| Body | This activity helps learners understand a reading text by identifying key information from it, even if they do not understand the whole thing. It was created for Novice and Intermediate learners, with separate goals given for each of these two levels.
Learning outcomes:
Novice learners will be able to:
- Answer three questions about the text: Who or what is it about, where is it set, when does it happen?
Intermediate learners will be able to:
- Create an outline of the text by summarizing the main point and identifying one or two supporting details.
Mode(s): Interpretive
Materials: What Can I Read at My Level? video, reading text, paper or digital document for notes
Procedure:
- Ask learners to think about how they choose a text to read. Do they pick texts by topic? Any other reasons? Do they let teachers or others pick texts for them? Why do they make these choices?
- Introduce learners to the What Can I Read at My Level? video. Ask them to listen for the strategies the video presents for their specific proficiency level (Novice or Intermediate).
- Then, play the video. Afterwards, ask learners to recall the goal from the video that is specific to their level. These goals are:
- Novice learners: Answer “wh” questions (who, what, where, when, why) about the text.
- Intermediate learners: Summarize the main point (or points) of the text, and then find one or more additional details that support each point.
- Write the goals specific to your learners on the board or on a digital document for all to see. Learners will reference this strategy as they work.
- Tell learners that they will be applying the strategy to either a text of their own choosing or a provided text that aligns with curricular goals.
- Have learners take out their text and a piece of paper or a device they can take notes on. If learners are using digital devices, send them the strategy document from Step 4 so they can reference it.
- Give learners time to write down the following:
- Novice learners: The answers to the three “wh” questions for their reading (who or what, where, and when)
- Intermediate learners: An outline of the text with the main point or points and supporting details.
- Bring the group back together once most learners have completed their goals. Ask learners to volunteer their answers.
- Then, ask learners to reflect about how much of their text they were able to understand after they completed their questions or outline. Learners can answer using a scale that they are familiar with. For example, they can rate their understanding from zero (none) to ten (understand everything), thumbs up (understand a lot)/neutral (understand some), thumbs down (understand little), or give a percentage between 0 and 100%. The goal with this reflection is not to report the highest rate/number/percentage of understanding, but rather it is to think about how much they can understand by looking for key information from a text.
- If needed, remind learners that, just like the video said, they do not need to understand every word that they read. Instead, they can use what they do recognize to understand a lot!
- Finally, ask learners to predict what it might be like to answer the “wh” questions or create an outline for a text that is more challenging or complex than the one they worked with today. What key steps did they use today that they could apply to help them reach these goals with a new, more complex text?
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