Tasks for developing reading skill using reading strategies.

1. LEARNING READING
STRATEGIES
By Gloria Rincón
I.E. Cardenas Centro
December 9, 2012

2. TABLE OF CONTENT
LEARNING READING STRATEGIES
INTRODUCTION
1. SDL STRATEGIES
Task 1. Own learning goal (5 minutes)
Task 2. Checklist for self- monitoring (10 minutes).
2. PRE-READING STRATEGIES
2.1 ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Task 3. Prediction (2 minutes)
Task 4. KWL chart (5 minutes)
Task 5. Visual Aids (5 minutes)
2.2 BUILDING BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
Task 6. Pre-teach vocabulary (5 minutes)

3. TABLE OF CONTENT
3. WHILE-READING STRATEGIES
Task 7. Skimming (2 minutes)
Task 8. Main Idea (2 minutes)
Task 9. Listening and Pronunciation (10 minutes)
Task 10. Scanning (5 minutes)
Task 11. Sequencing (3 minutes)
Task 12. Inferring the text purpose (2 minutes)
Task 13. Guessing meaning by context (5 minutes)
4. POST-READING STRATEGIES
Task 14. Writing –a house description (20 minutes)
Task 15. Grammar- Present Simple (50 minutes)
Task 16. Grammar Quiz (5 minutes)

4. TABLE OF CONTENT
5. ASSESSING AND EVALUATION
Task 17. Self-correction (5 minutes)
Task 18. Collaborative work (8 minutes)
Task 19. Self-assessing (5 minutes)
6. IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Task 20. Actions for improving (10 minutes)
MORE RESOURCES

5. INTRODUCTION
This self-access material is addressed to
beginners who are learning
descriptions. The learning objective
is that they apply the reading
strategies in order to improve reading
skill. The time planned for this lesson
is about three hours.
NOTE: Use a portfolio to keep all
your tasks.
START

6. 1. SDL STRATEGIES
 Task 1. Learning objective (5 minutes)
After knowing the lesson objective, it is your turn to set
your own learning goal.
Example: In this unit I will improve reading skill
through__________
 Task 2. Checklist of tasks (10 minutes)
After setting your own goal, it is important that you know
previously the tasks you will do.
Let’s see the checklist.
NOTE: Use constantly the checklist for self-monitoring your
learning process

7. CHECKLIST OF TASKS
Yes No
1 Before reading, did you set your own learning goal?
2 Before reading, did you use this checklist to self-monitoring your progress?
3 Before reading, did you make a prediction from the text title?
4 Before reading, did you complete the KWL chart?
5 Before reading, did you use the house plan to predict more things about the text?
6 Before reading, did you prepare searching some possible new vocabulary?
7 While reading, did you check if your prediction was correct?
8 While reading, did you identify easily the main idea of the text?
9 Did you listen to the text and try to read it aloud?
10 Did you re-read the text to answer correctly some questions?
11 Did you find easily the sequence of some sentences?
12 Did you infer easily the purpose of the text?
13 Did you guess correctly the meaning of the unknown word by context?
14 Did you complete the word mapping with new vocabulary?
15 After reading tasks, did you choose two houses and compare them?
16 Did you choose a house and describe it?
17 Did you search a grammar resource to learn about present simple ?
18 Did you do correctly the grammar quiz?
19 After the grammar study, did you correct your writing?
20 Did you post your writing for collaborative work?
21 Did you self-assess your performance?
22 Did you reflect on your improvements and plan actions for future?

8. 2. PRE-READING STRATEGIES
These strategies are before reading. Their purpose is
to self-preparing for understanding the reading.
There are two main pre-reading strategies:
activating prior knowledge and building background
knowledge.
 2.1 ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
This strategy is useful for activating the knowledge
that we already have about the topic.
 Task 3. Prediction (2 minutes)
According to the title of the text “My parents’ house”,
predict the topic of the text. START
Example: The text could be about _______.

9. Task 4. KWL chart (5 minutes)
The KWL chart is relevant for preparing yourself for
the reading comprehension. Complete this chart with
information about houses.
What you know about What you want to know What you learnt at the
describing houses end of the unit
Ex. types of housing: house, Ex. Part of the house
apartment and hotel
CHECKLIST START

10. Task 5. Visual aids (5 minutes)
Use this plan to predict more things about the
topic of the text.
Example: The text will be about _______.
Bedroom 1
Living Room
Bedroom 2
Bedroom 3 Dinning Room
Bathroom Dinning Room
Kitchen Sitting Room
Back Yard
CHECKLIS START
T

11.  2.2 BUILDING BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
These strategies help to prepare the vocabulary or
content necessary to understand a text.
 Task 6. Pre-teach vocabulary (5 minutes)
Check the meaning of vocabulary of parts of a
house.
Bedroom 1 Living Room
(Habitación 1) (Sala)
Bedroom 2 Dinning Room
(Habitación 2) (Comedor)
Bedroom 3 ________Bathroom (Baño)
(Habitación 3) Study (Estudio)
Bathroom (Baño) Dinning Room
(Comedor)
Kitchen Sitting Room
(Cocina) ?
CHECKLIS Back Yard (Patio) START
T

