Comments on: Text Your Knowledge (by Nick Jaworski)

By: Barbara

Barbara — Wed, 18 May 2011 05:16:51 +0000

What a great idea, Angie! What a clever way to get students moving

Thanks for sharing!

By: Angie Conti

Angie Conti — Wed, 18 May 2011 05:01:33 +0000

Thanks for this great post! I am also a teacher manager and meet a lot of ‘read aloud rotas’ in class.
Something I have done is to type out comprehension questions on strips and hide them around the classroom before the students arrive – such as under chairs/desks, behind doors, curtains, et. Then students read the text and hunt for the questions. I then put the students in groups with a complete list of (the same) questions so they can discuss the answers.
Originally the activity was aimed at kids, but adults enjoy it too!

By: Elizabeth Anne

Elizabeth Anne — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 07:09:42 +0000

Yes a great post, but I have the feeling that your original question was “not fair”. I know … life is not fair … but all the same I just want to say that were I asked “what would I do with a reading text”, no way would I come up with answers such as a running dictation (a favourite of mine) because I do not consider that to be a reading activity. Could you not give your candidates a little more chance by changing the question to “what would you do with this text” but then, if they have not had the initiative to read your blogs before coming for an interview ….
BTW in answer to your original question, my response is frequently, to get them to draw it (obviously this depends on the text) and that’s the subject of my workshop next month at ISTEK – I just looove Istanbul

By: Nadya

Nadya — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:04:37 +0000

The rotation of who answers questions is another technique. I have been in workshops where we were placed in groups based on our shoe size, or height, any category will do in order to create the groups. Each group has different questions to answer. The time provided depends on the level of reading comprehension. One problem is evaluating who does the scanning within the group but asking each member of the group to answer a question would solve this problem.

By: Old Tricks Revisited | A Journey in TEFL

Old Tricks Revisited | A Journey in TEFL — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:45:11 +0000

[...] I’ve read a great post at Teaching Village by Nick Jaworski. There are more examples on how you can use dictation in your [...]

By: Most Tweeted Articles by English Language Teaching Experts

Most Tweeted Articles by English Language Teaching Experts — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:20:25 +0000

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By: Nick Jaworski

Nick Jaworski — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:58:23 +0000

Hi Gail, teaching kindie is a different ball game entirely. I don’t envy you the job Thanks for the input. One thing I used to like to do with kids is placing conversation bits with pics around the room and then having the students find them. Then they could use the bits to act out the scene. That was always fun.

I really like your idea Barb. It sounds like a lot of fun and clarifying the question really helps even out the playing field. I think I’ll start using this activity even with my adults. Thanks

By: Barbara

Barbara — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:43:24 +0000

Certainly no excuse to simply have students read and answer questions, or read out loud after reading your post! What a great list of ideas to turn a potentially dull task into an interactive activity.

Let’s see….I have one small technique to add to your list, for doing the comprehension questions, especially with older children and teens. After we’ve read the text, I have them turn their books (or the handout) face down. I ask the question and make sure that everyone understands the question. Then, at my signal students turn over the reading and race to find the location that answers the question.

I’d found that some students got bogged down trying to understand the English of the questions. By the time they figured out what was being asked, another student had already answered. They never had much chance to develop scanning skills. Turning the page over made the process more playful, and gave all students a non-threatening way to clarify the questions before looking for the answers.

By: Gail P

Gail P — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:29:08 +0000

Great question and one that actually bridges all the school years. I teach kindergarten which is known as a language rich environment. Language comprehension and expression are skills being developed daily. I would present the vocabulary challenges, including phrases that are unfamiliar, as part of the pre-reading time. Being able to decode word has little to do with the comprehension. I would then invite the students to silently read the text and discuss it in a think-pair-share task. I would also be generous in my use of text to speech software to take out the reading challenges aspect and cue in on the meaning.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:07:08 +0000

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