give them two minutes to think about the meaning of each headline (they are, at least, two headlines). When students finish, teacher ask them to read their headlines aloud and give an explanation of what they think about the article would be. After it, teacher should brainstorm on possible meanings behind the weird words or grammars points found in headlines.

     Next, students interchange their headlines. After, they should take two minutes to think about the meaning of each new headline they have. Teacher gets in pairs the students to talk about the headline they just got. Finally, students should give an explanation about the meaning of the headlines. 

Students will love reading!

     In conclusion, I think this reading activity will help students to be familiar with the newspaper topic before they read any paragraph. Furthermore, they will improve the ability to guess or infer the meaning of words in newspapers, and give opinions about what the headlines want to say.

LISTENING ACTIVITIES

     Searching the net I found many listening activities which are very helpful to help students in their listening abilities. It’s important to consider that there are many activities for different students’ levels therefore “teacher should organize by approximate level of difficulty based on rate of speed, vocabulary, content, ambient noise, idiomatic expressions, and other factors”. Depending on the organization of the Listening activity it will be successful. Now, we have an example of a listening activity which is very interesting to use when we want students listen facts, numbers, places, days of week, times of day, actions, people, famous people, etc.

News Quips and Questions

   
     First, we have to look for “right news”, I mean for appropriate newspaper story that is pertinent to the life skill, or subject matter currently being studied. Then, prepare a set of 4-6 comprehension questions, of course, based on the article. After that, we have to read the story aloud at natural speed while learners listen to get the gist (twice). Next, give learners the set of comprehension questions. Finally, we have to read aloud a third time the text for learners to write their answers and a final time for learners to check their answers. If we want the students practice understanding non-face to face speech, we could record the article on a CD, or an mp3 archive and play it rather than reading the article aloud. (Also we could send the archive by Bluetooth if it’s possible in groups)

Please don't do this with your students. You should read aloud!

    

Name and Drink

     Students should sit in a circle. One student starts introducing himself and name a drink he likes. For instance, my name is Rusell and I like Cappuccino. The student sitting next to him will say Rusell likes Cappuccino, my name is Angelina and I like Soda. Students are forbidden to take notes on a paper. Moreover, we should ensure the first student doesn’t get away from the group. I think it’s appropriate for beginner students. However, if students are in a higher level of English, they would add more information about themselves.

Sitting in a circle

     


     As we see these listening activities make students listen actively while we take part in ensuring this activity works for them. Students will enjoy the activity if we create a good atmosphere, it implies that we care what they listen and say.

    
    By way of conclusion, listening activities will help to better the students’ receptive skills. Furthermore, listening activities activate the imagination of students, but we should give some clues to make them have ideas about what they are going to listen. Likewise, we have to keep in mind that the objectives and outcomes are important for students to be able to maximize their potential.

SOME ALTERNATIVES FOR SPEAKING ACTIVITIES

          I read an article related to speaking activities which is named “Teaching Speaking” by M. Enamul Hoque where the author says many interesting things about Teaching Speaking; for example, “teaching speaking should produce the English speech sounds and sounds patterns, select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter, use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as fluency”, etc. Learners (we) should have these concepts in the use of the English language, and consider them as goals if they do not master it. One of the most important stuff that we should not forget is that we always have something to say about what people share with us. Even though, when we do not know what is it about. For these reasons, there are a lot of alternatives for speaking activities which let us organize, imagine and share our thoughts; for instance, discussions, debates, story completion, find the difference, simulations and so on. Now, we are going to look at some alternatives which we would use if they are necessary.

    
     Jigsaw activities: It is a kind of information gap activity which needs several participants to be done. In this activity, people, who take part of it, have a piece of a “puzzle” that needs to be fit with all the pieces into the whole picture. Also, this puzzle would be a tape recording conversation or a story which is separated in several parts. Learners would find it fun because they would encounter different versions of the “puzzle”; finally, they should agree in one.

   One kind of a speaking activity, which is well known as Communicative Output Activity as well, is role play. In this activity, participants are assigned to be characters that they may encounter outside of the classroom. After, this activity is done; participants would have practiced what they needed to make “a real conversation”.

    


     To conclude, it is believed that speaking activities break the traditional classroom where students have prepared questions and answers. In speaking activities, students should manage themselves to express what they think or believe as in real communication. I think that it is advisable that each teacher have to use these activities in order to increase the use of the English language in uncertain situations.