Reading Text (Upper Intermediate Level)

I have long been a fan of the Reader's Digest "Laughter, the Best Medicine" column and
often suspected that laughter was good for me. After all, I was raised on the mantra "the
family that laughs together, stays together" and my family possesses a long list of "in" jokes
that require nothing more than a catch phrase to crack up the whole clan.

However, now my suspicion that laughter is good for me can actually be backed up by
scientific evidence.

Humor can improve memory. This would explain why so many advertisers spend a great deal
of time and money on funny ads and gimmicks. It might also explain why so many of our
favorite teachers also happened to be funny. We were learning while we laughed and it didn't
hurt a bit!

Humor can also help us be more creative. Often humor makes us look at ourselves or our
world in a slightly different way which can be both enlightening and challenging to our
brains. If amused, we are more likely to open our minds up and think outside the box.

Laughter is a great way to relieve stress. We know there are many other ways but laughter is
socially acceptable in most situations. Laughing actually reduces levels of certain stress
hormones. It provides a safe release for the flow of stress hormones and the fight-or-flight
compounds that come into action in times of trouble or anger.

Shared laughter promotes bonding and unity between and among people. Co-workers who
laugh together and families that share a common bond of humor also work more cohesively
and overcome difficulty more effectively. Laughter and humor can also open the door for the
sharing of ideas and emotions. Many people feel more comfortable communicating thoughts
and concerns while the mood of the group is happy and relaxed.

Finally, there is the simple truth that laughter can be a great antidote to depression and
unhappiness. While laughter cannot heal chemical imbalances it can help lift your mood and
spirits. Often a good laugh will not only jog you out of your gloomy mood it may also jog
your creative impulse and help you find a solution to the cause of your unhappiness.

Instead of being gloomy and frustrated because there is no perceived solution, laughing lifts
you up out of your pool of problems and places you on solid ground where you can gain
some new insights. Under conditions of happiness it is much easier to think creatively around
a problem than when your mind is filled with thoughts of helplessness or worthlessness.

Did you know the average person laughs 17 times a day? Are you above or below average?
Perhaps you need to spend more time with funny people or maybe you just need to open
yourself to the humor of life around you. Bring more laughter into your life and reap the
benefits of improved memory, increased creativity, decreased stress, improved health and
stronger relationships.

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/expert/Deanna_Mascle/14484

Lead-in Picture
Task A

Read quickly and choose the suitable title for the story. Circle the answer.

a. Laughing too much makes others feel uncomfortable.

b. The benefits of laughter and humor

Task B

Read the text more carefully and write T(true) or F(false) beside each statement. Work
In pairs

1. The author was raised to believe that laughing together as a family is a good bonding
activity.

2. The author has not found scientific evidence about the benefits of laughter.

3. A humorous teacher's lessons are fun but forgettable.

4. Humor can help one think differently and creatively.

5. Humor helps you manage yourself better during moments of anger or trouble.

6. Laughter shared amongst co-workers can make people comfortable about sharing their
ideas

7. Laughter can cure all types of mental disorders

8. The author believes that humor can open ones mind to think of fresh solutions to
problems

Task C (Productive Task / Speaking)

Teacher to tell students to work in pairs and discuss other ways which have helped them
enjoy similar benefits as those described in the text, for example music and exercise.

Answer Key

Task A (b)

Task B - 1.T 2. F. 3. F 4. T 5. T 6. T 7. F 8. T
The text

The reading text I chose is about the benefits of laughter and humor for the Upper
Intermediate level. It describes how bringing more laughter into your life can help you
reap the benefits of improved memory, increased creativity, decreased stress and
stronger relationships. I chose it because its a topic which everyone can instantly
identify with as laughing is an action which is commonly done several times a day.
So,its highly relatable to the students daily lives and almost everyone enjoys
laughing. As mentioned in the text itself, people laugh an average of 17 times a day.
I chose it also because the text contains some relatively difficult vocabulary and is
graded to their standard. I believe that it will make for a fun and engaging class and
is sufficiently challenging, allowing students to master some new vocabulary.

