International Literacy Day

Introduction

This lesson plan introduces World Literacy Day to learners and promotes the importance of reading and writing. Learners work collaboratively to reproduce a text, then check their understanding. Groups then use a scaffolded worksheet to produce a story and the importance of reading. There are two versions of the worksheet to allow for differentiation or to allow a focus more on reading or writing; depending on your group needs. Groups can either present their stories to the whole class or they can be displayed on the wall. 

Learning outcomes:

• Describe the purpose of International Literacy Day
• Work collaboratively to produce a story
• Develop reading, speaking and writing skills
• Practise predicting a story from visual prompts 

Age/ Level:

Aged 9-12 (CEFR A1-A2)

Time:

50–60 minutes

Materials:

• Lesson plan
• Presentation
• Story worksheet 1 (with a writing focus)
• Story worksheet 2 (with a reading focus)

Photo © Copyright Mat Wright

Lead-in (5 minutes)

• Ask learners to prepare their notebooks and pen or pencil. Tell them you are going to spell three words for them to write down. Spell: ‘International Literacy Day’.
• Either display slide 1 or write the words on the board for learners to check. Monitor to see if there are any common mistakes you need to address

Backs to the board (15 minutes)

• Put learners into pairs. Arrange the pairs so one learner is facing the board and the other has their back to the board.
• Tell the learner with their back to the board that their partner will read 4 sentences and they should write the sentences down.
• Tell the learner who is facing the board they read the sentence to their partner and they must spell any difficult words.
• Explain that when they have written a sentence they should put their hands on their shoulders. Tell them you will give them points for teamwork and accuracy.
• Display slide 2 or write sentence one on the board.
• Give a point to the first 3 or 4 pairs to finish and any pairs where the learners have been kind and patient with each other. Give extra points for accuracy. 
• After four sentences have been written ask learners to swap places and roles. Display slide 3 and repeat the process. Or write sentences 5-8.

Sentences
1.    Every year, there is a special day called International Literacy Day. 
2.    This day is on September 8th and is about how important it is to read and write. 
3.    People started to celebrate International Literacy Day in 1967.
4.    Everyone should know how to read and write.
5.    It helps us learn new things and be better people. 
6.    But many people cannot read or write. 
7.    About 765 million people don't know how to read. 
8.    For many children school is difficult and some children don't go to school at all

Comprehension (10 minutes)

• Ask students to read the sentences. Display slide 4 or read the following sentences and ask learners to tell you if they’re true or false. Explain the meaning of celebrate (to do special activities). 
•  Ask learners to correct the false sentences.

1. World Literacy day is celebrated every year.(T)
2. The first World Literacy day was in 1976.(F. It was 1967)
3. Everybody can read.(F. 765 million people cannot read) 
4. Writing is not important (F. Everyone should know how to read and write).
5. Reading is good for us.(T. It can help us to learn)
6. All children go to school. (F Some children don’t go to school)

Discussion (5 minutes)

• Ask learners if anything is interesting for them from the reading. Support them in expressing their opinions through prompts and write useful language on the board. Eg. Did you know there was a World literacy day? Do you think reading is important? 
  Note: Open discussions will be difficult at first but with practice your learners’ confidence and language will build. Include short open discussions in every lesson. 

Story prediction - Optional (10 minutes)

• Display slide 5. Tell learners that the 3 icons are from a story they are going to read. They must guess what happens in the story. 
• Support learners with expressing their ideas 
• Elicit boy, map and treasure. 

Collaborative story writing (15 minutes)

Note: This is a scaffolded creative writing activity. There are two versions for differentiation. Version 1 involves the learners filling in gaps in the story with their own ideas. Version 2 involves learners selecting and circling ideas for most of the gaps but writing the end of the story. You can use one version or both versions with your group. Version 2 involves more reading, so consider your learners’ strengths and weaknesses when grouping them.

• Put learners into small groups
• Give each group a story worksheet. Tell them to read the story together. They can take turns reading aloud. 
• They complete the missing information and end the story. Monitor and support. 
• If you have time ask a few groups to share their stories. Or put the stories on the wall for learners to read in the following lesson. 

Useful references and links

• Information on International Literacy Day: https://www.unesco.org/en/days/literacy
•  Video about creating a class culture that promotes inclusion through differentiation: https://youtu.be/h7-D3gi2lL8?si=vlp562ib8sNFJtU4  
• Article about pair and group work: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-resources/teaching-primary/activities/level-1/working-pairs-and-groups