Inspirational English, May 2017 Inspirational English, May 2017 | Page 25

We are all aware of the fact that most students find reading really boring nowadays. It is
quite tedious to read a text and then answer a few questions, isn’t it? So these are a few
reading activities that spark my pupils’ desire to read and be creative.
I have to admit that I read about this activity in another blog a few months ago. Usually a
teacher reads a story and the students have to draw it. But how about if the students find a
story they like or of a particular theme and dictate it to their classmates. The activity works
best when the students are divided into small groups. The teacher should point out that the
readers have to pay attention to their intonation and diction.
Being an online teacher gives me the chance to tailor-make any lesson to my students’
needs. A while ago one of my pupils mentioned that he really wants to write a story in which
he explores the world. That’s how the story “Frank and Russie’s Little Big Adventures” came
about. Every week Frank and I continue the story with our adventures. So far we have “been”
to quite a few places: Oxford, the city of Bath, Stonehenge, to name but a few. What Frank
finds challenging is searching for the right information and then retelling it so that it is easily
digested by intermediate students. After we started writing our stories, Frank doesn’t want
to go back to using a course book. He has learnt so much about the British culture and
customs. Additionally, I share our story with the rest of the students at the same level and
they find our adventures fascinating and always look forward to reading the next chapter.
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