Sara Pakdaman Sara Pakdaman

Reading
B2 level

Description

In this lesson, students learn about detecting main arguments through guided discovery based on a reading text. The lesson starts with a warm-up activity, that is, a pair-work followed by a brief discussion on the theme of conflict and rivalry. This is followed by a pre-teaching of critical vocabulary of the text. After that, students engage in a finding paragraph titles of the reading text to distinguish main ideas. The lesson continues by students' learning about supporting details and cohesive devices. Finally, the lesson provides the students with the opportunity to engage in a highly interactive speaking activity, forming their own arguments and supporting details.

Materials

No materials added to this plan yet.

Main Aims

  • To provide inference, deduction and gist reading practice using a text about causes of conflict

Subsidiary Aims

  • To provide detailed reading practice using a text about causes of conflict

Procedure

Lead-in (8-10 minutes) • To set the thematic context of the lesson

After greeting the students, the instructor asks a few warm-up questions, to mentally prepare the students for the text they will read. The students will be given a few minutes to discuss the questions in pairs, and they will be asked to report a brief summary of their ideas to class. Questions: 1. Do you remember the last time you had a conflict with someone? What was it over? 2. Are the reasons for conflicts among human beings always straightforward? If not, could you think of an example? 3. What are some common elements in conflicts among human?

Pre-teach Vocabulary (15-20 minutes) • To activate the students' lexical schemata

In order to make sure the students' understanding of the text's main idea is not hindered, the instructor teaches a number of key words used in the text, along with their form, meaning, and pronunciation, using a matching exercise. Whole class feedback on the meaning, form, and pronunciation is given by the instructor.

Distinguishing Main Ideas (25-30 minutes) • To familiarize the students with the target text and the author's main arguments

The instructor provides the students with a matching worksheet, containing 10 different titles to be matched with each paragraph. There is one extra title, that will not be used. Students check their answers in pairs, report to the whole class, along with a brief justification for their choices, using parts of each paragraph that support their answers. This way their attention is also drawn to the texts' supporting details, enabling them to make concrete logical connections between main ideas and supporting details.

Reading Exposition (10-15 minutes) • To provide the students with a general idea of the text

The class will be divided to three groups of students. The first, second, and third group will be responsible for reading and summarizing 2-4 key points of paragraphs 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9 respectively. They will post their summary on a padlet page shared with them, where everyone is class has access to. The page will remain open on the board, for future reference during the lesson (if needed). As the lesson progresses, the students will have a chance to see that their understanding of the text expands through the second exposure.

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