Effective Strategies to Enhance the Implementation of the Reading Workshops of

the English Language Curriculum at KS2

English Language Education SectionCurriculum Development Institute

Education Bureau

Collaborative Research & Development(“Seed”) Project for 2009 – 2010

School-based English Language Curriculum

Objectives of the Project (I)

• To help pupils progress in the development of reading skills and strategies from KS1 to KS2

• To enhance teachers’ skills and strategies in conducting Reading Workshops at KS2, especially supported reading and independent reading

• To enhance teachers’ questioning skills to help pupils develop critical thinking skills and creativity

Objectives of the Project (II)

• To widen pupils’ exposure to a variety of text types, including both narrative and information texts

• To develop appropriate learning, teaching and assessment tasks / materials

• To promote reading across the curriculum

• Introduction

• Our school

• Positive impacts of the Seed Project

• Way Forward

Contents

School background

HKFYG Lee Shau Kee Primary School

• Established in 2000

• Situated in Tin Shui Wai

Our English teachers

• Energetic, open-minded, hard-working• Ready to accept new ideas and make innovative changes

School background

Our pupils

• Obedient and polite

• Limited family support

• Less motivated in learning English

• Lack confidence in using English

School background

Development of reading skills

Pupils• Struggling to progress from KS1 to KS2 in

the development of reading skills• Experiencing difficulty in reading information

books• Lacking confidence in handling less familiar

text types • Lacking strategies in understanding the

intention of the writer

Development of reading skills

Teachers

• Limited experience in conducting the Reading Workshops at KS2

• Unfamiliar with the use of supported reading and independent reading

• Exploring effective strategies to provide support in reading (e.g. use of questioning techniques, prompts)

• Exploring ways to cater for learner diversity in the development of reading skills

What can we do?

Seed Project

To help pupils:

• approach a variety of text types

• progress in the development of reading skills and strategies from KS1 to KS2

• read across the curriculum

“Seed” ProjectEffective Strategies to Enhance the

Implementation of the Reading Workshops of the English Language Curriculum at KS2

To enhance teachers’ skills in:

• conducting the Reading Workshops at KS2

• using questions to help pupils develop critical thinking skills and creativity

• developing appropriate learning, teaching and assessment tasks / materials

Project Information

Target level:

P.5

No. of classes:

5 classes

No. of tryouts:

3 tryouts

Tryout schedule:

1st tryout: 3 -12 November 2009

2 -11 December 2009

2nd tryout: 28 January – 9 February 2010

3rd tryout: 17 May – 1 June 2010

Seed Project

Food labels

Leaflet

Approach a variety of text types

Recipes Explanation ofhow and why

Story

Instructions Story, PoemStoryExpositions,

InstructionsExpositions

• Identifying the purpose, structure and grammar features of different text types • Broadening pupils’ horizons through reading authentic materials

The Birthday

Feast

I Know Why I

Brush My Teeth

Charlie and the

Chocolate Factory

How to Have a Green Day

Our Fragile Environ-me

nt

Earth Saviour Environ-mental Test

Games We Play

Fun and Games

Rollercoaster

Progress in the development of reading skills

and strategies from KS1 to KS2

Supported ReadingIndependent Reading

Supported Reading

Supported ReadingIndependent Reading

Our Fragile Environment

Earth Saviour – Environmental Test

G.E. Text

• Acquire vocabulary and language structures• Develop basic concepts about the topic

• Connect what is read and already known• Integrate information

• Compare and contrast ideas • Analyse and apply ideas / information

• Evaluate own practices• Give critical response

Q: How can we save the Earth at school and at home?

Q: How can we save the Earth in our daily life?

Q: How much have we done to save the Earth?

Seed Project

Q: What are the problems the Earth is facing?

Q: Why do we need to save our Earth?

That’s our Earth

How to Have a Green Day

Our Fragile Environ-

ment

Earth Saviour

Environmental Test

Progress in the development of reading skills

and strategies from KS1 to KS2

Seed Project

Guess the meaning of unknown words by using pictorial and contextual clues

Identify key words for the main ideain a sentence

Make predictions

Understand the information on the book cover and contents page

Recognise the features of some common text types

Work out the meaning of unknown words by using word association, visual clues, context & knowledge of the world

Skim a text to obtain the main ideas

Understand intention, attitudes and feelings conveyed in a text

Understand the information provided on the book cover, index and glossary

Recognise the features of a variety of text types

Re-read the text to establish and confirm meaning

Construct meaning from texts

KS1 KS2

Conducting the Reading Workshops at KS2

Where do I begin?