12. 3. WHILE-READING STRATEGIES
These strategies are used during the
process of reading. Their purpose is to
understanding main ideas, details,
sequence and inferences.
 Task 7 Skimming (2 minutes)
Skim the text and say if your prediction is
correct.
CHECKLIS START
T

13. MY PARENTS’ HOUSE
My parents live in a small town called Ginebra,
located in Colombia. They have a big and beautiful
house. There is a wide kitchen and there are three
bedrooms, two bathrooms, two dinning rooms, and
two living rooms. The sitting room near the kitchen
is the family room. There, we meet to watch TV and
talk.
It also has a study with a computer. But it does not
have a garage because my parents do not have a
car. The backyard is my favorite place because there
we can play.
Does your house have a backyard? Do you like to

14.  Task 8. Main Idea (2 minutes)
What is the main idea of the text:
a. It is about the kind of houses
b. It is about a description of a house
c. It is about the parts of the houses
Check answers
 Task 9. Listening and Pronunciation (10
minutes)
Listen to the text and try to read it aloud.
Use http://vozme.com/index.php?lang=es
CHECKLIS START
T

15. Task 10. Scanning (5 minutes)
Scan the text and find the correct answer for the following
questions:
1. Where is the house?
a. In Ginebra 4. Where is the kitchen?
b. In a town called Colombia a. It is near the family room
c. In USA b. Yes. It is
c. It is big
2. Is the house big?
a. Yes. It is a big apartment 5. Where is the computer?
b. Yes. It is small a. In the kitchen
c. Yest, it is b. In the study
c. In the family room
Check answers
3. How many living rooms are
there?
a. one
b. two CHECKLIS
T
START
c. Three

16.  Task 11. Sequencing (3 minutes)
Order the sentences in the order they appear
in the text.
---- a. The sitting room near the kitchen is the
family room.
---- b. It does not have a garage.
---- c. The backyard is my favorite place.
---- d. My parents live in Ginebra.
---- e. They have a big house.
CHECKLIS START
T

17.  Task 12. Inferring the text purpose (2 minutes)
What is the purpose of the text?
a. The purpose of the text is to narrate a story in a house
b. It is to describe a place.
c. It is to explain the preferences
Task 13. Guessing meaning (5 minutes)
Can you guess the meaning of sitting room by context?
a. a dinning room
b. a living room
c. a study
Check answers
How could you guess its meaning?
START

18. 4. POST-READING STRATEGIES
These strategies are used after reading. Their
purpose is to expand content or practice other
skills.
 Task 14. Writing –a house description
(20 minutes)
Choose one of the following places and
describe it, first orally and then written. Use
the text “my parent’s house’ as a model.
a. Your parents’ house
b. The house of your dreams
c. A friend’s house
CHECKLIS START
T

19.  Task 15. Grammar- Present Simple (50 minutes)
It is time to check some notes about present simple in
English. Search some self-access materials that explain
the following topics and do the exercises
 Verb to be
 There is – there are
 Verb have
 Other verbs
 –S of Third singular person
 Negation
 Questions
 Short answers
NOTE: If you prefer, use the resources in RECOMMENDED RESOURCES.
START
CHECKLIS
T

20.  Task 16. Grammar Quiz (5 minutes)
Now, complete the text in present simple using the
next words: Does, doesn’t have, has, is and are.
In my house, There __1__ a big garage and
there __2__ two cars. The garage __3__ a big
door but it __4___ have a window. __5__your
garage big? __6__ it have windows?
Check answers
If you have made many mistakes study again using
another resource.
CHECKLIS START
T

21. 5. ASSESSING AND
EVALUATION
 Task 17. Self-correction (5 minutes)
After having studied present simple, check again
your description and make corrections.
 Task 18. Collaborative work (8 minutes)
Share your description with other beginners in
COMMENTS.
START

22. Task 19. Self-assessing (5 minutes)
In self-directed learning, it is crucial that learners
self-assess their learning process. So, self-
assess your performance completing the
checklist.
 6. IMPROVEMENT PLAN
 Task 20. Actions for improving (10 minutes)
Finally, think of your weaknesses and plan some
actions for improving your proficiency.
START

23. Key answers
Task 8 Task 12 BACK
BACK
B
b.
Task 10.
Task 13 BACK
BACK B
1. a
2. c Task 16 BACK
3. c 1. is
4. a 2. are
5. b
3. has
4. doesn’t have
Task 11 BACK
3---- a.
5. Is
4---- b. 6. Does
5---- c.
1---- d.
2---- e. START

24. RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
 CURSO DE INGLES BASICO:
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/curso/index.html
 GRAMMAR: http://www.saberingles.com.ar/curso/lesson05/04.html
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/curso/lesson06/04.html
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/curso/lesson02/04b.html
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/curso/lesson02/04.html
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/curso/lesson02/04c.html
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/curso/lesson13/04.html
 VOCABULARY: http://www.saberingles.com.ar/flashcards/index.html
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/flashcards/house.html
http://www.saberingles.com.ar/flashcards/housea.html
 READING
COMPREHENSION http://www.saberingles.com.ar/reading/index.html
 ENGLISH SHORT
STORIES: http://www.saberingles.com.ar/stories/index.html
 DICTIONARY WordReference
PRONUNCIATION: http://vozme.com/index.php?lang=es