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Language Supportive Teaching and Textbooks in Tanzania

Course for textbook writers, editors and illustrators

John Clegg, July 2013

Parts 1 to 3 are in a separate document

This document:

Part 4: English book lesson structure and topic content

Part 5: English activity types

LSTT

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Contents Part 4: English book lesson structure and topic content ............................................................ 3

4.1 English Unit structure ...................................................................................................... 3

Part 5: English activities ............................................................................................................ 6

5.1 Reading activities ............................................................................................................. 6

5.1.1 Pre-reading followed by reading ............................................................................... 6

5.1.2 Reading support activities ......................................................................................... 7

5.1.3 Post-reading activities ............................................................................................... 9

5.2 Grammar focus activities ............................................................................................... 11

5.2.1 Analysis followed by communicative use .............................................................. 11

5.2.2 Communicative use activities ..................................................................................... 14

5.3 Vocabulary activities ..................................................................................................... 16

5.3.1 Matching ................................................................................................................. 16

5.3.2 Replacing ................................................................................................................ 17

5.3.3 Gap-filling ............................................................................................................... 18

5.3.4 Crossword ............................................................................................................... 19

5.3.5 Wordsearch ............................................................................................................. 20

5.4 Pronunciation and punctuation activities ....................................................................... 20

5.4.1 Pronunciation .......................................................................................................... 20

5.4.2 Punctuation ............................................................................................................. 21

5.5 Writing activities ............................................................................................................ 22

5.5.1 Questions................................................................................................................. 22

5.5.2 Statements ............................................................................................................... 22

5.5.3 Sentence starters...................................................................................................... 23

5.5.4 Substitution table .................................................................................................... 23

5.5.5 Writing frame .......................................................................................................... 24

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Part 4: English book lesson structure and topic content Task 1: Agree a lesson structure. This is a suggestion.

4.1 English Unit structure

Section 1: Reading

a) Pre-reading activity Learners get ready to read

b) Reading text Learners read

c) Post-reading activity Learners focus on comprehension

Section 2: Grammar focus

a) Grammar focus activity Learners analyse grammatical structures from the

text

b) Communicative activity Learners use the structures communicatively

Section 3: Vocabulary focus

Vocabulary activity Learners learn vocabulary from the text

Section 4: Pronunciation or spelling

Pron/Spelling activity Learners practice pronunciation or spelling

Section 5: Listening

Listening activity Learners practise listening

Section 6: Writing

Writing activity Learners practise writing

Number of units: 20? about 6 pages each?

Total number of pages: 150 pages?

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Task 2: Agree roughly the contents of the units. Refer to the subject syllabus. Fill in the

table.

Units Main contents

Structures Vocabulary

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

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Task 3: Choose one unit and write a draft. Follow these steps, but not necessarily in this

order.

Step

1. Reading text

decide on the contents and list the main

ideas

write a draft Refer to Part 2 pp 16 onwards

check your draft in the light of Part 2 Refer to Part 2 pp 16 onwards

2. Visuals

decide which parts of the text require

illustration

Refer to Part 3 pp 27 onwards

Write artwork briefs

3. Reading support activities

construct a pre-reading support activity

construct a post-reading activity

Refer to Part 5, pp 6 onwards

4. Grammar focus

construct a grammar analysis activity Refer to Part 5, pp 10 onwards

construct a communicative activity to

enable the learners to practise the

grammar item

5. Vocabulary

construct a vocabulary activity Refer to Part 5, pp 23 onwards

6. Pronunciation, punctuation

If appropriate, construct a

pronunciation activity

Refer to Part 5, p 19

7. Listening

If appropriate, construct a

pronunciations activity

Refer to Part 5, pp 16 onwards – use

those activities which can also be

used for listening

8. Writing

Construct a writing activity to help

learners write about the topic of the

unit and practise the grammar

Refer to Part 5, pp 20 onwards

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Part 5: English activities

5.1 Reading activities

5.1.1 Pre-reading followed by reading

Include a short pre-reading activity before getting learners to read the text. It should warm

learners up to the topic, get them to think about aspects of it, etc.

Fig. 1

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5.1.2 Reading support activities

A reading text will often need to have a reading support activity attached to it: learners read

the text and carry out an activity. Here are some examples of such activities. For more

examples see ‘biology task types’.

a. Gap-filling

Make gaps in a text at points which will allow the reader to guess the meaning of the missing

item. Get a colleague to do the activity to check whether the gaps are too easy or difficult. If

necessary, the missing words can be given in a list in scrambled order.

Fig. 2

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b. Fill in a chart

Find a text whose contents have cognitive structure, which can be represented in a chart (e.g.

matrix, tree-diagram, flow-chart). Create the chart. Learners read and fill it in.

Fig. 3

The female crocodile lays her eggs in a hole in the sand of the river bank. She covers the eggs with sand and guards them for about 13 weeks. The eggs are large and the shells are soft like skin. They are not hard, like chickens’ eggs. The female fish lays her eggs in the water. Most fish lay thousands of very small eggs. The eggs have a soft shell. Many fish leave their eggs when they have laid them. Hens lay about 6-10 eggs. The eggs have a hard shell and are about 5 cm long. The hen lays them in a nest in a safe place. She sits on them and keeps them warm. After about three weeks, the baby chickens hatch.

fish crocodiles chickens

Where are the eggs laid?

