First, the teacher selects articles from newspapers graded-down for non-native speakers. Texts printed on large sheets are used for whole class activities.
2．Prediction activities
The teacher shows only the title of the text at this stage, and asks the students to predict the topic based on the following questions: What was the event? And why did the event occur?After that, the teacher introduces what kind of strategies are necessary for reading newspaper articles and achieving the above purpose; such as skimming or scanning. This activity assists the students in acquiring skills to deal with unfamiliar vocabulary without depending on dictionaries.
3. Introduction of reading techniques
At this stage, the teacher shows the students the whole text printed on a large sheet put on a board. First, the teacher shows skimming strategies to assist the readers. After the demonstration, the teacher asks the students some questions such as: What is the text about? How do we know about the topic of the text? What is the purpose of this type of text? Next, the teacher asks the students to skim through the text and discuss the above questions in groups. Skimming strategies are introduced to get an overall picture and to ascertain the genre and nature of the text. Discussion with peers and the teacher at this stage might provide general information about the topic and structure of the text, and the students might be able to predict further what the text is about.
Next, scanning activities are introduced to teach ways of finding appropriate information in the text that is necessary for successful reading comprehension. With this exercise, the students may be able to locate specific information about the topic of the text. To assist in scanning, the teacher asks the students to answer the questions designed for the prediction activities, and to write the responses on the board. Answering the designed questions confirms or disproves the readers’ predictions.
4. Summarization
The teacher summarizes the basic method of skimming and scanning. The key is to combine methods with an understanding of the text.
THIS activity aims at giving students an opportunity to practice and develop their reading skills. Any text（fables, fairy tales）that the teacher believes will be motivating and interesting to students can be used.
Step One:
Select the passage you want to be reconstructed and make copies of it. After you’ve done that, divide the passage by the number of students you have in your class, and then cut the text into small pieces. It is also possible to pair students up and have them work on only one piece of the text (instead of working individually on different pieces). This will allow students to interact even more during the activity. It would also be a good idea to put some dictionaries in the classroom.
Step Two:
It is important to come up with some pre-reading questions to ask the students, so they can get more interested and motivated to perform the activity. For instance, if you have selected a short story that describes life in the future, you could start by asking the students what their life will be like 30 years from now. You might even show a few minutes of a movie that explores this subject, and then propose the activity for the students.
Step Three:
After you have asked the students all the pre-reading questions you should give each one of them a piece of the text. If students cannot guess the meaning of a new word from the context they are free to use a dictionary. Since one of the goals of this activity is developing skills and strategies it is important that the teacher let the students perform the entire task by themselves.
After they have read and understood their part, they should summarize it for the class using their own words. The class, as a group, will reconstruct the text so it has a certain type of sequence. After that, the students may have come up with a variety of answers. In regard to this, the teacher may reserve his or her opinion and invite the students to offer their arguments concerning their sequence.
Step Four
Finally, the teacher hands out the original text and discusses it with the group. The teacher may also comment on students’ work and give them some tangible and practical advice.
THIS lesson focuses on helping make sense of the strange forms used in newspaper headlines. You may want to review some of the most common grammar exceptions found in newspaper headlines before you take this lesson into class.
Step One:
Find some headlines in old newspapers or on the Internet and cut them out. There should be at least two headlines per student.
Step Two:
Pass out one of the headlines to each student. Give them a few minutes to think about the meaning of each headline. Ask students to read their headlines aloud and “translate” each headline into “proper” English and give an explanation of what they think the related article concerns. As a class, brainstorm on possible structural meanings behind the “strange” grammar found in headlines.
Step Three:
Ask students to fit the following headlines into the correct categories: Noun Phrases;Noun Strings; Simple Tenses instead of Continuous or Perfect; Auxiliary Verbs Dropped in Passive Form; Articles Dropped; and Infinitive to Indicate Future. You may want to have students pair up to do this.
Step Four:
Ask each student to review their “translation” and the teacher corrects the exercise as a class. As a homework option, you may want to ask students to find some headlines on their own and repeat this exercise. A further challenge might be to ask students to find headlines, read the article, and then ask other students to interpret their headlines in small groups.
