I have been using a collection of short stories called Discovering Fiction 1 in my Language Arts lessons for the last three years. The book is meant for intermediate students. (See below for a link to it) It think it is a very good book. The authors, knowing that reading is a process that includes a before-reading, a during-reading, and an after-reading phase, have strucured it accordingly. In their words "the text provides interactive, integrated skills lessons developed around each story".
My problem is that the activities and strategies that are offered along with each story in the book are never enough for my students. Also, after a while, the kids get bored with doing the same types of before- during- and after- reading activities for every story. I find that I have to add activities and change others to keep my students interested.
Here are some of the "extras" that I already use to help my students understand and enjoy the short stories more:
Activities:
· Writing pre- or post- reading questions or creating quizzes for another group/class to solve
online (using the Hot Potato Software)
· Class discussions / Formal debates
· Reader’s Theatre / Freeze Frames / Hot Seat
· Writing summaries / reports / diary or journal entries (blogs!) /poems
· Using Graphic Organizers & Charts
Can you help me think of other/better ones? Please, Thanks and Have a Nice Day!
CoffeeAddict
Link to Discovering Fiction 1: http://www.cambridge.org/us/esl/catalog/subject/project/custom/item5601333/Discovering-Fiction-Level-1/?site_locale=en_US¤tSubjectID=
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Comments
I have noticed my students getting bored of consistency sometime as well! You have already provided some great 'spicy' stuff to keep them active. I usually share interesting news from ELT world when I begin the class and ask them a question. I usually tell the end of the story at the end of the lesson. Sometimes, it makes them participate in the class more and get the lesson 'done' and hear the story. (You need a good story/news!). It really works when you help them learn interesting information not just the skills. It works better for me as my students are going to be teachers as well.
You can also ask students to exchange their writings (summary or one-paragraph writing about a topic) and correct them. When they look at a text with the aim of correcting, they understand their mistakes as well (most of the time).
Keep up the posts coming!!
Coffee Addict, I think all of your ideas are great to expand activities.
Maybe you can use Reading Circles idea of OUP in your class discussions. In a Reading Circle each student plays a different role in discussion. The six main roles are: Discussion Leader, Summarizer, Connector, Word Master, Passage Person, Culture Collector. And you can also expand that circle by adding other roles.
I used Oxford Bookworms Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinium and Diamond series but also implemented same activity in other short stories, even graded novels. Students really like to have such roles.
http://www.oup.com/pdf/elt/catalogue/9780194720038-b.pdf
http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/elt/products/obrc_expansionactivities.pdf?cc=gb
Hi CoffeAddict,
Students get bored doing the same activities. It's quite true. I think your activities are pretty good. When it comes to reading activities, you really look for a hand to rescue you from being always static. Please, take a look at these links. I'm sure they'll help you, too. This internet site helps both teachers and students who strive to cope with reading.
Thanks,
Bülent
Dear blogging friends,
Thank you for your comments. I try my best, but like you - I'm always looking to improve myself and my lessons! @crystalheart (what a lovely nick!): I have tried Reading Circles before, but I was unsuccessful at it. My students didn't perform as I had expected and there was a lot of noise and chaos. However, that was then and this is now. It's time I gave it another try. I'll check out your link and read up on the procedures again. Next time I'll be better prepared and hopefully - more successful.
Thanks!
:-)CoffeeAddict
Depending on the short story, you can have students perform a skit. You need to lay out the expectations and narrow it down, but it works great, the kids love it, and they learn to write play scripts :) One that I use is that students imagine that the short story was made into a movie and they have to provide an extra scene. The set up of the scene is a news broadcast and have to interview the people [in the movie]. They have a choice of characters based on the theme (if you like). The script, in the end, covers the students' knowledge of the story, their understanding of theme and individual characters. The skit is from 3-5 minutes, students are in costume, and you need a rubric :)
Thank you so much for your comment and super idea! I will definitely try it out!
:-)CoffeeAddict