Introduction

Welcome to Teaching the Four Skills. In this unit, we will look at the four skills:

 1

1Speaking2

2 Listening3

3 Writing4

4Reading

Most students you teach will tell you that speaking and listening are the two most important
skills for them. Indeed, if you had £10 for every student who said “I want to improve my
English conversation” then you would be on that tropical island sipping a cocktail before you
knew it!

As a result, reading and writing can be neglected in some language classrooms. However, it’s
the combination of the four skills that makes someone competent in a language – reading and
writing must not be forgotten.

In this unit, we will look at each of the skills in turn, exploring practical approaches to
teaching.

By the end of this unit, you will have learnt about:

 bullet

How to structure a lesson / activity for each of the four skills

 bullet

Practical approaches to teaching each of the four skills

 bullet

Different types of activities and materials to use

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Giving feedback in a constructive way
As always, do remember to look at the articles we recommend in the Further Reading section
at the end. It’s not compulsory, but it will help – trust us!

Introduction and overview

For many students, speaking can be the most daunting part of
learning a new language. Students may have learnt lots of
vocabulary and have great technical knowledge about grammar, but
still nothing comes out when they open their mouth to speak. This is
often due to a fear of “sounding stupid” or making mistakes when
they speak.

So, how on earth do we teach students to speak English?

Getting your students to speak
In a moment, we will look at developing the structure for a speaking lesson. However,
even the most well-structured lesson will not be successful unless your students feel
comfortable enough to practise their speaking skills.

When you are planning a speaking lesson, therefore, you must consider how you will
set up an environment which encourages the class to participate.

Here are some key points to consider to encourage your students to

speak:
Topic
–
The topic that you choose is very important. It should be something that:
 The students are interested in and can relate to
 Is appropriate for the culture in which you are teaching
 Your class will be able to discuss, given their level of vocabulary

If you want a successful lesson, then do not ask a group of beginners to discuss the role of
neo-socialism in post-communist Eastern Europe, or a group of Saudi students to talk about
their favourite Christmas!
Activities
–
Your main speaking activity should be something that students will find engaging.

For example, students may find it more interesting to pretend to be the local government and
make decisions regarding the closure of the leisure centre rather than talk about their holidays
(or vice versa, depending on the group!).
Tools
–
Students need to have the tools for the job – i.e. the vocabulary and the grammar that is
needed to carry out a speaking activity. You should generally base speaking activities around
another area of English that they have dealt with recently and practise any vocabulary or
grammar at the start of the activity.

For example, if you have been looking at the past tense, you could have a speaking activity
that asks students to talk about what they did last night.
Positive feedback
–
 Praise and encourage effort and make it clear that you value everyone’s attempts (no matter
how good or bad). This will help create the right environment to break down the fears that
some students will have.

Lesson aims
As we saw in Unit 2, Lesson planning, the aim of your lesson is key
to determining what you teach.

It is particularly important to remember this in a speaking lesson -

it’s not enough to think of a topic and then let your students happily
go away and discuss it. Remember, the aim of your lesson (and each
activity) should be clear, and the level appropriate and ultimately
achievable.

Below you'll find a stack of aims for a speaking lesson, but only
some of them are good aims. Sort the good aims from the bad by
dragging and dropping each one into the appropriate box. Note that
you will only get one go at this activity!
Now, let's review the bad aims and why they were poor:

 bullet

To get the students to practise speaking using the vocab we did in the reading exercise a
few weeks ago.

This aim is too vague and doesn’t tell anyone what the outcomes of the lesson
would be. A better aim would be: To review spoken use of the comparatives
and superlatives introduced in the reading exercise two weeks ago.

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By the end of the class, the students will have the confidence to speak to native
speakers.

This aim is far too ambitious for a lesson (!) and doesn’t make it clear at all
what elements of language you are focusing on. Remember to make the aims of
lessons clear, specific and achievable.

 The students will get an opportunity to practise speaking on a wide variety of different
topics.

This aim is very vague and gives no clue as to what you are going to practise or introduce
in the lesson.
 bullet

The students will learn to distinguish between American and British accents.
 Although understanding different accents is useful (and in the majority of cases your
students will need to get used to a wide range of differing accents) this is more appropriate
for a lesson focusing on listening.

One of the good aims could also be improved:

By the end of the class, students will be better prepared for

the questions that will arise in their oral test.
This the aim could be made clearer by adding in the specific
language that will be featured.

Keep the aims of your

speaking classes clear
and achievable. This will
help ensure that your
students can see a sense
of progression throughout
their classes
Lesson stages
By now, you should (hopefully!) have realised that your lessons will
consist of a series of activities set out in logical stages, all of which
clearly relate to the lesson’s aim.

As your experience grows, you are likely to develop different

approaches to structuring your lesson.

However, the basic PPP structure we have looked at previously will

give you a good basis when you are starting out. One point to
remember for skills lessons, however, is that you will usually spend
a higher level of time on the activities section.
Sample lesson structure
 1
Introduction
Introduce the lesson / activity and set the scene.
 2
Presentation
Introduce or review the language to be used.

This can be pretty much anything from vocabulary to grammar to pronunciation, depending
on the aim of the lesson and activity.
 3
Practice
Irrespective of the level of your students, it’s a good idea to practise the language they will be
using.

In speaking tasks, it can also be useful to give your students a bit of time to think of some
ideas for what they will be talking about. This can help with the production stage.
 4
Checking understanding
Remember to check that your students understand what you are asking them to do. This
check can take the form of concept checking questions or even a practice run of the activity.
 5
Production
Ask your students to carry out the task.

While your students are engaged in the speaking activity, do make sure that you monitor their
progress. You can walk around the group listening to individuals, encouraging and helping as
necessary, as well as making any notes for correction and feedback at the end of the activity.
 6
Review and feedback
Once the activity is finished, provide positive feedback, praising the areas that students got
right and helping them to develop and practise the areas they found more difficult. One useful
approach is to get the students themselves to model any corrections.

In a moment, we will turn to look at different techniques you can use in your lessons.
However, before we do so, it’s worth spending a few minutes on an important point for
speaking lessons.

Accuracy vs Fluency
When you are delivering a speaking lesson, you need to be aware of
the difference between speaking accurately and speaking fluently
(think “flowingly”). These are both important concepts in language
learning. But which do you think is more important?

The answer is that both are equally important. You want your
students to speak accurately. However, if there is no fluency they
will be incoherent. Equally if a student’s language is littered with
mistakes they are less likely to communicate their message clearly.

Overall, students should have an equal measure of activities to

support accuracy and fluency. You may focus on one more than the
other within an individual lesson. However, ultimately, the aim must
be to improve both.

Some activities encourage students to be accurate whilst others

focus more on encouraging the students to speak fluently.

Modern teaching philosophy is based around encouraging students

to produce language from day one and to learn from their mistakes
rather than to avoid making them. After all, let’s not forget that
even native-level speakers of English make “mistakes” from time to
time when they speak (usually in grammatical structure or
pronunciation) but still manage to communicate effectively.

As a new teacher, you may find it hard to prioritise fluency over

accuracy as it can be tempting to correct every mistake. However,
do remember that focusing on communication rather than 100%
accuracy has been shown to be very effective.

Having said that, there is of course a time and place in the

classroom for both fluency and accuracy work. A good rule of thumb
is to encourage fluency BUT to focus on accuracy as and when
mistakes are hampering communication and leading to the message
/ meaning not being understood.

Approaches for teaching

speaking
We will now turn to look at some techniques that you can use in a speaking lesson.
Scaffolding
Scaffolding is an approach that involves the teacher providing support for the students’
speech - much in the same way that physical scaffolding is used to support a building that is
being put up, and then taken away as the work nears completion.

