After poking around a bit, I found the following website: http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/stories/stories.html
There are a number of short reading exercises on the website that are geared for level 1 or perhaps level 2 students and many of them have quiz questions afterwards. There doesn't seem to be much difference between those reading activities to the activities that you might find in a regular text book though I do think they might be useful with that caveat in mind.
The exercises I would most likely use (or modify for use) in my own class would be some of the ones found under the heading "Other Readings." For instance, there is one that talks about finding an apartment and reviews some of the relevant vocabulary for finding an apartment. There are also links to Craig's List (in this case for San Francisco) where students can put their newly "learned" vocabulary through the paces. I think that kind of authentic activity is a good example of how CALL can be used to find authentic texts.
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1 year ago
I agree with your idea that the readings under "Other Readings" are very authentic and will make good reading tasks for students.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the topic, it seems many of them are about American culture. I'm wondering if looking for topics about other English speeking countries will increase English authenticity. Students may learn variety of cultures from authentic reading materials, but on the other hand, they may confuse things if they have many information from different countries. (ex. what number do we call in an emargency in USA or in the UK?)
Yes, I think that context is very important. You probably wouldn't want to use a lot of this stuff in an EFL context and might want to come up with your own webpage if you were teaching in Thailand (for example) about local information.
ReplyDeleteI like the authenticity of the readings as well. What I really like about these online readings is their interactiveness. The students are engaged in the readings, and they are reading with a purpose.
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