Book-choosing activities
How to wet your students’ appetite…
In order to get my students interested in the new books I have tried all kinds of activities. Some are short and can be done at the beginning of a lesson, others take longer and can be used as reading or speaking activities that will prepare the ground for the following reading project.
Present appropriate books regularly. In your presentations
- focus on a key scene where your main character finds himself in a difficult situation.
- focus on the main problem or conflict of the book
- link the problem to the real world around us
- do not give away the whole plot.
Ideas for your presentations:
- Describe the main character(s) and their situation/problem/desires…
- Invite students to search for solutions to the problems presented in the book.
- “Put yourself in my shoes” (How would you (the students) react if…)
- Introduce a news article or other text about current events/news that are related to the theme of the novel.
- Read the opening page(s) and stop at a cliff-hanger.
- Choose a really riveting passage (where the main character is in trouble) for a running dictation or dictogloss, then have Ss guess what the book might be about.
- Give the students the title of the book and/or bookcover, have them ask you YES/NO questions.
- Write a postcard or letter from the main character’s point of view (e.g. : describe the situation, ask for help). The students then write back, asking further questions, giving advice…
- Read a riveting page from the middle of the book. Have the students guess who/what/why/where…
- Be creative…
While waiting for the books to arrive …
ask students to write a short paragraph (100 words) including the following phrases:
- I’ve chosen ……. because
- I hope that….
- I wonder if…
Examples:
For more ideas about introducing specific books look at the following examples.
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Book choosing cards for the Refugee project
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Introducing The Giver |
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Introducing Freaky Green Eyes |
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Introducing The Alchemyst |
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Introducing The War Between the Classes |
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Introducing Speak |
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Introducing the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Guess what the story might be about: |
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Introducing The Body of Christopher Creed |
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Introducing I Am The Messenger |
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Introducing The Gospel According to Larry |
