RSTAQ: Tips

Remedial and Support Teachers' Association
of Queensland

›› Tips

Listening for the facts - tuning-in

Purpose
While is a listening activity in itself, I sometimes used it to tune students into the language and information in the book.

Materials
Piece of text - maybe from a book children are about to read; or may be a harder than they could read if they are just going to do this as a listening exercise.

A4 sheet with a list of 6 - 8 key words and phrases (in 2 columns) from a passage of text, or

Photocopied illustration (object, animal etc.) pertinent to a passage of text.

Words and phrases need to be chosen and listed carefully so that the student can find them quickly enough while listening.

Procedure
Read the passage.

Children listen, looking at their sheet; they mark the items on their sheet as they hear them mentioned in the text.

Some children had to be cued paragraph by paragraph: "That was about Did you tick ? What do think the next paragraph will be about? Let me read the first sentence/couple of words? Can you find words on your sheet for those facts? etc."

Follow up by expanding some of the ticked phrases into sentences, or writing down some of the features of the object as labels. Spelling has to be correct.