Tuesday, 6 January 2026

Proficiency of English

CH 15 - ACTIVITY WORK - READING DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEXTS

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CHAPTER 15: ACTIVITY WORK - READING DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEXTS

15.1 READING PROSE (STORIES)

Prose is ordinary written language, like the stories and informational texts we read every day. It can be fiction (made-up stories) or non-fiction (facts, biographies).

Two Ways to Read:

  1. Silent Reading: Reading in your mind. It’s fast and private. This is the main way we read to learn and for pleasure. It helps build concentration.
  2. Reading Aloud: Saying the words out loud. This is crucial for beginners to connect sounds to letters. It helps teachers check pronunciation and fluency, and it’s fun for sharing stories.

Two Purposes for Reading:

  • Intensive Reading: Reading carefully and closely, like we do with our main textbook. We look at every word, sentence structure, and meaning. The goal is deep understanding and language learning.
  • Extensive Reading: Reading a lot, for fun and general understanding. This is like reading a storybook from the class library. The goal is fluency, enjoyment, and general knowledge. You don’t stop for every new word.

Classroom Strategy for Stories: The Three-Part Lesson

  1. Before Reading: Introduce the story. "Look at the cover. What do you think will happen?" Pre-teach 2-3 key new words.
  2. During Reading:
    • Teacher Model: Read a paragraph aloud with great expression.
    • Shared Reading: Read the next part together.
    • Silent Reading: Give students 5 minutes to read the next part silently. Then ask a comprehension question.
  3. After Reading: Discuss. "What was your favourite part? Why did the character do that? What would you have done?"

15.2 READING POEMS

Poetry is the music of language. It uses rhythm, rhyme, and beautiful words to paint pictures and express strong feelings.

How to Teach a Poem (Step-by-Step for Fun!):

  1. Create the Mood: Briefly set the scene. "Today's poem is about a rainy day. How do you feel when it rains?"
  2. Magical First Reading (Teacher's Recitation): Read the entire poem aloud by heart (or with great feeling), with books closed. Let children just feel the sound and rhythm.
  3. Unlock the Words: Teach the pronunciation and simple meaning of tricky words. Use actions and pictures!
  4. The Picture Show (Second Reading): Read it aloud again, this time showing the text. Ask, "What pictures did you see in your mind?"
  5. Explore & Enjoy: Talk about the poem simply. "Which lines did you like the sound of? How does this poem make you feel—happy, thoughtful?"
  6. Join the Chorus (Choral Reading): Read the poem together as a class. Do it with clapping or gentle swaying to feel the beat.
  7. Be a Performer: Let volunteers recite individual lines or the whole poem. Encourage them to use their voice like an actor.

Example Activity: Action Poem
For a poem like "I'm a Little Teapot," don't just read it—perform it! Add actions. This combines reading, listening, speaking, and movement, making it unforgettable.

15.3 READING RIDDLES & JOKES

Riddles are clever puzzles, and jokes are short, funny stories. They are fantastic tools for making reading fun and for teaching inference (reading between the lines).

Why They Work:

  • Motivation: Children want to read to get the punchline.
  • Teaches Inference: The humour often relies on a double meaning or a surprise twist you have to figure out.
  • Builds Fluency: To tell a joke well, you have to practice reading it with the right pace and expression.

Classroom Activities:

  1. "Joke of the Day": Start the day with a simple joke on the board. Read it together and laugh!
  2. Riddle Box: Have a box where students can submit their favourite riddles (in English or Punjabi translated to English). Pull one out each week to solve.
  3. Comedy Corner: Give students a simple joke. Let them practice in pairs, focusing on the delivery (pause before the punchline, use facial expressions). Then let them perform.

Example:

Riddle: What has keys but can't open locks? (A piano!)
This teaches that "keys" has more than one meaning—a great vocabulary lesson!

15.4 READING INSTRUCTIONS (FOR GAMES & ACTIVITIES)

This is real-world reading. It teaches children to read for a clear, practical purpose: to do something.

