Promoting Learner-Centeredness Through Engaging and Energizing Reading and Vocabulary Activities, Renata Bobakova

1. MoRCE-Net 4th Annual Conference, 25-27 January 2016, Marrakech, Morocco
Reading: A Key to Independent Learning, Creativity and Personal Development
Promoting Learner-Centeredness Through Engaging and Energizing
Reading and Vocabulary Activities
Renata Bobakova, English Language Fellow, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir
Activities
[Odd One Out] Read a text out loud. Have students
follow the text closely & on occasion switch a word for
a word that students see. Students can underline,
circle, or highlight that word. Use words close in
meaning (yellow instead of blue; good instead of
pleasant, repeat instead of say again, etc.).
[Dear Abby] Look for Dear Abby column on the
Internet for inspiration. Write a letter based on your
students’ level. Have students read, analyze & then
discuss the letter. Ask them to come up with several
solutions & pieces of advice to help the writer of the
letter. This can be done in pairs or groups.
[Reading Sprints] Students read a text in a certain
amount of time—for example 4 minutes and mark
how far they get in that time. When they are finished,
ask them to read the same text, but this time they have
to read it in 3 minutes, then 2 minutes, & 1 minute.
Finally, have them read it once again in 4 minutes.
[Subtitled Movies] Choose a short movie for students
to watch. Make sure the movie comes with subtitles.
Prepare a handout with questions about the movie.
Play the movie for the students without sound.
Students read subtitles & answer the questions, the
answers to which they compare to each other.
[Group Summaries] Give students a text with each
paragraph numbered. Give each group one paragraph
to summarize on a piece of paper. Give each summary
a letter. Hang the summaries around the room. Have
students walk around & match summaries with
appropriate paragraphs.
[Newspaper Treasure Hunt] Distribute old
newspapers to students. In pairs or groups, ask them
to look for the following: a name, flaw, quality,
caricature, classified ad, notice for a movie, country,
actor, singer, politician, animal, meal, clothing,
weather forecast, city, bizarre news, sport, etc.
[Reading With Action] Students work with a text
they have already read. They have to read it according
to your instructions—whisper it, read it very slowly or
very fast, or pretend they are reading it to their
grandma, wife/husband, cousin, while standing at a
bus station or dancing at a party, or sing or cry it, etc.
This can be done in pairs, groups, or as a class activity.
[Reading With Emotion] Draw a remote control on
the whiteboard. On each button, write an emotion
(sad, happy, angry, irritable, scared, disappointed,
surprised, jealous, etc.). Flash a laser pen—or a
flashlight—on any of the emotions. Students have to
read the text while engaging in that emotion. This can
be done in pairs, groups, or as a class activity.
[Parroting] Put students in pairs and have them work
with a text they have already read. One student reads
the text one sentence at a time & the partner says each
sentence out loud without looking at the text.
[Fun Reading Drills] For word recognition practice &
contests, ask students to read the text to each other or
in front of the class right to left, top to bottom, every
other word, zigzag style, etc.
[Reading Bingo] Students pick 7 to 10 words to circle
in the text they have previously read. Read random
sentences from the text out loud. Pause after each
sentence. If students hear a word they have circled,
they cross it out. If they are the first one to cross out
all of their words, they shout out ‘Bingo!’ & they win.
[Story/Text Rewriting] Students quietly read a short
text three times. Read the text out loud to students
two times. Have students read the text out loud to
each other one time. Have students write the text with
their partners from memory, ideally word by word.
Reward the text that most resembles the original.
[TV News] Prepare slips of paper with either real or
imaginary TV news (or have students write the news).
Prepare as many slips as there are students in class if
possible. Have students memorize & read the news out
loud to the class pretending to be a TV newsreader.
[Traffic Lights] Draw two traffic lights (red & green)
& put them on the walls. Students listen to statements
about the text they have read, one at a time. If they
think the statement is true, they walk to the green
light. If they think it is false, they walk to the red light.
[Upside Down Reading] Students work in pairs. They
hold the text upside down & race to read through it.
They can then switch partners & read once more.
[Stand Up Upon Hearing…] Tell students you will
read a text out loud. When they hear an adjective, a
modal verb, a preposition, etc., they have to stand up.
[Punctuation Ban] Students stand up & read the text
one word & one student at a time. When a punctuation
[Jokes] Each student gets a different joke. Students
read & try to memorize their jokes. They form inner &

2. MoRCE-Net 4th Annual Conference, 25-27 January 2016, Marrakech, Morocco
Reading: A Key to Independent Learning, Creativity and Personal Development
mark appears, the student who gets it has to sit down.
The last student standing is the winner.
outer circle & either retell or read the jokes to their
partners.
[Mimed Reading] Students work in pairs and with a
story they have previously read. One student reads the
story one sentence at a time. Their partner stands up
& mimes each sentence out.
[Human Text] Divide the class into groups. Each
group gets a text cut into paragraphs. Students stand
up to create a human story to show the order of the
paragraphs & compare it with other groups.