In scaffolding you:

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Use words and phrases that reinforce correct use of language

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Encourage the students to produce more language
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Gently correct errors
Before you read on, spend a few minutes thinking of some practical types of “scaffolding”
that you could use.
Here are some techniques you can try:

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Use phrases like “yes” and “uh, huh” to encourage students to give more information

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Echo a word, turning it into a question to ask for more information

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Repeat a word, giving the correct pronunciation in your reply

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Echo a phrase, but with grammar corrected

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Ask short questions to keep the conversation flowing
To illustrate this technique, here is an example of a dialogue involving scaffolding:
Teacher: What did you have for breakfast?
Student: I have eggs
Teacher: You HAD eggs?
Student: Yes, I had eggs
Teacher: uh, huh…
Student: and toasts and
Teacher: toast, anything else?
Student: a drink?
Teacher: a DRINK…?
Student: Yes, I had…
Teacher: You had COFFEE?
Student: Yes, coffee and orange... eh... orange...
Teacher: You had coffee AND orange juice?
Controlled speaking practice
As we explored recently, controlled practice is a good mid-way point between students being
taught language and spontaneous communication. In a speaking lesson, controlled practice is
useful for:

 bullet

Working on accuracy, pronunciation and word or sentence stress

 bullet
 Building students’ confidence and motivating them to produce grammatically correct
language
 bullet
Overcoming students’ fear of making mistakes when they speak (as they have the language in
front of them)
Before you read on, spend a few minutes thinking of some practical ideas for controlled
speaking practice activities.
In the controlled practice stage of a speaking lesson, you can use activities such as:

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Scripted roleplays

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Repetition
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Drilling

The key is to ensure that students are only using the target language, and the responses are
fully scripted / predictable.

For example, if you are looking at polite requests, give students a

scripted dialogue on the topic to act out. This will help them to
memorise the useful fixed expressions.

Alternatively, in a numbers lesson, put students in pairs and give

them each a set of question and answer cards. These could have
questions such as “what is the population of the UK?” or “how high
is Mount Snowdon?” In this instance, only the target language is
being practised and the responses are 100% predictable.
Free-speaking practice
The key purpose of free-speaking practice is to improve fluency. More specifically, the aim is
to develop your students’ ability to speak at a natural speed without too many hesitations. The
basic idea behind this type of activity is that your students will get better at speaking by
speaking.

You can use a variety of communicative activities for free-speaking practice, such as free-
flowing roleplays and debates that draw on the lesson’s target language / structures.

Correcting errors
Making errors is an important part of the learning process. However, research has shown that
systematic correcting does not improve spoken language. Here is an alternative approach you
can use:
 Circulate around the room as your students are involved in an activity and make a note of
mistakes that you hear.
 At the end of the activity, write down three - four key / common mistakes that you heard. Ask
students to work in small groups to identify the problem and correct it. Alternatively, you can
work with the class and elicit the correct form.
 Make sure you practise the correct form with your class before they leave.

Ideas for speaking lessons

Here are a couple of ideas for activities that you can use in speaking lessons.
Survival information
Tell students that they are new visitors to London. What do they need to be able to do
to survive? What language areas or items could they be taught to do this? What
situations will they find themselves in that you could help them with?

Look at the lists below and add to them with your own ideas. You can then use all
these ideas as the basis for future lessons.
Suggested language to
Situations What they need to do
teach
Can I have… / I would like…
Order from a menu
Restaurants Can I have the bill / I would like the
Ask for the bill
bill
Make a complaint
I’m sorry but... / I’m afraid ...
How much is it?
Ask the price
Excuse me, where is the changing
Shops Ask if they can try something on
room?
Excuse me, where are the
Ask where something is
vegetables?
Ask for directions Where is the northern line?
Travelling on
Buy a ticket I would like a single / return ticket
the
underground Ask how long the journey will How long will it take to travel
take from… to …?
I would like a pint of beer please
Order a drink / some food
Excuse me, where are the toilets?
Pubs/bars Ask where something is
Hi, I’d like to pay the bill
Pay the bill
please
Talk about where they are from My name is… and I’m from…
Giving
Talk about their work I am a… and I work for …
information
Talk about their family I am married with t
Different countries (advanced students)
Call out a series of countries in turn. Tell students to write ten words they believe describe
people from each country. This can generate a huge range of vocabulary.

Next use the words that students have given as the launch pad for a discussion on
stereotyping.

Top tips for speaking lessons

Here are some practical tips to help your speaking lessons flow.
Prepare students for an activity
–
 Use familiar topics for activities.
 Make sure students have all the vocabulary they need for an activity. If necessary,
teach it beforehand.

Facilitate discussions effectively

–
 Make sure you have prepared your topic in advance and know the subject.
 Remember your job is to facilitate rather than participate. Be objective and keep the
discussion on track (or turn it in a new direction, if needed).
 Listen to your students. Ask them to explain and clarify their thoughts and opinions.
This will help with the discussion and give them a good opportunity to practise their
speaking skills.
 Diffuse potential situations by changing groups around and using humour.
 Keep everyone involved. Encourage new students to comment and ask each other
questions.
 Monitor and support speaking skills throughout the discussion.

Develop students' communication skills

–
 Teach strategies to help students sound more fluent and natural. For example, teach
them to use pause fillers (e.g. “erm”, “you know”, repeating a word or phrase) to give
them time to think.
 Help students develop skills that support good communications. For example:
o Showing interest through positive body language, saying “hmm” or nodding
o Recognising when to let the other person speak, and when to respond
o Using phrases such as “excuse me” and “sorry, can I just ask” if they want to
interrupt
o How to open and close conversations
o Repairing and reformulating (i.e. starting a sentence, realising it's not correct
and restarting it)
 Explore common errors as a group, rather than singling out any one individual in front
of the class. If you do need to give feedback to an individual, use opportunities during
small group activities or at the end of a class.
 Avoid trying to force a student to speak by asking them to produce language and
simply waiting until they deliver an answer. This is likely to be counter-productive,
particularly for shy students. If a student is struggling, simply move onto someone
else – whilst smiling and making sure that you aren’t looking disappointed. If needed,
you can provide extra support to a shy student during pair work and group activities.
  Set up speaking activities that allow students to speak in front of a small group of
their peers, rather than the whole class. This can be far less intimidating to students
who are shy and/or nervous about making mistakes.
 During speaking activities, avoid interrupting to correct a student unless the meaning
is not clear (in which case you can clarify the meaning and assist the student with
rephrasing). Instead, give students feedback at the end of an activity.

Introduction and overview

Listening is often the skill students have the most difficulty with. If you want to understand
why, try tuning into a foreign language radio station and see what you make of it. There are
several reasons why students can struggle with listening to English, including:

 Accent / dialect: English has a broad range of accents and dialects that can make
the language sound very difficult and can even be challenging for native speakers.
 Slang: Native / fluent speakers of a language often use slang or shortened versions
of words. This can be hugely difficult for a learner.
 Speed of the language: When you are new to a language (or even not so new!) it can
feel as if everyone is speaking at a million miles an hour. This is even worse if you’re
not sure what you are trying to focus on and are struggling to understand every word.
 Control: When we’re listening to something, we have very little control over what’s
going on. Of course, we sometimes can ask people to speak more slowly. However,
the topic and content are largely out of our control.
 Context: In some listening scenarios (e.g. a CD playing in the language classroom or
a telephone call in real life) there aren’t any visual supports, such as hand or facial
gestures. This reliance on words alone can make it much more difficult for students to
follow what is going on.
Whilst all the above points can make listening difficult, it doesn’t
have to be that way. If you plan your lessons well, you can help
students to overcome their fears and develop strategies to
understand what’s going on. This will mean that students will no
longer think of listening as something scary, but simply another
element of the language that you are helping them to develop.

Listening for gist

This page contains important information for your third assignment.

What is listening for gist?

When we listen for gist, we aim to get a general understanding of what

we're listening to. We call this a sub-skill of listening. We do this by

listening for clues to help us guess the meaning. Rather than focusing on

understanding every word we're listening to, we listen out for content

words.
For example, words such as balloon, presents, family, and cake have

individual meanings; however, when you hear them together, they form

the image of a birthday party.

This, alone, provides the context of the recording without the

listener being required to understand every word.

Why is it important?
One of the difficulties students face when they are learning English is they often try to
understand every word of what they're listening to. When they are unable to do this,
they can become frustrated and unmotivated.

