Inspirational English
Continued from previous page
Another popular activity in my lessons challenges my students ’ imagination . I use a story or a piece of news which corresponds to the English level of my class . I copy only the beginning of the text , then the students have to read and finish it . At the end of the lesson we compare their versions and often vote for the best one . The activity is usually carried out in pairs or small groups .
Find a text that the students have read recently and leave no spaces and punctuation . The learners work in pairs to edit the text and bring it back to the original .
Find a story or an article which is suitable for the topic of your lesson . Cut it into strips and give one to each student . Everyone has to walk around and put the strips into the correct order . If your class is too big , split it into two groups and prepare two separate texts .
Find a text from a newspaper or a magazine at the right level for your students . Make enough photocopies and ask the pupils to cover a certain number of words with some correction fluid . Then they swap the texts and fill in the blanks . Point out that they should blank out words such as quantifiers , determiners , pronouns or articles .
The students are asked to work in pairs and collect information about the main events taking place in cities , such as London , Cambridge or Brighton . They need to select the most important pieces of information , create a news bulletin and present it to the class .
This activity is suitable for higher levels . The students work in pairs and find an interesting story or article online . They read it , identify the main events and prepare questions to ask their classmates in order to predict what happens next or why the character may have done something . Once the students are ready , they take turns to read the stories to their classmates and ask the questions . It is important again to remind them that they should use the right intonation and diction .
Plan a regular lesson around your students ’ favourite books . For example , every Friday a student has to tell the rest of the class about their favourite book or the one they are reading now . They should explain why they like the book , who their favourite character is and the plot . Students love to read what their peers enjoy , not what we teachers recommend .
What is your students ’ favourite reading activity ?
Inspirational English
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