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Collaborative and Communicative Reading: Torn Sheet Jigsaw

By Mamura Iriskulova, Kazakhstan

20 minutes

Lesson Plan

Learning Objectives: 

  • Students will be able to read given sections of passages and summarize them. 

  • Students will be able to communicate the main points of their given passages to their classmates. 

  • Students will be able to work collaboratively in groups to understand the key points of an entire text. 


Instructions: 

  1. Divide the class into groups of four students per group. Give every group in your class a different reading passage. For example, if the focus is on informational texts, give each group a different newspaper article. It helps to print the passages on different colored sheets of paper so they can differentiate later on.  

  2. Ask the students to separate their given passages into four equal sections and tear the paper accordingly. For example, if there are four paragraphs in the text, each student would have one paragraph for themselves. 

  3. Once every student has their own reading sections assigned, give them time to read through them and take notes. Explain, “After you read, it will be your responsibility to summarize the text to your group.” It is important to explain this in advance so students know they need to prepare. 

  4. When students have read their given sections of the text and are ready to share, give each group time to discuss the whole passage. One by one, students should share the main points of their assigned section with their group. Ultimately, every group should have a good understanding of the whole passage. 

  5. Ask students to walk around the classroom and find a student from another group. With their partner, who has read a different passage, students should discuss their texts. This gives students another opportunity to summarize their passages. 


Tips: 

  • This activity can be customized to meet your students’ levels and contexts. For example, if you teach young learners, you can follow similar steps but with four sequenced pictures. 

  • These communicative and collaborative reading activities take time and patience. Your students will most likely struggle the first time you try this activity. Do not worry! Keep the expectations clear and try it again. 

  • Guiding students to take notes while reading helps. Or, you can always provide a graphic organizer. 





 


Teacher: Mamura Iriskulova, Kazakhstan

Mamura has been an English teacher for ten years. She works at a secondary school in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. She was a participant in Fulbright’s TEA program in 2020.

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