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K-W-L charts
Using what you know to guess what you dont know
Satisfaction of ones curiosity is one of the greatest
sources of happiness in life.
Linus PAULING, American scientist

MAM, MIRA
QUe HE
APRENDIDO
HOY!

When you decide to go shopping, the first thing

you do is look into a fridge to see what you
already have. Then you make a real or mental list
of what you need, and finally when you come
back home you check if you bought everything.
When you teach, first you consider what your
students already know or might know, and then
you design your teaching objectives accordingly.
At the end you revise and assess to check what
they have learned. The question is: are our
learners, especially the young ones, equally aware
of this process?

Shouldnt we involve them in our planning

so that they can have a clear sense of a beginning,
middle and end? Why omit students from our
planning stage? Why not make them active
participants, so that they can take more pride
in their learning?
An excellent way of encouraging even our
youngest students to take part in planning are
K-W-L charts. These charts are a simple tool which
can help you involve your students in a fun and
effective way.

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What is a K-W-L chart?

How to use a K-W-L chart

K-W-L charts were created in the 80s by Donna

Ogle, an Illinois professor and president of the
International Reading Association. The name
K-W-L stands for:

K-W-L charts are used at the beginning to check

how much the learners already know, before
introducing new content.

Know (What do you know now?)

Want (What do you want to learn?)
Learn (What have you learned?)

Activating Looking forward

Looking back

Content, language
and life skills in one

And last, but not least, learners practise their

social skills. Your learners will see for themselves
how much they can learn by co-operating and
sharing knowledge. This kind of co-operation
will be useful throughout their lives, so starting
as soon as possible is a good idea!
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front to share answers on the board with

the rest of the class.

4 Ask them what else they would like to find

out. Tell them to talk about it in their groups
and to complete the W column. They can
write anything they like.

5 Again, write their suggestions on the board

for everybody to share. Once they realise
there are still many new things to learn, they
will be motivated and eager to find them out.

From a language point of view, K-W-L charts

provide a meaningful and natural opportunity
to talk in English.

3 Call one representative of each group to the

K-W-L allows teachers and learners to revise

content vocabulary and organize knowledge.
Basically, its summing up the whole lesson
in just one table!

learners go through the corresponding pages

in the book and look at the images.
Tell them that they will learn some really
important and useful things, but first they
need to tell you if they already know
something about this. Ask them to complete
the K column.

At the same time K-W-L charts give learners

something to look forward to. They foster
curiosity about new content and ensure learners
will want to know more. Finally, K-W-L charts give
learners a chance to see their progress for
themselves. What better way to motivate?

2 Announce the topic of the lesson and let

K-W-L charts give your learners a clear point of

departure, helping them to activate their previous
knowledge. It goes without saying that our
students will feel incredibly proud when they
realise how much they already know!

Divide your class into small groups and give

each group a K-W-L sheet (use the
photocopiable sheet at the end of this
article). Draw a larger version of the chart on
the board or otherwise display it in on the
classroom wall.

Initially, Donna Ogle thought of them as a reading

strategy, but nowadays K-W-L charts are one of
the most recommendable teaching practices
in the CLIL classroom.

6 Leave the big K-W-L chart displayed in

the classroom until you finish the lesson.
Then invite learners to complete the last
column, first in groups and then on the
board as a class.

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K-W-L charts

You can make K-W-L charts

in different ways:
The students draw the chart in their notebooks.
They draw it on a sheet of paper and keep them
all together in a folder.
You give them a photocopied chart (always the
same to develop a routine) at the beginning
of a lesson.

W
What do you
know now?

I eat with my mouth.

L
What do you want
to learn?

What have
you learned?

I smell with my nose.

What happens to the food

I eat?

The food goes to my

stomach and intestine.

I see with my eyes.

Why does my heart beat?

My heart pumps blood.

Example of a K-W-L chart.

Classroom management tips

Filling in the W column might be challenging

at the beginning. Students are naturally

curious, but if the topic is difficult and they
dont come up with anything, provide some
interesting information to encourage them:
Did you know that your heart beats
30 million times a year?
Did you know that girls hearts beat faster
than boys?
What do you think: why does our heart
beat?
Once they get used to K-W-L charts your

students will start coming up with really crazy

questions such as Why do my nails grow?
Reward and nourish their curiosity: tell them
to note down the difficult questions and
promise that they will discover the answers
together with you in a special future project.

And finally
parents are kept informed
The same old home scene. Joan, an eight year old
child in a Bilingual School who has just learned
something about body systems comes home
and his mother asks:
So, what have you learned at school today?
Err, I dont know. Something, says Joan shrugging
his shoulders.
With K-W-L charts your learners will have a clearer
idea of what they learned and why they learned
it and will feel more enthusiastic about sharing
the discoveries with their parents.

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