Why It's Important:

  • It’s functional literacy.
  • It teaches careful, sequential reading (step-by-step).
  • It connects reading directly to action and play.

Classroom Activities:

  1. Follow My Instructions: A classic game. Give oral, then written instructions. "1. Stand up. 2. Touch your nose. 3. Turn around. 4. Sit down quietly." Students must read and do.
  2. "How to Play..." Cards: Create simple instruction cards for common classroom games (e.g., Snakes and Ladders, Hopscotch). Before playing, a group must read the rules together.
  3. Science/Art Instructions: For a simple activity like "How to Plant a Seed" or "How to Make a Paper Boat," provide illustrated instructions. The goal is to successfully complete the task by reading carefully.

Example Instructions for a Game:

"Four Corners"

  1. Label each corner of the room: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow.
  2. One student is "It" and stands in the middle, eyes closed.
  3. All other students choose a corner quietly.
  4. "It" calls out a colour (e.g., "Blue!").
  5. Everyone in that corner is out. They sit down.
  6. Repeat until one winner remains!

KEY TAKEAWAY FOR TEACHERS:

Different texts have different superpowers.

  • Use Stories to build imagination, vocabulary, and empathy.
  • Use Poems to develop an ear for language, rhythm, and emotion.
  • Use Riddles & Jokes to make reading fun and teach clever thinking.
  • Use Instructions to show that reading is a useful, everyday tool.

By rotating through these text types, you keep reading lessons fresh, engaging, and relevant to every aspect of your students' lives.

EXERCISE: ANSWERS

1. Differentiate between intensive and extensive reading.

  • Introduction: Intensive and extensive reading are two complementary yet distinct approaches to reading, each serving different primary objectives in language learning and literacy development.
  • Differentiation:

Aspect

Intensive Reading

Extensive Reading

Primary Goal

Detailed comprehension & language mastery. To learn vocabulary, grammar, and structure from the text.

Fluency, pleasure & general understanding. To develop reading speed, stamina, and a love for reading.

Focus

Accuracy & Depth. Focus on the details of the language (words, phrases, sentences).

Fluency & Breadth. Focus on the overall meaning and flow of the story/text.

Material

Short, challenging passages (often the prescribed textbook).

Long, easier texts of the student's own choice (storybooks, library books).

Process

Slow, careful, and analytical. Uses dictionaries, re-reading, and teacher guidance.

Fast, continuous, and for enjoyment. Guessing unknown words from context is encouraged.

Teacher's Role

Instructor and Guide. Explains, clarifies, and checks detailed understanding.

Facilitator and Motivator. Provides access to books, creates time to read, and fosters a reading culture.

Analogy

Like a doctor carefully analyzing an X-ray in detail.

Like going for a long, enjoyable walk in the park.
  • Conclusion: Both are essential. Intensive reading builds the tools (vocabulary, grammar), while extensive reading provides the practice ground to use those tools automatically and fluently. A balanced reading programme incorporates both.

2. How will you teach a poem in the class?

  • Introduction: Teaching a poem is about unlocking its music, imagery, and emotion, not just translating words. The approach should be experiential and joyful, especially in primary classes.
  • Step-by-Step Procedure:
    1. Creating Atmosphere (Pre-reading): Set the mood. Briefly introduce the poem's theme in a relatable way. For a poem about rain, ask, "What sounds do you hear when it rains? How does it make you feel?"
    2. Enchanting First Exposure (Model Recitation): Perform the poem aloud with books closed. Read with powerful expression, rhythm, and feeling. Let students absorb the sound and emotion first.
    3. Unlocking Meaning (Exploration): Read it again, showing the text. Clarify the meaning of difficult words using pictures, actions, or simple synonyms. Discuss the central image or idea in child-friendly language.
    4. Appreciating the Craft (Discussion): Ask simple appreciation questions. "Which lines sound like music?" "What colour would this poem be?" "How does your voice go up and down here?"
    5. Choral Reading (Participation): Lead the class in reading the poem together multiple times. Add clapping, swaying, or actions to emphasize the rhythm. This builds confidence and fluency.
    6. Creative Expression (Post-reading): Consolidate through creative activities. Students can draw the poem's scene, act it out, write their own couplet on a similar theme, or recite it individually with expression.
  • Conclusion: The key is to move from apprehension (hearing the poem) to comprehension (understanding it) to appreciation (feeling it) and finally to expression (performing or creating based on it). The teacher's own enthusiastic recitation is the most powerful teaching tool.

