Pre-reading strategies Week 4

1. Topic = Pre-reading strategies. Activity: identify the genre.

2. Procedures = introduce some different pre-reading strategies (previewing,
predicting, visualizing, text-connections and genre). Elicit brief
explanations and descriptions. 20 Minutes
- Previewing: reviewing titles, section headings, and photo captions to
get a sense of the structure and content of a reading selection
-Predicting: using knowledge of the subject matter to make predictions
about content and vocabulary; using knowledge of the text type and
purpose to make predictions; using knowledge about the author to
make predictions about writing style, vocabulary, and content.
-Visualizing: purposefully creating mental images while and after a
reading. Involves picturing in your mind what is happening in the text.
-Text connections: relating ones own background experiences to an
unfamiliar text. These connections generally form three categories:
text to self (ones personality), text to text (another book previously
read) and text to world (or culture).
a) Tell students that they are going to learn one more pre-reading strategy.
Show them the following text on the board, take turns reading and ask
them if they can identify the kind of writing (“travel writing”). Introduce
the word “genre” if they don’t know it. Some other ways we can describe
genre are as: “subject”, “theme”, “topic” or “writing style”. Brainstorm a
list of 10-12 different genres. 20 minutes

1) Fairy tales
2) Travel writing
3) News reports
4) Recipes
5) Biography
6) Autobiography
7) History report
8) Emails
9) Love letters
10) Business writing
 and green as we ascend the mountain for
the next hour in our convoy of two bikes—
……. ours and another carrying my translator,
Tirza and her Plan associate, Tony. Except
I thought for sure I would fall off the back
for the occasional call of a bird, there is no
of the motorcycle and tumble down the
noise other than the motorbikes, but as we
mountain.
near the village Teddy and Tony begin to
honk the horns. This is meant as a ‘heads
The mountain is in a region called Sikka
up’ to the villagers who know we are
on the island of Flores, Indonesia. I am en
coming and have prepared something
route to a small village in the community
special. Now I hear the sounds of
of Nua Mbalu to visit a child I have been
unfamiliar music and excited voices. I’m
sponsoring for the last two years through
nervous!
the Plan USA Childreach program. I am
on this motorcycle because, after driving 3
The village is nothing more than a group of
hours in an SUV from Maumere through
20 small huts scattered comfortably
magnificent lush landscape, the road ends.
between trees as if they had always been
there .It has been decorated in my honor.
I have one arm firmly clutching the waist
Two huge palm fronds at either side of the
of my driver Teddy, this district’s Plan
entrance meet in the center. Blue and white
representative. My other arm holds a large
crepe paper twirls across the middle. The
bag of rice I bring as a gift. My backpack
entire population stands at the other side in
is stuffed to its limit with cooking oil and
expectation. Huge eyes follow my every
school supplies. This may be part of the
move. I try to smile, and they stare back in
reason I am falling off this motorcycle.
fascination. I am the first westerner they
The other would be, this is not actually a
have ever seen!
path, but a rain indented crevice, naturally
cut through the dense jungle and enhanced
……
by the foot traffic of the occasional
villager. The air becomes crisp and smells
of earth

b) Next, show students these genre posters (they look nice

printed in colour!) and ask about the different genres (it’s
 pretty easy to figure!) but then ask them to think about the
associations that they have for these genres. What else do
they expect for this kind of writing? For example when we see
a fairy tale we automatically expect that it will contain some
of the following elements: “Once upon a time”, a happy
ending (or a moral), fictional characters, etc. Alert students to
this as a tool they can use in their pre-reading. Simply
recognizing the genre and thinking about the associations can
help tell students what to expect. 15 minutes

This means take a break.

c) Make like a kitkat bar.

d) Cooperative activity: jigsaw. The class could be divided into

groups of 3 or 4 (whichever works best for the size of the
class). Each member of the group reads a short article (there
are 4 different samples of genre writing). Each learner works
with the text alone at first, rereading, checking vocabulary,
asking for clarification, and figuring out the genre. Then, the
group discusses the reading together and draws up a list of a
few features that might be typical or characteristic of this
genre.

Next, the learners are assigned to a group where each

member has read a different article. At this point, each learner
gives a verbal summary of the article he or she read AND
explains what features are included in this genre. Other group
members can ask questions or offer insights. The result of the
whole activity is that a great deal of information can be
learned and learners have not only read but also
communicated at great length. 45 minutes

e) As a follow up activity to the jigsaw, the teacher can ask

learners, pairs, or small groups to write a summary of the
articles they have read. Or to try their hand at their own genre
writing.
 Definition from Dictionary.com:
Genre (noun) 1: a kind of literary or artistic work 2: a style of expressing yourself in
writing [syn: writing style, literary genre] 3: a class of artistic endeavor having a
characteristic form or technique.

Genre pre-reading
Sample 1
Lessons from the Titanic
From the comfort of our modern lives we tend to look back at the
turn of the twentieth century as a dangerous time for sea travellers. With
limited communication facilities, and shipping technology still in its infancy
in the early nineteen hundreds, we consider ocean travel to have been a
risky business. But to the people of the time it was one of the safest forms
of transport. At the time of the Titanic’s maiden voyage in 1912, there had
only been four lives lost in the previous forty years on passenger ships on
the North Atlantic crossing. And the Titanic was confidently proclaimed to
be unsinkable. She represented the pinnacle of technological advance at
the time. Her builders, crew and passengers had no doubt that she was
the finest ship ever built. But still she did sink on April 14, 1912, taking
1,517 of her passengers and crew with her.
The RMS Titanic left Southampton for New York on April 10, 1912.
On board were some of the richest and most famous people of the time
who had paid large sums of money to sail on the first voyage of the most
luxurious ship in the world. Imagine her placed on her end: she was larger
at 269 metres than many of the tallest buildings of the day. And with nine
decks, she was as high as an eleven storey building. The Titanic carried
329 first class, 285 second class and 710 third class passengers with 899
crew members, under the care of the very experienced Captain Edward J.
Smith. She also carried enough food to feed a small town, including
40,000 fresh eggs, 36,000 apples, 111,000 lbs of fresh meat and 2,200 lbs
of coffee for the five day journey.

