Reading Activities

Distractive reading
To liven up your dry reading materials bring a student from each team to the front of the
class and have them try to finish the extract whilst you are trying to distract them with
silly comments, sound effects, funny faces or anything else that can distract people
without touching them. Award points for the first person to finish reading or the one who
kept a straight face for the longest.
DVD control button reading
Draw a DVD player style control panel on the board i.e. a box with a series of buttons;
play, pause, slow motion (rather than rewind) and fast. Use the symbols that you would
see on a DVD player as they are universal and break down language barriers. Have the
class read out the extract or story, when you hit a button they must adapt their reading
style according i.e. start, stop, slow down, speed up etc. Develop the game further by
adding buttons with happy and sad faces, musical notes (indicating that they sing
instead of read. Be creative. The possibilities are endless.
One student one word
Before you start reading as a class put your students into teams. Go around the room
having the students read the story or extract- one person, one word. When a student
says the wrong word or delays for more than 3 seconds, give the other team a point.
Encourage them to be alert and keep a good fast pace going.
Read to me- circle
Get the students stood in a circle with their reading books. Designate pairs within the
circle and instruct them to read to each other simultaneously. When you shout switch
they turn to the person to their other side and start reading to them instead.
Read to me- walk around
Put students into pairs. Tell them to stand with their partners in a free space in the
classroom. Tell them to begin reading to each other simultaneously. When you shout
switch they must quickly find another partner to read with.
Walk and read
Tell your students to stand up and hold the reading book close to their faces. Have them
read the book whilst walking around in a certain direction or in any random fashion. Tell
them to hop and skip etc to mix it up.
Emotional reading
Tell your class to read the text whilst displaying a certain emotion or situation i.e. a family
member just died you are preaching, you have just won the lottery.
Stand up and clap
Before you start reading, set up a rule that when a certain piece of grammar or word

appears the students have to stand up and clap then continue. You can experiment with
the action to mix it up.
Upside down reading
Put students into pairs. Have them hold their book upside down and race to read through
the extract. After each round tell them to switch partners and do it again.
Interruptive reading
Choose a student to read to the rest of the class. At any point the others can interrupt
with a relevant question about the material. The reader must answer all questions and
try to get through the material.
One team one sentence
Simply read the text with one team saying a sentence then the next team and so on.
Monkey
Split your class into two teams. Team A begins reading. When you shout monkey the
reading switches over to the next person on the opposite team. Shout out different words
every so often to confuse them.
Banned words
Before you start say that words with a particular grammatical value are banned. This can
be anything from words that begin with a certain letter or a past participle verb. Read the
text and when a banned word emerges students must replace it with a sound or a
different word.
Left-right reading
Divide the class into two. When you raise your left hand, the left side read and vice versa.
Punctuation bomb
Read through a piece of text- one student, one word. When a punctuation mark comes up
the student it lands on is out.
Volume gage
Draw a volume gage on the board. Have the class reading the text and change the
volume by pointing with your pen.
Memorising the material
Simply have students close their books and have them recall words and sentences from
the text in order to win points for their team.
New word comprehension race
Get a student from each team to stand at the front of class. Have them go against each
other to explain the meaning of a new word at the same time. Judge who manages to do
it better and quicker then give a point to their team.
Reading bingo
Tell students to choose 10 random words from a reading extract and write them down.

Read out sentences from the text in a random order. When students hear their words
they cross them off. The first student to cross off all their words is the winner and
becomes the reader.
Reverse reading
Simply read the text backwards. To make it more interesting read it one word, one
student and give a point to the other team when a student makes a mistake.
Word jigsaw puzzle
Make a copy of the text. Cut it up into different slips of paper. Have the students work in
pairs to piece it together in the correct order then read it.

Questions Only
No matter how enthusiastic teachers are when its time for grammar lessons, its a sure bet he or she
will be met with weary sighs from all corners of the classroom. Thats why, as all smart teachers
know, the best way to engage students in learning a boring topic is to spice things up with fun games
or activities.

