Examples of literacy activities and starters

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Give students a short text. Ask them to improve it, for example - by including as many adjectives / adverbs as possible - by changing common to more interesting words - by adding in a range of connectives - by correcting spelling / punctuation mistakes - by creating paragraphs Developing Literacy at Tallis Technique: Improving a text

description

Linda Steel, a teacher at Thomas Tallis School, has made these cards to help colleagues develop literacy skills amongst our students.

Transcript of Examples of literacy activities and starters

Page 1: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Give students a short text. Ask them to improve it, for example- by including as many adjectives / adverbs as possible- by changing common to more interesting words- by adding in a range of connectives- by correcting spelling / punctuation mistakes- by creating paragraphs

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Improving a text

Page 2: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Work on higher order thinking skills i.e. explanation, analysis, synthesis, evaluation - students’ ability to express clearly both verbally and in writing. Provide students with appropriate vocabulary and phrases, sentence starters, discourse markers etc to enable them to do this.

For example:Analysis: so it can be seen that...

it is evident that .....

this suggests that .....

this implies that ......

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Higher order thinking

Page 3: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Ask students to use different coloured highlighters to pick out different aspects of a text, for example:

• verbs / adjectives / adverbs / connectives,• or to sort the different themes in it. This exercise is good preparation for comprehension questions, discussion or improving / structuring writing.

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Highlighting

Page 4: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Students remember words more easily if they see them as a picture. Get students to write words in such a way as to illustrate their meaning:

Example: r a t i o n p

o r

p e

a c

v i

e p i t a t i o n

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Draw the word

Page 5: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• In setting up a speaking activity, do some work on conventions for the specific purpose of the activity i.e. hypothesising, exploring, arguing, debating, explaining, evaluating, presenting, questioning, discussing etc. Work on register, pronunciation, tone, fluency, non-verbal language etc.

For example:Arguing: moreover, furthermore, what is more, indeed, as for ....., with respect to ....

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Different purposes for speaking

Page 6: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Give students a text or sentences with certain words (or phrases) underlined. Ask the students to insert more appropriate words / phrases in place of these and to explain their choice.

For example:The highest male voice is a bass.

an alto.

(Bass is the lowest male voice).

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Correcting

Page 7: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Colour coding the different syllables can help students learn difficult words and words they repeatedly misspell.

For example:

ac com mod ation (4 different colours, suffix ‘ation’ kept together)par all el (3 different colours)

Chanting the words to a beat can also help.

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

colour coding

Page 8: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Provide the students with a short text, from which you have taken out key words, adjectives, verbs or connectives, for example. Ask the students to insert the missing words, which you could provide (jumbled) below - particularly for those needing more support.

Take two -------------- and place them in a ----------- with a little ------------ and --------------. Using a

--------------, mix them together with a cupful of

------------............

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

cloze

Page 9: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Take a topic you need to revise. Put 4 or 5 random letters on the board. Students have to think of a word related to the topic for each letter, then explain why they have used it:

Example: 2 D shapes

a - area - the area of a square is length x width

d - decagon - a 10 sided shape

h - hexagon - a 6 sided shape

s - scalene - a triangle with unequal sides

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

categories

Page 10: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Give students a key word for a topic, written vertically. Students write sentences related to the topic using the letters from the key word as starting points.

Example: R un with the ball

U nion or League

G oal s are converted

B ig beefy men!

Y ou score 3 for a try

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Acrostic

Page 11: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• This can be differentiated:- no words given - students told to find X words on a topic- words given- definitions given- picture clues given• Follow up activity - students have to put words into sentences which show meaning / students find odd one out and explain

• Students make up own puzzles and solve each other’s

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

wordsearch

Page 12: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Give the students a long word related to a topic you are studying. Ask them to find as many words as they can of 2 letters or more, using each letter in the longer word only once.

Example:communication:

in an at on into anti comma nation manic

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

words within a long word

Page 13: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Ask students to look at an exam answer and say how good English contributed towards a high mark / brought its marks down. Get them to pull out or insert more interesting vocabulary, range of connectives, accurate punctuation etc. and discuss the effect.

