Writing Through Reverse Reading

8/8/2019 Writing Through Reverse Reading

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Writing through'reverse readinghttp://www.teachingenglish.org.uk

Vanessa Gmez Riquelme


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Grade Level(s): Intermediate

Subject(s): Foreign Language/

English Second Language

Duration: 2 hours


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Description: The students will

learn how to create a piece ofwriting from a set of questions,

doing a process of reading

comprehension without the

reading.


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Students often get muddled when writing anarrative because they concentrate too much onthe plot of the story. As a result tenses and

syntax suffer.

This activity helps students both with a storylineand with the tenses.


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PREPARATION

1. Give each pair of students a set of questions.

Answer the following questions from the text:

What was Mr Jones's job?

What was he going to do?

Why?

What was the weather like? What did he decide to do after that?

What didn't he want to do?

Why?

What was the surprising end?


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PROCEDURE Tell students that you had a text for them to

read but unfortunately you left it at home!However, you still have the comprehensionquestions.

Give out the questions to each pair of studentsand ask them to:

TASK 1: read all the questions and then

TASK 2: write the answers to the questions.

The answers should have some connectionwith each other and should be in note formonly.


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Now, using their answers,

TASK 3:

They have to construct a story

about Mr Jones.

Either now or previously the

students need to have appropriatelinking words (however, all of a

sudden, so... etc).


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TASK 4:

When the students have finished

writing swap the stories with

another pair. They should read

the text and see if they cananswer the comprehension

questions.


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TASK 5:

Put the stories up around the

classroom for everyone to read

and get them to decide which

one is the best / funniest /

most unusual?


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CATEGORY 4 3 2 1Focus on the assignedtopic

The entire story isrelated to the assignedtopic and allows thereader to understandmuch more about the

topic.

Most of the story isrelated to the assignedtopic. The storywanders off at onepoint, but the reader

can still learnsomething about thetopic.

Some of the story isrelated to the assignedtopic, but a readerdoes not learn muchabout the topic.

No attempt has beenmade to relate thestory to the assignedtopic.

Creativity The story containsmany creative detailsand/or descriptions thatcontribute to the

reader's enjoyment.The author has really

used his imagination.

The story contains afew creative detailsand/or descriptions thatcontribute to the

reader's enjoyment.The author has used

his imagination.

The story contains afew creative detailsand/or descriptions, butthey distract from the

story. The author hastried to use his

imagination.

There is little evidenceof creativity in the story.The author does notseem to have used

much imagination.

Spelling andPunctuation

There are no spellingor punctuation errors inthe final draft.Character and placenames that the authorinvented are spelled

consistentlythroughout.

There is one spelling orpunctuation error in thefinal draft.

There are 2-3 spellingand punctuation errorsin the final draft.

The final draft hasmore than 3 spellingand punctuation errors.

Organization The story is very wellorganized. One idea orscene follows anotherin a logical sequencewith clear transitions.

The story is pretty wellorganized. One idea orscene may seem out ofplace. Clear transitionsare used.

The story is a little hardto follow. Thetransitions aresometimes not clear.

Ideas and scenesseem to be randomlyarranged.


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RESOURCES

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/a

ctivities/writing-through-reverse-

reading

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

?screen=CustomizeTemplate&bank_rubric_id=28&section_id=5&

Documents

Writing Through Reverse Reading