It is, therefore, the teacher's job to provide the students with strategies that will enable
them to understand the main idea of what they're listening to. This, in turn, should
reduce the worry the students face if they can't understand every word.
Activities
Below is a list of activities that can be used in the classroom to develop students' ability to
listen for gist.
Question and answer

After listening to the recording for the first time, you need to ask a series of gist questions to
check the students have understood. Examples of these are:

1. What's the purpose of the recording?

2. What's the speaker's opinion?

This can be followed by one of the activities below that enables students to interact with the
recording some more:

 1

Picture association

Ask the students to listen to the recording, and then show them a series of pictures. They have
to decide which picture best describes the recording they have just listened to.

 2

Write/choose a summary

Either:
Have the students write a summary of what they've just listened to. This could either be with
a time limit, a word limit, or you could ask for one or two sentences.

OR

Ask the students to decide on the most appropriate summary for the recording
based on a series of summaries the teacher has provided them with.
 3
3

Write/choose a title

Either:

Have the students write their own title for the recording.

OR

Ask the students to choose the most appropriate title based on a series of titles
the teacher has provided them with.

There are plenty of other ways to help students develop their ability to
listen for gist, so don't be afraid to try something new if you have an
activity that you think would work.

Listening for specific information

This page contains important information for your third assignment.
What is listening for specific information?
Once your students have shown they understand the gist of the recording, you can begin
training them to listen for specific information. This is also a sub-skill of listening.

When we listen for specific information, it means we have a reasons for listening and we
know the type of information we need to listen out for.
Why is it important?
This is especially important as without this sub-skill, we wouldn't hear key details in train
station/airport announcements, the weather forecast, or either films or TV programmes.

This type of listening requires the teacher to train the students to

know the type of information they are listening out for to enable
them to hear the specific facts.

For example, if you are at a train station and you want to know
the platform that your train is leaving from, you know to listen for
a number. Alternatively, your students may be in an English exam
and asked to write down an address. They would, therefore, listen
out for words such as street, road, avenue, or the name of a town.

Activities
Multiple choice questions (MCQs)
–
Provide the students with a list of questions which all have 3 or 4 possible answers each. Ask
the students to read the questions and follow the above procedure. While they listen, they
have to choose which is the correct answer to each question.

For example:

Question:
How much is a ticket?

Answer:
A: £4
B: £44
C: £3.50
D: £4.50
Gap fill / Complete the table
–
Provide the students with a table, or a paragraph with missing information/lyrics. Ask the
students to identify the type of information they need for each section (time, number etc).
Listen to the recording, and ask the students to fill in the blanks.

For example:

London New York Cape Town

Gate number 15 __________ 4
Boarding time __________ 16:00 __________
Time of departure 15:25 __________ 17:35

Bingo
–
This is usually for lower levels. Give each student a card which has word or phrase in each
box. Ask students to listen to the recording and cross a box when they hear that word or
phrase. Follow the usual Bingo rules where students shout "line" if they cross a row of boxes
or "bingo!" if they cross all boxes.

For example:

Library Supermarket Post Office

Cathedral Cinema Swimming pool
Police station School Restaurant
 Just like with listening for gist, there are plenty of other ways to help
students develop their ability to listen for specific information. Don't
be afraid to try something new if you have an activity that you think
would work.

Structuring listening lessons

This page contains important information for your third assignment.
Listening aims and outcomes
Remember to ensure your Lesson Aim and Outcomes focus on developing the sub-
skills: listening for gist and listening for specific information using whichever
material you have chosen to base the lesson on.

For example, By the end of the lesson, students will be better able to listen for gist and
specific information in the context of airport announcements.
Sample lesson structure
Here is a structure that we recommend you follow when you're writing a listening skills
lesson plan.

This uses the same basic format that we’ve been looking at up to now: it moves from
presentation of language, through to a controlled activity, and then onto a further activity that
requires a more in-depth understanding of the material.

However, as the focus of the lesson is listening, the activities are based around
comprehension rather than practising and producing language. You will, therefore, notice
some adjustments to the stages.
 1
Optional warmer
Run a simple warm-up activity, which gets your students speaking English, usually some
simple conversation questions (what did you do yesterday?) or reviewing previously-learnt
vocabulary.
 2
Lead-in (pre-listening activity)
Introduce the students to the topic using techniques such as lead-in questions or predicting.
This could be using flashcards from before allowing you to recycle previously learnt
vocabulary.
 3
Pre-teach essential vocabulary
Think of some items of vocabulary that your students will need to know in order to complete
the first listening task effectively. Pre-teach this vocabulary before allowing them to listen to
the recording.

The Vocab Kitchen web page(opens in a new tab) can help you to identify relevant words to
teach from lyrics or a dialogue.
 4
General comprehension activity (Listening for gist)
This is where the students listen to the full recording for the first time. Plan a communicative
listening activity that enables the students to show they understand the gist of the recording.

Elicit and clarify any essential vocabulary or comprehension problems.

 5
Specific comprehension activity (Listening for specific information)
Plan an active, student-centred listening activity, requiring students to listen for specific
information.

Check comprehension and clarify any problems.

 6
Follow up
Plan an extension activity or related discussion question(s) to extend the communicative
component of the activity.

This gives your students a chance to react to the content they listened to and give their
opinions.

Choosing material
There is a huge range of material that you can use for listening activities.

As a new teacher, you may feel most comfortable using material provided by your
coursebooks and / or school. However, do think creatively: what about including music, clips
from the radio or Internet – or even asking friends if you can record them speaking?

Regardless of where you source your material, do make sure that it is appropriate for your
class. Ensure that the recording:
 Contains the topics, vocabulary, and grammar that you are teaching – i.e. it matches the aims
of the lesson!
 bullet

Is relevant for the students’ ages, levels and interests

 bullet

Is appropriate for the culture in which you are teaching. A radio debate on abortion may not
be culturally appropriate in many countries. Even pop music could be frowned upon in some
countries
 bullet
Is short. It’s amazing how much content is in a three-minute recording. Short clips are more
likely to keep your students focused on the task.

Ideas for listening lessons

Here are some ideas for activities that you can use in listening lessons.
Dictation
–
Dictations can help students to practise forming different sentence structures and vocabulary.
They also can be used to analyse the listening and writing skills of the students.

Provide your students with a wide variety of voices and accents, drawing on recordings as
well as your own voice. Also remember to provide the listening in small bite size sections so
your students have enough time to interpret and write what they hear. Longer pieces can lead
to frustration and diminished confidence in their own abilities.
Running dictations
–
A nice twist on the more traditional dictation is a “running dictation”.

In pairs (or larger groups), students run up to the board and read a sentence or clause from a
text written in small print. They rush back to their partner and say what the sentence was and
their partner writes it down. Once the sentence is written, the students switch roles until all
the sentences are completed.

Adding in a bit of fun, plus making the students read out each piece of English, changes the
whole emphasis of a dictation exercise. It can be an excellent way to review language in the
classroom as well as practising speaking, writing and listening.
Running dictations
–
A nice twist on the more traditional dictation is a “running dictation”.

In pairs (or larger groups), students run up to the board and read a sentence or clause from a
text written in small print. They rush back to their partner and say what the sentence was and
their partner writes it down. Once the sentence is written, the students switch roles until all
the sentences are completed.

Adding in a bit of fun, plus making the students read out each piece of English, changes the
whole emphasis of a dictation exercise. It can be an excellent way to review language in the
classroom as well as practising speaking, writing and listening.
Describe and draw
–
Give each student a piece of paper and tell students that they must draw what they hear. Next
read out several sentences two - three times. Compare pictures at the end – are they the same
or very different?
Bingo
–
Before the lesson, prepare a set of bingo cards for your class with different words on each.

In the lesson, give each student a bingo card. Tell them to mark off the words as they hear
them. The winner is the student who correctly fills up his / her card first.

This activity can be adapted for different levels. For lower levels, simply read out individual
words. For higher levels, read out sentences. Students will have to listen very carefully for
specific words.
Note-taking
–
Divide the class into two groups and put them in separate areas.
Tell students to take notes as you play them a story. Play the first part of a story to one group,
and second part of the story to the other group.