• Ask students to grade different pieces of work, taking into account the standard of English used, and suggest improvements.

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Using exam answers

Page 14: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Give the students a number of statements (perhaps on a text). The students write true or false next to each one. If a statement is false, students must give the correct answer. This exercise is a good way to revise the main points from the previous lesson or to find out what students know before introducing new material.

Example:The area of a triangle is base x height.

False - it is 1/2 base x height.

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

True and false

Page 15: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Use ‘Look Cover Say Write Check’ method for learning spellings. • Provide students with a grid for self testing of spellings - at least 3-5 columns so that students can repeat spellings until they have completely mastered them.

• Allow students to set their own personal target in spelling tests ie not a blanket 10/10. For some students, 5/10 might be a good result.

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Testing spelling

Page 16: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Take a paragraph and jumble up the sentences - it is helpful if each sentence has an obvious marker to help indicate where it should be placed in the text. Ask the students to reassemble the text so that it reads logically. A similar exercise can be done sequencing the paragraphs of a text or even the words of a sentence.

Example:•He was arrested, tried and executed along with the other conspirators.

•The gang of Catholics intended to blow up the Houses of Parliament ,

and it was Guy Fawkes who was chosen to light the fuse.

•However,the king heard about the plot and his guards caught Guy in the act.

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

sequencing

Page 17: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Show the students an object which is connected to the topic they are studying or are about to study. They have a few minutes either to write about it or talk about it - perhaps first in pairs or groups - before sharing their observations and ideas with the class. This activity is a good stimulus for the development of, for example, descriptive and predictive language.

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Object as stimulus

Page 18: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Give students sentences - perhaps based on a text - with 3 alternative endings. Students have to circle or underline the appropriate ending.

Example:‘Livre’ veut dire a) free b) book c) deliver

He ran away because he was a) scared b) angry c) desperate

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

multiple choice

Page 19: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Mnemonics can help students remember tricky spellings as well as sets of words and sequences (such as the order of the planets from the sun or the colours of the spectrum).

For example:necessary - one collar, two sleeves

diarrhoea - really really horrible experience always

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

mnemonics

Page 20: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Give students a set of e.g. 10 key words with jumble definitions opposite. Ask them to match each word with its correct definition. This could be differentiated to use pictures instead of phrases. A follow up exercise could be to insert the appropriate words in sentences to highlight their meanings or for students to make up their own sentences.

Example:tragedy a light-hearted play which makes you laugh

hero a serious play in which people usually die

comedy the main person in the play, who does good things

Macbeth is a ------------------- in which many people die because of his ambition.

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

matching exercise

Page 21: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Choose a set of words or phrases you want to practise. Create cards, each with a word or phrase on one side and a question or definition related to a different word or phrase on the other. First student asks his / her question and student with appropriate word / phrase answers it then asks his / her question and so on until the final answer.

For example: S1. It connects places of equal atmospheric pressure.

S2. Isobar. It connects places of equal temperature.

S3. Isotherm. NB Iso: equal

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Loop Game

Page 22: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Students make up own questions to ask class as recap of a topic or to show understanding of a text etc. NB Depending on the group, simple question words could be revised or higher level questioning techniques.

For example:To what extent does ............?

Given that ......... , what ..........?

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Making questions

Page 23: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Do some explicit teaching of conventions for a particular writing genre you want the students to use ie explanatory / instruction / discursive / informative / descriptive / narrative / recount / persuasive / analytical / evaluative. This is particularly useful in preparation for writing examination answers. Student planners can help with this.

For example:Instruction: headings / subheadings

bullet points / numbering

commands

sequencing connectives eg ‘firstly’, ‘next’, ‘finally’

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

Different types of writing

Page 24: Examples of literacy activities and starters

• Give students a series of simple sentences. Ask them to make one longer sentence, possibly giving them the opening words.

For example:

We put the powder in the test tube. Next, we added some acid and then a piece of litmus paper.

Having put ............., we .............., followed by ...........

Developing Literacy at Tallis

Technique:

making more complex sentences