One Text: Eight Ways to Exploit It

Susan Purcell, UK

Susan Purcell is a freelance teacher and former teacher-trainer. She is the author of Teaching Grammar Communicatively (CILT, 1997) and Junior Dictionary & Thesaurus (Miles Kelly, 2011).
E-mail: virtuallinguist@googlemail.com

Menu

Introduction
Methods of exploiting the reading text
1. True/false
2. Multiple choice
3. Vocabulary practice
4. Missing words
5. Multiple choice of words within the text
6. An extra word per sentence
7. A missing word per sentence
8. Oral or written summary
Extension work
Tip
Reference/link

Introduction

It is not necessarily the content or level of the text itself that makes a reading exercise difficult. Depending on the way the text is exploited, the same article or piece of prose can be used for different levels and to practise or check comprehension of different language points.

The same text can therefore be used with different classes. It can also offer something for the different levels within a mixed-ability group.

Below is a sample text. It is only an example – there is nothing special about it; in fact, it is taken from a blog I write, which is not addressed specifically to learners of English (see Reference/link below). You can use any text on any subject and devise comprehension or grammar exercises for it similar to those mentioned later in this article.

Eton is a top English public school. A public school, by the way, is the opposite of what you might think it is. It is a very expensive private school, usually a boarding school. The dessert Eton mess, which is made from strawberries, cream and crushed meringue, was first created by a chef at the school. It is traditionally eaten on the school’s biggest holiday, the “fourth of June”, when the annual prize-giving ceremony is held. On this day cricket is played, there is a procession of boats on the river, and boys and their families picnic. The significance of the 4th June is that this was the birthday of King George III, who had a great fondness for Eton (it is a stone’s throw from the monarch’s Windsor Palace). The “fourth of June” is never celebrated on the 4th June, but is always held on the Wednesday following the May bank holiday (the May bank holiday is the last Monday in May).

Below are eight different ways to exploit this text in class. It is best to regard them as items on a ‘menu’, to be dipped into as and when appropriate. Each time you conduct a reading exercise with your class you could vary the type of exercise, thus preventing boredom. In Lesson One you could use multiple choice questions with a reading text, in Lesson Two you could use missing words (with a different reading passage) and so on.

Or, you can offer a mixed-ability group three or four different comprehension or practice exercises relating to the same text and let individuals decide for themselves which to tackle. If someone feels that they need grammar practice, then you can suggest that Exercise 6 or 7 is the best for that. If they want to broaden their vocabulary, they should try Exercise 3 or 4. If they want writing practice they could attempt exercise 8.

Methods of exploiting the reading text

1. True/false

This method is good for the weaker members of a class, or for those who prefer not to have to write in English.

Say whether the statements are true or false:

1. It doesn’t cost anything to go to Eton.
2. You can eat an Eton mess.
3. King George III liked Eton.
4. The school’s annual prize-giving ceremony is always held on 4th June.

Questions can be designed to be easy or more difficult. ‘You can eat an Eton mess’ is easy because there are lots of clues in the text – dessert, strawberries, cream, chef, eaten. Students have to know the word ‘fondness’ to be able to answer number 3 and the last question is a bit counter-intuitive because students have to read right to the end to find the correct answer.

You can ask students to correct the false sentences, which makes the exercise a bit more difficult.

2. Multiple choice

This exercise is similar in level and appeal to Exercise 1.

1. If someone gave you an Eton mess, you would
   1. cook it
   2. eat it
   3. play it
2. Public schools are
   1. free to attend
   2. fee-paying
   3. cookery schools
3. King George III
   1. didn’t like Eton
   2. quite liked Eton
   3. liked Eton very much
4. The annual prize-giving ceremony at Eton
   1. always takes place on 4th June
   2. sometimes takes place on 4th June
   3. never takes place on 4th June

3. Vocabulary practice

Find the word in the text that means the same as:

a. king or queen b. yearly c. leading d. liking e. costly f. parade

If wished, the answers can be given, jumbled up, in another column or line.

Or, the instruction could be to find a word in the text that means the opposite:

a. cheap b. before c. last d. dislike e. bottom

4. Missing words

Fill in the blanks with one of the words below.

Eton is a ............ English public school. A public school, by the way, is the opposite of what you might think it is. It is a very .................... private school, usually a ..................... school. The dessert Eton mess, which is made from strawberries, cream and ................... meringue, was first created by a chef at the school. It is ..........................eaten on the school’s biggest holiday, the “fourth of June”, when the .......................... prize-giving ceremony is held. On this day cricket is played, there is a procession of boats on the river, and boys and their families ........................... The significance of the 4th June is that this was the ............................. of King George III, who had a great fondness for Eton (it is a stone’s throw from the monarch’s Windsor .........................). The “fourth of June” is never celebrated on the 4th June, but is always held on the ................................... following the May bank holiday (the May bank holiday is the last Monday in May). birthday expensive Wednesday annual picnic top traditionally Palace boarding crushed

The above exercise checks that the vocabulary of the text has been understood, but you could leave out verbs, adverbs or prepositions instead to highlight a particular grammar point.

