21 must use reading activities for language lessonsFun Pre-Reading and Post-Reading Activities for All Language Classrooms

I love linguistic communication lessons which involve an element of reading. This is because there are so many opportunities for learning and improving linguistic communication acquisition with topic-related texts. Reading activities are the perfect starting point to acquire rich topic-related vocabulary (adjectives, nouns, verbs etc), pick upward new grammar structures,steal 'star phrases'and ultimately improve comprehension and improve language conquering skills.

According to Moeller & Meyer (1995), reading, even at a slow pace exposes students to more than sentences, grammar, and new vocabulary per minute than the average short class, Telly show, or song. And then, if you are in a rut with how you nowadays and teach your reading activities, get an innovative injection of pre-reading activities and mail-reading activities below.

Who Should Use These Awesome Reading Activities?

All of these reading ideas for the linguistic communication classroom are low-prep and no-prep reading activities. Use them in any post-beginner linguistic communication classroom, including French, German, English and Castilian lessons.

The aim of these 21 must-use reading activities is to get your language students focused and in the mood for learning.  However, every bit the teacher, yous will need to be in charge of providing a bang-up text, to bring the reading ideas below to life. This could range from one paragraph for beginners, to a few mesomorphic paragraphs for intermediate learners, to an extended text for avant-garde students.

Pre-Reading Activities

  1. "Find The Word" Reading Aloud Activity (Pair Piece of work)
    Put students in pairs and provide them with i re-create of a text. Have a cloak-and-dagger list of words at the set and call them out, at random, one at a time. Allow time for students to browse the text for the word they hear. The starting time person in the pair to point correctly at the give-and-take in the text gets a signal. Make sure you lot prepare sound level rules, likewise as clear guidance on how the course should be silent prepare for the next round.
  2. "Reading Aloud" Task (Pair Piece of work / Small Group Piece of work)
    Provide students with a 'chunky' text dissever into paragraphs. Advise that each educatee in the pair/group must read one paragraph aloud. If the person has an issue pronouncing a give-and-take, he/she must circumvolve it and if they come across a discussion they don't empathize, they must underline information technology. Allow students to discuss their problem areas in pairs and then in fours. Get around making a note of the common issues and write on the board with whole grouping choral work and discussion at the end.
  3. "Squad Reading Aloud" – Pronunciation Reading (Whole Group)
    Split the classroom in two and assign all students in each team a number and echo (using the aforementioned numbers) with the other team. Provide students with a 'mesomorphic' text for reading and set each team off with twenty points. The aim of the activity is to be the squad to finish with the almost points after the text has been read. Flip a money to see which team begins. Randomly choose a number and that student must begin reading. If the other team spots a pronunciation fault, as the pupil is reading, a member of the team must put their mitt upwards. If all others in the team agree, everyone's hand must go up – this should go along everyone focused. If they spot a genuine pronunciation mistake, they tin can help the reader make the correction receive a betoken (provide back up if their 'help' isn't quite authentic). However, if the whole team has fabricated a mistake and picked a word that was correctly pronounced, they will lose a point and the other team will gain a point. Each fourth dimension an error in pronunciation is correctly spotted, swap the reading team. Deduct points for talking or misbehaviour.
  4. "The Last Word" Reading Activity (Pair / Small Grouping Work)
    As a group, the team chooses how many words each student should read. For example, iii words. In improver, allow students to choose the gild of reading. Once the students brainstorm reading, the winner is the pupil who follows the rules and manages to exist the person to read the terminal word.
  5. "Avert The Line" – Reading Aloud Activity (Pair / Minor Groups) When yous prepare a text, underline words at random. Students start with 5 points. Each student must read v words at a fourth dimension, but must avoid really proverb any words that have been underlined. Should they read the underlined word by accident, they lose a point. Students with with the most points at the finish of the reading activity win.
  6. "Bratwurst" Name" – Reading Out Aloud Activity (Small Groups) 1 student begins and after a pre-determined number of words or sentences, they shout "Bratwurst / Pain au chocolat / Churros" (etc, depending on the language you lot teach) plus the name of someone in the group i.e. Bratwurst Laura. This person must then proceed where the other reader left off. Award points at the beginning and if someone loses focus and doesn't know where the previous reader was, they lose a point.
  7. Teacher Names – Reading Activity Out Aloud (Whole Group)
         Divide the class in two and assign 5 points to each team. Then, model pronunciation of the text by reading it out aloud. At random intervals, instead of reading the next word, call out a student'due south name and that student must read the word that their name was replaced by. If the chosen educatee doesn't respond without being prompted within 5 seconds of stopping, the team loses a signal. Perfect for getting students to focus on reading activities, as well as getting them to pronounce the words you think they might discover tricky or could do with knowing. In add-on, you could get students to create a list of vocabulary replaced by students names and interpret/make sentences with, as a post-reading activity.
  8. "Wie bitte?" – Reading Aloud Activity (Pocket-sized Groups)
         Put students into threes, taking information technology in turns to read a judgement. As they read, a educatee must make a error, on purpose. This could include: incorrect words, wrong genders, incorrect pronunciation, incorrect verb catastrophe etc. When a listener hears a mistake, they must say 'Wie bitte?' 'oh la la' or 'Oye', depending on the language you teach. If they can correct the mistake, they win a point and if they tin't correct the error, the reader gets a point. This tin besides be washed as a whole group with students standing up when you brand a mistake. The last one to stand up is 'out'. However, make sure yous give students who are out a little job to practice until the end of the game.
  9. Spontaneous Reading Activity (Whole Group)
         One student starts reading at random and can read a maximum of 1 sentence. Every bit soon as they finish their sentence, another educatee must begin reading. If no-one starts inside a second, or more than ane person starts reading, the whole group must get back to the beginning. Starting with another student reading the first sentence. Y'all tin vary this by getting learners to interpret the text as they read the sentence or modify the person (thus the verbs and possessive adjectives etc). Keep going dorsum to the beginning until the reading out aloud activity has been completed as per the rules.
  10. Find …. – Skim Reading Activity (Lonely)
         As soon as you requite students a reading text, provide them with a list of words in L1 (native language) to observe in L2 (language being learnt) in the text. This could be all masculine nouns, all verbs, all adjectives, all words first with 'a'. They could either highlight the words in the text or underline the words.
  11. Discover the Synonym – Skim Reading Activeness (Private)
         As with reading activity ten, give students a reading text and provide them with a list of words in L2. They must discover and note downward the synonyms they find in the text.
  12. Be A Presenter – Reading Aloud (Pairs)
         Have iPads or laptops bachelor, enough for one betwixt two. Have students paste a copy of your text into cue prompter with 1 student sitting with their dorsum to the laptop and the other person reading aloud. The presenter must read clearly with accurate pronunciation and the listener must fill in the gaps on their sail as they are listening with the words they hear. They may not inquire the presenter to spell whatsoever discussion. Instead, if they have gaps at the finish, the presenter must re-read (the whole lot or just the sentence, depending on how you lot're feeling on the day).
  13. Gauge The Dominion Reading Aloud (Whole Group Game)
         The instructor begins by reading every other give-and-take from the text in order. Students must put their hands up to approximate the rule. Let private students in the group to practise the same past reading aloud. The balance of the group must try to guess the dominion. Students can only start to put their hands up after the reader has read at least 1/three or 1/2 of the text. Permit the students be artistic with their rules. The teacher could also re-read and do the aforementioned with adjectives, nouns, verbs etc to make the reading activity more grammar based. It's perfect to get reluctant and shy students reading.
  14. Running Dictation Speaking Reading Activeness (Small Groups)
         This works improve with shorter texts or splitting a whole text into paragraphs, which each team is responsible for. Put enough copies of the texts up exterior the classroom with a number on each. Assign each team a number. Advise the aim is for students to be the start squad to communicate the text from their corresponding paragraph exterior the classroom, without adulterous. Students must have it in turns to read a sentence in sequence from their paragraph, and be the showtime team to end communicating and writing the paragraph down on a sheet of paper.
    RULES: a) only 1 pupil can be out of their seat at a time, b) students must not run or shout, c) students  must also have it in turns to write the sentences on the paper, d) learners are non immune to spell any words, just they are allowed to get back as many times every bit they need to to re-read the judgement, e) the rest of the grouping must work as a team to ensure the words are spelled accurately and the grammar is also correct.
  15. Gap-Fill Transcript Dictation Reading Activity (Private)
    Provide students with a copy of the text, with gaps. I suggest three forms, i with verbs missing, the 2d with nouns missing and the tertiary with adjectives missing. Distribute the sheets so they have people around them who had the same sail. The students must individually fill in the words every bit they listen. You could read once again if necessary. Once finished, get learners to check they have spelled the words correctly by discussing (not showing!) with their neighbours.
  16. Wrong Words Reading Activity (Individual)
    The teacher provides students with a copy of the text with a choice of incorrect words. Every bit they listen to the text beingness read, they must highlight the word they hear that is incorrect. Go through a second time, and this time, the students must write in the right words. This volition requite the students an idea of the text earlier they practise whatsoever comprehension activities.
  17. Central Word Bingo – Vocabulary Based Reading Activeness (Individual)
    From the text, read five-twenty words (dependent on text length) at random in L2. Students must cross them off equally they hear them.

