作者：佚名
How can we improve our way of teaching ? One way is to teach reading in three stages : Pre-reading stage , while –reading stage , and post-reading stage .Each stage has a diferent goal and deals with different reading strategies .The overall aim is to train the students to be efficient readers in the foreign language . Other aspects have to be considered as well though , such as the students’ interest and motivation . An interesting text can arouse the students’ will to read , but teachers often have no choice in the texts they have to teach . In that case , the activities must stimulate the students’ interest by challenging them , providing them with a chance to use their imagination and creative ability , and encourage them to use the language and information gained form the text .
Task 1 Pre-reading Stage
What do you think the purpose of the pre-reading stage is ? Remember that “pre-reading” means before the text is read . Give yourself a couple of minutes to think about this before you read on .
The aims of the pre-reading stage are three-fold: (a) arousing the students’ interest in the topic or type of text ; (b) motivating students to read the text by providing a purpose for reading ; ( c) pre-reading the students for the content of the text.
It should be pointed out that not all three aims are relevant to all text types . Sometimes the topic of the text itself is very interesting , in which case the students may be eager to read it . so , the teacher does not have to spend too long on motivating them to read . In some texts , the language may be pointless in that case to deal with the language elements beforehand ,but it may be worthwhile to draw students’ attention to the way they are used in the text , once they have read it . One thing that is always necessary , is the purpose for reading the text , because , as we saw before , different purposes for reading employ different reading skills . In order for the students to be efficient readers , they need to know which reading skill they need to employ.
One of the reading strategies practised in this stage is the skill of anticipation-forming predictions about what is to be read . Usually predictions are made on the basis of various clues provided by the text.
What can the teacher do to get the students to predict the contents of the text ?Write down all the ways you can think of .Then read the list below to see if you have the same or different activities.
l The students could be asked to
l Examine the accompanying visual information (diagrams , maps , photographs )
l Reflect on the title or the topic .
l State what they already know about the topic .
l Write their own questions that they want the text to answer,
l Answer the teacher’general questions about the text type or topic (oral or writing )
l Brainstorm the topic in groups or whole class .
Guess the topic by looking at key words from the text ( given , and if necessary taught , by the teacher )
These are the usual type of activities done in the pre-reading stage ,
Now let’s design some pre-reading activities for some given texts . keep in mind , though, that the type of activity you design should be suggested by the text . Never forget the reasons people would have in real life for reading such a text .
Activity 1
The teacher may bring in pictures (they might be taken from newspapers , magazines or advertisements) reflecting the life and work of old people, and then ask students to discuss in groups about the life of old people : their joys and worries , troubles and problems .
If the pictures are interesting they may provoke the students to contribute their ideas freely to the topic . In doing so, the teacher not only activates students’ existing knowledge about the “ problem of the old”, but also arouses students’ interest in reading the text .
Activity 2
Before teaching the text , the teacher may ask students to discuss in pairs or groups the following questions:
1 How do you understand the concept of “ age”?
2, What do you think are the factors that lead to long life ? And the factors that are harmful to our health ?
3.What problems may appear when one gets old ?
4.Can you suggest some solutions to the problems ?
While the students are discussing these points , the teacher should circulate around the class and give any help that is necessary with the vocabulary and expressions the students need . The teacher can also listen for some interesting arguments and ask those groups to share them with the whole class after the discussion.
The students may come up with various answers out of their discussions . That is good ! These questions are actually covered in the text they are going to read .After their discussions, the teacher may ask them to read the text and to check whether their responses are the same as or different from the author’s .Therefore , this activity provides a purpose for the students to read the text.
Activity 2
The role –play activity will be conducted with the following procedure;
1.Ask students to form pairs: A and B
2.Suppose A is beginning to collect stamps , now he is asking B , who is his good friend and a devoted stamp-collector , for his advice on stamp- collecting.
3.Students A and B exchange their roles or they can turn around and form two new pairs with the students behind them .They perform the same role – play , but with different partners , to make it more interesting .
As mentioned before , the pre-reading stage aims to arouse students’ interest in the topic of the text and to motivate them to read the text , and these two activities are designed with these purposes in mind . Though discussion of the first two questions in Activity 1 , the students’ existing knowledge about their hobbies and stamp-collecting are drawn out and enriched , and they feel more ready to read the text . Question 3 gets the students to provide their own reason for reading the text . They will want to see if their questions are answered . It involves prediction skills , as it gets the students to think about what they expect from such a text , which is activating their schema of this type of text .
Activity 2 will also help students to form predictions about what they are going to read .After finishing the role-play , the teacher can easily lead the students to the text by saying “Now , could you please read the text quickly and to see whether the advice you offered ( or were offered ) is the same as that given in the text ? How many points are the same ? And how many are different ?” Therefore , students will read the text purposefully , constantly checking and confirming their predicions.
The language in the text is not difficult and there is no need for preparational work at this stage.
Task 2 While –reading Stage
This stage mainly focuses on the exploitation of the text. It aims to help the reader understand the content and structure of the text , as well as the author’s purpose in writing it .
In Activity 2 of this unit we have looked at the main reading skills : skimming ,scanning ,reading for detail , drawing inferences about tht author’s purpose and intention. The typical sort of activities to train such skills are
l Skim reading to get the gist (main idea ) of the text .
l Locating specific information,
l Transferring information from the text to a diagram , table , form , map , graph or picture
l Taking notes on the main points , or on specific points of the text .
l Drawing a diagram to show the text structure ,
l Answering factual questions on the text ,
l Answering inference questions on the text (reading between the lines )
l Putting the events in the correct order
l Stating if statements given about the text are true or false
l Working out the meaning of words and phrases in the text from the context
l Examinig references in the text and stating what they refer to
l Putting the paragraphs of a jumbled text back in the correct order
l Giving sections of the text appropriate headings
l Giving the text an appropriate title (also possibly a post-reading activity)