Pair up students, so that each pair has a partner from the other group. Tell the students to
explain their part of the story to their partner (further listening practice) so the story becomes
complete.
Listening crossword puzzles
–
Divide the class into pairs or small groups, and hand each group a crossword puzzle.

However, instead of having written clues students listen to them (either play a CD or read out
the clues). Students try to complete the crossword in their groups.
Song grab
–
Before the lesson, choose a song and write down a selection of words from it on separate
pieces of paper. In the lesson, ask students to either stand or sit in a circle and place the pile
of words in the middle. Tell students that you will play the song. If they hear any of the
words, they should grab them from the centre of the circle. The student who has picked the
most words (at the correct time!) by the end is the winner.

To make the activity a little more difficult, you can add words that are not in the song to your
pile. To make it easier, you could use pictures instead of word

Approaches to teaching listening

The teaching techniques that we have looked at previously are again useful for listening
lessons. There are also some additional approaches that you can use, which relate more
specifically to listening lessons.
Types of activities
Here are five types of activity that you could ask students to do, in response to hearing a
piece of audio.

They are set out in order of difficulty (with the first being the most straightforward).

 1

Literal

Ask students to identify information that is stated directly in the material.

 2

Reorganisation
 Ask students to summarise or re-order the information.

 3

Inference

Ask students to give a response based on information that is implied but not directly stated
(e.g. ask them to predict what will happen next).

 4

Evaluation

Ask students to make judgments or give opinions based on the material.

 5
5

Appreciation

Ask students to give an emotional or image-based response (e.g. relating the material to a
personal experience).
Types of listening
Outside of the classroom, we do not always listen to every single word that is spoken.
The two main examples of this are listening for gist and listening for specific
information. Flip the cards for a quick reminder:

Listening for gist

When we listen for gist, we want to get a general
understanding of what we are being told, but don’t need all
the detail.

Listening for specific information

On other occasions, we need to gather
specific information (e.g. the time of a
train, what your niece wants for her
birthday). If we understand this
 information, the rest of what is said is of
less importance.
Motivating students
Students can get demotivated during listening tasks, as they often will not understand
all that they hear.

One way to tackle this is to play your material through at the start of a class. After you
have done this, ask the students to write down the percentage of the material that they
understood on a piece of paper. Next, teach the vocabulary and work through your
initial listening activity. Now play the material again and ask students to write down
how much they now understand.

This encourages students to really listen to the material and gives you an indication of
how effective the task (and your teaching) has been. More importantly, it should give
your students a good morale boost by showing them how much they have learned in
the class.
Multi-level listening tasks
In an ideal world, schools will have rigorous selection procedures in place to ensure
learners are at the same level. In the real world, however, you can find that you are
faced with a range of levels in any one class.

A useful way to deal with this is to use a single listening text but set multi-level tasks.
This is also useful when you have a text that you want to use with more than one
class!

For example, you might use the weather forecast from BBC radio. Before reading on,
spend a few minutes thinking of different levels of tasks (beginner, intermediate,
advanced) that you could set based on this material.
Beginner
Students listen for key vocabulary terms such as sunny, cloudy, rain.
Intermediate
Students listen and then summarise what the weather will be like today and
tomorrow.
Advanced
Students note down different tenses used and say why they were used in each case.

Top tips for listening lessons

 Help students develop skills that will support their listening comprehension, such as listening
for gist and listening for specific information.
 bullet

Include lead-in activities, before playing your material: students can find it very stressful to
be asked to listen “cold” and then perform an exercise.
 bullet

Choose listening texts that are likely to engage your students, based on their age, level and
culture.

 bullet

Remember to check that the material does contain the topics, vocabulary and grammar that
you are teaching.

 bullet

Check the recording and equipment works before you start the lesson.

 bullet

Bring a copy of the script with you. You can refer to it to clarify any dialogue that is unclear.

 Tell students the task before you play the recording: you are helping them develop
listening skills, not testing their memory!
 bullet

Sometimes, for lower levels, you may need to play a recording several times; don’t be afraid
of pausing it if necessary.

 bullet

Let students work in small groups or pairs to help build their confidence.
 bullet
Use a range of different activities to practise listening. This will help you to respond to
different learning styles and keep the lessons interesting.
You can download a copy of these tips below:

Introduction and overview

Students can find writing a particularly difficult skill to master. In
fact, this is true of native speakers also - after all, literacy levels
aren’t at 100% anywhere in the world.

In an increasingly global workplace, students may need to produce

documents or messages in English, or complete visa forms if they
are travelling. More simply, many overseas schools and universities
will want you to focus on written skills to help students pass their
exams and/or increase their job prospects.

It’s not just the outcome that is useful, however. There are also
several benefits to the process of teaching students written English.
Before you read on, spend a few minutes thinking of ways in which
writing activities can help students.
Here are a few of our ideas:

 bullet

Structured writing activities help students to concentrate on English language.

 bullet

Students improve reading and grammar skills, through seeing correctly formed English
sentences.

 bullet

Students can review what they have put down and identify any errors.

 bullet

Students have more time to organise their thoughts and decide how to express themselves.

 bullet

Teachers can correct vocabulary and grammar errors.

 bullet

Writing introduces students to other aspects of English culture.

 bullet
Students are exposed to different ideas and stimuli.

It’s also important to remember that the written form of English is going through a huge
period of change, driven by new forms of communication such as social media, instant
messaging and texts. On the one hand this has led to (unresolved) debates about what is or is
not an acceptable form of written English. On the other, you may find that this rise in global
online communications makes your students far keener to learn about how to write in English
(albeit for use in an informal way).

Your lessons should generally focus on more traditional forms of writing. However, you can
use this enthusiasm for social media to generate interest in written English – and even
encourage practice through Facebook and so on, outside of the classroom.
Forms of writing
Writing requires quite different mental processes from speaking; we have time to
prepare and organise material, and to check for errors or inaccuracies. However, there
are also challenges: the register, style and structure of what we write, as well as the
content, will all vary depending on the form of writing. There’s a lot going on - it’s
not just about producing grammatically correct sentences!
 Writing can come in many different forms. Before you read further, spend a few
minutes seeing how many different types or uses of writing you can think of.
Here are a few of our ideas:

 Completing forms
 Taking notes
 Giving short messages
 Writing letters
 Writing emails

 Social media
 CVs / Resumes
 Essays or other academic works
 Reports

Each of these uses requires a slightly different approach to writing – which may be why
students find writing such a challenging area.

Structuring a writing lesson

Here is a structure you can use for a writing lesson or activity. As with the other skills, the
focus is on the activity stages of the lesson, with less time devoted to presentation.

Sample lesson structure

 1
Introduction
It is important that you lead in to a writing task effectively.

For example, you could read an article or short story introducing the topic or carry out a
listening / speaking activity to spark your students’ interest.
 2
Present writing approaches
As we have seen, there is a wide variety of forms that writing can take. In this section of the
lesson you should provide your students with a good understanding of the topic / form that
you are covering, such as a structure or a form of fixed expression.

For example, you might want to look at some model texts, or carry out a short activity
analysing the good and bad points in some sample material.
 3
Short activity to introduce the task
Planning is an important part of writing – but it is an element that is often missed. The
purpose of this stage is to set out the task, and help your students think about how they will
approach it. You should encourage your students to consider:

 Purpose (why they will be writing)

 Register (how formal it should be)
 Content (what they want to say)
 Structure (how they will say it)
 For example, you could provide a general outline, and then ask students to think about what
they want to say in each paragraph. Alternatively, you could start a discussion about ideas for
content and/or brainstorm relevant vocabulary and expressions.
 4
Main writing activity
Now you have set the scene, you should give your students time to carry out the activity. This
can be done either individually, or in pairs / small groups. Depending on the purpose of the
activity (e.g. if it is exam practice or simply a chance to improve writing skills) you might
want to set a time limit on it. During this phase of the lesson it’s important that you monitor
the progress of the class - walk around the room and give advice and help as necessary. As
the activity ends, remind students to review and proof their work. This will get them into
good habits for the future!
 5
Review and cool down activity
It is important to tell the class how the work will be reviewed. You can integrate some peer
review or self-check approaches into the lesson itself or gather it in to mark and hand back.
Once you have completed the review, carry out a short activity to wrap up the lesson.

