Reading and Listening

• In this CPD we will look at… bottom-up & top –down processes various reading skills practical ideas for reading and listening

Receptive skills

• Texts and recordings need to be interesting and the tasks should reflect real-life tasks

• Students should draw on their topic and general knowledge as much as possible before and during the activity

Who are they? Are they outdoors/ indoors?

Where are they?Who’s Fenton?

What’s happening?

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GRSbr0EYYU

What contributes more towards successful comprehension?

• Knowing all key words in the text

Or

• Having background knowledge of the topic

Bottom- up vs. Top-down

Should we pre-teach vocabulary?

‘Ok, but what if I want to give my students a listening/reading that is above their level to

challenge them. I should teach them the difficult vocabulary first so they can answer

the questions...’

Grade the task NOT the language

Instead of providing a list of key words set up a pre-discussion during which students need to use words directly topic-related Pre-teach the words

they’ll need to do the task not the unknown ones

Use the words productively with the lesson

Ideas for pre-teaching• Categorising

o Topicso Words I know/ I don’t know/ I’m not sure of

• Connecting wordso Write sentences/ paragraphs using ‘secret’ words...other

pair needs to guess which words/phrases are new • Predicting

o From the list of words• Using the context of the text

o Pull out some sentences from the text using the key words- gap fill

• Picture matching

What is the genre/topic of the text?

Wordle.net

1. From headline:‘A Strad with strings attached’

2. From sub-headline:

3. From a picture:

Predicting

Reading (and listening) skills

• Previewing• Predicting

• Scanning• Skimming• Reading for detail• Inferring • Extensive reading

Scanning

Scanninghttp://cueprompter.com

• Olga: For us it’s quite normal to have two weddings. I had two weddings. The first wedding is the civil ceremony which everyone has. Then, if you want, you can have a church wedding. In Germany we also have a special evening called Polterabend. People bring old cups and plates and they throw these on the floor! This is great fun, and we make a lot of noise! Then the new couple sweep up the broken pottery together. _________________________________

• • Manuela: In Colombia we have a very beautiful candle ceremony. There are three candles, the bride lights the candle on her right and the groom lights the candle

on his left. Then, together, the new husband and wife light the middle candle. Now there are three burning candles. Then the two candles on the left and right are blown out and the middle candle is left to burn alone. I was so happy doing this!

• _____________________________________________________________________ • • Meryem: There are many different kinds of wedding ceremonies in Turkey. Some brides have a separate celebration with their own family and can’t see their future

husband until the day of the wedding. We have a funny tradition with the bride’s shoes. • Her girlfriends write their names in her shoes. At the end of the day the bride looks into her shoes. If someone’s name is missing that means they are the next

person to get married. My sister was very happy because her name was no longer there. • _____________________________________________________________________ • • Noshilu: In Kenya and Tanzania the Maasia tribe have quite a simple wedding. The bride wears all her jewellery – lots of earrings, necklaces and bracelets. The most

important necklace is the one made by the bride’s mother. It’s always very beautiful and sometimes it can be very long. My necklace went down to my knees! My new husband came to my family’s home and walked me to his family’s home. I was then given some cows as a wedding present which now belong to my husband.

• _____________________________________________________________________ • • Lin: Our weddings have a lot of red because for us it’s the colour of love, wealth and happiness. My wedding gown was the traditional red, and so were the

invitations I sent out to our guests. The wedding gifts from my husband’s family were in red baskets. • Nowadays in China it’s quite usual to have a video made in a park. The bride and groom give each other handkerchiefs with a picture of a duck on because ducks

always stay together. And the colour of the hankies? ____________________________ • • Barbara: There are many different kinds of weddings depending on where your family comes from. You can get married in a hall, on the beach, at home – wherever

and however you want. It’s also possible in the US to get married only a few hours after you • propose. I was on holiday in Las Vegas and my boyfriend decided he wanted us to get married so we did!

__________________________________________________

Online-stopwatch.com

Lucy gets a new job on a newspaper

• Predicting

• Skimming

• Language work

Reading tasks

• Most coursebooks:1. Warmer to introduce the topic2. True/ false, multiple choice qs (not too open-

ended)3. Read the text and answer4. Discussion/ language work

Why not try something different...• Student-set questionsa) gives the students real-life like purpose b) activates background knowledge and vocabulary

Collaborative Reading

• ‘Think aloud’

• ‘Paragraph leader’ – Reciprocal teachinga. clarifying any problemsb. Stating the main ideac. Summarising the content of the paragraphd. Predicting what will be in the next paragraph

Summarising

• Write your own title, headlines for each paragraph

• Summarise the reading for a child...

Students as artists

• Not only for visual learners...

Student-made tasks

Students cut newspaper articles into several parts

for the other student to put it back together

Students can black out sentences/paragraph from

the text and think of multiple replacements

Brian’s newspaper activity

Using comprehension questions differently

• Speaking/Writing: – predict the content of the article based on the

questions • Rewriting :– Before reading: Rewrite true/false statements into

questions– After reading: Rewrite the text so all the

statements become true

Listening

How to help students become better listeners?

• The tasks should be real-life as often as possible:• Reply/ choose a reply/ comment/ agree• Follow the instruction to make an origami

model• Note down suggestions/ message/ address/ the

exact words she uses to refuse the offer• Listen again until you have learned the poem by

heart.

Listening

1. Bottom – up (before listening):

A. Pronunciation focusa. drilling key phrasesb. focus on connected

speech c. Chinese whispers,

dictations

B. Vocabulary focusd. secret words/phrase use it naturally in a sentencee.Write a story using those words

Listening dos and don’ts

• Process rather than product• Keep the recording short (2min)• Don’t be led by one strong student• Don’t immediately acknowledge correct answers• If multiple listening is required differentiate • During feedback go only through the answers

they’re not sure of

Listening for the main idea

• Stop the listening/ video: what will happen next?

• If it’s a video: play the rest but muted – what do you think happened?

• Play the rest of the recording check if the guesses were correct.

pair-check, pair-check, pair-check

Listening for detail

• Listening Bingo – Students can predict 5 words they think they’ll

hear based on the topic and then if they hear them circle them

• Grab it when you hear it! - Put phrases/ sentences/ summarising statements

from the listening around the wall when they hear they need to take it off

Paraphrase what you’ve heard

• Write key words on the board: Your students need to paraphrase what was

said but without using the key words

Extensive listening • Could be used with readers• Simultaneous reading and listening to the

same text • Reading the audio script first and then

listening to the text

Listening1.Where is it?

2. Destinations?3. Details

Student-made task

• Multiple choice questions based on ted talks

Thank you

• www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org• Elt-resourceful.com• Onestopenglish.com

skills reading topic based lesson plans ‘Live in London’ authentic podcasts with a script

• Wordle.net• Cueprompter.com