The Magazine for English Professionals - English Teachers ...

News and Events
tive aspects as well as the problem areas.
Furthermore, it would be especially constructive
to give a writing task report along with the
corrected text. This would provide clarity and
avoid misunderstandings for both the student
and teacher.
John’s pragmatic approach to the subject as
well as the diverse handouts and booklets distributed
during the workshop will provide the
participants with a valuable ongoing source of
information, advice and reference.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank
John on behalf of all the workshop participants
for such a lively, informative and entertaining
presentation.
Anna Steffner
Valais
Workshop: Reading with Graded Readers
Presenter: Susanne Clavadetscher
Date: 14th May 2007
Joined by her Monday-evening audience at
the HES-SO Valais Wallis in Sierre, Susanne
began by explaining Longman’s reason for
introducing Graded Readers: to get students
into reading for gist with relative ease and,
most importantly, enjoyment.
During the 90-minute interactive workshop,
we became familiar not only with the wide
range of Readers currently available, but
also and especially with the impressive array
of additional materials on hand for the busy
teacher: Teacher’s Guides, Placement Test,
Fact Sheets, Tests and Audio Packs.
After a brainstorming session, Susanne supplemented
our ideas on before-, during- and
after-reading activities with a selection of her
own examples, encouraging us to try some of
them out with the hilarious Mrs. Doubtfire:
Before
� Guess the storyline by looking at the cover
and chapter headings.
� Discuss the theme of marriage – for
example, what makes a good one!
� If the DVD is available (and of course
many students will be familiar with Mrs.
Doubtfire), play a short extract and, with
the sound off, get students to work in pairs,
one questioning the other about what s/he
can see on the screen.
During
� Discuss the characters and recall the story
so far.
� Match dialogue and/or events to the
relevant characters.
� Choose a character and write his/her diary.
� Perform role-plays.
� Listen to extracts from the accompanying
CD.
After
� Discuss alternative endings.
� Continue the story.
� Write a review for the class magazine.
REGIONS
� Cast a film version of the book – which
celebrity (or student) should play which
character?
On the question of which level to select, we
were advised to use the Placement Test or, if
possible, distribute Readers of various levels
for students to experiment with, the idea being
they shouldn’t need to look up more than a
dozen words per page if at the appropriate
level.
Finally, we learnt about the new Penguin
Active Reading series, ideal for providing
extra activities, project work, access to related
websites and an interactive CD-ROM into the
bargain.
Many thanks to Susanne for a worthwhile and
enriching evening, from which we all came
away with plenty of ideas for our first/next
Reader class!
Barbara Althaus
For the latest information on
upcoming ETAS events, visit our
website at www.e-tas.ch
ETAS Journal 25/1 Winter 2007 47