http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3753355
I chose to use Scholastic.com as a resource for a reading activity. This specific article is a current events news story that I thought the students would be interested in. Also, since it's such a major news story, students will most likely have some background knowledge on the subject.
Another piece of this website is a mini comprehension quiz. I think it would be a good resource to use either as a pre-reading activity, to see how much the students already know on the subject, or as a during reading supplement to help keep the students focused.
One final resource this website offers is the ability to define any unknown words. All the students need to do is click on the actual word and a little box with the definition pops up. I don't think this is a great resource for helping students with vocabulary but the part I like is that it will also pronounce the word for the students.
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I think news is a good material for CALL reading, since they always have latest topics, which is related to our real life. Also, as you mentioned, most of the students will have some background knowledge to use in order to understand the passage while reading, so it will keep the level of "i+1" for them. (maybe intermediate to advanced level students?)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I could not find the activity page. Could you give me the link for it?
This seems like a good resource for ESL students. The clickable dictionary works well and could be a valuable resource if students recognize when it is appropriate to use it. Scholastic is a children's publisher and some of the assumed vocabulary like cope, troop, slab, jerk, and triggers would be in an L1 child's vocabulary but not necessarily in an L2 adult reader's. The article includes in-text glosses for vocabulary in bold, but similar support is not provided for the lower frequency vocabulary that may pose a challenge to an L2 learner.
ReplyDeleteKuma, the activity page is just below the reading. It's a PDF so you have to download it.
ReplyDeleteJeffrey, You made a great point that I hadn't thought about. There are quite a few words that definitely may pose a problem to L2 learners. I guess one way to overcome this is to address some of the potential "problem" words before having them read the article. Since there aren't too many of these words this may be a way to still use this website.