Approaches to teaching writing

Before you move on, spend a few minutes thinking about possible activities you could use to
help students learn to write English.
Types of writing activities
By and large, writing activities fall into five core categories, each of which is progressively
harder.

 1

Copying

Students literally copy letters, words or sentences into a vocabulary book or similar. This is
particularly useful for young learners, or students who use a different alphabet. It is fully led
and determined by the teacher.

 2

Controlled writing

You ask students to write single words or short phrases in response to questions that you
pose. The tight focus of the task means that the use of language is very controlled.

 3

3
 Guided writing

You set an activity and provide your students with examples of appropriate language and
structures to use. This approach allows students some freedom but keeps them in a “safe”
environment where they know they can’t go too wrong.

 4

Process writing

You set the topic and support students throughout the activity. However, students are free to
write what they choose.
 5
5

Unguided writing

You set your students a topic. They then write freely with minimal help or feedback.
Lower level students will mainly do the earlier types of activities, with a focus on accuracy.
As students progress, you can start to introduce the freer types of activities, which are later in
the list. Here you should also explore fluency and structure of the composition.

One word of warning: it will take students a considerable amount of time

to move through all these stages of writing - usually far longer than the
time it makes for someone to move from a conversational beginner to an
advanced level. Make sure you give your students lots of positive
feedback, to help them stay motivated.

Product and process

In your teaching career, you are likely to come across two key approaches to teaching
writing:

Product
The product approach focuses is on the
result.

Process
The process approach focuses on the
different stages that we go through to
get to the result.
You will find people who strongly advocate both of these approaches
(and of course some who sit in the middle!) and how you actually
approach teaching writing skills of course does depend not only on
your views but also the needs and requirements of your students.

There is an interesting article on the British Council(opens in a new

tab) website that compares product and process writing.
Choosing materials
As with all your lessons, it is important to tailor the materials that
you use to the age, level and interests of your class. The stimulus
and model you choose is going to affect the success of the lesson,
so choose carefully. Coursebooks will provide you with initial
material to use. However, you will often need to supplement this
with other ideas to make it appealing to your students. Think about
the topics and forms of writing that you will be looking at, and try to
find examples from real life that you can bring in. For example:

 Blog posts
 Diaries
 E-mails
 Essays
 Free postcards and flyers
 Leaflets for local attractions and events
 Letters
 Minutes of meetings

 Newspapers
 Recipe books
 Reports
 Shopping lists
 Song lyrics
 Stories
 Text messages
 Tweets

Sometimes, you will need to adapt materials to make them

appropriate for your students. For example, you may need to adapt
an extract from a news or magazine article to ensure it does not
include too many new words or shorten a piece because of time
constraints in class.

Making tasks as real as possible can also appeal to students. For

example, get students to send the email to your email address so
that the communication is more authentic or ask them to write an
article for the student / local paper.

For more advanced students, consider using other types of stimuli.

For example, a beautiful piece of art or music, a guest speaker, an
excursion, or a controversial topic. Students can initially be
uncomfortable with the abstract nature of this task. However, if they
are provided with appropriate scaffolding and vocabulary, they
should enjoy the challenge.
Reviewing work
When you review a student’s written work, you should look for more than simple errors in
spelling or grammar. Other factors, such as structure and organisation, are equally important
– particularly at higher levels.

Indeed, many examinations to assess English language proficiency give a large percentage of
marks to students who write in an appropriate, clearly structured way. This means that, even
if your learners have difficulty with accuracy, they can still gain high marks if the other
elements are all done well.

Here are a few things to consider when assessing written work:

Language
–
Check for:
 Accurate spelling (including consistent use of US / British spelling)
 Accurate grammar in the correct context
 Wide and varied vocabulary

Appropriate approach
–
Check for:
 Register – is it too formal / informal?
 Tone – does the work match the correct tone for the task and intended reader?

Range
–
Check for:
 Variety of suitable vocabulary / phrases
 Is there a balance between effective use of language and using words for words’ sake?

Layout
–
 Check for:
 Does it match the text type?
 Are the paragraphs clearly organised?
 Is it effectively and correctly punctuated?

Relevance to the task

–
Check that the work addresses the task.
Planning
–
 Is there evidence of planning / drafting?
 Does it look like a first or a final draft?

When to correct work

It can be very tempting to correct every single mistake with written work. However, as with
other areas that you teach, it is important to get a balance between supporting students to
learn and demotivating them by over-correcting.
Activity
Look at the ideas for error correction below and decide if they are a good or a bad idea. Note
that some of these ideas may be quite contentious!

 1

Use a softer colour than red such as green or purple

 2

Use ‘error codes’ to show what kind of mistake it is

 3

Have the student explain the error to the class and make a commitment not to let it happen
again

 4

Tell the students in advance that you want them to focus on one aspect of writing (e.g.
grammar, spelling, punctuation etc.) and that you are only going to correct that

 5
 5

Make sure you can find positives in each piece of work as well as areas to correct

 6

Don’t give the work back. Just highlight common errors on the board

 7

Don’t correct every piece of written work the students do

 8

Encourage your students to see correction as part of the learning process

 9

Ignore punctuation mistakes

 10
10
Train your students to self-correct

 1

Use a softer colour than red such as green or purple. GOOD IDEA

Red can seem quite aggressive and confrontational.

 2

Use ‘error codes’ to show what kind of mistake it is. GOOD IDEA

This can save you a lot of time and allow you to identify key errors without writing sentences
all over your students’ script.

 3
 3

Have the student explain the error to the class and make a commitment not to let it happen
again. BAD IDEA

It’s never a good thing to highlight an individual’s errors in front of the group and it can feel
quite humiliating for that student. Do this often and you may quickly find that you don’t have
any students (or a job!) left.

 4

Tell the students in advance that you want them to focus on one aspect of writing (e.g.
grammar, spelling, punctuation etc.) and that you are only going to correct that. GOOD
IDEA (if used correctly)

It allows your students some freedom in what they are writing and presents the opportunity to
focus on one area.

 5

Make sure you can find positives in each piece of work as well as areas to correct. GOOD
IDEA.

 Most people react better to encouragement than criticism and you will pretty much always be
able to find positives as well as mistakes in any piece of written work. Don’t forget to also
praise the ‘effort’ as well as the results of any piece of work.
 6

Don’t give the work back. Just highlight common errors on the board. BAD IDEA

Not only could your students think that you haven’t even looked at their work but they also
won’t have any reference point for their own personal work to refer to. Remember, written
work can take considerable time and effort from your students and they deserve the same
commitment back from their teacher in reviewing and marking it where relevant.

 7

Don’t correct every piece of written work the students do. IT DEPENDS

This is something that would cause interesting debate in any staffroom. Whilst it can be a
good idea in that sometimes the act of writing is a useful activity, at the same time writing is
a challenging skill taking a fair amount of effort from your students who may well expect
 some form of review and correction. If you set a piece of written work as homework, you
should always look to review and correct; however, sometimes in the classroom you may set
short pieces of written work that can be self-checked or even checked by fellow students.

 8

Encourage your students to see correction as part of the learning process. GOOD IDEA

This is a healthy approach to learning for your students to have. If you present correction of
errors in a supporting and encouraging manner, in an ideal world your students will soon see
that as an interesting and valuable tool for learning, rather than a form of criticism of their
ability.

 9

Ignore punctuation mistakes. IT DEPENDS

 This is another area that you will find differences in opinion on, and it can depend on what
the aims of the written piece of work are. If your students are working towards being able to
write university / school exam papers or even business reports then it’s likely that poor
punctuation will be important and should be corrected and worked on. However, if your
students are learning English for social communication, then punctuation, whilst still useful
to know, becomes arguably less important. The key is to be consistent in how you approach
this – if you start by correcting punctuation and suddenly stop, your students could think that
they have suddenly mastered it!
 10
10

Train your students to self-correct. VERY GOOD IDEA

Self-correction is a technique that we use regularly as native

speakers and writers of English (e.g. when we review something
before we send it / post it) and is a great skill for your students to be
able to develop. Of course, it takes time and practice but is worth
persevering with. In classes where students get on well and have a
good relationship you can encourage students to also correct each
other’s work in pairs. This can be an excellent way of developing
correction skills and in your students helping each other develop
their language.