Mail-Reading Activities

  1. Truthful or Imitation? – Postal service-Reading Activity (Solitary)
    Once students accept read the text through properly, permit them 5 minutes to create a list of true or false statements. These can be given to a peer to answer if fourth dimension allows.
  2. Summarise The Text – Post Reading Activity (Individual)
    Once students have read the text, propose that they must underline the key letters, depending on the size of the text. I recommend advising a maximum number. Students must then combine and re-give-and-take these ideas to summarise the whole text in a fix number of words.
  3. Re-write The Text – Reading Activeness (Lonely)
    After reading (and depending on the length of the whole text), students must re-write the text in the outset, 2d or third person singular. If the text is long, then propose that they should pick out a sure number of paragraphs.
  4. Walking Text – Reading Comprehension Action (Individual)
    Instead of getting students to read the texts in their seats, print out a few copies.  Ensure the text is enlarged and in paragraphs with line numbers. Then, chop them upwards with numbers, indicating the paragraph number on each and stick them effectually the room. I recommend doing a few copies to ensure that no more than 2 students are at one paragraph of text at a fourth dimension. Give them some pre-printed comprehension questions to respond as they go around. You can support learners who need information technology with an indication of the paragraph number, correlating to the question, written on their sheet.

Want these ideas in a handy downloadable format? Download my 21 must-apply reading activities for all language classrooms PDF here:

Did you savor this reading activities for the linguistic communication classroom post? If so, be sure to cheque out these posts to amend language acquisition here besides:

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Spontaneous Speaking with Video Clips in the Linguistic communication Classroom

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