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CHOOSING USEFUL READING ACTIVITIES OF INTERMEDIATE STAGE 050119.DO.-08-1 ( )

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CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 TYPES OF READING TECHNIQUES 1.1 Skimming and scanning reading techniques 1.2 Extensive and intensive reading 1.3 Problem of designing reading tasks 1.4 Pre-reading, while-reading and past-reading activities 1.5 Using Textbook Reading Activities 2 SELECTION OF READING ACTIVITIES 2.1 Varying the level of the task 2.2 Tasks with outcomes requiring little or no language 2.3 Tasks with outcomes involving spoken language 2.4 Complementary reading materials 2.5 Effective reading activities CONCLUSION REFERENCES APPENDIX 3 5 6 10 11 14 16 16 17 18 20 25 26

INTRODUCTION

What is reading? Reading is about understanding written texts. It is a complex activity that involves both perception and thought. Reading is a vital skill required to develop students understanding of the English language. Its really important that a teacher gets his students reading as soon as possible because this is a skill that will prove integral to their everyday lives should they ever choose to live in an English speaking environment. Students will need to develop a plethora of skills including understanding the key concepts of a piece of literature and effectively scanning their text (finding appropriate information without in-depth reading). When teaching students to read English a teacher will still need to ensure that student talk time is high. Activities are a great way to do this and they will help to work out how much students have understood from the text they have been reading. Developing reading activities involves more than identifying a text that is "at the right level," writing a set of comprehension questions for students to answer after reading, handing out the assignment and sending students away to do it. A fullydeveloped reading activity supports students as readers through pre-reading, whilereading, and post-reading activities. Reading activities that are meant to increase communicative competence should be success oriented and build up students' confidence in their reading ability. By intermediate stage is meant the beginning of the second year at the university level, or the stage when the student has completed a general introduction to the language, including an introduction to reading. Actuality: the need for communication has never felt so clear and not implemented widely in such a large scale. In these conditions of hours reduction of studying a foreign language and equate all the students with a common baseline, English reading lessons are, perhaps, the only possibility in these circumstances to depart from the usual - the current academic classes, to diversify them with interesting and useful information, in a full scale to include all kinds speech activity during work on the text. The aim is to analyze the main criteria for selection of useful reading activities, and in particular for Intermediate stage of learning English language and see how effective they are, and to make certain suggestions in systematizing teaching methodology in this area. Objectives: To look into importance of reading and reading activities To compare different types of reading activities To make certain suggestions in systematizing teaching methodology in this area Object: reading in English as foreign language on Intermediate stage. Subject: choosing effective reading activities for Intermediate stage. The hypothesis: surrounding conditions influence on choosing the effective ways of teaching reading.
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The scientific novelty: recent research brought to light a new lesson format that gave due importance to pre-reading activities. It was found that what is done before reading is very beneficial for understanding the text. This preparation work is what helps students get connect the new information to what they already know. This new format suggests that 50-60% of the lesson should be spent on pre- reading activities. Asking students to simply read the text is often much less effective than working through the text with students. In some cultures when faced with something they dont know, be it a word or a tense, they will just stop and its important that you pick up on this as quickly as possible so you dont waste any time. Using activities reading through the text is a good way of doing this. Children should always follow up their reading activities with a post-reading activity. This will give students the opportunity to practice their reading and will reiterate what they have taught them in the lesson. Most importantly, however, it will give the exercise a sense of meaning so that the students feel they have achieved something. The theoretical and practical value of the research work consists in the material that was used during the investigation work which may be used in further researches and be helpful at lectures on methodology of the English language as well as to teachers and students in their practical lessons. Area of using the results: in language teaching methodology, the research results can serve as a basis for concrete recommendations aimed at the effectiveness of teaching reading in secondary school, as well as in the practical application at lessons, fragments or exercises, developed in this research can be used at lessons for home reading of Intermediate stage of learning English. The practical importance of the problems research is to create conditions under which the school activity will improve foreign language teaching, realizing its primary purpose - formation of communicative competence. Students not only master the new ways and means of expression, but also will be able to join another culture in its broadest concept that will help them to see and understand the world in its diversity, be more aware of himself as a representative of the other socio-cultural community, to develop its universal consciousness.

1 TYPES OF READING TECHNIQUES 1.1 Skimming and scanning reading techniques It is necessary for students to become aware of the purpose and goal for reading a certain piece of written material. At the beginning stages this can be done by the teacher, but as the reader becomes more mature this purpose, i.e. awareness-raising strategy, can be left to the readers. For instance, the students may be guided to ask themselves, "Why am I reading this text? What do I want to know or do after reading?" One of the most obvious, but unnoticed, points related to reading purpose is the consideration of the different types of reading skills. English reading comprehension skills and quizzes for intermediate level learners include reading comprehension practice, intensive, extensive, skimming and scanning reading techniques. Types of reading processes that relate to differing goals. According to Jared Stein a handful of key identifications and distinctions that have been made in the research literature: Carver identifies 5 gears of reading: scanning, skimming, rauding, learning, memorizing; Lunzer identifies four processes: scanning, skimming, receptive, reflective; OHara recognizes Lunzers four processes, and identifies 12 types of reading activities that overlap with Carvers 5 gears; Birketts recognizes vertical (deep) and horizontal (range) axis; Levy calls these intensive and extensive, and predicts hyperextensive; Wolf refers to any reading apparently above skimming as deep reading Guthrie suggests that scanning is not a type of reading, arguing that information finding is a distinct cognitive process that utilizes reading, but deserves its own model.[1] Skimming and scanning are two specific speed-reading techniques, which enable students to cover a vast amount of material very rapidly. These techniques are similar in process but different in purpose. Quickly looking for an article is neither skimming nor scanning. Both require specific steps to be followed. Skimming is a method of rapidly moving the eyes over text with the purpose of getting only the main ideas and a general overview of the content. Skimming is the most rudimentary type of reading. Its object is to familiarize you as quickly as possible with the material to be read. Skimming is reading quickly to take in the main idea of the content without seeing and absorbing every word. When you skim, you get the gist of what has been written even if you don't recall every detail. Flipping through your morning paper is an example of skimming; you are not looking for anything in particular and don't have time to read each column or article with focused attention. Skimming reading is reading to confirm expectations; reading for communicative tasks. A. Skimming is useful in three different situations. Pre-reading. Skimming is more thorough than simple previewing and can give a more accurate picture of text to be read later.
