The subject/genre that I have chosen to base my reading lesson around is 'nutrition'. The authentic text that I have chosen is an article from a nutrition magazine entitled 'You are what you eat'. The article discusses a review of some advice that the main consultant of the magazine Dr. Gillian McKeith provided to a family. In the article she re-visits the family and asks them if any changes have taken place and what changes, if any.
In order for students to be interested in a lesson, the text should be something that they are familiar with and and enthusiastic about. I felt that this genre was appropriate for the level which we are currently teaching as it is a topic which is spoken about much in the media and one that is important to people in general regardless of the language that they speak or the level of proficiency in a particular language. The grading is appropriate as the type of language is simple and does not use very complex vocabulary.
Reading activities help to develop a students’ receptive skills through activities which enable students to use different techniques to identify specific and general information from a text, which can then be explored further through speaking and/or writing activities.
When reading through a text it is not always essential to understand every word. We tend to use different reading techniques for reading different types of texts for eg. when we read a timetable, we usually read very quickly skimming for bits of information rather than reading the whole thing. When we read a novel some prefer to read slower and in more detail in order to understand the plot. When we read through a newspaper we tend to use a combination of skimming and scanning techniques.
Students already have a database of vocabulary built up from past experience which is referred to as 'schemata'. Any type of language learning activity activates this schemata and is used as a reference point from which the student derives the meaning of new words and contexts. (Harmer,J pg 199-200)
Skimming and Scanning techniques
When designing a reading activity, the teacher must try to design activities that enable students to use and develop both skimming/general reading techniques and scanning/specific reading techniques as these are techniques that students will find useful to employ in any future reading activities.
In order for students to understand the main gist of what they are reading it would be useful to set a reading activity, which enables students to use the skimming reading technique. Skimming enables readers to get the general idea of the text that they read by speed reading and looking for the overall theme, main topics and structure. I felt that the skimming/gist reading activity would be best achieved by asking students to answer a few general questions related to the article. The answers would not require detailed reading but just a quick general read for the overall picture.
Reading using the scanning/detailed technique enables users to then read through the text in more detail looking for specific information like names, numbers, dates and facts. In order to achieve this objective I chose five statements and asked students to circle whether each one was true or false. This would force them to read more carefully looking for specific detail.
In order to develop students productive skills and further exploit the reading lesson, I decided to set a speaking activity which would enable students to build upon the information discussed in the article. I thought it would be good for them to think of and discuss why eating healthy is important as well as tell each other what their ideal healthier diet would consist of. This would enable the students to apply some of the vocabulary learnt in from the article as well as use the discussion in the article to base a discussion