Error correction codes

One final tool to consider is an error correction code. Many teachers correct every mistake in
a piece of written work and write the changes on the page. This is a frustrating, time-
consuming activity and does not really help students to become independent writers.

A marking code can be a simpler way forward. It will show the student where or what the
mistake is through a series of different marks and abbreviations. Here is a marking code you
can use. However, do not be afraid to develop your own if it suits the needs of your students
better.

Flip the error correction codes below to find out what they mean.

Sp
Spelling

P
Punctuation

Ww
Wrong word

Wo
Word order

Wf
Right word, wrong form

S/P
Single or plural?

/\
You need an extra word here

?
I don't understand

()
You don't need this word

T
Tense: past, present?

R
Repetition

//
New sentence here
Different ways of giving
feedback
 Using different approaches for giving feedback can be a useful
technique.

Before you read on, think of a few ways in which you could give
feedback to a student’s written work.

 1

Give a response to the work. For example, if it is a letter or an email, you could write a reply.
If necessary, you can include correct examples of words or grammar that the student has
struggled with in the written work.

 2

Hold short student-teacher feedback sessions and respond to the work orally.

 3

Hand out a check list and get the students to evaluate their own work.

 4

Give only positive feedback. In other words, only respond to what was good and ignore what
was not.
 5
5
Evaluate the level of improvement over the student’s last piece of work rather than the work
itself.

The style and approach of feedback you give may be driven by the
size of the class you are teaching (replying to 50 job application
letters is going to take a huge amount of time!). However, do
consider varying how you approach feedback. Remember that the
more individual time you give to each student, the more likely they
are to develop and progress.

Ideas for writing lessons

One of the problems with writing activities is that they can be a little dull, primarily because
traditionally the student may be working alone.
Collaborative writing is where the students work together on a writing task. This can take
several different forms, but the focus is on students sharing their knowledge, their skills and
ultimately the responsibility and the merit for the successful completion of the task.

Here are some ideas for activities that involve collaborative writing:
Story-boards
Before the class, fold blank pieces of paper into eight squares to create blank “story-
boards”. In the lesson, read out or play a story to the class from a CD / DVD. Next
divide the class into pairs or small groups and give each group a blank story-board.
Tell each group to rewrite the story in eight stages on their story-board. Depending on
the class, you can either draw pictures on the story-boards in advance, to aid their
recollection, or tell the class to illustrate the story for themselves.

Descriptions
Show students a selection of similar pictures – for example, faces with different
expressions.

Ask the students to describe one of the pictures in writing. Once they have done this,
pick a student to read out their description. The other students need to listen and
decide which picture is being described.
Recreating stories
Read a story to your class. Next tell the students to work in groups or pairs to recreate their
own version of the story. Once students have completed the activity, you can ask them to read
versions created by other groups and compare it with their own text. When planning this task,
make sure you pick a short story / text, so that the class has time to complete the activity.
Gaps
 Divide the class into two groups and give each group a different story to read. Tell students to
individually rewrite the story that they have been given but leaving some gaps in the text.
Next, pair up students, so that each pair has one student from each group. Tell each pair to
swap their stories and fill in the missing gaps. Students either should try to guess the correct
missing word – or have the freedom to create a different version of the story.
Sentence-by-sentence
Start by writing down either a sentence or a topic on a large piece of paper or the board.
Students then take it in turns to write down the next sentence to create a story. Tell students
that they can help each other and correct mistakes, to help ensure that the class produces a
logical and coherent story.
First and last line
Divide the class into pairs or small groups. Next read out a first and last line of a story. Each
group then writes their own story starting and finishing with the lines that you have given.
Once students have completed the task, you can ask each group to read out and compare the
stories that they have created.

Top tips for writing lessons

 Integrate writing into other skills and activities during a lesson – you can easily include
speaking, listening and reading practice into a lesson that has a focus on writing.
 bullet

Focus on the writing skills that your students need to know and provide models for your
students to follow.

 bullet

Don’t expect your students to have the same ability of written English as they do of spoken
English, even at more advanced levels.

 bullet

Allow your students to work together collaboratively in writing tasks – it can take away a lot
of the fear of writing.

 bullet

Encourage students to review their writing. Teach them to consider questions such as “have I
really answered the question here?”, “does it follow a clear and logical structure?”, “is the
tone appropriate for the audience and purpose?”.
 Encourage students to proofread their work for errors and mistakes. Teach them techniques
such as reviewing for specific points, e.g. verb-noun agreement, or reading each line
backwards to concentrate on each word.
 bullet

Consider carefully how you correct and feedback on written work – you need to encourage
your students rather than make them feel they have a mountain to climb.
 bullet
Develop your own code for noting down corrections on students’ work. It will save you a lot
of time!
Introduction and overview
Reading, like listening, is a receptive skill because it involves
responding to a text rather than producing one. It is often the most
neglected of the key skills in the typical EFL classroom.

It is not enough just to give the students a text and tell them to go
away and read it. If you do, you will find that students think they
need to understand every word. When they come across something
that they don’t know, they will look for a dictionary or spend a lot of
time working out the meaning from context. This can make reading
very laborious, mundane and disheartening.

However, as with listening, we don’t always need to understand

every word if we get the general meaning and/or the specific
information we are looking for.

A good approach to reading is to teach students the skills to work

out the meaning of a text, even if they don’t understand the
meaning of every single word.

In this section of the module, we will explore the different types of skills involved in reading,
and how you can teach these to your students.
If you teach very young learners, they may not yet be fully up to speed
with all the letters of the alphabet. In this course, we are not going to
cover how to teach a child (or an adult, for that matter) to read from
scratch as it is an area that would take up a whole course itself. If you do
find yourself in this situation, there are some fantastic resources out there
that you can draw on. We have a link in the Further Reading section at the
end of this module.

Reading for gist (skimming)

This page contains important information for your third assignment.
What is reading for gist?
We read for gist in order to get a general understanding of a text. We call this a sub-skill of
reading, and we use a specific technique called skimming (skim-reading) to allow us to
read the text quickly so that we can understand the main idea.
There are several ways where we can find the main idea of the text, and these include:
gaining an understanding by reading the title, reading the first line of each paragraph only, or
going straight to the last paragraph in search of a summary. Our students don't do this
naturally, and they require training in order to develop their skim-reading ability.
Why is it important?
English language learners often try to understand every word in a text when they read it, and
when they find a word they don't understand, they get stuck.
 The teacher has the responsibility of providing the students with suitable activities that will
enable them to improve their ability to skim-read. These activities focus on students being
required to skim certain parts of a text for information; therefore, when they read
independently in the future, they know which parts of the text to look at first in order to
understand the main idea.
Activities
Below is a list of activities that can be used in the classroom to develop students' ability to
read for gist.
Question and answer

After reading the text’ for the first time, you need to ask a series of gist questions to check the
students have understood. Examples of these are:

1. What's the purpose of the text?

2. What's the writer's opinion?

This can be followed by one of the activities below that enables students to interact with the
text some more:

 1

Match the headline/title

This can be using a board, a projector, or cut up pieces of paper. Put the students into pairs
and provide them with 4 headlines/titles and 4 texts. Give the students a time limit and ask
them to skim read the texts and match the headline/title with the corresponding text.

 2

Alternative summary

Provide the students with a text, and provide 4 alternative summary sentences for each
paragraph. Give a time limit, and have students match the correct summary sentence with its
paragraph.

 3

Match the topic sentence

Take a text and remove the topic sentence from all paragraphs except the first and the last.
Hand out the text and the topic sentences, give a time limit, and ask students to match the
topic sentence to the correct paragraph.
 4
4

Reorder paragraphs

Find a text which has signposts in it; for example, firstly, secondly, finally. Cut the text up
into paragraphs, give a time limit, and ask students to put the paragraphs in the correct order.

Reading for specific information

(scanning)
This page contains important information for your third assignment.
What is reading for specific information?
After understanding the main idea of a text, students will be in a position where they can
begin to read for specific information. This is another sub-skill of reading, and it involves
using a technique called scanning.