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 Reviewing. Skimming is useful for reviewing text already read. Reading. Skimming is most often used for quickly reading material that, for any number of reasons, does not need more detailed attention. B. Steps in skimming an article Read the title. It is the shortest possible summary of the content. Read the introduction or lead-in-paragraph. Read the first paragraph completely Read the first sentence of each remaining paragraph. a. The main idea of most paragraphs appears in the first sentence. b. If the authors pattern is to begin with a question or anecdote, you may find the last sentence more valuable. C. Mastering the art of skimming effectively requires that you use it as frequently as possible. [2] General reading or scanning is reading to extract specific information; reading for general understanding. Scanning is a skill that requires that you read quickly while looking for specific information. To scan a reading text, you should start at the top of the page and then move your eyes quickly toward the bottom. Generally, scanning is a technique that is helpful when you are looking for the answer to a known question. Scanning is similar to skimming, although you scan when you are seeking specific information. Scanning rapidly covers a great deal of material in order to locate a specific fact or piece of information. Scanning is very useful for finding a specific name, date, statistics or fact without reading the entire article. Steps in scanning an article: -Keep in mind at all times what is you are searching for. If you hold the image of the word or idea clearly in mind, it is likely to appear more clearly than the surrounding words. -Anticipate in what form the information is likely to appear numbers, proper nouns, etc. -Analyze the organization of the content before starting to scan. If material is familiar or fairly brief, you may be able to scan the entire article in a single search. If the material is lengthy or difficult, a preliminary skimming may be necessary to determine which part of the article to scan. Let your eyes run rapidly over several lines of print at a time. When you find the sentence that has the information you seek, read the entire sentence. -In scanning, you must be willing to skip over large sections of text without reading or understanding them. - Scanning can be done at 1500 or more words per minute. 1.2 Extensive and intensive reading Most of the reading skills are trained by studying shortish texts in detail. But others require the use of longer texts, including complete books. These two approaches
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are described traditionally as intensive and extensive reading. Of course there are not just two contrasting ways of reading but an infinite variety of interrelated and overlapping strategies. Intensive and extensive readings are complementary and both are necessary, as well as other approaches which fit into neither category. [3] Extensive readingreading individually and silently for the purpose of enjoyment also promotes fluency. It is important to bear in mind that students learn to read by reading; although this may seem obvious, they need to read a great deal. In the case of extensive reading, reading should not be confused with reading instruction. As Rigg (1998, 216) points out, reading is what the student does alone, with the text. Reading instruction is what the teacher does with the students to help them when they read. The teacher is indirectly involved in the process, motivating the learners to read and facilitating the provision of material. It is necessary to make interesting long reading selections together with opportunities for silent reading available to learners in and out of class. [4] The characteristics of an extensive reading approach: Reading material Reading for pleasure requires a large selection of books be available for students to choose from at their level. Here, teachers can make good use of graded readers (books which have been written specifically for EFL/ESL students or which have been adapted from authentic texts). Setting up a class library is a good way to provide material for students, and because the books are kept in the actual classroom, there is a greater chance that they will be borrowed, and teachers also have more opportunities to refer to them during class. Student choice Students choose what they want to read based on their interests. If a student finds a book is too difficult or they don't enjoy it, they can change it for another one. Reading for pleasure and information Often students are put off reading when it is tied to class assignments. In an extensive reading programme, the students are reading principally for the content of the texts. Teachers can ask students about the books they are reading informally, and encourage occasional mini-presentations of the books or book reviews, but these should not seem like obligations to the students. Extensive reading out of class Teachers can do a lot to help students pursue extensive reading outside of the classroom. Having a classroom library and regularly encouraging students to borrow books to take home are some things which can help. If books are shelved in the classroom, students can also be given class time to browse and select books. Silent reading in class Extensive reading should not be incompatible with classroom practice and methodology. There are teachers who set aside a regular fifteen-minute period of silent reading in class. This silent reading has been said to help structural awareness develop, build vocabulary, and to promote confidence in the language. Language level The vocabulary and grammar of the books that students read should not pose a
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difficulty. The objective of an extensive reading programme is to encourage reading fluency, so students should not be stopping frequently because they do not understand a passage. However, the books should not be too easy as this may well demotivate students, who feel they are getting nothing out of the books. Use of dictionaries Reading becomes a chore if students think they have to stop and look up every word they do not understand in a dictionary. For this reason, dictionaries should be avoided. Instead of interrupting their flow, students should be encouraged to jot down the words they come across in a vocabulary notebook, and they can look them up after they have finished reading. Record keeping If the teacher takes an interest in and keeps record of what students are reading, then this can in itself encourage students. If a note is also made of which books the students like, then the teacher can also recommend other books to the students. The teacher should also be careful to explain the reasons behind the programme, and to highlight the benefits of extensive reading to them so that they know why they are doing it. The teacher as role model If the teacher is also seen to be a reader by the students, then they will be encouraged to read. The teacher can talk in class about books that she or he has been reading, and if they are knowledgeable about the books in the class library, having read them, then they can make