ACTIVITY 1
Reading to learn new information: Using word clouds
Main goal
Activating background knowledge and predicting.
Time: 45 minutes
Materials: Wordle (word cloud creator), Luis Suarez’ biography.
Stages:
Pre-reading
1. Create the word cloud using www.wordle.net
SAMPLE word cloud on Luis Suarez:
2. Hand out the word cloud and ask students who they think it is about.
3. Ask students to underline words similar to Spanish. Explain them that similar words usually mean the same.
4. Ask students to work in pairs and write three sentences using some of the words.
5. Monitor and check sentences.
While-reading
6. Ask students to read the biography and look for coincidences.
Luis Suarez’ biography from Wikipedia, retrieved May 18th, 2014 retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Suárez
7. Ask students yes or no questions or wh- questions.
Yes/No Questions
- Is Luis Suarez a teacher?
- Does he live in England?
Wh- Questions
- What nationality is Luis Suárez?
- Where does he live?
After-reading
For more advanced students ask them to write their sentences on the board.
Ask students to read the biography and underline the sentences that appear in both the biography and the board.
Explain how Wordle works and ask students to create one about themselves.