CELTA Written Assignment 3

Language skills related tasks

Length: 995 words

1. Justification of the material choice

To justify the choice of authentic text for reading I’d quote Jeremy Harmer:
“... good reading texts can introduce interesting topics, stimulate discussion,
excite imaginative responses and provide the springboard for well-rounded,
fascinating lessons”. (Jeremy Harmer, page 99).
I have chosen the article from the agony column sourced from “The Sun
Online” (appendix 1).
The article is devoted to the problem of the Internet addiction. I think this
problem is a really burning issue nowadays and can be very interesting for
students. It can be easily personalized and be followed by a discussion.
The text is aimed at the students of elementary level. From the grammatical
point of view the text is simple, though some vocabulary items can be
difficult for students. That’s why pre-teaching the vocabulary would be a
good idea.

2. Pre-reading tasks
The first stage to exploit this text is predicting and generating interest in
the topic.
Procedure: I’ll show some pictures regarding the topic (Appendix 2) and ask
a question: What problem do all these people have? I’ll elicit: Internet
addiction.
Aim: To get students interested in the topic, to appeal to visual learners.
Rationale: “Principle 4: Prediction is a major factor in reading.
When we read texts in our own language, we frequently have a good idea of
the content before we actually start reading.” (Jeremy Harmer, page 101).

The second stage is setting a context.

Procedure: I’ll show students the printed page from The Sun Internet site
with the following information: headline, picture, Sun agony Aunt Deidre
answers your letters, teenworries (Appendix 3). I’ll elicit the following
information: Is it a letter? (Yes), Who writes? (a teenager), Who answers?
(Agony aunt – the journalist that replies on the personal letters from readers
looking for advice in agony column) What is the problem? (Mum is addicted
(unable to stop using) to chatrooms).
Aim: To help students tune in to what they are going to read.
Rationale: “Book covers give us a clue about what is in the book;
photographs and headlines hint at what articles are about; we can identify
reports as reports from their appearance before we read a single word. The
moment we get these clues - the
book cover, the headline, the web-page banner - our brain starts predicting
what we are going to read.” (Jeremy Harmer, page 101-102).

The third stage is pre-teaching new vocabulary.

Procedure: Students will match words and definitions (Appendix 4). If they
have problems with some items, I’ll use elicitation technique (context, CCQs,
pronunciation, drilling, writing on the board – Appendix 4).
Aim: To enable students to have sufficient vocabulary to do the tasks
Rationale: Matching will provide students with the possibility to analyse
words before being given correct answers. Elicitation will ensure the teacher
that students understand the vocabulary correctly

3. While-reading tasks
The text consists of two parts, each part is meaningful. That’s why I’ve
decided to split this text in two parts and use jigsaw reading. “Jigsaw reading
is a great way to introduce speaking into a reading lesson.” (Retrieved from
the Internet 20.01.2013 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/jigsaw-
reading-0)

The fourth stage is a skimming task.

Procedure: the class is divided into two parts: A and B. A-part read the
letter from the teenager and answers the questions: Who suffers from
mum’s addiction? What does the teenager think about the reason of this
addiction? (Appendix 3-1)
B-part read the expert’s reply and answers the questions: What is the
expert’s idea about the reason of the addiction? Can the teenager help her
mum? (Appendix 3-1)
Students read and discuss answers in A-A, B-B pairs.
Aim: to develop students’ reading for gist skills
Rationale: “Students, like the rest of us, need to be able to do a number of
things with a reading text...  Students also need to be able to skim a text - as
if they were casting their eyes over its surface - to get a general idea of what
it is about” (Jeremy Harmer, page 100-101).

The fifth stage is intensive reading.

Procedure: students read their parts of the text and answer 6-10
comprehension questions (appendix 5). They discuss their answers in A-A, B-
B pairs, in A-groups, B-groups.
Aim: To develop students’ skills of reading for detail.
Rationale: students need to understand details for further practice.

The sixth stage is the integrated speaking practice

Procedure: students are re-paired: A-B. They are given a set of questions to
ask the partner (Appendix 6). They imagine themselves being the authors of
the letter and the expert communicating in person. Students B (experts) are
the first to question. They need to know the problem to give advice. Students
A (teenagers) are the second to question. They want to know how to solve
the problem. (Example is given in the appendix 6).
After the role play students read their partner’s part of the text.
“Once the students have orally exchanged stories, they should then read the
other person's article.”(http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/jigsaw-
reading-0)
Aim: to provide students with integrated oral practice.
Rationale: this activity provides “activation of the language of the text and
bringing the text to life”. (Jeremy Harmer, page 102).

3. Post-reading activity
The seventh stage is speaking practice
Procedure: students are given The Internet Addiction Quiz (adapted from
The Internet Addiction Quiz http://psychcentral.com/netaddiction/quiz/).
They answer the questions and find out if they are addicted or not. They
report on their results and agree or disagree.
Aim: to personalize the topic and to provide students with oral practice
Rationale: “Principle 3: Encourage students to respond to the content of a
text (and explore their feelings about it), not just concentrate on its
construction...
the meaning, the message of the text, is just as important as this. As a
result, we must give students a chance to respond to that message in some
way. It is especially important that they should be allowed to show their
feelings about the topic - thus provoking personal engagement with it and
the language.” (Jeremy Harmer, page 101).

Bibliography:
1. How to teach English, Jeremy Harmer, Longman, Pearson Education
Limited, 2010
2. Learning Teaching, Third Edition. Jim Scrivener. Macmillan, 2011
3. Jigsaw reading,  Gareth Rees, teacher and materials writer, London
Metropolitan University
(Retrieved from the Internet
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/jigsaw-reading-0)
4. Internet addiction quiz
(Retrieved from the Internet http://psychcentral.com/netaddiction/quiz/)
5. Pictures on the topic of the Internet addiction
(Retrieved from the Internet www.yandex.ru)
6. Mum is addicted to chatrooms. Last Updated: 15th October 2008
(Retrieved from the Internet
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/deidre/teenworries/1789983/Sun-
Agony-Aunt-Dear-Deidre-answers-your-letters.html).