Here is a fun activity for teaching or reinforcing the concept of interrogative

sentences. Its a game made popular on the television show Whose Line Is It,
Anyway? not exactly a show for young children, but its okay to adapt the idea! The
game is called Questions Only.
Pre game lesson:
Students should already be aware of the four types of sentences: declarative,
imperative, exclamatory and interrogative. As a review, remind them that its easy to
spot interrogative sentences because they have their own punctuation mark assigned
to them. Anytime you see a question mark at the end of a sentence, thats a sure
give-away youre looking at an interrogative sentence.
Its usually easy to spot an interrogative sentence in speaking, as well. When we ask
yes or no questions, our voice inflection goes up at the end of the question. The
rising inflection expresses uncertainty, confusion, doubt or suspense. But
sometimes, interrogative sentences end with a falling inflection.
Heres an example:
Read the two sentences out loud and notice the difference in inflection:
Are you going to the party tonight?
What are you going to wear?
The first sentence ended with a rising inflection because it required a yes or no
answer. The second sentence ended with a falling inflection because it asks for
more than a yes or no.
Prior to explaining how to play the game Questions Only teachers can hand out a
review sheet with that has 8 -10 sentences listed. The list should be a mix of
declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences.

Students are to place the letter I to the left of the interrogative sentences and place
an X to the left of those that are not interrogative. Depending on the grade level,
teachers can also ask students to place the letter R to the right of the interrogative
that has a rising inflection and an F for those that have a falling inflection. Review
and discuss student responses.
How To Play Questions Only
The teachers role is to create a scenario where students act out a scene and speak
only in questions. For example, the scene could be Getting ready for the big game
and students would be the players on a soccer team. Set a time limit for playing 5
minutes is a good place to start.
Divide the class into two equal groups, if possible, and have students line up in two
separate rows on either side of the classroom. The first student in each row comes
to the front of the class and role-plays the scene. During the dialogue, if one student
speaks in a sentence type other than interrogative, or if they take more than a few
seconds to respond, the teacher sounds a buzzer or rings a bell. That student takes
a seat and the next student in line replaces him or her.
The winning team is determined by which row has the most students standing at the
end of the five minutes.
Adapting to different grade levels
This lesson is most appropriate for early middle school students but it can be
adapted for younger students as well. Teachers can set a limit on the number of
questions to ask for each set of students or lengthen the time allowed for a response.

Getting into the character

For some students, independent reading is a time of joy and discovery. For othersnot
so much. Try as you might to get students to choose books that interest them,
sometimes they simply have a hard time maintaining focus or relating to the
characters. It may be a matter of forgetting what theyve read or connecting all the
details in the plot. In any event, empathizing or connecting with characters needs to
happen in order to truly comprehend what the story is about. Heres one way to
increase reading comprehension skills.
Conduct An Interview
A surefire method for getting into a story is to get into a character. Getting to know a
character sometimes requires reading between the lines and imagining how the
character would react in a given situation, or what would make them sad, angry, or
happy. As all great writers know, the interview process is the best way to get to know
someone. While obviously students cant interview the characters in the books they
read, they can play the role of interviewer. Heres how to get them started.
As students read their book, have them choose one character theyd like to get to know
better. Then, as they get involved in the story, have them think of questions they would
like to ask the character they chose. For example, if the character seems to be excited
about an event in the story, a question could be, What makes you happy? More
question suggestions are:
1. Who are your friends?
2. What do you like to do after school?
3. What makes you sad?
4. Do you have a pet?
5. What makes you mad?
6. Do you like sports?
7. Describe how you felt when (some event in the story) happened.
8. How did you solve a big problem in your life?
9. What advice would you give a friend that had the same problem?

10. What kind of job would you like to have when you grow up?
11. What do you see yourself doing 10 years from now?
12. Do you fight with your brothers and sisters?
13. What state do you live in?
14. What is your favorite color?
15. What does you Dad and Mom do?
16. What is your favorite color?
17. What is your favorite subject in school?
18. Can you play a musical instrument?
19. If someone granted you one wish, what would your wish be?
20. What is your favorite food?
Then have them write the replies as the character would answer them. The answers to
the questions may or may not be in the book, but by paying attention to how a
character reacts in situations in the story, you can imagine how he or she may react to
other situations. The above questions will keep students focused as they watch a
character develop throughout the story.
Create A Wanted Poster
Once students have completed their interview, have them created a Wanted Poster
of the character. Have them draw the character as best they can. Or they can illustrate
a scene from the book and draw a generic looking character. The poster describes
what crime the character is accused of. For example, Last seen selling candy to raise
money for new game uniforms couldnt be called criminal but it does give insight. Then
write a physical description, age, and date of birth.
This activity is best suited for upper elementary and middle school students but can be
adapted for literature classes at the high school level.