genuine recommendations to students about what to read. The teacher can also read aloud to students, as a way of introducing students to different genres or individual books. The teacher encourages and assists the students with their reading, which the students undertake during and /or after class. Occasional summaries (oral or written) can help with this as they show both that the students are reading and also that they understand what their books are about. The activities can also help students improve their writing or speaking ability. Another activity teachers can become involved in is individual counseling - this gives the teacher an opportunity to ask students about their reading experiences and can be done by the teacher while the rest of the class are silent reading. Above all, however, extensive reading should be a student-centered and a student-managed activity. Day & Bamford (1998) highlight the benefits that have been gained by the undertaking of extensive reading programmes. These include gains in reading and writing proficiency, oral skills and vocabulary, an increase in motivation and positive affect. What are the benefits? It can provide massive comprehensible input It can enhance learners general language competence It can increase knowledge of previously learned vocabulary It leads to improvement in writing It can motivate learners to read It teaches learners about the culture of the target language users, which will allow learners to more easily join the L2 speech community
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 It can consolidate previously learned language It helps to build confidence with extended texts It facilitates the development of prediction skills [5] Intensive reading The labels indicate the difference in classroom procedures as well as a difference in purpose. Intensive reading involves approaching the text under the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the student to focus on the text. The aim is to arrive at an understanding, not only of what the text means, but of how the meaning is produced. The how is as important as the what, for the intensive lesson is intended primarily to train strategies which the student can go on to use with other texts. Within intensive reading, a further distinction can be made between skills-based and text-based teaching. In a skills-based lesson, the intention is to focus on a particular skill, eg inference from context. In order to develop this, a number of texts may be used, each offering opportunities to practice the skill. Other aspects of the texts will not be dealt with unless they contribute to the specific objective of the lesson. A text-based lesson, on the other hand, is what we usually have in mind when referring to an intensive reading lesson: the text itself is the lesson focus, and students try to understand it as fully as necessary, using all the skills they have acquired. We need both approaches and others. Skills-based and text-based teachings are complementary, as intensive and extensive reading are. Acquiring specific, accurate information is the goal of intensive reading. If you follow a recipe, you read it intensively. Intensive reading involves focused attention, retention of information and accurate detail extraction. Other examples of intensive reading include reading textbooks, contracts, insurance claims or affidavits. In general, students learning to read in English do not like reading and they rarely read. This is partly due to the way reading is approached in the language class. The reading skill is most often taught by close study of short passages followed by analysis of language. The value of this intensive reading procedure, with its focus on the teaching of discrete reading skills has been questioned by some, who claim that teaching students reading strategies does not necessarily make them better readers. It is widely believed that people become good readers through reading, and that learning how to read should mean a focus of attention on the meaning rather than the language of the text. Principles of intensive reading: O - Overview S - Summarize P - Purpose T - Test Q - Questions U - Understanding R Reading [6] I. The intensive Reading Technique is reading for a high degree of comprehension and retention over a long period of time.
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II. Intensive Reading is basically a "study" technique for organizing readings which will have to be understood and remembered. One may have good comprehension while reading line-by-line, but remembering is what counts! III. Intensive Reading is not a careful, single reading, but is a method based on a variety of techniques like scanning, the surveying techniques of planning your purpose, and others. 1.3 Problem of designing reading tasks Developing reading comprehension activities involves more than identifying a text that is at the right level, writing a set of comprehension questions for students to answer after reading, handing out the assignment and sending students away to do it. A fully-developed reading activity supports students as readers through pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading activities. As a teacher designs reading tasks, he or she should keep in mind that complete recall of all the information in a text is an unrealistic expectation even for native speakers. Reading activities that are meant to increase communicative competence should be success oriented and build up students' confidence in their reading ability. The reading activity is constructed around a purpose that has significance for the students. Students should understand what the purpose for reading is: to get the main idea, obtain specific information, understand most or the entire message, enjoy a story, or decide whether or not to read more. Recognizing the purpose for reading will help students to select appropriate reading strategies. A teacher should define the activity's instructional goal and the appropriate type of response and check the level of difficulty of the text. In addition to the main purpose for reading, an activity can also have one or more instructional purposes, such as practicing or reviewing specific grammatical constructions, introducing new vocabulary, or familiarizing students with the typical structure of a certain type of text. [7] The factors listed below can help to judge the relative ease or difficulty of a reading text for a particular purpose and a particular group of students. How is the information organized? Does the story line, narrative, or instruction conform to familiar expectations? Texts in which the events are presented in natural chronological order, which have an informative title, and which present the information following an obvious organization (main ideas first, details and examples second) are easier to follow. How familiar are the students with the topic? Remember that misapplication of background knowledge due to cultural differences can create major comprehension difficulties. Does the text contain redundancy? At the lower levels of proficiency, listeners may find short, simple messages easier to process, but students with higher proficiency benefit from the natural redundancy of authentic language.
