Get your students reading with Minifiction!

Have you ever wanted to use some authentic writing in your classes but found it too time-consuming to look for (and read!) material, only to decide that it´s not useful / suitable for your class?
I´ve just been in this situation and found a really useful article on the British Council website, which talks about using "minifiction" or "flash fiction" in the classroom.

The article is here , so you can decide for yourslef!

Personally, I think it´s another option for those of you who want to use some authentic texts in class, as the stories are short and need less preparation on the teacher´s part in terms of reading, extracting  language, grammar points etc. AND....the students feel satisfied at having read something "real"!

My experience with Neda's Idea.

Hi everybody.

First of all I'd like to thank Neda and Pilar. Neda for her amazing workshop. I'm having a great time and learning a lot. And Pilar for organizing everything so well.

Juan after these compliments I would be recognised with 5 more hours than you.

Finally, my experience.

I've tried one of the ideas that Neda suggested. I had a Reading. A text in the book ( Interface 1º ESO ). It has a Listening. I told my SS to close their books and open their notebooks. I told them to write down every word or sentence that they hear. I played the text twice. First time the whole text. Second time making stops. Afterwords I asked them  which words they've heard and to try to guess the topic of the Text. AMAZING !!!. TRY IT. Sole

WORKING WITH SONGS

                          
                              WORKING WITH SONGS                                        

         In order to work with songs in a different way, I have already practised some very useful ideas and strategies provided by Neda in our weekly sessions. And I must admit that the result has been a complete success.

                                      

OBJECTIVE: Conditional Sentences for 4ºESO. Making hypotheses.(Type II)

MATERIALS AND ACTIVITIES:

1)      Work with the song “If I were a boy” by Beyonce. (Devote one session).

a)      The students listen to the song and individually they write down on their notebooks ten words they can understand.

b)       In groups of three, students share and exchange vocabulary and ideas, trying to guess the topic or plot of the song story. If possible for advanced students, they can also rewrite the parts of the song they get to understand.

c)      Every group read their handouts to the rest of the class.

d)     The teacher projects the lyrics and plays the song while the students check their notes.

e)      Sing the song and enjoy it.

                                            If I were a boy        by BEYONCE

If I were a boy even just for a day
I'd roll out of bed in the morning
And throw on what I wanted
And go drink beer with the guys

And chase after girls
I'd kick it with who I wanted
And I'd never get confronted for it
'Cause they stick up for me

If I were a boy
I think I could understand
How it feels to love a girl
I swear I'd be a better man

I'd listen to her
'Cause I know how it hurts
When you lose the one you wanted
'Cause he's taking you for granted
And everything you had got destroyed

If I were a boy
I would turn off my phone
Tell everyone it's broken
So they'd think that I was sleeping alone

I'd put myself first
And make the rules as I go
'Cause I know that she'd be faithful
Waiting for me to come home, to come home

2)      Write a composition about a topic that is related to the song. The composition steps are explained to the students in class ( devote one session ) and an example of a guided composition is written on the blackboard jointly in class. Use “brainstorm” and “mind maps” to elicit information and ideas from the students and teach them how to do it the same at home.

COMPOSITION TOPIC: Who would you be if you were a famous character from a novel

                                             you have read?

POSSIBLE TITLE:   If I were a different person, I would be…

                                    (explain the use of “were” with the 1^st person sg).

COMPOSITION CONTENT: The answers to the following questions may help you with your

                                                     composition:

-Why would you like to be that character? Describe him/her physically, his/her personality and

  behaviour and give reasons for your choice.

-How would you behave?

-What would you do?

-How would your new life be?

COMPOSITION STRUCTURE:

-Your composition must have three paragraphs as a minimum:

-INTRODUCTION: very brief information about the plot of the book you have read and the

                                   character chosen.

-COMPOSITION BODY: one or two paragraphs Cincluding,among many other ideas, those in the

                                           previous step ( composition content ).

-CONCLUSION: Your opinion about the experience. Would you really like to be a different

                              person or are you happy and proud of yourself?

-Grammar you must use in your composition:

-Descriptive structures: adjectives (remember word order), relative sentences.

-Conditional sentences: Conditional Sentences Type I and II (hypothesis).

-Verbal Tenses: simple past, present perfect, conditional “would”, present simple (descriptions ).

-Connectors : Temporal ( firstly, then, to conclude…) ,Cause or Reason (because), Conditional (if,

                       unless)

-Comparative structures: in the conclusion you may compare your current life with your

                                         hypothetical life.

Reading books

In third and fourth years of primary education, for reading I use Macmillan Children's Readers books. Children have to read one book every trimester. They don't translate the whole book, they try to understand the idea of the story. They also have a vocabulary list they have to learn. With the CD provided in the book, they listen to the story and practice pronunciation. As they don't have to search every word in the dictionary, they are learning to understand the meaning of the sentence, and how they link words to know the meaning.

I write some books below, for years 3 and 4:

- Real Monsters /The Princess and the Dragon

- Birds / The Mysterious Egg

- Dogs / The Big Show

- Making Music / The Talent Contest

Link: Macmillan website

READING ACTIVITY FOR PRIMARY

Last Tuesday I developed a reading activity with my students in the fourth course in primary education. 

I used it to revise units 1, 2 and 3 and this is what we did.

Pre - reading

We played with the flashcards in order to revise vocabulary.

While - reading

I showed them eight pictures, and they had to match them with their descriptions. 

I started showing them four. Later, they had to move around the class to read the texts.

They compared their solutions in pairs and then in groups of four. 

After that we did the same with the other four pictures.

Post - reading

In groups of four, I gave them one text with gaps. They had to read it again without writing anything. Then in turns, they had to say the answers.

Finally they copy the text in their notebooks filling the gaps.

Each group correct the text using the white blackboard.

Evaluation

The activity was pretty good but I had some problems with technology, so we didn’t have time to do the post activity in that way. I showed them the texts with the gaps on the white blackboard and they said the answer orally.

They find the activity entertaining and quite easy. Maybe I gave them too much information about the pictures.

Next time it would be better...

Resources

Flashcards

PDF with pictures and texts pictures

PDF with texts with gaps fill the gaps presentation

Photocopied texts fill the gaps  
texts to print 

 

READING Presentation

Here's the slide show from the session on "Reading" last Thursday, 7th Feb.

READING Links

Here are the links and resources to go with yesterday´s session on Reading. I hope you find them interesting and useful. Power Point Presentation to follow...

READING LINKS

ENJOY READING WITH YOUR STUDENTS!