GENERAL READING STRATEGIES

Written by Rina Akotonas and Dr. Smadar Messer

STEP ONE:

(Time:one to two hours)

  1. Guessing the meaning of the title
  • Instruct pupils to translate the title.
  • Instruct pupils to write in Arabic what subjectmatter the title deals with or talks about.
  • Instruct pupils to write, in Arabic, the words they expect to find in the text.
  • Test this strategy using five examples.
  1. Guessing the meaning of the first sentence of the passage
  • Instruct pupils to translate the first sentence of the passage.
  • Instruct pupils to write, in Arabic, what new facts they have learned
  • Instruct the pupils to underline the words that belong to the subject-matter of the passage.
  • Test this strategy using five examples.
  1. Guessing the meaning of the last sentence
  • Instruct pupils to translate the last sentence of the last sentence of the passage.
  • Instruct pupils to write, in Arabic, what new facts they have learned
  • Instruct pupils to underline the words that belong to the subject-matter of the passage.
  • Test this strategy using five examples.

STEP TWO: (One to two hours)

  1. Guessing the main idea of the passage using the information contained in the title, the first sentence and the last sentence.

Repeat practice of step one.

Test these strategies.

  1. Guessing the main idea of each paragraph using the information contained in the first and last sentence of the paragraph.

Repeat practice of these strategies.

Test these strategies.

  1. Guessing the main ideas of a passage using the information contained in the following:

The title

The first sentence of each paragraph

The last sentence of each paragraph

Test these strategies.

STEP THREE: (Two hours)

  1. Explain what a key word is.
  2. Instruct pupils to underline the key words in the:

Title

First sentence of each paragraph

Last sentence of each paragraph

Test these strategies.

The strategies described above should be taught and practiced as often as possible and with every passage.

STEP FOUR: (Two hours)

  1. Show the pupils different types of texts (genre).
  2. Start with ONE type. ( a report, a letter, an ad, a review , an interview …)
  3. Elicit from pupils how they determine what type of a text is?

"What characteristic features make a text what it is? For example, what makes this text a report?"

Use Arabic if necessary.

  1. Teach the pupils the characteristic features which will help them to identify a text:
  2. The format
  3. The structure – textual structure and organization
  4. Specific vocabulary used
  5. Specific textual markers (date, signature, names of the writer…)

Test these strategies.

Note: You may use graphics and pictures to teach vocabulary and other learning strategies.

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