Cover Blurb

Making effective use of information textsto develop reading skills and strategies

Competent StageHow to Have aGreen Day

Everyone can help to look after the natural world. Follow the instructions in this book, and make sure you have a green day every day. You really can make a difference to help save our planet.

Contents page

ContentsWhat does green mean? 3What do you need to be green? 5Getting up 6Going to school 11At school 12After school 16Going to bed 20Summary 22Glossary 23Index 24

Seed Project

How to Have a

Green Day

Competent StageHow to Have a

Green Day

Everyone can help to look after the natural world. Follow the instructions in this book, and make sure you have a green day every day. You really can make a difference to help save our planet.

Info Trail

Conducting the Reading Workshops at KS2

Blurb

Making effective use of information textsto develop reading skills and strategies

Cover Contents page

ContentsWhat does green mean? 3What do you need to be green? 5Getting up 6Going to school 11At school 12After school 16Going to bed 20Summary 22Glossary 23Index 24

Seed Project

• Connect different parts to understand the overall organisation of the text

How to Have a Green Day

Introduction

Instructions for readers to follow

Conclusion

Reading tools

Conducting the Reading Workshops at KS2

Making effective use of information textsto develop reading skills and strategies

ContentsWhat does green mean? 3What do you need to be green? 5Getting up 6Going to school 11At school 12After school 16Going to bed 20Summary 22Glossary 23Index 24

Cover BlurbCompetent Stage

How to Have aGreen Day

Everyone can help to look after the natural world. Follow the instructions in this book, and make sure you have a green day every day. You really can make a difference to help save our planet.

Contents page

Seed Project

• Familiarise pupils with the organisation cues (e.g. headings, bullets, tables)• Use the introductory and concluding chapters to highlight and reinforce key concepts

A green day

How to Have a Green Day

Conducting the Reading Workshops at KS2

Read p.9-10 to find out the green instructions for washing breakfast dishes.

P.10They can be recycled. When they are clean, put them in a box………..…………………………….………………………………………………………….

P.9Wash up your breakfast dishes by hand. It only takes a few seconds…..…………………………..…………………………... Should I read out

the whole page to answer the teacher’s question?

All sentences are instructions for washing breakfast dishes.

Making effective use of Supported Reading

Seed Project

Present manageable challenges that encourage purposeful reading

Observe pupils’ response and provide feedback on their application of reading strategies Oh no! They missed the

semantic clues – the verbs at the beginning of a sentence! It’s difficult for them to distinguish main ideas from supporting details.

How to Have a Green Day

Conducting the Reading Workshops at KS2

Not every sentence is an instruction for washing breakfast dishes. Look for action words that come at the beginning of an instruction. Use the following table to help you.

Green instructions for washing breakfast dishes:

Instructions that tell us

what to do

Instructions that tell us

what not to do

• Wash up your breakfast dishes by hand.

Look for action word Look for ‘Don’t’

Making effective use of Supported Reading

Seed Project

Observe pupils’ response and provide feedback on their application of reading strategies

Guide pupils toattend to thesemantic clues

How to Have a Green Day

Read across the curriculum

G.E. Text

Unit 3: What’s in our food?

Concepts of food pyramid and a balanced diet

Teeth

structure

Tooth

decay

Teeth

changing

Teeth

brushing

Types

of teeth

Germs called bacteria

Bacteria in the plague

feed on the sugar

Food stick on your teeth

Acid Holes

Reading Workshop:

I Know Why I Brush My teeth

Concepts of growth and health

Providing coherent and connected learning

experiences to acquire and apply knowledge

• Developing language skills and establishing cross-curricular linkage

Seed Project

I Know Why I Brush

My Teeth

G.E. Text

Unit 3: What’s in our food?

Should we remove all the sugary food from our Christmas party menu? Why?

Should we keep all the sugary food in our Christmas party menu? Why?

Can we have snacks and drinks without getting holes in teeth? How?

