The Days of Reflection
Day 13 – Reading Football
I have heard this activity called other names but the principle is the same. This is useful to encourage students to read out loud in lessons. I have found it useful when I need to also get to know the names of the students when I take on a new group. Similarly, it can also help you to look at the social interactions between students in your group.
Reading Football
- Give students a piece of text to read.
- Read the title and then “pass” to a student.
- The reader must read out loud at least one sentence before they can pass to another student. They also have the option to read on.
- The reader could pick anyone at random so it encourages all students to follow along so they can pick up from a pass.
If a class is well practiced at the activity you can add an extra layer of difficulty: e.g. if a reader struggles with a word and pauses for more than 4 seconds then another student can “tackle” and take over. Be warned though, reading can become very competitive.
I enjoy using this activity with my classes of all ages. I find it useful for reading out not only information but practical methods in science or health and safety information for outdoor activities. At the end it is still important to check student understanding and comprehension.
Advantages
- It engages all students
- Great for learning names
- Good for learning social interactions (students tend to pick friends to read)
- Students enjoy listening to each other
- It offers a chance to correct mispronunciation
Disadvantages
- Some students do not like to read out loud
- Student may pick on a weak reader out of spite as they want to embarrass them.
I hope you get a chance to use this technique in your lessons sometime soon. Let me know how you get on.
Thank you for reading