Reading and Listening Lesson Musts... and why they're maybes

Chris O óg, IH Dubaiż

Reading and Listening LessonsReading and Listening Lessons

Reading and Listening LessonsReceptive skills work

Can focus on mirco-skills or subskills

Can focus on strategies

Coursebooks use graded texts

Lend themselves to authentic texts

Tend to have a similar procedural template / lesson shape

Teacher silence

Often seen as easy lessons for the teacher

Students don’t always perceive value (wasted time?)

Subskills

Photo courtesy of @KatySDavis, ELTPics

Subskills

PredictionGist / skimmingSpecific information / scanningDetailed comprehensionDeducing lexical meaningInferring meaning/attitudeUnderstanding textual organisationNote-takingSummarising

Top-down or Bottom-up Processes?

1

2

Bottom-Up Processing

•Recognising letters/words•Focus on individual words•Working out syntax

Top-Down Processing

•Use world knowledge•Use experience•Different text style

Images from: Nuttall, Christine. (2005) Teaching Reading Skills. MacMillan: 16 -17

The Musts...

Photo courtesy of @sandymillin ELTPics

Over the next few slides, we'll

Examine 5 things we must do in receptive skills lessons

Discuss these

Daydream

Must 1: Always do Gist

Photo courtesy of me the other night in Edinburgh

Must 1: Always do Gist

Photo courtesy of me the other night in Edinburgh

Must 2: Get the questions right first time!

Photo courtesy of @senicko, ELTPics

X

Must 2: Get the questions right first time!

Find out why the questions were wrong!

Here comprehension skills can be developed and are not just tested. Be confident!

•Peer checking•Underline the answer in the text•Highlight key words•Paraphrase text•Identify referencing•Help learners work out unknown lexis•Provide answers and have learners find why

Must 3: Pre-teach Essential Lexis

Blog post

http://eltreflection.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/what-is-the-point-in-pre-teaching/

Photo courtesy of @sandymillin, ELTPics

1. Why pre-teach?

2. What pre-teach?

3. How many pre-teach?

4. When pre-teach?

Must 4: Only Play the Tape Twice

Photo courtesy of @senicko, ELTPics

Question!

How many times should you play a recording?

Answer?

As many times as you need to, within reason, and not always the whole recording. Use the tape-script.

Must 5: Put the Text away – Get on with Something Else

Photo courtesy of @lauraahaha, ELTPics

You’ve finished the reading work, time to put the text away and do something else?

• Guided Discovery• Learn Lexis• Highlight textual features• Identify referencing• Summarise• Find adjectives• Write Qs for others• Etc.

Summing Up

Photo courtesy of Alison Newman, ELTPics

Reading and Listening Lesson Musts... and why they're maybes Chris O óg, IH Dubaiż

E-mail: chris@ihdubai.comTwitter: @chrisozogBlog: eltreflection.wordpress.com