Tag: language teaching

Beyond Popcorn Reading: Engaging Story Time Activities

Popcorn reading (one student reads and then “randomly” calls on a classmate) is a common practice among teachers. People seem to either love it or hate it. I am not personally a fan and something I read recently reinforces how I feel about this practice.

“It’s crazy to try to assess children’s reading abilities by simply asking them to read aloud. They might do it successfully yet have no understanding of the text at all, and that’s not reading! We need to chat with them about what they’re reading to ensure they comprehend what’s happening in the story, to find out if they’re in the “world” of the story, to discover if they’re really reading or not.”

Mem Fox (2008). Reading Magic, p. 107

This quote is found in “Hi-Impact Reading Strategies” by Bryce Hedstrom. If you are a language teacher (including ELA), YOU NEED THIS BOOK! Bryce walks through 4 important components of reading in the classroom. He includes multiple quotes and evidence backing each of his strategies. There are even student handouts and project ideas.

When I was student teaching, I taught a novel and would have the students read aloud. My wise mentor teacher taught me that when students are speaking, they are focusing on their pronunciation, not their comprehension. When they read something for the first time, the focus should be on their comprehension, not their pronunciation.

So, how do we use stories in class? How do we move beyond popcorn reading? I have a few ideas for you. You will notice that quite a few of my activities involve the teacher reading. That is because I think it is imperative for teachers to read to their students. Why? Because the teacher knows. YOU know the story. YOU know the highs and lows. YOU know how to pronounce the words.YOU know the parts you want to emphasize. YOU know the sections they will need help with. READ TO YOUR STUDENTS!

“The soul is contained in the human voice.”

Jorge Luis Borges

Here are some of my favorite activities:

This is a good activity when I don’t feel like being energetic. I can sit down with my paper under the projector. I very rarely teach from my desk, so this activity feels like a guilty pleasure. If you want to try it out, here is a blank template for you!

Blank-StoryboardDownload

Cornell notes are a big deal in my school. Every department has to include them in some way. So, I use them with reading! I have a blank document that I can use with any story. I go over what I expect them to write in each section and we come up with annotation marks they are expected to use to connect their notes to the text. You can use my blank template too:

Cornell-notes-blank-copyDownload

These are certainly not the only strategies out there. I also suggest Running Dictation (Comprehensible Classroom has an excellent explanation.) This activity is a hit with every level!

While not necessarily classroom reading activities, the following activities are fun for post-reading comprehension checks.

If you have any questions or activities to add to this list, drop me a comment below!

Teaching Language With the Simple Novel “Soy Carlos”

“Soy Carlos” is available on Amazon and also through Bryce Hedstrom. You can get a digital classroom subscription through My Generation of Polyglots.

I first had the idea for a simple graphic novel while drawing out a story in class. I had a story template and drew a picture in each block with a caption underneath. I keep my drawings very simple because, well, that is about all the drawing I can do! But, my students had a great reaction to my simple drawings, which made me think there might be something special there.

Un cuento de hadas

Shortly later, my sister informed me that her husband was trying to learn Spanish. Language teachers know that language is best acquired through reading, so I began to think about how I could make the language as accessible as possible. These two instances led to the birth of “Soy Carlos”.

My first drawings for “Soy Carlos”

I had the remarkable opportunity to hold a virtual conference, hosted by the one and only Mike Peto, to share how I teach using “Soy Carlos”. You can watch a recording of that conference here!

So, here is a breakdown of how I teach: Class begins by making predictions about Carlos. I let them share ideas in English, but I also guide them in Spanish with multiple gestures towards descriptions they will see later in the book. (alto/bajo, gordo/flaco).

I go through each page line by line:

  1. I start by saying “Carlos dice: ” and then I read the line.
  2. I then compare myself with Carlos, followed by re-reading the line to describe myself, instead of him.
  3. I continue by comparing the line about Carlos to students.
  4. I then re-read the line and as students to respond to the line with “Soy similar” or “Soy diferente”.
  5. I move on to the next line.

When I finish the page, I read the entire page again as written, and repeat it, personalizing the page to describe myself.

Here is a short clip of me teaching “Soy Carlos” from one of my classes.

Moving along this way, it can take up to 30 minutes just to get through one page, but this slow pace is important as it provides multiple repetitions, which are so essential to language acquisition.

