Rachel Garbers Rachel Garbers

Reading Lesson : Celebrities
Elementary level

Description

In this lesson students will practice the sub-skills of reading for gist, reading for specific information and reading for detailed comprehension. Students will be provided written texts on two celebrities and one local boy from which they must retrieve specific information as required by questions and give synonyms for specific lexical items in the texts.

Materials

Abc Picture of Madonna
Abc Picture of Catherine Zeta Jones
Abc Picture of England
Abc Picture of Wales
Abc Picture of So you think you can Dance logo

Main Aims

  • To provide scan and deduction reading practice using a text about following your passion in life in the context of dancing
  • To provide gist and detailed reading practice using a text about celebrity lifestyles in the context of loves and hates

Subsidiary Aims

  • To provide practice of likes and dislikes in the context of the lives of celebrities and a local South African dancer
  • To give students the opportunity to write a short paragraph about their own gifts.

Procedure

Warmer/Lead-in (3-5 minutes) • To set lesson context and engage students

Send IPad with pictures of celebrities around the class and ask students to elicit their names and occupations. Ask students if they know where these celebrities come from. Display a map/picture of Britain indicating where London is and display a map of Wales indicating where Swansea is.

Pre-Reading (5-10 minutes) • To prepare students for the text and make it accessible

I will write specific words from the text on the board which I think students might have difficulty with understanding the meaning. Students will be divided into pairs. Each pair receives a HO with synonyms of the words on the board which they must match. Each student will be handed an answer key after attempting the exercise. If needed I will demonstrate with a picture or by miming the meaning of words which students are still uncertain of.

While-Reading (10-12 minutes) • To provide students with less challenging gist and specific information reading/listening tasks

Students will be divided into two groups. One group will receive the article about Madonna and the other group will receive the article about Catherine Zeta Jones. All students will receive the same questionnaire. First students read the text individually and try to answer the questions on the questionnaire, then they are given opportunity to compare their answers with the members in their groups and make adjustments if required (concept checking). Finally 1 student from each group are paired together. They then verbally compare the differences between the lifestyles of the two celebrities.

While-Reading #2 (14-16 minutes) • To provide students with more challenging detailed, deduction and inference reading/listening tasks

Students receive a list of unfamiliar words for which they must find the meaning using their dictionaries. I will elicit the answers on the board once students have attempted to find the meanings of the words. Students are then handed a new set of questions to read through with a new partner. Each pair then receives the next article : "Senzo 'Verb' Bhengu - Krump dancer" from which they must try to find the answers in the text. Students are again given opportunity to compare their answers with their classmates before an answer key is provided.

Post-Reading (8-10 minutes) • To provide with an opportunity to respond to the text and expand on what they've learned

Students must write 5 sentences about what they think their own gifts and talents are and how they can use them. They then share this information with whole class verbally.

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