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 Does the text offer visual support to aid in reading comprehension? Visual aids such as photographs, maps, and diagrams help students preview the content of the text, guess the meanings of unknown words, and check comprehension while reading. The level of difficulty of a text is not the same as the level of difficulty of a reading task. Students who lack the vocabulary to identify all of the items on a menu can still determine whether the restaurant serves steak and whether they can afford to order one. 1.4 Pre-reading, while-reading and past-reading activities There are three main types of reading activities or reading stages: pre-reading, while reading and post reading. All these stages are needed to extract necessary information from text or answer to questions: WHO? WHEN? WHERE? and more complicated questions WHY? and HOW? We need these stages to develop student's strategy of receiving information, because the main aim of reading is to receive information. And each stage consists of different activities. Pre-reading activities cover a range of possibilities, all directed at helping learners engage in a process of discovery and to feel authorized to engage with the form and content of the text. What all successful pre-reading activities have in common is that they are student-centered. The instructor has to identify the potential problems of readability inherent in a chosen reading text, and then has to help students find ways to surmount those difficulties. Rather than just provide answers or summarize the content, the instructor can help learners identify the sources of their reading difficulties. Two pre-reading activities are very commonly used in tandem: Brainstorming: Students pool what they know about the topic of a text and share their knowledge in the native or target language. The goal is to activate the learners' horizon of expectation, and help learners identify what the text is about. Prereading exercises can take different forms, but ideally they are learner-centered rather than teacher-centered. For example, if the text is a film review, and only one student has seen the film, that student can tell the others about the plot or other notable features of the film. Skimming: The second pre-reading activity is skimming. In class, allot a short period of time (two minutes or so) for the learners to skim the first paragraph or page of the text, look at illustrations and subtitles, and identify the words in the text that explain the "who," "what," "where," and "when" of the text contentto identify core vocabulary words that will help them work through uncertainties.[8] Pre-reading activities are used to prepare students for reading. The activities used during pre-reading may serve as preparation in several ways. During pre-reading a teacher may: Assess students' background knowledge of the topic and linguistic content of the text Give students the background knowledge necessary for comprehension of the text, or activate the existing knowledge that the students possess
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 Clarify any cultural information which may be necessary to comprehend the passage Make students aware of the type of text they will be reading and the purpose(s) for reading Provide opportunities for group or collaborative work and for class discussion activities Sample pre-reading activities: Using the title, subtitles, and divisions within the text to predict content and organization or sequence of information Looking at pictures, maps, diagrams, or graphs and their captions Talking about the author's background, writing style, and usual topics Skimming to find the theme or main idea and eliciting related prior knowledge Reviewing vocabulary or grammatical structures Reading over the comprehension questions to focus attention on finding that information while reading Constructing semantic webs (a graphic arrangement of concepts or words showing how they are related) Doing guided practice with guessing meaning from context or checking comprehension while reading Pre-reading activities are most important at lower levels of language proficiency and at earlier stages of reading instruction. As students become more proficient at using reading strategies, a teacher will be able to reduce the amount of guided pre-reading and allow students to do these activities themselves. While-reading activities should be matched to the purpose for reading. In while-reading activities, students check their comprehension as they read. The purpose for reading determines the appropriate type and level of comprehension. When reading for specific information, students need to ask themselves, have I obtained the information I was looking for? When reading for pleasure, students need to ask themselves, Do I understand the story line/sequence of ideas well enough to enjoy reading this? When reading for thorough understanding (intensive reading), students need to ask themselves, Do I understand each main idea and how the author supports it? Does what I'm reading agree with my predictions, and, if not, how does it differ? To check comprehension in this situation, students may: Stop at the end of each section to review and check their predictions, restate the main idea and summarize the section Use the comprehension questions as guides to the text, stopping to answer them as they read Reading activities to be performed while reading the text: - to verify predictions about the content of the text - to get the main ideas first, details second - to use efficient reading strategies - to comprehend the intent of the author
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- to understand the main message of the text This stage requires the teacher to guide and monitor the interaction between the reader and the text. One important skill teachers can impart at this stage is note-taking, which allows students to compile new vocabulary and important information and details, and to summarize information and record their reactions and opinions. Successful readers pay attention to what is happening and anticipate that there might be a need to change a prediction. It is as if readers are constantly engaged in silent questioning, saying to themselves as they read along, Does this make sense? Does this make sense? Does this make sense? [9] When a reader answers by saying, No, this no longer makes sense, then a new prediction must be made. The predicting, monitoring, and repredicting cycle is repeated over and over again as the reader proceeds through text. It is not a static, one-time process. It is a process that goes on constantly. As readers become proficient, strategies in this cycle are no longer individual entities. They are combined together so that the process seems to be one big strategy. While the predicting monitoring repredicting cycle is the dominant duringreading strategy, other strategies are also sometimes used. For instance, in narrative text with descriptive language, good comprehenders may use their prior knowledge to create imagesthat is, to infer what the scene in the narrative looks like or feels like. Similarly, when the need arises, successful readers stop and use fix-it strategies to problem-solve a blockage to meaning. In such cases, good readers say to themselves, What is the problem that has stopped me here? and What strategies have I learned that I could use to fix this problem? Sometimes the problem is a word having an unknown meaning, whereupon the reader might apply a context clue strategy to figure out the meaning. Sometimes the problem involves syntactic (or word-order) elements, whereupon the reader might do a look-back in which the material is read again. Sometimes the problem is a lack of a meaningful connection, whereupon the reader will search for relevant prior knowledge from past experience. Sometimes the problem is a lost focus for why the material is being read in the first place, whereupon the reader will stop and rethink how the reading is to be used. In sum, the most important during- reading strategy is the predict monitor repredict cycle. In certain situations, readers will use a fix-it strategy, but often the fix occurs in the process of predicting monitoring repredicting. Similarly, some narrative texts will require students to use descriptive language to infer an image, but it too is often embedded in the process of predicting monitoring repredicting. As noted earlier, comprehension involves use of relatively few strategies in various combinations. A good example is the way good comprehenders combine predicting monitoring repredicting during reading. Post reading, strategic readers summarize what they have been reading and contemplate their first impressions. They reflect and take second looks to develop more thoughtful and critical interpretations of the text. They also make applications of the ideas encountered in the text by extending these ideas to broader perspectives. A comprehension check is undertaken here, utilizing the overall purpose.
