Suggested Activities Before, During and After Reading Lessons

It's tough to make an engaging and exciting lesson plan if you don't have a bank of activities to help you.

So, here are some activities for the three stages of a reading lesson: pre-reading, while reading and post-reading. And as a bonus, I also included a sample lesson plan in reading. Make your reading class a blast!

You may also want to know how to use authentic materials in teaching reading.

Pre-reading Tasks

What are the benefits of pre-reading activities?

• Pre-reading activities prepare your students for the reading text.  
• This is the first part of your scaffolding.  It gives learners an overview of the material.
• It activates their prior knowledge on the topic
• It ignites the excitement in your learners to read the text.

1.  Use of Pictures 

Images are great tools to get the attention of the learners towards the reading text.  In using pictures,  you can ask them to predict the theme of the text.  You just need to choose an image related to the text.  It can be about the setting, the subject, or the characters.

2.  Title Dissect

Post or write the title of the text on the board and let the learners identify keywords.  From these keywords, get their opinions or predictions about the text.

3.  Predicting

There are other ways for learners to predict the theme of the text.  

• For lower-level learners, it may help them to predict the theme by giving them choices.  For example, based on the title of the text, the learners will choose from three statements what they think would be the text all about.
• If your focus is on the tone or mood, you may give them three emojis to choose from to predict the tone or mood of the text.

While-Reading Tasks

There are three types of reading that your learners can perform while reading.

Skimming is reading a text quickly to get a general idea of meaning. It can be contrasted with scanning, which is reading to find specific information, e.g., figures or names.

Example:
A learner taking a reading exam decides to approach the text by looking at the title, introductions, and any diagrams and sub-headings, then skim reading to get a clear general idea of what the text is about.

In the classroom:
Skimming is a specific reading skill that is common in reading newspapers, messages, and e-mails. Learners must understand that there is no need to read every word when skimming, so often teachers set this as a timed task to encourage speed. (source)

Scanning is reading a text quickly to find specific information, e.g., figures or names. It can be contrasted with skimming, which is reading quickly to get a general idea of meaning.

Example:
A learner taking a reading test needs to scan a text on population rates quickly to find out if a series of statements about the population figures are true or false.

In the classroom:
As the above example shows, scanning is a specific reading skill that is often used in combination with others, such as skimming and intensive reading. Learners need to learn different ways and understand that choosing how to read is an important step in building reading skills. (source)

Intensive reading involves learners reading in detail with specific learning aims and tasks. It can be compared with extensive reading, which involves learners reading texts for enjoyment and to develop general reading skills.

Example:
The learners read a short text and put events from it into chronological order.

In the classroom:
Intensive reading activities include skimming a text for specific information to answer true or false statements or filling gaps in a summary, scanning a text to match headings to paragraphs, and scanning jumbled paragraphs and then reading them carefully to put them into the correct order.

 1.  Matching

If the text is short (i.e., with only a few paragraphs), prepare headings and let the learners match them with the paragraphs or stanzas for poetry.

2. Vocabulary Building

Give the learners a list of words and let them find their synonyms in the text.  

3.  Read and Predict

Let the learners read a part of a text and predict what will happen next.  This is a good strategy for narrative texts.

4.  Use of Graphic Organizers

There are many graphic organizers on the web which you can use to aid learners' reading comprehension.  For narrative texts, the timeline is always a good start. You can use this modified timeline.

5.  Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt can be fun for high school students, too.  You may check this for inspiration in making your own scavenger hunt.  They also have downloadable samples.

6.  Worksheets

There are many printable worksheets that you can download and use in your class.

Post-Reading Tasks

Post-reading activities usually involve speaking and writing.  

1. Act It Out! 

If the story has interesting characters, the students may choose a scene to recreate.

2.  Create a Quiz

Students can work by group and write their own questions about the text.  To make it more interesting, the group who answers most of the items from the other groups will receive a prize.

3. Stage a Debate

A debate can be a fun activity for high school students.  Check this out for ideas in preparing your class debate.

4.  Write a Letter

Why not let your students write a letter to one of the characters in the story?  To make it more interesting, you can tell your students to put themselves in the shoes of a character from a previous text and write the letter to someone in the book you're currently reading.  For example, they can be Beowulf writing to Don Quixote.

5.  Make a Poster

If the reading text is about a current social issue, the students can work by pair or with a group to create a poster about the theme.  If the students will be using PowerPoint to design posters, here are some tips.

For other ideas to make your reading class an exciting one, check this out.

Here is a sample lesson plan in reading.