Extensive reading

[Irina]

In the attached file please find the results of a small research into extensive reading we did in St. Petersburgh. The results pose a few practical questions and answer many of the questions teachers may have. I invite you to discuss the findings to share our experience and ideas, to find out what works and, more importantly, what does not work in the extensive reading field of our classrooms.

Here is an extract from the text attached:

Strategies for Extensive Reading

The secret of success is to continue reading even when the meaning is not clear. This is hard lesson to learn. Many students never learn it and never break the habit of stopping and going back when they do not understand something. This is unfortunate for several reasons:

• Extensive reading does not

[Bridge]

Extensive reading

EXTENSIVE_READING.doc

[Yaroslav]

Extensive reading

I am keen on extensive reading. I had conducted the course "Extensive reading" for students of 5-8 forms for 4 years. We used Penguin Readers books, e.g. "The Advantures of Tom Sawyer", "The Knights of the Round Table", "My Fairy Lady" with cassettes. It was not only reading but excellent listening practice. The students read a chapter or half of it (depending on the number of words) and we analysed it at the lesson. + Watching Video + special activities. It was really effective! Unfortunately, we haven't got time for this now as I work in 9-11 forms and everything is focused on State Exam Preparation.

That's an example of the lesson plan based on the book "British Royal Family" 7th form. I also used the book "Vocabulary in use" working on Homereading.

Lesson 1.

Introduction.

Chapter 1 (part 1, pp.1, 3)

<H1 style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Level: Pre-Intermediate.</H1>Skills: Reading, Speaking, Listening

 

Language focus: Present Simple, Past Simple, Future Simple

 

Materials: 1. a set of cards for matching

 

2. a cassette

 

3. a set f cards with tasks for reading for analyzing.

 

Procedure:

 

1. Vocabulary Work.

 

Divide the SS into pairs. Give them the cards for matching. The SS work in pairs, then discuss the result of work in the group.

 

Match the words of active vocabulary to their meaning:

1. royal

2. a tradition

3. private

4. public

5. to give away

6. a crown

7. a bomber

8. crazy

9. serious

10. to believe

11. hope

12. angry

a. for anyone

b. to show that someone is doing something wrong

c. very strange

d. someone who puts a bomb somewhere

e. belonging to a king or a queen

f. a belief, a custom, or a way of doing something that has existed for a long time

g. to be sure something is true

h. a feeling of wanting something to happen

i. careful and thorough

j. a circle made of gold and decorated with jewels

k. not for everyone

l. feeling strong emotions that people were not right

2. Introduction. Reading aloud.

 

3. Introduction. Reading for scanning information. (A Pair-work)

 

The task: `Find the questions the author is going to answer in her book.`

 

4. Listening for details.

 

Read the statements. The SS should agree or disagree with them.

 

1. More than two thousand years of tradition make the British royal family what it is today.

 

2. The present family keep many historic traditions alive.

 

3. They are also real people with their own problems.

 

4. In this book you’ll learn how the Queen goes shopping.

 

5. You will read about her friends and enemies.

 

6. There’re funny stories about Queen’s children schooldays.

 

7. The British Royal family is an important part of a changing world.

 

8. Many people believe there isn’t a new and happier future for the British royal family.

 

9. Cherry Gilchrist was born in 1969, and lives in Manchester.

 

10. She has written more than twenty interesting books.

 

11. She also sells Indian art, and visits India often.

 

12. She hates travelling, she prefers staying in her office and writing.

 

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5. Reading for Gist. (Chapter 1, Part 1-pp.1, 3)

 

Divide the students into 6 small groups(pairs).

 

The task is: `Match the titles to the paragraphs.`

 

1. How Diana died. (Paragraph 2)

 

2. Why she was a new type of princess. (Paragraph 5)

 

3. The tragedy of Diana’s life. (Paragraph 3)

 

4. The place and the time of the funeral. (Paragraph 1)

 

5. The procedure of the funeral. (Paragraph 4)

 

6. The consequences of Diana’s death. (Paragraph 6)

 

6 Reading for Analyzing.

 

Give 1 paragraph to each group(pair). Give them the cards with the task.

 

 

 

 

 

Group 1

 

Paragraph 2

 

Answer the questions:

 

1. Where did Diana die?

 

2. How old was she?

 

3. Who died with her?

 

4. What was she just starting?

 

5. Who did she divorce with?

 

Group 2

 

Paragraph 5

 

Find the facts that prove Diana was a new type of princess.

 

Group 3

 

Paragraph 3

 

Fill in the table:

Happy facts in Diana’s life

 

Unhappy facts in Diana’s life

 

 

 

Group 4

 

Paragraph 1

 

Make sentences about Diana’s funeral, using notes:

 

Morning 6^th September 1997, London, From Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey, all night, from all over Britain and abroad, Diana, Princess of Wales, cry and throw flowers, very special.

 

Group 5

 

Paragraph 4

 

Fill in the missing words or phrases:

 

1. As the carriage… to the church of Westminster Abbey , these two boys… walk bravely behind her.

 

2. Television cameras … the funeral, and it … around the world.

 

3. Westminster Abbey is full of famous people and many of them….

 

4. Some of them are Diana’s friends….

 

5. The crowds outside now say … with more flowers and tears.

 

6. Princes … their mother’s body into the church, and the funeral….

 

Group 6

 

Paragraph 6

 

Find the questions British people ask each other.

 

Why do they ask them? Find the reasons.

 

7. Homework: a. Make a dialogue between two people standing in Westminster Abbey and Watching Diana’s funeral. (1 role- 15 sentences)

 

b. Chapter 1 (part 2, pp.3-6)listen & read & translate

 

c. Write down the new words