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The post-reading stage offers the chance to evaluate students adequacy of interpretation, while bearing in mind that accuracy is relative and that readership must be respected as long as the writers intentions are addressed (Tierney and Pearson 1994).[10] Post-reading activities focus on a wide range of questions that allow for different interpretations. Blooms taxonomy provides an excellent range of simple to complex questions and activities that are perfect for this stage (Anderson and Krathwohl 2001)[11]. While schema activation and building can occur in all three stages, the prereading stage deserves special attention since it is here, during the students initial contact with the text, where their schemata will be activated. The importance of pre-reading activities cannot be over stated. When students go into a reading selection with questions they will come out of that selection with answers. Teachers must prepare their students for reading both narrative and content materials by first exploring what the students already know about the topic. Next, teachers must ensure that what the students need to know to comprehend the text is part of the pre-reading activities. Finally, teachers must use pre-reading activities that highlight the vocabulary that students will encounter in the reading selection. Teachers may also want to suggest reading strategies that would be helpful to use in order to read and comprehend a particular selection. Ideally, each text used in such a curriculum should be pedagogically staged so that learners approach it by moving from pre-reading, through while reading, and into past reading. This sequence carefully moves the learner from comprehension tasks to production tasks. In addition, these tasks should build upon each other in terms of increasing cognitive difficulty. 1.5 Using Textbook Reading Activities Many language textbooks emphasize product (answers to comprehension questions) over process (using reading skills and strategies to understand the text), providing little or no contextual information about the reading selections or their authors, and few if any pre-reading activities. Newer textbooks may provide pre-reading activities and reading strategy guidance, but their one-size-fits-all approach may or may not be appropriate for your students.[18] You can use the guidelines for developing reading activities as starting points for evaluating and adapting textbook reading activities. Use existing, or add your own, prereading activities and reading strategy practice as appropriate for your students. Don't make students do exercises simply because they are in the book; this destroys motivation. Another problem with textbook reading selections is that they have been adapted to a predetermined reading level through adjustment of vocabulary, grammar, and sentence length. This makes them more immediately approachable, but it also means that they are less authentic and do not encourage students to apply the reading strategies they will need to use outside of class. When this is the case, use the textbook reading
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selection as a starting point to introduce a writer or topic, and then give students choices of more challenging authentic texts to read as a follow up. We can come to the conclusion that a fully-developed reading activity supports students as readers through pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading activities. Students should understand what the purpose for reading. The level of difficulty of a text is not the same as the level of difficulty of a reading task. The general idea is that the more difficult the text, the easier the tasks should be. But a teacher shouldnt make students do exercises simply because they are in the book; this destroys motivation. Prereading exercises can take different forms, but ideally they are learner-centered rather than teacher-centered. Our aim is for the students to have fun and enjoy reading because it is through enjoyment that learning comes.

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2 SELECTION OF READING ACTIVITIES 2.1 Varying the level of the task If a teacher sometimes has to use texts that are difficult for the students, he can at least devise tasks that allow them to use a top-down approach, in which intelligence and experience count for more than language proficiency. A teacher cant continually dodge the problems, but detailed analytical work is not always appropriate or necessary, and all students need the frequent motivation of enjoyment and success, instead of being always conscious of their linguistic inadequacy. The general idea is that the more difficult the text, the easier the tasks should be. The easy tasks can lead on to more difficult ones on the same text; but sometimes they are enough in themselves. [19] A good rule of thumb, when deciding how to use text, is to consider first the sort of things a target reader is likely to do with it. This often suggests activities that are used in class, especially if the text has clear practical applications. Much real-life reading does not demand a high degree of accuracy, so this approach can fit in with the suggestion about devising an easy task if the text is difficult. For instance, why would people read a guidebook to a town? Perhaps to plan how to spend some time there. So if a teacher can supply some guidebook pages, a suitable task would be to produce a programme for a visit of a given duration. Similarly, a page of job advertisements and profiles of job seekers could be used for a matching task, provoking discussion and perhaps leading on to writing a job application or roleplaying an interview. [ 3 ] 2.2 Tasks with outcomes requiring little or no language Outcomes involving little speaking or writing can be encouraging to less proficient students, as they allow students to demonstrate comprehension without making unrealistic demands on their active control of the language. Using figures Among the easier and more motivating tasks, we can include here many of those that involve figures grids, flow charts, maps, graphs and so on. Figures often help by setting out information in ways that supplement and clarify the written text, and offer opportunities for highly motivating tasks. Many tasks involving figures are transfer of information activities. Transfer of information works two ways. We can have visual information re-expressed in words or verbal information re-expressed by means of figures. Tasks involving figures are often integrative: many skills are needed to complete them, including making inferences and reorganizing information from different parts of the text. The pitfalls of traditional comprehension questions are avoided: the student cannot resort to responses which merely juggle the words of the text, but is forced to think hard about the meaning and consider the application of what he reads. Many of these tasks can also be considered as exercises in summarizing: they require the students to extract the main points of the text, or points relating to a particular topic.