Lead-in and Pre-Teach

The lead-in begins with eliciting via a visual of a person who is having a hearty
laugh. It is accompanied with an activity where students are paired up to describe a
similar moment with their partner where they too laughed as much. After the
discussion, students are to share with the class about what their partner had said.
This exercise, which is both interactive and communicative, will help to activate prior
positive feelings they had experienced and introduce them to the context of the text.
The pre-teaching of vocabulary involves eliciting the meaning and form of these six
words/phrases; "In" jokes, think outside the box, antidote, cohesively, chemical
imbalances and worthlessness. Some modelling and drilling will also be
incorporated. The pre-teach is necessary because these are words which they will
be exposed to when reading the text and I think it may hinder comprehension if not
clarified. Pre-teach will help to unblock words, reducing the barriers to students'
overall understanding of the text.

Reading for Gist

In a top-down approach, the first task is to read for gist. Students are required to
select the suitable title between the two options given after skimming through the text
(Task A). As Harmer (2001, pp202) highlights, the reader has to make a choice to
not to attend to every detail, but to use their processing powers to get more of a top-
down view of what is going on. Hence, I believe that this gist task is well-framed to
hone students processing skills as in order to identify the title the students would
have to look out for main themes and key factors instead of focusing on details. Gist
reading also gives students practice in reading quickly. As Scrivener (2011, pp 265)
points out being able to read fast and fluently is also very important.

Reading for Detail

My second task is reading for detail. Students are given a longer time to read the text
carefully so that they can attempt eight true or false questions (Task B) in pairs. I will
be monitoring the students during this time and teach new vocabulary if needed
Reading for detail is a valuable skill as in real life we probably adopt a continually
varying combination of top-down and bottom up strategies. (Scrivener, 2011 pp 259)
I think the questions in this task are a good gauge of how accurately the students
have interpreted the text. It will build a deeper level of understanding as students will
be asked to explain how the answers were derived. As Harmer (2001, pp 201)
reiterates Sometimes it is the individual details that help us understand the whole
and without a good understanding of a reasonable proportion of the details gained
through some bottom-up processing, we will be unable to get any clear general
picture of what the text is about. Moreover, one of the uses of an intensive reading
sequence according to Harmer (2001, pp215) is that its often a prelude to a
speaking or writing activity. This is a case in point as the next activity is a speaking
task.

Productive task (Speaking)

In this section of the lesson plan, students will be asked to work in pairs and discuss
other ways which have helped them enjoy similar benefits as described in the text,
for example music and exercise. After discussion, I will nominate students to share
with the class about their partners ideas which ensures that the interaction is kept
communicative. It is a good opportunity for students to practise speaking fluency and
hopefully they will also use some of the new vocabulary they had just acquired. As
Harmer (2001, pp 251) highlights, When they have tried to speak within certain
genres, they are better attuned to understanding other people speaking in the same
context. Also, I believe that this speaking task is a naturally effective follow-up
activity to the prior reading task, giving students a more holistic learning experience.
As Harmer (2001, pp251) confims, The fact that reception and production are so
bound together suggests strongly that we should not have students practise skills in
isolation even if such a thing were possible.

Word Count: 830

Bibliography;
Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. 3rd ed. Essex:
Longman, 2001. Print.
Scrivener, Jim. Learning Teaching: A Guidebook for English Language Teachers.
3rd ed. Oxford: Macmillan, 2011. Print.
 Language Skills Related Assignment
Candidate name: Narjes

Not to standard

Not to standard
1st Submission___________ 2nd Submission__

To Standard

To standard
Criteria Tutor feedback and Tutor feedback
resubmission guidance if

yet
necessary

Select an appropriate authentic text for the level and

provide a rationale

Identify receptive skills to be practiced, using correct

terminology

Submit two appropriate receptive skills tasks

Identify productive skills to be practiced, using correct

terminology

Submit an appropriate productive task of own design

Submit a sufficient outline of a lesson plan

Relate task design to language skills practice

Find, select and reference information from one or more

sources

Use written language that is clear, accurate and

appropriate to the task

Word count of 750 1000

Overall grade
Resubmit
Pass

Pass

Tutor(s) signature(s) & date

Fail