To break things up, so the process doesn’t become too repetitive, I may sometimes change things up by having students read the entire page silently first or afterwards, the students may read individual lines out loud, we may all read together or we may “ping-pong” read (read the line in Spanish, and then repeat it in English).

I have also chunked the book into sections:

  1. Pages 1-5 (physical description and personality traits)
  2. Pages 6-8 (personal information)
  3. Page 9 (favorite color)
  4. Pages 10-17 (likes and dislikes)
  5. Pages 18-20 (activities and more information)
  6. Pages 21-23 (family roles)
  7. Pages 24-27 (mom)
  8. Pages 28-31 (dad)
  9. Pages 32-35 (sister and pets)
  10. Pages 36-41 (brother)
  11. Page 42 (family review)
  12. Pages 43-45 (friends preview and predictions)
  13. Pages 46-47 (Marco)
  14. Pages 48-49 (Leanna)
  15. Pages 50-51 (Nalini and Chris)
  16. Pages 52-53 (Friends and instruments)
  17. Pages 54-60 (Group activities)
  18. Pages 61-62 (Review)

After each section, students re-read the section silently and then we review it. One way we review it is by writing about Carlos in paragraph form. Another way re review it is by personalizing it. To this end, I created a document for students to make their own drawings. Feel free to download the document and use it in class! You will notice that every other page is upside down and the page numbers are not in order. However, when you print it, all you have to do is fold it in half and everything lines up!

Jake-student-templateDownload
Soy-Carlos-student-templateDownload
Je-suis-Pierre-student-templateDownload

For those of you teaching virtually, I have a Google Slides document (Soy Carlos student activity book) (Je suis Pierre student activity book) that provides students a digital way of creating their book. I still make my students draw, they just have to take pictures of their work and upload it into the document. In the “Speaker’s Notes” there are directions for each page and examples from the book. Feel free to make your own copy and personalize the activity for your own students!

One fun thing I do with the student template is give a little lesson (all in Spanish) about how to draw dynamic stick figures. I make it really simple and move step-by-step (This is how I draw a head; these are the body types I use; let’s talk about hair options!; eyes, nose and mouth; etc). The simple drawings lower the stress on students to be perfectionist or “good” artists.

Here is a clip of how I taught my students to create their cover picture for their own book:

I would love to hear from you! Are you teaching with “Soy Carlos”? How can I support you? What ideas do you have for teaching?

Story Roulette

Storytelling is something that I do quite often. I love telling stories. But, frankly, my kids get bored after the same storytelling style time and again. So, I decided to change it up.

For Story Roulette, you will need large paper and markers. I have a deskless classroom so I get the big butcher paper from the office and make my kids sit on the floor. Because they are on the floor, markers work much better than colored pencils (which just rip through the paper). However, you could also do this with a sheet of white paper and two partners at a desk.

You will also, obviously, need a story. This works best with stories that can be told in small chunks. You don’t want to be saying more than a sentence or two at a time. That being said, I have used Story Roulette to read a chapter from a book and to tell the legend of El Silbón.

In Story Roulette, students need to be in groups. You can determine the size of the groups. I never like to have more than 4 as the bigger the group, the less each person in it seems to participate. I have done this as well with just partners, but I find that 3 seems to be the magic number.

So, this is how Story Roulette works:

  1. Students (or teacher) form their groups, get their materials, and number off. Teach assigns each group a letter
  2. Teacher says a sentence of the story, repeating it multiple times (I like to walk around the room as I do this)
  3. Students draw what is happening in the sentence (Depending on the participation of the class, I sometimes make each student have a different color so I can see that they are all participating). Teacher continues to repeat the sentence as students draw.
  4. Teacher says a number. The person with that number in the group now has to say the sentence the teacher has been continuously repeating to their group.
  5. Teacher now says a letter. The group with that letter repeats the sentence as a group to the rest of the class.
  6. Repeat until the story is over.

After every 6 sentences or so I like to pause and have students retell the entire story in their group.

This activity often takes two days and can seem to move slowly, but the students are getting so many repetitions. They are hearing the words and phrases, and using them as well, multiple times in the course of one class.

When the story is over, I take pictures of their work. Then I can pull it up later to review the story or to do other activities with it. They are often proud of their picture (even, or maybe especially, when they are bad). Most importantly, this activity is FUN. They are working together, drawing, on the floor, and learning without really thinking about it.

I am sure that there are many ways to modify this activity, so if you have any ideas, comment below. Let’s collaborate!

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