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The students can be asked to prepare or choose a figure to match the text, to arrange (eg pictures to match the text), to complete or correct (eg a figure that is incomplete or does not match the text in all details) or to label (eg a graph in accordance with the text). Other non-language activities Also enjoyable, and often fairly easy, is the kind of task that requires students to follow instructions in the text. If the text explains how to operate machine (eg a leaflet accompanying a cassette recorder), make a model (eg an extract from a book on origami), play a game, etc, the most effective outcome is to get the students to do as the text instructs. This is usually interesting in itself, as well as good practice in functional comprehension, though not always easy to arrange. 2.3 Tasks with outcomes involving spoken language Drama, simulation or roleplay Drama can be used to exploit texts (primarily narratives) in ways that go far beyond the extemporizing of dialogue. For students learning to interpret text, the value is in the preparation, not the performance. Understanding is deepened and made clearer when, for example, the student playing the role of X has to decide with the help of the others what X is doing at any given point, what expression he is likely to have on his face, how he will behave towards Y, why he says this rather than that. To make these decisions, you have to read closely and explore Xs character, his relationship with Y, what has happened to them in earlier parts of the story and so on. It is easy to base such work on a superficial reading, from which the students will learn very little, so for dramatization to be worthwhile, the preparation must involve frequent interruption (ideally by other students) and reference to the text support one interruption rather than another. Conducted in this way, dramatization is enjoyable and leads to learning through discussion focused on the text, although like many good methods- it is time-consuming. While drama is most obviously appropriate for literary texts, its close relative roleplay can be used over a wider range of genres. It is particularly appropriate when the focus is on points of view rather than characters. For example, an article about teenagers in conflict with their parents could be prepared for by asking students to act out relevant situations in the roles of a teenager and his parents, two parents with different attitudes, and so on. Cultural differences could be explored by using roles from different cultures, perhaps requiring students to some research in order to present the views of people from elsewhere. Any texts that involve analysis of peoples actions or discussion of different points of view can be brought alive by means of an extended form of roleplay, simulation, in which students represent perhaps the people involved in the actions described, or protagonists of different viewpoints. The idea is that having identified various points of view in the text, each student adopts the role of a person holding one
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of these, masters the argument presented in the text and prepares to defend it against others. Conventional acting ability is not needed for roleplay and simulation; it is helpful if students can identify with the point of view they have to present, but not strictly necessary. The strength of this approach is that everyone is actively involved in suggesting, discussing interpretations and so on. Debate and discussion Generally debate uses the text simply as a spark to set discussion going, students being free to put forward their own opinions. Although the debate may not demand much reference to the text, it is one way of involving the students with the topic and exposing them to different points of view. Informal class or group discussion is often more effective than a formal debate. A teacher may like to use the buzz group technique: small group discuss an issue for a given short time (five minutes or so). Each group then reports to the class and whole class discussion follows. There should be a specific task (or tasks), in order to promote well focused discussion. The second stage is more effective if groups have to produce specific outcomes (a poster or transparency to embody their views). [17] 2.4 Additional reading materials - Reading pictures Choosing pictures to use with intermediate phase learners, we need to look for pictures that we feel will interest the class. We also need to think how to plan to use the pictures. If we want a group or even the whole class to see a picture, clearly, it will need to be big enough. We can read pictures just as we read print. We look carefully, and try to make sense of whats going on in a picture. We look to see if there are people. If so, we note what they are doing, what they look like and where they are. If there is more than one person in the picture, we try to understand the connections between the people. You will need enough pictures for each pair of learners to share one. Give each pair a picture. Or put all the pictures out on the tables and ask each pair to choose one picture. Ask the children to read the picture, and really look at it carefully. Tell them to talk about their thoughts. Ask each pair to write down all the questions they can think of, and that they would like to know the answer to. Encourage them to write down questions that begin with. When the children havewritten down their questions (5-10), ask each pair to swap their picture and list of questions with another pairs. - Reading street maps We read many things, including street maps. When you ask your learners to work with street maps you are linking Social Sciences with Literacy. In this activity, your learners can learn something more about the local area of their school. Boys often enjoy this activity, boys tend to be good logical thinkers, so reading maps is smething that they enjoy doing. Some girls enjoy this kind of activity, too. And many teachers will
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know and have experienced that the boys that they teach seem to struggle with reading more than girls. So if we get our learners to read street maps and other maps it is a good literacy activity. Not only is it useful as a life-skill, but the boys will enjoy participating in this reading activity. And if they enjoy the activity, they will make more effort, and are also more likely to experience success. Give each child a copy of a street map of the local area around the school. You could write some instructions and questions either on the chalkboard, or on newsprint, or you could give each pair a question card. - Reading information flyers In life we read a variety of written material including bills. Utility bills can provide us with material that prepares our learners to read for life. What information can children get from utility bills? What knowledge do they reveal that they already possess? - Reading adverts There are advertisements everywhere: on television and the radio, in newpapers and magazines, at petrol stations, on bill-boards, buses; absolutely everywhere. What information can learners get from adverts? How can we use them to encourage our learners to read, and to release that when they read an advert, they are reading? The language used in adverts is very persuasive. Adverts use the language of persuasion. This is another genre of written language. Collect adverts. Look for ones that you think will interest your learners. Cut them out of magazines. And if you want to preserve them so that you can use them several times, laminate them. You could even get your learners to write their adverts. - Reading TV guides TV guides are another source of reading material that an Intermediate Phase teacher could see. You can find TV guides in some newspapers and magazines that work well. - Reading packaging There is lots of print all around us. The products we buy have labels. And groceries we buy are usually wrapped up in packaging that has both words and pictures. This is another source of reading material we can use with our learners. Get your learners to collect clean empty packaging and to bring it to school. Then plan to discuss the different packaging with your learners. Ask them to look at the print. Get them to look at the different fonts that the packaging has. What kind of print have they used? Children are very observant and like to copy different fonts and to use them when they write. Ask your children to read the print on the packaging and ask them, what does the print tell us about the product? What can they find out? Of your children work in pairs, this will encourage them to talk about what they find. In this way they are more likely to make sense of the print and the information, if the language used is not their home language. [12] - Jig-saw stories( filling in the missing parts) When you use this activity your learners will need to try to make sense of the passage as they read. They can only complete the activity if that expect it to be
