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Celta-assignment3
by Madabushi Krishnan
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GayatriKrishnan Page1
CELTA-June2013
Assignment3:Skills-Related
Part1:Justificationofmaterialchoice
For this Skills-related assignment, my choice of authentic reading material is Few Places
with Better Stories. fromAsian Geographic magazine (no 78 issue 1/2011, pages 30 and
35).AsthismagazineiswidelyreadanditisalsoapopularTVchannel,thestudentswillbe
able to relate to it easily. I decided to use this article as I think it is appropriate for English
LanguagelearnersattheIntermediatelevel.Thearticledealswithphotographywhichcanbe
ahobbyorpassionformanyadultlearnersandhencetheycanidentifywiththeauthor.Itis
also biographical, as the author narrates his experiences, thus the reader can bond with the
narrator. This topic has a universal appeal and is not culturally biased. The article also has
contemporary relevance as the author blends photography with nature, as the world is
desperatetoconserveit. Onetestforusefulreadingmightbetocheckhow fartasksreflect
reallifeusesofthesametext.Ifatextisusedinclassinwaysthatarereasonablysimilarto
real life, it is likely that the task will be effective (Learning Teaching, Third edition 201 1,
JimsScrivener,Macmillan)
But,mostofall,thisentirearticleisperfectforareadingactivity,asthetopicenablesgreat
discussions/productiveskillextensions.
Part2:Receptiveskilltaskdesign
LeadIn:
Ithinkagoodstartingpointforthislessonwouldbeplayingaclipofunderwaterlifefrom
NationalGeographicarchive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSlFsbrUz2Q
Students are familiar with underwater life and the clip will help to set the context and
situation. Students could first discuss with partners how they feel about the underwater
photography. After eliciting some opinions and feelings, ask some additional, personalised
questionslike:
HaveyouseenunderwaterworldatSentosa?
Would youlikebeanunderwaterphotographer?
Would youliketogoonanunderwaterexpeditionwiththeNationalGeographicteam?
Teacherelicitsresponsestosetthecontextfurther.

Althoughthereareplentyofnewvocabularyitemsinthearticle,Ithinkstudentswouldnot
have any significant difficulties in grasping the overall meaning of the text. I agree with
JeremyHarmerwithreferencetopre-teaching: bygivingthemsomeorallthosewordswe
denythem(achancetopracticetacklingauthentictexts)(Harmer -203).Inmyperspective,
studentslearnnewwordswithreferencetocontextwhichwillenablethemtograsptheword
well.Inthisarticle,Iwouldpre-teachkeyvocabulary,suchas:
photo-journalist
decade
Search People, Research Interests and Universities
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decade

motivate
tofallinlove
Iwouldconveythemeaningfortheabovewordswiththehelpofvisuals,andCCQs.Therest
of the vocabulary issues (which does not impede the set tasks) can be dealt with matching
wordswithmeaningorsynonymsatthepre-readingstage.
I would use this article to practise skim reading. Though the article is lengthy, the first
paragraphthrowsenoughinsightabouttheauthor.Thisenablesagistreading.
Thegistreadingtask30seconds:AppendixB
Iwouldremindthestudentsthatgistreadingisaskillthatrequiresquickreadingandability
to choose important information. Skimming=Reading quickly for gist of a passage. A
typicalskimmingtaskwouldbeageneralquestionfromtheteacher... (LearningTeaching,
Thirdedition2011,JimsScrivener,Macmillan)
Feedback:1minute
A lesson without feedback is teaching that proceeds forward without reference to what
impact this is having on the learner... (Learning Teaching, Third edition 2011, Jims
Scrivener,Macmillan)
Forspecificreadingtaskorscanningskill,Iwoulduseasimplesetofquestions-5minutes
(readingandanswering):AppendixB.Youprobablywanttasksthatencouragestudentsto
searchforspecificsmallsectionsoftextwhichtheycanreadmorecarefullytofindarequired
pieceofinformation..Studentsdoingthiswill bereadingthematerialinasimilarwayto
how people might read it in everyday life. (Learning Teaching, Third edition 2011, Jims
Scrivener,Macmillan)
Forboththescanandskimreadingactivities,studentwoulddoapaircheckoftheiranswers
beforetheteacherdoesfeedback.
Theteacherflashestheanswersforthegistreadingonthescreen(OHP)andforthescanning
task,individualstudentscouldvolunteertodiscusstheanswers.Atthisstagetheteachercan

feedbackonhowthestudentslocatedtheanswers(sequenceofinformationintheparagraphs,
leadwords,contextetc).
Acommonscanningactivityissearchingforinformation.Althoughscanningisinvolved
with finding individual points from the text.the way the reader finds the information
involves some degree of processing of the overall shape and structure of the text
(LearningTeaching,Thirdedition2011,JimsScrivener,Macmillan)
Part3:Productiveskilltaskdesign
I would use a writing task for productive skill. As the students have read about underwater
life,Iwouldsetaguidedtasktowriteaboutthetopic:
Yourthoughtsandfeelingsofunderwaterworld
(Studentsareexpectedtowritefivesentences)
Photos and pictures of marine life will be pasted around the classroom. Each
picture/photowillcarryadescription/keywords.
Students will do a gallery walk, with a pen and a paper, to note the details and
descriptiontheywouldliketouse.
Theywillreturntotheirseatstowritefivesentencesaboutunderwaterlifeandtheir
feeling/sentiments.
Thistaskisfor15minutes
Attheendofthetask,thewritingfromstudentswillbepastedonthewhiteboardand
thestudentscanreadeachothersandvoteforthebest.
Writinginvolvesadifferentkindofmentalprocess.Thereismoretimetothink,toreflect,
to prepare, to rehearse, to make mistakes and to find alternative and better solutions ...
(LearningTeaching,Thirdedition2011,JimsScrivener,Macmillan).
IwouldliketousewritingactivitybecauseTheneedforlongerformalwrittenworkseems
to have lessened over the years, and this is reflected in many classrooms where writing
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to have lessened over the years, and this is reflected in many classrooms where writing
activities are perhaps less often found than those for other skills ... (Learning Teaching,
Thirdedition2011,JimsScrivener,Macmillan).
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