Reading across the Curriculum:
Reading for Breadth and Depth
Regional NET Coordinating Team
Native-speaking English Teacher (NET) Section
Collaborative Research and Development (“Seed”) Projects for the 2020/21 School Year
(Project code: NT0920)
Contents ● Why reading across the curriculum (RaC) in the English Language classroom
● What a target project unit looks like
● Our support model
● Application procedures
3
Why RaC
in the English Language classroom
Common phenomena
● Inadequate practice to make connection between learning and life experiences/global issues
● Reading experience limited to the textbook
● Reading for surface meaning instead of deeper understanding of text
● Not aware of how readers might be influenced by a text
● Perception of English as an academic subject rather than a tool to access other subjects
● Motivation to read mostly extrinsic or instrumental, rather than intrinsic
https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/
465e3bc5-6394-4847-8463-fb9e30a47509
5
Our approach
to motivate students to read more and
read deeper
with critical eyes to explore topics and understand issues
https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/356b6df e-6f5e-4537-a265-a9c25ddfd158
https://search.creativecommons.org/photos /655bb1a5-a806-4532-8f2b-7dccb9904365
Project objectives
● enhance English teachers’ understanding of RaC and ability to integrate it into the school-based curriculum
● develop teachers’ ability to identify, select and use appropriate print and non-print texts of a variety of text types and themes to enhance students’ motivation and confidence in English language learning
● sharpen teachers’ skills in scaffolding their students’ reading, viewing, analysing and responding skills development;
● expand teachers’ ability to design suitable learning, teaching and assessment activities to support students’ reading skills development and to engage them in appreciating the value of cross-curricular reading
● develop teachers’ ability to identify opportunities for students to connect their learning
in English lessons (e.g. reading strategies and knowledge of topics) to their experiences
in real life or learning in other KLAs
7
What a target project unit looks like
(A unit being co-developed with
an RaC “Seed” project school in the 2019/20 school year)
Features of a project unit
● Content and language links with other KLAs
● Immediacy of topic in students’ daily life
● Multiple texts - (textbook passages and) authentic, varied text types, multimodality
● Development of reading skills and strategies
● Strategies that hook students’ interest in reading, e.g. questioning the text, setting purpose of reading and exploring different perspectives on a topic
● Student products for assessment
Choice of topic and selection of reading texts
9
English textbook: New Treasure Plus 2A Module: Humans and the environment Unit 3: Save our planet!
Springs from any passage in the SoW
that relates to the module Links to topics the
students have learnt in other KLAs
Little or no technical
content Immediacy in
the students’ life experiences
Multimodal
Topic
Content or perspectives not
commonplace
At the students’
reading levels
Reading texts
Present different perspectives on
an issue
Contains language focuses prominent
in other KLAs
Topic
e.g. Single-use plastics
Focus question
e.g. What is the global impact of single-use plastics?
Carefully selected and well sequenced authentic textswith cross-curricular content and language links
Content links, e.g.
● How plastic pollution causes air pollution
● Why recycling might not be a solution for plastic pollution
Language links, e.g.
● Text type, e.g. infographics
● Grammar items
● Language functions
Lesson objectives (Language / Skills / Values & attitudes)
&
Assessmentof / for / as learning
Gradual release of responsibility Multiple readings
of text
Assessment tasks, e.g.
(1) Create an infographic.
Unit framework
Text
1 Text
2 Text
3 Texts
Text 4
11
Pre-project learning activity: Single-use plastic tally
Purpose:
● To draw students’ attention to the waste from their use of single-use plastics
● To provide data for students to create infographics in a later stage of the unit after they have learned the text type for assessment purpose
Language focus:
● Vocabulary of single-use plastics
● I used/threw away/threw out/ditched…
Texts to be used - Example 1
Plastic Pollution - YouTube Purpose:
- To provide background knowledge of the topic - To ‘hook’ students’ interest
- To set the purpose of reading other texts in a later stage of the unit
- To expose students to a video infographic
Major learning activity:
- EDpuzzle (flipping the classroom)
https://search.creativecommons.org/photo s/89efb2c5-a667-4528-85de-2a84af7508e3
Texts to be used - Example 2
13
Purpose:
● To provide background knowledge of the topic
● To teach how to read information texts by understanding text structure and paragraph construction
● To provide opportunities for students to practise the language focus learned in previous lessons
Major learning activity:
● Jigsaw reading
https://search.creativecommons.org/photo s/89efb2c5-a667-4528-85de-2a84af7508e3
The “Five R’s” for Fighting Plastic Pollution at:
https://www.cleanyst.com/five -rs-fighting-plastic-pollution/
Adapted texts of The “Five R’s” for Fighting Plastic Pollution at the students’ reading levels
Texts to be used - Example 3
Purpose:
● To connect classroom learning to students’ life experiences
● To provide opportunities for students to (i) practise the language focus learned in previous lessons, and (ii) connect learning activities to their life experiences
Major learning activities:
● Jigsaw reading (Note-taking and oral presentation)
● Think-pair-share (Commenting on info and ideas in the text with reference to own situation)
https://search.creativecommons.org/photo s/89efb2c5-a667-4528-85de-2a84af7508e3
Five ways to live a life with less plastic waste in Hong Kong
(Young Post online) https://yp.scmp.com/news/hong- kong/article/104384/five-ways-live-life-less-plastic-
waste-hong-kong
Texts to be used - Example 4
15
Purpose:
● To teach how to read and create infographics
● To provide opportunities for students to (i) make text-to-text connections, and (ii) consolidate the topic-related content learned in previous lessons
https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/89efb2 c5-a667-4528-85de-2a84af7508e3
Infographics A sample at:
https://www.calpaclab.com/product_i mages/uploaded_images/7-one-swap- items.jpg
Major learning activities:
● Puzzle (cut-ups of the sample infographic) and guided
practice of reading infographics
● Creating infographics using the data collected from the pre- project activity
Main assessment tasks - An example that caters for learner diversity
Creating an infographic
Option Mode of
communication
Language skills involved
A - Create an infographic using the data from the pre-project activity:
Single-use plastic tally
Print ● Interpret raw data to design an infographic
B - Same as the above, except that the Infographic is in the video format
Non-print (Video) ● Interpret raw data to design an infographic
● Plan a storyboard, write a script and voice over
C - Create an infographic poster using the information in the video ‘Plastic Pollution’
Print ● Synthesise information in the video to design an infographic
17
Our support model
Personnel Involved in the RaC ‘’Seed’’ Project
1 - 2 Support Officer(s) from the Regional NET
Coordinating Team
Project Teachers English teachers
- Project Coordinator
- English teacher(s) of the project class(es)
Non-English teachers - Optional
Support from the senior management of the school
Gradual release of responsibility
Support officer’s responsibility
Project teacher responsibility
“I do it.”
“We do it.”
“You do it.”
“You do it alone.”
Independence
19
Modelling
Sharing
Supporting
Schools that we are looking for
- Partners, not service recipients - Curriculum flexibility
- Committed project teachers amenable to new ideas and pedagogical suggestions
- Students with basic reading competency
- Sustainability
21