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meaningful. We suggest you get learners to work in pairs or groups of 3 or 4 when they carry out this activity. You will need to find good stories at your learners reading level, and which they will find interesting. I have found that the beginning of a story works best to start with. But perhaps whenyour learners have done this activity several times, you can use other parts of a story. First of all photocopy the page that you want your learners to read. Neatly cut the story in half down the middle of the page from the top to the bottom. You will have two sides of this part of the story the left side and the right side. Put each half in an envelope and label the envelopes.[16] 2.5 Effective reading activities As always our aim is for the students to have fun and enjoy reading because it is through enjoyment that learning comes. Thus effective after reading activities use the book as a springboard into active language use rather than try and wring every drop of meaning out of it. Imagining These activities ask students to use their imaginations. Ask them to guess what the main characters have in their pockets, handbags, or desk drawers. Play 'Hollywood' and choose which film stars would play which characters. Why not ask them to 'flesh out' the characters by making up a lot more personal details about them? Ask students to imagine that they are in the story as an extra character: what happens? Choose events in the story which are mentioned but not fully described and ask students to fill in all the details. Ask students to imagine that the characters are all animals, or trees, or fruit. What kind of animal, fruit or tree would they be and why? Ask students to think of a popular song, film or TV programme which would make a good title for the book. A great activity is when groups of students mime episodes from the book (perhaps while you (or a student) read the relevant section out). Students could try making up a sequel to the story using some of the same characters or imagine what happens to the characters in five years' time. Changing Here are three ways in which students can take control over the book by changing it. The first is an old favorite: making up a new ending for the story. The second is giving the story a new title or chapter headings or new names for the characters. The third is always fun: designing a new cover or choosing a new cover picture from magazine pictures. Writing All kinds of writing can spring from reading. Here are some ideas for letters: a letter of advice to a character suggesting what he or she could do, a letter to the author of the book addressed to the publisher (authors usually reply!), a letter from one character to another. Students can keep a diary for a character; make a wanted poster for a character or a character poster, or a word puzzle from the character's name. They can
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try writing captions for pictures, an introduction to the book for other students, or a new blurb. Speaking Role plays make good after reading speaking activities: interviews with the characters (three questions each), press conferences where students take the role of characters and answer questions from journalists, a game where one student pretends to be a character and the others have to guess who it is (yes/no questions), an interview with the author or full dramatization of part of the story. Students can make a 'photo film' of all or part of the story. A 'photo film' is really a large poster showing the main scenes of the story. A camera is brought to class; students mime the scenes (in costume if possible) and are photographed. The developed photographs are stuck on the poster and captions written underneath. Try a 'balloon debate', where students roleplay being the characters stuck in a hot air balloon which is sinking to earth. Each character has to justify her or his existence. The class then votes on which character has to jump out of the balloon to save the others! How about making up a version of the card game 'Snap' with cards with characters' names and things they have said on them. Players each put down one card at a time and when a character on one pile and a quotation on the other match the first student to shout 'Snap!' takes all the cards. Listening Here are two after reading ones: a listening cloze test where students listen to the cassette and fill in missing words, and character bingo: write characters' names on the bingo cards and the students cross off the squares when you read out information about the characters on their card. Remembering There are lots of different ways of talking about what was in the book without resorting to comprehension questions! Many of these can be prepared by the students themselves - good practice for them and a welcome relief for you. Try some of these: get students to match pictures of characters (Levels 1 and 2 only) and quotations from them, or create a time chart with days and times down one side and events from the story written in against them, or create a character adjective grid (characters from the story down one side and adjectives across the top) and tick which adjective applies to which character. Students can have fun guessing which characters are being described from clues (e.g. clothes, possessions), matching characters and descriptions, or putting events in the right order. You can draw a series of clocks showing significant times and ask students what happens at these times, or ask them to match beginnings and endings of sentences describing events and the days they happened on. Visual clues are useful. For example, draw the face of a character in an empty bubble surrounded by statements and quotations and ask who it is. Artistically talented students can draw the story or make a collage telling the story, while others can use copies of the pictures from the book to tell the story. [13]

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Recording There are lots of ways in which you and the students can keep track of what they have read and enjoyed without it seeming that you are spying on them! Students can keep a 'reading diary' showing their reactions as they read. Play 'Find someone who': who liked or didn't like a particular book, has read two books by the same author, has read six thrillers, likes science fiction etc. While book reviews can be a turn-off, opinion forms in the book are popular; they are just a slip of paper on which students write a grade for the book (1- 5) and a one-sentence comment anonymously. Finally a 'reading fair' at the end of term or year where students display posters they have made to persuade other students to read their favorite book is always a success. Expand the text With short, simple texts, get students to add an adjective in front of every noun / an adverb to every verb etc. For slightly longer texts - before class write (10) extra clauses or sentences that can be inserted into the text. Write these up in jumbled order on the board and get students to add them in the most appropriate places. Reduce the text Get students to reduce the text to EXACTLY (100) words OR reduce the total number of sentences by (50%). Reconstruct the text Before class, write a list of key words from the text in jumbled order on a sheet of paper. Make one copy for each group of students. In class, give out the text to all the students. Get them to read it through. Now ask them to turn over the text. Hand out the jumbled keywords. Ask students to put the keywords back into the correct order WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE TEXT. When they get stuck, allow them to reread to the text (but first get them to cover up the jumbled words again.) When all the students have got the words in the correct order, take the text away. Get students to reconstruct the text (orally or in writing) from the key words. [14] Matching Before class, get a heavy black pen and cross out the first sentence of each paragraph. (If you downloaded the page off the web, use your word processor to delete the sentences before printing.) In class, write the missing sentences up in jumbled order on the board and get students to add them back into the text in the correct place. Note: choosing the first sentence of a paragraph is particularly useful as these often summarize the main idea of the paragraph. Students can use these sentences to help them understand and structure the text. Transform the text Students must transform the text in some way, for example: Retell a story in the first person not the third person Retell a story from the perspective of a different character in the story (e.g. from the wolfs perspective, not from Little Red Riding Hoods.) Present a news story as a TV news item instead of a newspaper item.
