Using texts | frenchteacher.net - 0 views
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Apart from being a source of reading, structures and vocabulary, the text is a starting point for grammar practice, listening work, pronunciation and intonation practice and discussion. If you accept that comprehension is the source of all real second language acquisition, then reading texts is fundamental.
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Texts need not be completely authentic. After all, they are primarily a tool for teaching the language, so you may need to adapt the source text to suit the group in front of you
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Texts which relate to students’ own experience (leisure, new technologies, television, internet, shopping, school, film etc) can be good as they may well encourage students to talk more.
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What to do with texts Here is a check-list of ways you can exploit texts together with a justification or comment for each task. You could add to these with your own.
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Prepare the ground. To prepare students for the text they are going to read it is a good idea to ask a few questions or give a brief introduction to the topic.
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Skim reading. This helps students develop their skills of reading quickly for gist or specific details.
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Read the text aloud or play a recording of the text. This allows students to hear correct pronunciation and encourages them to read slowly and carefully since they have to go at the pace of the reader.
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look for ones where there is a clear development from one point to the next and where there are clear links from paragraph to paragraph.
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“Find the French/Spanish/German for”. This simple task, best done in the early stages of looking at a text, simply involves getting students to pick out vocabulary via translation. It can be done orally, or perhaps better in writing as then all students are definitely involved in the task.
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Questions in the target language. This is the most traditional activity of all, but one which should not be underrated. Good questioning technique (oral and written) allows the teacher to practise grammar points, vocabulary, comprehension and speaking skills.
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Questions in English. Although this has the disadvantage of moving away from the target language, it should not be ignored. It does focus entirely on meaning and with harder texts it can be a way of getting into the text before other tasks in the target language are carried out. It is also an entirely authentic real-life task.
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Multiple-choice. This is a good for allowing students to show a fine grasp of meaning. Multiple choice tasks should give at least three options and can take the form of a question with three answers or a sentence start with three different completions. These are quite fun to design and can be adapted to the level of the class.
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Dictation. This is a high level activity, but is easily adaptable to different levels. It works best with French, where the sound to orthography relationship is more difficult than with Spanish or German
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Paired dictation. For this you give students a series of sentences of different lengths. One student has to read the shortest sentence to their partner. The partner has to repeat the sentence precisely out loud.
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Texts may be entered into an online tool such as Textivate, where students can do a variety of text manipulation exercises.