Knowing the type of information they're looking for makes the reading exercise
meaningful as it gives students a reason to read the text.

Why is it important?
It is important to help students develop the sub-skill of reading for specific
information as with proper training, they can become aware of the type of information
they're looking for when they read a text.

By having ready-made questions in their minds before reading the text, they are able
to look just for the facts that they need.

For example, if they are looking at a poster advertising tennis lessons, they would
want to know where they are being held, when, and at what time. By identifying this
key information prior to reading, students become aware that they are looking for a
place, a day, and a time.
Activities
Below is a list of activities that can be used in the classroom to develop students' ability to
read for specific information.

For the below activities, it is important to use the following procedure:

1. Provide students with the activity after they have read

for gist.
2. Have students underline the important words.
3. Elicit and teach unknown vocabulary.

Information texts
–
These types of texts are: Magazine, Newspaper, TV Guide, or a Holiday Brochure. Give
students a list of questions based on an text which provides information.

For example:

Students are given a page from a holiday brochure.

Students have to work in pairs to answer the following questions:
1. How far is the beach from the hotel?
2. What time is breakfast?
3. When does the kids' club open?

Descriptive texts
–
Give students a text which describes a person, object, or a location. Ask students to keep the
text turned over, and ask a question.

For example:
"Where was he born?"

Tell students to turn the paper over and race to answer the question.

Students turn paper back over, and then ask another question. Repeat several times based on a
series of prepared questions.
Narrative texts
–
For higher levels, this is a similar structure to the above activity, but it's based on a short
story. This time, the questions refer to the chain of events.

For example:
"What happened after they got home?"

Students turn paper over, scan the text, and race to answer. Repeat.
Just like with reading for gist, there are plenty of other ways to help
students develop their ability to read for specific information. Don't
be afraid to try something new if you have an activity that you think
would work.
Structuring reading lessons
This page contains important information for your third assignment.
Reading aims and outcomes
Remember to ensure your Lesson Aim and Outcomes focus on developing the sub-
skills: reading for gist and reading for specific information using whichever material you
have chosen to base the lesson on.

For example, By the end of the lesson, students will be better able
to read for gist and specific information when reading information
texts e.g. a newspaper article.
 Sample lesson structure
Here is a structure that we recommend you follow when you're writing a reading skills lesson
plan.

This uses the same basic format that we’ve been looking at up to now: it moves from
presentation of language, through to a controlled activity, and then onto a further activity that
requires a more in-depth understanding of the material.

However, as the focus of the lesson is reading, the activities are based around comprehension
rather than practising and producing language. You will, therefore, notice some adjustments
to the stages.
 1
Introduction
Introduce the topic (e.g. show pictures, have a brief discussion and/or elicit relevant
vocabulary).

This generates interest in the topic, and starts the class thinking about the subject and
vocabulary that you will be using.
 2
Warmer to introduce the text
This follows on from the introduction stage and allows your students to focus more on the
text you are going to be looking at. For example, you might ask the students to use headlines
or part of the text to predict what the content will be.

You can also use this stage for some speaking practice, prior to the reading activity.
 3
Presentation of relevant vocabulary
Teach the vocabulary you will need for the reading task. Limit the number of words that you
are teaching – if you find that you have a lot of new vocabulary to introduce, then think about
whether the text is too difficult.

Remember that it sometimes can be useful to leave parts of the vocabulary for your class to
try to work out meaning from the text itself.

The Vocab Kitchen web page(opens in a new tab) can help you to identify relevant words to
teach from lyrics or a dialogue.
 4
Practical activity exploring the text (Reading for gist)
This is where the students see the full text for the first time, and the purpose of this stage is to
get the students thinking about the text. For example, you could ask the class to work in pairs
to find the answer to a question (or a short number of questions) that requires skim reading.
During this phase of the lesson it’s important that you monitor the progress of the class - walk
around the room, use CCQs to check individual students understand the task, and give advice
and help as necessary.
 5
 Activity focusing on detailed understanding of the text (Reading for specific
information)
At this stage of the lesson, the focus is on students reading the text in more detail.

For example, you could again set a series of questions – but then follow this up with a
discussion around the topic that requires students to understand the text.
 6
Review vocabulary
After the reading activity, it is useful to include a stage that checks and reviews the
vocabulary within the text. For example, you could ask the class to match words to
definitions or come up with synonyms for the new words.

An additional option here is to also review and practise grammar points. For example, you
could ask your class to identify the different tenses or to find all the adjectives. This can help
to integrate a range of different skills into the lesson.
 7
End of lesson activity
A great way to round off a reading-based lesson is to have an activity based on the content of
the text you have used. For example, you could have a brief discussion exploring the subject
or style of the text, or even some form of language game.

As you can see, this adopts a similar approach to a listening lesson – adapting the basic
structure to give more focus on the reading activities. You can also use reading passages as
part of another lesson – for example, to introduce a topic, to explain specific language
functions or structures, or as a springboard to a discussion.

Reading skills
Now that we have looked at the structure of a reading lesson, let’s consider the different types
of skills we can teach to our students to help them become proficient readers.

First, spend a few minutes thinking about some different ways in which we read – and why
EFL students may find these useful.
Different ways of reading
In the classroom situation, we often focus on intensive reading, i.e. reading a text in detail to
try and understand every word.

However, in real life, we usually read in a more fluent way – absorbing the meaning, but
ignoring any words, phrases or sections that we find confusing. This is known as extensive
reading.

Look at these text types and decide if the reader is likely to use intensive or extensive
reading. What might this depend on?

 1

1
A geography book

 2

An entertainment magazine

 3

The latest Stephen King novel

 4

A tabloid newspaper

 5

An annual tax report

 6

A mortgage contract

 7

A gossip website
 8
8
A car manual

There are in fact four main ways in which we can work out the meaning of a text. Here is an
overview of each.

As you will see, only one of these focuses on the detail.

Teaching your students extensive reading skills, rather than just

focusing on intensive work, can help build their confidence and
make them better prepared for reading material outside of the
classroom.

There are in fact four main ways in which we can work out the meaning of a text. Here is an
overview of each.

As you will see, only one of these focuses on the detail.

Teaching your students extensive reading skills, rather than just focusing on intensive work,
can help build their confidence and make them better prepared for reading material outside of
the classroom.
PreviewingReading for gistReading for detailDeducing meaning from context
Previewing a text gives us a useful indicator about the possible content.

Approach Purpose Examples of use Why it's useful for TEFL

Predicting To get Looking at photos,  Predicting the genre of a
information about pictures, structure, a text (e.g. letter, newspaper
a text before title – or even an article, novel extract)
reading it author’s name to get an gives a framework for
idea of what the text possible content and,
will be about potentially, grammatical
structures that may be
used
 Reassures students about
what they are reading, and
helps them recognise that
they can comprehend the
text even if they don’t
understand every word

Inferring To deduce Working out the type  Mainly used at higher

attitudes and of text you are looking levels, as it takes some
opinions based on at based on the way it knowledge of the English
our understanding is structured (e.g. language (e.g. whether a
of the meaning consider the different piece is formal or
behind the words forms that might be informal)
used between a letter  At all levels, students can
using formal language use the position of a word
and a chatty email to in a sentence and identify
your friend) whether it is a noun, verb
or adjective, to help work
out the meaning

Reading for gistReading for detailDeducing meaning from context

When we read for gist, we focus on getting the meaning that we are looking for,
rather than worrying about every single word.
 Approach Purpose Examples of use Why it's useful for TEFL
Skimming To get a general Skimming the first  Helps students see the
understanding of the few pages of a book, broader structure and
overall purpose and to decide if we want meaning of the text,
meaning of the text to buy it without worrying too
much about individual
words that they don’t
know
 Avoids students
becoming bored /
losing motivation
through continuous use
of dictionaries to look
up word

Reading for detailDeducing meaning from context

Reading for detail involves focusing on each individual word within a text, to ensure
we fully understand the meaning. This is often how students will approach a piece of
unknown text – but it is rarely how we read in the real world.