RMS Titanic was believed to be unsinkable because the hull was

divided into sixteen watertight compartments. Even if two of these
compartments flooded, the ship could still float. The ship’s owners could
not imagine that, in the case of an accident, the Titanic would not be able
to float until she was rescued. It was largely as a result of this confidence
in the ship and in the safety of ocean travel that the disaster could claim
such a great loss of life.

Genre pre-reading
Sample 2
The Bear Princess
Once upon a time there was a King and queen who had no children. They
ruled a splendid kingdom and the queen was famous for her beauty and her
long shining golden hair which reached to her feet; but nevertheless she
spent all her time wishing for a child just like herself. Then finally after many
years the queen’s wish was granted: a child was born, a lovely little girl with
shining golden hair just like her mother's.

The whole kingdom celebrated, but at the christening the visiting fairies
became troubled. It was the custom in those days for the fairies to tell the
fortune of the new baby, but this time the fairies just whispered and shook
their heads.

“Go on,” the king urged them. “Do you see some misfortune for our baby?
Have we forgotten to invite someone?”
“Do we need to get rid of all the spindles?” said the queen. “Good riddance,
I'd say.”

“No,” sighed the eldest fairy, “it is not spindles this time. We are not sure what
strange fate is in store for Princess Preziosa. Only, in spite of all the riches of
your palace, it seems that she will find her happiness alone in the woods.”

“Wearing nothing but a fur coat,” added the youngest fairy; but everyone
immediately shushed her, saying it was not nice to wear fur. “Unless you're a
bear, or something,” said the youngest fairy.

“Oh, hush!”

Since there were no prohibitions to be broken, everyone soon forgot the

fairies’ prophecy – except for one old nurse, a little gray lady who took care of
the princess while she was a baby. And as Preziosa grew up, the old woman
continued to visit and bring her lotions and perfumes and dress her golden
hair.

When Princess Preziosa was almost grown, a tragedy struck the kingdom.
The queen fell ill, and the best doctors of the world could not save her life. As
she lay dying, the queen’s mind wandered, and she said to the king, “Promise
me that no other woman will sit on my throne, unless she has golden hair just
as long as mine.” In his grief, the king made the promise; and the queen died
content.

…
Genre pre-reading
Sample 3
Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in a village near Umtata in the Transkei
on the 18 July 1918. His father was the principal councilor to the Acting
Paramount Chief of Thembuland. After his father s death, the young
Rolihlahla became the Paramount Chief s ward to be groomed to assume
high office. However, influenced by the cases that came before the Chief s
court, he determined to become a lawyer. Hearing the elders stories of his
ancestors valour during the wars of resistance in defense of their fatherland,
he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his
people.
After receiving a primary education at a local mission school, Nelson Mandela
was sent to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school of some repute where
he matriculated. He then enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare for
the Bachelor of Arts Degree where he was elected onto the Student's
Representative Council. He was suspended from college for joining in a
protest boycott. He went to Johannesburg where he completed his BA by
correspondence, took articles of clerkship and commenced study for his LLB.
He entered politics in earnest while studying in Johannesburg by joining the
African National Congress in 1942.

At the height of the Second World War a small group of young Africans,
members of the African National Congress, banded together under the
leadership of Anton Lembede. Among them were William Nkomo, Walter
Sisulu, Oliver R. Tambo, Ashby P. Mda and Nelson Mandela. Starting out with
60 members, all of whom were residing around the Witwatersrand, these
young people set themselves the formidable task of transforming the ANC into
a mass movement, deriving its strength and motivation from the unlettered
millions of working people in the towns and countryside, the peasants in the
rural areas and the professionals.

Their chief contention was that the political tactics of the old guard' leadership
of the ANC, reared in the tradition of constitutionalism and polite petitioning of
the government of the day, were proving inadequate to the tasks of national
emancipation. In opposition to the old guard', Lembede and his colleagues
espoused a radical African Nationalism grounded in the principle of national
self-determination. In September 1944 they came together to found the
African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL).

Mandela soon impressed his peers by his disciplined work and consistent
effort and was elected to the Secretaryship of the Youth League in 1947. By
painstaking work, campaigning at the grassroots and through its mouthpiece
Inyaniso' (Truth) the ANCYL was able to canvass support for its policies
amongst the ANC membership.

Genre pre-reading
Sample 4
Amber’s Summer Soup

Ingredients:
you will need:

frozen(but already cooked) chicken

fresh tomatoes

zuccini and squash

salt,pepper, parsley flakes, chicken boulion cubes, frank's red hot hot sauce,
butter, diced garlic

water, and egg noodles.

Preparation:

1. Melt butter in a large pan and add 1 spoon of diced garlic.

2. Sautee frozen chicken, tomatoes, squash and zucchini in the butter and
garlic.

3. Boil water and egg noodles in a pot and add 2-3 chicken bouillon cubes.

4. Add sautéed chicken and veggies in the broth and add salt, pepper, parsley
flakes and frank's red hot sauce.