Are the eggs big or small?

What do the eggs have round them?

How do the parents take care of the eggs?

c. Sequence

Find a text which describes steps in a process. Write out the steps, scramble them and number

them, as in fig. 4. Learners re-order the steps. Learners can also sequence a set of visuals or

even the words in a scrambled sentence.

Fig. 4

Write these sentences in the correct order a) The larvae change into pupae. b) Small white animals come out of the eggs; they are larvae. c) The pupae break open and new flies come out of the pupae. d) The male and female fruit flies mate. e) The larvae eat the fruit and grow bigger. f) The female fruit-flies lay eggs in fruit

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5.1.3 Post-reading activities

a. Open questions oral

Fig. 5

b. Open questions written

Fig. 6

c. True/false questions

Fig. 7

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d. Multiple choice questions

The questions in fig. 8 contain a mix of open, true/false and multiple choice questions

Fig. 8

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5.2 Grammar focus activities

Grammar focus activities should consist of analytical activities – in which learners analyse

and aspect of grammar – and communicative activities – in which they talk in pairs or groups

using that aspect of grammar in natural conversation.

5.2.1 Analysis followed by communicative use

a. Analysis using sentence formation

Fig. 9

b. Communicative use oral dialogue which follows

Fig. 10

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c. Analysis activities

Grammar analysis activities can take several forms.

d. Analysis using gap-filling

Fig. 11

Fig. 12

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e. Analysis using rewriting

Fig. 13

f. Analysis using matching

Fig. 14

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g. Analysis using underlining

Fig. 15

5.2.2 Communicative use activities

a. Oral dialogue

Fig. 16

b. Oral presentation

Fig. 17

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c. Roleplay dialogue

Fig. 18

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5.3 Vocabulary activities

5.3.1 Matching

Make a list of paired items (word and definition, word and word, word and visual, beginnings

and ends of sentences etc). Scramble one list. Learners match the items. See ‘biology task

types’ for more examples of reading support activities.

Fig. 19

Fig. 20

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Fig. 21

5.3.2 Replacing

Fig. 22

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5.3.3 Gap-filling

Fig. 23

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5.3.4 Crossword

Provide a crossword. Several websites offer means of making them. E.g.

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/CrissCrossSetupForm.asp

Fig. 24

Across 2. to get bigger 4. a change of position 7. the green substance in plants that allows them to use the energy from the sun 8. their own food 10. out of 13. what plants and animals do to get rid of waste materials 14. the power that plants and animals have to be active 15. the way plants and animals respond to their environment 16. useless material Down 1. to make young animals and plants 3. the process of breathing air in and out 5. the way plants combine carbon dioxide and water, using energy from light, to 6. something that animals eat, or plants take in, to keep them alive 9. a small object produced by a female bird, insect, frog, snake etc, that a young animal 11. very young animal 12. a flat thin green part of a tree or plant that grows on a branch or stem

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5.3.5 Wordsearch

Several websites provide ways of making wordsearches easily, e.g.

http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/words/search/

.

Fig. 25

Find these words in the wordsearch: grow, reproduction, excretion, waste, energy, respiration, photosynthesis, leaf, sensitivity, movement, egg, baby, chlorophyll, food, oxygen, light, eat, animal, plant, respond, seed S T S E F T T O I G A R R Y W N

L T W S N M H I E P R E M J A V

M T E E A E J E E H E O E C S W

T L N L P O R X O O S N W T T M

O R I R T M S G I T P P T E E V

V E E G C I A O Y O I L E R I E

E A X D H I E G G S R A C S B X

I D C F L T B O P Y A N I M A L

U Q R M O V E M E N T T R A B S

X R E P R O D U C T I O N N Y I

S E T N O C D S D H O X Y G E N

B S I T P S N S F E N W E G S M

T P O X H C E A T S E E D K M S

Q O N I Y S E N S I T I V I T Y

C N E E L L F M X S O I T W K S

S D L O L O P M E K S M Y C H C

5.4 Pronunciation and punctuation activities

5.4.1 Pronunciation

Fig. 26

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Fig. 27

5.4.2 Punctuation

Fig. 28

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5.5 Writing activities

See ‘biology task types’ for more writing activities.

5.5.1 Questions

Fig. 29

5.5.2 Statements

Fig. 30

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5.5.3 Sentence starters

Provide a list of sentence starters. Write out the sentences you want the learners to make.

Then cut them down to starters. Learners complete the sentences in speech or writing.

Fig. 31

5.5.4 Substitution table

Provide a substitution table. Substitution tables can be used when learners need to say/write

something which requires one or two sentence structures, substituting different words in the

sentence.

Fig. 32

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5.5.5 Writing frame Provide a frame giving support at the level of headings and/or sentence starters. Learners

produce a written text or an oral presentation. Writing frames are often used towards the end

of a lesson and assume that learners know the topic.

a. Headings

Fig. 33

Describe a person you admire. Use these headings.

Physical appearance

Clothes

Personal qualities

Family background

Job and interests

Achievements

Start like this:

A person I admire very much is...

b. Sentence starters

Fig. 34