Approach Purpose Examples of use Why it's useful for TEFL

Reading for To focus on each Understanding  Helps students to
detail word to ensure the complex deduce meaning and
meaning is fully instructions see how a sentence fits
understood together
 Can be used to learn
new vocabulary or
understand grammar

Deducing meaning from context

Deducing meaning from context is a useful skill for times when there are individual
words that a student does not recognise.

Approach Purpose Examples of use Why it's useful for TEFL

Deducing To use the other We often use this  Avoids students
meaning from words within a text skill without realising resorting to a
context to make an educated it. For example, we dictionary
guess about the may come across  Helps students gain
meaning words in a confidence that they
newspaper, article or can understand a text,
book that we don’t without support t
recognise. However,
we don’t stop reading
as we can assume a
rough meaning.

Approaches to teaching reading

 A reading lesson will be based around a text. There are a huge number of texts in English.
Everything from classified advertisements, books, poems, reviews, critiques, letters, bills,
novels and short stories to instructions on the back of the shampoo bottle, or the nutritional
information in McDonalds, constitutes potential reading texts.

The trick is to choose a text that is appropriate to the aims, level and interests of your class.
Selecting activities
Whilst the text you choose is important, the activities that you decide to do with the text are
even more critical.

As you gain experience as a teacher you’ll almost certainly find that you amass useful texts.
This means that you can focus on how you can adapt them for different classes and levels,
rather than spending hours looking for materials.

Here is a range of activities you can use. Each can be adapted for different levels of learners.
 Gap fills

 Remove key words in the text. The class then needs to fill in the blanks and discuss why they
chose each word. The difficulty of this task is dictated by the words that you choose to
remove. You can also make it easier by writing up a list of the missing words on the board.
 Question and answer
Set your class questions based on the text. Alternatively, you could provide the answers and
ask the class to find the questions. A further option is to give students multiple choice
questions. The level of difficulty will be driven by the questions you set.
 Headings
Remove the titles, headlines and/or paragraph headings from the text and jumble them up.
Next tell your students to read the text and insert the headings in the correct place, discussing
why they have chosen each one. To make this more difficult you could ask more advanced
learners to devise their own headings.
 Finding vocabulary
Ask your class to identify words in the text that are related to an area of vocabulary. Again,
this is very easy to adapt to different levels. It can also lead onto many follow-on activities,
such as thinking of different words that could be used.
 Identifying parts of speech
Ask your class to identify different parts of speech or grammar in the text. Again, you can
make this as easy or difficult as is right for your group.
 Putting the sentences together
Cut up all the different sentences in the text and hand them out to your students. Next ask
your class to read each sentence and re-construct the text. The way you cut up the text
impacts on the difficulty of the task.

These are just a few ideas; the possibilities are endless, but always
remember to ensure that your text and activity are appropriate for
the aim and background of the class. Before you move on, spend a
few minutes thinking of other activities that would be suitable for
previewing a text, reading for general information (gist) and reading
for specific information (detailed). Remember to keep a copy of your
notes, as they will be useful when you start teaching.

Reading outside the classroom

It is important to encourage students to read outside of the classroom. Extensive
reading can really help your students, as it exposes them to a wide range of language.
They also develop lots of different reading skills, often without noticing - for example
they may skim a newspaper article or read a chapter of a novel in detail – all of which
will help their overall linguistic ability.

Graded readers can be a great way for students to start reading extensively outside of
the classroom. These are designed especially for EFL learners and are adapted to
different levels. They also have footnotes and glossaries and may include optional
exercises.

As your students’ progress, encourage them to read texts from real life, such as
stories, novels or newspapers. The more they read, the better they will get, and the
more they will enjoy reading!
Ideas for reading lessons
Here are some ideas for reading lessons.
Previewing
–
Previewing a passage is like reading in the real world, where we know why we are reading
something and make use of our knowledge to understand the text. Previewing activities
allows the students to get in touch with what they already know about a topic and puts
students in a better position to understand the text. Here are some activities that you could use
to practise previewing.
Predicting
–
Tell students to look at the title and pictures and try to identify the topic.
Lead-in questions
–
Tell students to ask each other questions about the top
Brainstorm
–
Tell students to brainstorm and list everything they can think of related to the topic in a set
time limit.
Pre-reading questions
–
Tell students to write three or four questions about the topic. As the students read the passage,
tell them to check if their questions have been answered.
Speed read
–
Tell students to read the whole of the first paragraph, then the first sentence of each
paragraph throughout the text, followed by the whole of the last paragraph. Next ask the
students to make predictions about the article, or answer comprehension questions
Word clouds or mind maps
–
Divide students into pairs or groups and create a word cloud / mind map of the topic before
reading the passage.
Key vocabulary
–
Pick ten key words from the passage, and check that the students understand what each
means.
Divide the class into pairs or groups and ask each group to use those ten words to predict
what the article is about in as much detail as possible.
Mix and match
–
Before the lesson write a headline for every paragraph in the article on a separate piece of
paper and mix them up. In the class tell students to place the headlines in the correct order.
Next ask them to speculate about the story in detail.
Reading for gist
Reading for gist enables students to grasp the meaning of a text, without worrying about
every single word. Here are some activities that you can use:
Comprehension race
Students can either work individually or in teams for this activity. Tell students to have the
text closed in front of them. Next, ask a comprehension question based on the text. Students
can now open their books and try to find the answer as quickly as possible. The first person
or team to answer gets a point. Continue with the remaining comprehension questions.
Information sharing
Divide the class into pairs. Give each person in the pair an equal number of different
comprehension questions on a text. Set a time limit of two - three minutes and have students
read for the answers to their questions. Tell students to exchange information with their
partner and compare how much each has picked up about the text.
Picture sequence
Before the lesson, draw pictures to represent the events in a reading passage on different
sheets of paper and mix them up. In the lesson, tell students to try and put the pictures in the
correct order within a set time limit.
Co-operative reading
Divide the class into groups and allocate one or two paragraphs of a reading passage
to each group. Tell each group to read their designated passages and summarise the
information. Next, regroup the students so that each new group has someone who has
looked at each paragraph. Have students summarise their paragraphs to their new
groups, to make up the whole story.
Reading for detail
Reading for detail requires the students to focus on individual words or aspects of a text.
Here are some activities that you can use.
Co-operative reading
Divide the class into pairs or small groups. Give each group a section of the text to read and
summarise. Once students have completed their section of the text, regroup the students and
ask them to cross-report the information that they have gathered.
Strip story
Before the lesson, photocopy the passage and cut it into single sentence strips and mix them
up.

In the lesson, tell students to work in pairs to put the sentences in the correct order.
Draw and speculate
Divide the class into pairs. Tell student A to read the passage silently and draw a picture to
try to convey the story. Student B needs to speculate about the story and try to summarise
what he / she thinks it is about.
Find the differences
Before the lesson, prepare two versions of the same passage with some different facts. In the
lesson, divide students into pairs and give each member of the pair a different version. Tell
them to work together to find the differences – neither student can show the passage that they
have.
Scrambled story
Before the lesson, find two passages on the same topic and cut and mix them up. In the
lesson, students must decide which paragraph goes with which story.
Reconstruction
Divide the class into small groups. Tell one student in each group to read a short paragraph
aloud. Next the student must draw a blank line on a piece of paper for each word in the
paragraph. The other members try and recreate the story word for word.

Top tips for reading lessons

 bullet

Stage the lesson and choose texts that will be suitable and interesting to your class.

 bullet

Use activities that are appropriate for your class, bearing in mind their level, ages, culture and
interests.

 bullet

Use eliciting to check answers and, where possible, reasons for answers.

 bullet

Integrate a range of skills into a reading lesson. For example, discuss answers to practise
speaking or ask students to produce a piece of written work related to the text
Keep encouraging your students and praising the effort that they put
in, rather than focusing on every little mistake!
Summary
You have now reached the end of Teaching the Four Skills.

We have covered a substantial amount of material in this module. You have learnt about:

 bullet
How to structure a lesson or activity for reading, writing, listening and speaking

 bullet

Practical approaches to teaching each of the four skills

 bullet

Different types of activities that you can use

 bullet

How to choose appropriate materials

How to give feedback