5. Multiple choice of words within the text

You can choose to highlight vocabulary, as in the first example, or grammar points as in the second.

Eton is a [top, best, expensive] English public school. A public school, by the way, is the opposite of what you might think it is. It is a very expensive private school, usually a [free, boarding, cookery] school. The [soup, dessert, sandwich] Eton mess, which is made from strawberries, cream and crushed meringue, was first created by a chef at the school. It is traditionally eaten on the school’s biggest [holiday, building, playing field], the “fourth of June”, when the annual prize-giving [match, game, ceremony] is held. On this day cricket is played, there is a procession of boats on the river, and boys and their families picnic. The significance of the 4th June is that this was the birthday of King George III, who had a great fondness for Eton (it is a stone’s throw from the [school’s, river’s, monarch’s] Windsor Palace). The “fourth of June” is never celebrated on the 4th June, but is always held on the Wednesday following the May bank holiday (the May bank holiday is the [only, last, traditional] Monday in May).

Eton is a top English public school. A public school, by the way, is the opposite of what you [can, might, do] think it is. It is a very expensive private school, usually a boarding school. The dessert Eton mess, [who, this, which] is made from strawberries, cream and [crush, crushes, crushed] meringue, was first created by a chef at the school. It is traditionally [eat, eaten, eating] on the school’s biggest holiday, the “fourth of June”, when the annual prize-giving ceremony is [hold, held, holding]. On this day cricket is played, there is a procession of boats on the river, and boys and their [family’s, families’, families] picnic. The significance of the 4th June is that this was the birthday of King George III, who had a great fondness [at, in, for] Eton (it is a stone’s throw from the [monarch, monarchs, monarch’s] Windsor Palace). The “fourth of June” is never celebrated on the 4th June, but is always held on the Wednesday [follow, followed, following] the May bank holiday (the May bank holiday is the last Monday in May).

6. An extra word per sentence

The next two exercises are getting tougher, so will suit the more able members of the class.

There is one extra word in each sentence that should not be there. Cross it out.

Eton is a top best English public school. A public school, by the way, is the opposite of which what you might think it is. It is a very expensive private school, usually quite a boarding school. The dessert Eton mess, which is made from strawberries, cream and crushed meringue, was first original created by a chef at the school. It is traditionally eaten on the school’s biggest holiday, the “fourth of June”, when the annual prize-giving ceremony is once held. On this day cricket is played, there is a procession of boats on the river, and boys and their families like picnic. The significance of the 4th June is that than this was the birthday of King George III, who had a great fondness for Eton (it is a stone’s throw from the monarch’s Windsor Palace). The “fourth of June” is never also celebrated on the 4th June, but is always held on the Wednesday following the May bank holiday (the May bank holiday is the last Monday in May).

7. A missing word per sentence

Each sentence has a little word missing. Put it back.

Eton a top English public school. A public school, by the way, is the opposite of what you might think is. It is very expensive private school, usually a boarding school. The dessert Eton mess, which is made from strawberries, cream and crushed meringue, was first created a chef at the school. It is traditionally eaten on the school’s biggest holiday, the “fourth of June”, the annual prize-giving ceremony is held. On this day cricket is played, there is a procession of boats on river, and boys and their families picnic. The significance of the 4th June is that this the birthday of King George III, who had a great fondness for Eton (it is a stone’s throw from the monarch’s Windsor Palace). The “fourth of June” is never celebrated on the 4th June, but is always held on the Wednesday following the May bank holiday (the May bank holiday is last Monday in May).

8. Oral or written summary

• Explain what an Eton mess is.
• Tell someone what happens on the day known as 4th June.
• Imagine you are a pupil at Eton. Explain how you spend ‘4th June’.
• Imagine it’s a week before ‘4th June’. Tell someone what you will be doing next week.
• Imagine it’s a week after ‘4th June’. Tell someone what you did last week.

Extension work

Don’t throw away the text just yet! There’s plenty more mileage in it.

• discuss the recipe for Eton mess, which can lead on to other dessert recipes
• discuss i) the public school system ii) cricket iii) Windsor Palace iv) bank holidays
• discuss the different meanings of words in the text, e.g. ‘top’, ‘great’, or the different parts of speech a word can be, e.g. ‘picnic’, ‘top’.
• speculate as to why the dessert is called a ‘mess’.

Tip

Rather than giving individual students different exercises to suit their ability and needs, I prefer to give everyone the same text and the same set of three, four or five different exploitation exercises, differing in level of difficulty and differing in focus. I tell them to do at least one of the exercises, but that they can do whichever ones they want. The students can then all be working on whichever exercise they feel most comfortable with, yet without anyone else in the class knowing whether they’ve gone for the easy option. In practice, some students will race through the whole lot, while some are still struggling with the True/False questions. This doesn’t matter. After the exercise, I run through the answers of all the exercises, letting individuals answer, so that everyone can check their answers.

Reference/link

http://virtuallinguist.typepad.com/the_virtual_linguist/2008/11/eton-mess.html

Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Methodology and Language for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the How to be a Teacher Trainer course at Pilgrims website.