I think we should ___________________________________________________________________

Read across the curriculumSeed

Project

Sam told us sugary food would make holes in our teeth. Let us look at the menu for our Christmas party again and decide if we should remove all the sweet food.

Providing coherent and connected learning experiencesto acquire and apply knowledge

Using questions to help pupils developcritical thinking skills and creativity

Seven Up P.21Equipment: A ball and a wallSteps: 1. Bounce the ball off the wall 2. …………………………… 3. … add a trick…………… ............................................

Task: Redesigning a new ball game for school picnic

Where are we going for school picnic? What changes will you make to the equipment or steps?

What other changes can we make to the game? Why?

Don’t bounce the ball. Kick the ball!

More difficult!

Add more tricks! Very exciting!

Use a bigger ball. Easier!

Change the steps! More

fun!

Seed Project

Present the new situation

Brainstorm the possibilities of changes :• size of ball• number of steps• types of tricks

Fun and Games

Using questions to help pupils developcritical thinking skills and creativity

ThermometerFearWas Mickey a little scared of the rollercoaster ride or was he very frightened? Read Chapter 1 creatively. Let’s jump right into the scene to watch Mickey.

Use your- eyes to see Mickey’s action- ears to hear Mickey’s words and his voice- hands to feel Mickey’s heartbeat

Understanding the character’s fear of going on the rollercoaster

• Use different senses to locate details to support understanding of the character’s feelings in narrative texts• Use prompts to encourage pupils to read between the lines

Seed Project

Rollercoaster

Using questions to help pupils developcritical thinking skills and creativity

Winning and Losing

Vince Lombardi, a famous football coach, once said, “Winning isn’t everything – it’s the only thing.”…………………………………...………………….……......................................They say that games should teach people to work together, not against each other. P.6

How many groups of opinions are there?

Understanding the writer’s intention / attitude

Reading opposite views on winning and losing

Draw attention to the use of emphatic words to express strong opinions

Which opinion sounds the strongest? What strong words are used? Whose opinion is it?

Seed Project

Fun and Games

Broaden perspectives by viewing a situation from different angles

Develop pupils’ own questioning strategies and provide opportunities to question obvious bias

Do you agree with the football coach? Why?

What would you tell him if you met him today?

Fun and Games

Developing appropriate learning, teaching and assessment tasks / materials

• Design questions on application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation to assess pupils’ progress in the development of reading skills, creativity and critical thinking • Observe and assess pupils’ understanding and interpretation of book content

Task:

Make a poster to

teach children how

to brush their teeth

Task: Charlie won the chocolate factory. What would Willy Wonka say at the award ceremony? Fill in Mr. Wonka’s speech bubble

Task: If you were Mickey, would you tell people you were afraid to go on the rollercoaster? Why?

Task: Write a thank you card to the tree to thank him for what he does for us

Seed Project

I Know

Why I

Brush My

Teeth

Charlie and the

Chocolate Factory

RollercoasterOur Fragile Environ-

ment

During the Seed Project…

Challenges our pupils faced:

Changes

Challenges our teachers faced:

Pressure

Support:• explain the rationale of the Seed Project• teach them the reading skills explicitly• give positive encouragement

Support:• seek administrative support• allocate time for co-planning • learn through peer observation and sharing of experiences• arrange co-teaching

Impact on pupil learning

• More interested in reading different text types• More able to apply a wider range of reading skills

and strategies to handle different text types• More ready to give a critical response to the book

content• More confident in reading English books

Impact on project teachers

• A variety of teaching skills and strategies are developed to conduct Reading Workshops

• Questioning techniques are explored and improved• Professional development is enhanced through

co-planning, sharing and peer observation• A collaborative culture is fostered

Way Forward

Sustaining the impact of the Seed Project• Organise in-house workshops and sharing to

enhance teachers’ professional development

• Deploy some of the experienced project teachers to continue with the project at P.5

• Deploy the panel chair to lead some new project teachers to develop materials for the tryouts at P.6

Sustaining the impact of the Seed Project• Review and revise the existing school-based English r

eading curriculum to better cater for the needs of pupils

• Strengthen the development of reading skills in G.E. Programme and Reading Workshops

• Strengthen the progressive development of reading skills to enhance the transition from KS1 to KS2

• Promote a ‘Reading to Learn’ culture to facilitate the smooth transition from primary to secondary education

Way Forward

Thank you !