3. How can the reading of jokes and riddles be helpful in developing reading skills?

  • Introduction: Jokes and riddles are often underestimated pedagogical tools. Their engaging and playful nature makes them highly effective for developing specific reading sub-skills in a low-anxiety, high-motivation context.
  • How They Help Develop Reading Skills:
    1. Motivation & Engagement: The inherent desire to "get the punchline" provides a powerful intrinsic motivation to decode and comprehend the text, making reading practice feel like play.
    2. Inferential Comprehension: Riddles and many jokes rely on double meanings, puns, and surprising twists. To understand them, students must go beyond literal meaning and make inferences, reading "between the lines."
    3. Vocabulary Development: They often introduce words with multiple meanings (e.g., "key" for a piano vs. a lock) or homophones, expanding semantic awareness in a memorable way.
    4. Fluency and Expression: For a joke to land, it must be delivered with correct pacing, pausing, and intonation. Practicing reading jokes aloud trains prosody (expressive reading), which is a key component of fluency.
    5. Confidence in Oral Reading: The short, structured format of a joke is less daunting than a long passage. Successfully telling a joke and getting a laugh builds confidence for public speaking and oral reading.
  • Conclusion: Therefore, incorporating jokes and riddles is not mere entertainment; it is strategic skill-building. They transform the reading exercise from a task into a puzzle to be solved and a performance to be enjoyed, thereby fostering critical thinking, linguistic dexterity, and a positive attitude towards reading.

4. Write the steps for teaching intensive reading.

  • Introduction: Teaching intensive reading involves a structured, teacher-led process designed to ensure deep comprehension and linguistic acquisition from a short, focused text. It follows a progression from global understanding to detailed analysis.
  • Steps for Teaching Intensive Reading:
    1. Preparation (Pre-reading):
      • Set the Context: Introduce the topic, link it to students' prior knowledge.
      • Pre-teach Key Vocabulary: Selectively introduce 3-5 crucial new words using visuals, examples, or simple definitions.
      • Set a Purpose: Give students a specific goal (e.g., "Read to find out how the character solves the problem.").
    2. Global Understanding (First Reading):
      • Teacher Model Reading: Read the entire passage aloud with correct pronunciation, stress, and expression. This provides an aural model.
      • Silent Reading for Gist: Students read the passage silently to grasp the main idea. Follow with a general question: "What is this mostly about?"
    3. Detailed Analysis (Second Reading):
      • Paragraph-by-Paragraph Study: Break the text into manageable chunks.
      • Comprehension Checks: Ask a mix of factual ("What did he find?") and inferential ("Why was he surprised?") questions for each part.
      • Language Focus: Highlight and explain new structures, idioms, or interesting grammatical points. Encourage students to guess meaning from context before providing explanations.
    4. Consolidation & Practice (Post-reading):
      • Summarization: Ask students to verbally summarize the passage or complete a simple graphic organizer (story map, sequence chart).
      • Controlled Practice: Use exercises from the text or create your own to reinforce the new vocabulary and structures (e.g., fill-in-the-blanks, sentence making).
      • Personal Response/Extension: Connect the text to students' lives with a discussion question or a short creative task (e.g., "What would you advise the character?").
    5. Assessment: Evaluate understanding through short answers, true/false statements, or a simple retelling. The assessment should mirror the skills (comprehension, vocabulary) focused on during the lesson.
  • Conclusion: This stepwise approach ensures that reading is an active, guided process. It moves students from a broad understanding to a detailed examination of language and back to a synthesized, personal engagement with the text, ensuring that the intensive reading lesson yields maximum learning benefit.

 

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