Course: Teaching Reading and Writing Midterm Preparation Materials

Dear students,

The midterm exam will consist of two parts:

1) theory and methodology (6 questions = 60%)

2) lesson plan (40%)

In the second part you will have to write a lesson plan using the text given. The lesson plan will be evaluated according to Pre-reading, while-reading, post-reading activities and home work assignment.

Lesson Plan:

Organizational moment:

• Greeting;

• Taking attendance;

• Checking home work;

Pre-Reading: (30%)

• Warm-up; attention-grabber; (activity; game)

• Activating the prior knowledge (questions, discussion, picture, mini quiz-show; etc.)

• Predicting; guessing.

While-reading: (20%)

• Answering the question(s) in the pre-reading section;

• Checking predictions;

• Putting the text(s) in the correct order;

• Matching;

• Finding the specific information.

Post-reading (40%)

• Checking comprehension;

• Discussion;

• Vocabulary and/or grammar exercises;

• Activity, game,

• Project work;

Assigning home work (10%)

Midterm Questions:

1. Why is reading important? What does it develop?

Reading is a constantly developing skill.

Reading integrates visual and nonvisual information. During the act of reading, the visual information found on the page combines with the nonvisual information contained in your head to create meaning.

Reading is not an isolated process. Four language processes work together to enhance the development of each of the others. The development of individual language processes enhances the development of others.

2. What does a well-balanced language course look like, when it comes to four language skills?

In a well-balanced language course, equal time is given to each of the four strands of meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency development.

3. What does a balanced reading program look like?

Reading programs need to be balanced. This means that it’s not all just one thing (like all phonics instruction, or all reading, or all writing, or all anything). Instead, there’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that. You may not have noticed, but children are not standardized products. Children learn differently, in different ways, and at different rates. Thus, in learning to read, some children

need a little more of one thing while others need a bit more of another thing.

4. Why is fluency development neglected in courses?

Fluency development is often neglected in courses, partly because teachers and learners feel that they should always be learning something new.

5. How can teachers develop their students’ fluency in reading?

Fluency development involves making the best use of what is already known.

The reading material needs to be well within the learners’ level of proficiency. There should be little or no unknown vocabulary or grammatical features in the speed reading texts.

They need to read material that is very familiar and contains no unknown language features. Learners should enjoy reading and feel motivated to read.

Learners should read a lot. This can be monitored and encouraged through the use of extensive reading and issue logs.

6. In what way is pre-reading discussion and activities important?

Pre-reading comprehension skills are used primarily to preview the structure of the text to be read or to connect new information to knowledge readers might already know. Three pre-reading comprehension skills are presented here:

Preview/Overview