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Deduction Copy the text onto a piece of A4 paper. Tear off a column (say 4cm wide) down the left hand side of the copy and a similar sized column off the right hand side. Photocopy and hand out the remaining middle part of the story. Students must work together to deduce the whole story from the bits they have. Hand out the original story for comparison at the end. Text quiz Hand out the chosen text to the class. Give them time to read it, check new words etc. Now get the students in groups to prepare (15) questions about the text which another group will have to answer from memory. Questions should be factual. When the groups are ready, cover up all copies of the text, and then get groups to swap their question sheets and answer each others questions. The group that answers the most questions correctly wins. Word partnerships Before class, find (15) useful word partnerships in your chosen text. Write the first word of each partnership down the left-hand side of a piece of paper. E.g. Solve (Dont forget that word partnerships can consist of two or three words, and also that sometimes a word is partnered with another one in a completely different part of the text. E.g. The puzzle, which had baffled experts for well over 20 years, was finally solved by a 12-year-old girl from Ramsgate.) In class, hand out the text. Allow students time to read and ask questions. Now get the students to complete the sheet that you prepared by finding the partners for each word. As a follow-up, students can test each other by covering up one of the columns on their sheets and trying to remember the missing word partners.[15] Reactions Before class, prepare a list of sentences along the following lines: What I found most interesting about this text was.. boring shocking amusing irritating baffling incredible etc. In class, allow students time to read the text and check out any problems. Then ask them to complete all / some of the sentences from your list. When they have finished, put them in groups to discuss their reactions. Talk about the text One of the things we often do in real life is tell someone else about a story / news item / magazine article etc that we read. To do this in class, all you need is a text and a group of students. Get the students to read the text. Now ask them to describe the text
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and their reactions to it to their partner. Get them to start like this: I was reading this (story) the other day and it was really interesting. What it said was.. Variation: have two or more texts and get different students to read and talk about different texts. Therefore, this series of reading activities provides students with various creative and communicative opportunities to use English. But it also uses, expands, and enriches student-generated texts which may otherwise never have an audience beyond the classroom teacher. Choosing useful reading activities we should consider the following criteria: - Level of a task - Effectiveness of a task - Reading stage to which activity relates - Involving spoken language, reflection and remembering - Creativity - Activation of students imagination Activity based on these criteria is not only enjoyed by students, but will be helpful in many ways: increasing vocabulary, improving speaking, ability to discuss, being absorbed in foreign language environment. So, teaching reading is a difficult work. Teachers must be aware of the progress that students are making and adjust instructions to the changing abilities of students. It is also important to remember that the goal of reading is to understand the texts and to be able to learn from them. Reading is a skill that will empower everyone who learns it. They will be able to benefit from the store of knowledge in printed materials and, ultimately, to contribute to that knowledge. Good teaching enables students to learn to read and read to learn.

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CONCLUSION Thus, teaching the natural, real foreign language is possible only if the using materials are taken from the life of the native speakers, or made to meet the peculiarities of their culture and mentality, in accordance with accepted standards of speech. It seems that the development of such reading tasks will provide more effectively training to all kinds of speech activity, simulate immersion in the natural language environment at English language lessons. All kinds of writing as well as listening and speaking can spring from reading. Reading activities should not just make students merely juggle the words of the text, but force to think hard about the meaning and consider the application of what he or she reads. Like many good methods, effective reading tasks are time-consuming and ask students to use their imagination. And if they enjoy the activity, they will make more effort, and are also more likely to experience success. Choosing useful reading activities we should consider the following criteria: Level of a task Effectiveness of a task Reading stage to which activity relates Involving spoken language, reflection and remembering Creativity Activation of students imagination. Activity based on these criteria is not only enjoyed by students, but will be helpful in many ways: increasing vocabulary, improving speaking, ability to discuss, being absorbed in foreign language environment. Selecting texts for home reading focuses on literary and regional geographic approach as the only way to preserve the material for reading all the components of the authenticity. Motivation and pre-reading work are binding on the lessons of reading as an opportunity of effective way for learning productive kinds of speech activity. Integrative and comprehensive character of reading lessons (if there is the correct formulation of problems, the optimal organization of training activities for their implementation and the availability of appropriate methodological support) can significantly improve the effectiveness of foreign language teaching in secondary school, extend the context of a meaningful dialogue between cultures. It is advisable to reading lessons were systematic and systemic, were graded system in which each new stage of actual reading done on the new, more perfect level every time based on previously learned skills, developing them and building new.

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REFERENCES 1. Jared Stein, Diagram of Types of Reading http://learn.5tein.com/2011/04/10/diagram-of-types-of-reading-take-1/ 2. Anne Arundel, Reading and study skills lab, p.26 3. Nuttall, Christine, Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language, Heinemann, 1982. P.38-39 4. Rigg, P. 1998. The miscue-ESL project. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, pp.206-220. 5. Day RR & J Bamford (1998) 'Extensive Reading in the Second Language Classroom' Cambridge:CUP 6. New Student Orientation Resource Book, Texas A&M University, http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/research/nso/ss/ss_c.html 7. Muhanova B.H, Altynbayeva A.K, Peculiarities of using games on foreign language lessons, Almaty, 2006 8. Janet K. Swaffar, K. Arens, and Heidi Byrnes. Reading for Meaning: An Integrated Approach to Language Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall: 1991 9. Nurjanova G.L, Use of visual guides as method of understanding foreign material, Almaty 10. Tierney, R. J., and P. D. Pearson. 1994. Learning to learn from text: A framework for improving classroom practice. In Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer 1994, pp.496-513. 11. Anderson, L., and D. Krathwohl. 2001. A taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman. 12. Viv Kenyon, Reading, encouraging Intermediate Phase learners to read more, Cape, 2005. 13. Silberstein, Sandra, Techniques and Resources in Teaching Reading, Oxford University Press, 1994. 14. Grellet, Franoise, Developing Reading Skills, Cambridge University Press, 1994. 15. The material comes from Churchill House School of English Language in Kent, England.http://www.churchillhouse.com/index.html 16. Literature-Based Reading Activities, 2nd Ed., Yopp & Yopp Ch.2 17. Nunan, D. 1999. Second language teaching and learning. Boston: Heinle and Heinle. 18. Heidi Byrnes, 1998, Reading in the beginning and intermediate college foreign language class, Grace Stovall Burkart, ed.; Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics. 19. Caroline Haddad, Practical Tips for Teaching Large Classes: A Teachers Guide Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok, 2006, p.58 20. Rogova, G.V. Methodology of teaching foreign languages in secondary school/ Prosveshenie, 1991. p.240.

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