O’zbekiston respublikasi oliy ta’lim, fan va innovatsiyalar vazirligi andijon davlat chet tillari instituti ingliz tili o’qitishning integrallashgan kursi kafedrasi chet tillarni o’qitishning integrallashgan kursi

Activity 1 Adapting a text
Objective: to help participants explore various ways of adapting a text
Time: 25 min
Materials: handout 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d
Procedure:

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  J(5 min)Ask participants the following question:
  

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  How can you adapt a text if you feel that it is too long, boring, and difficult? E.g. this text from Arakin. (show the text on page 71 from the coursebook for the third- year students by Arakin.)
  

Possible answers: If it is long, divide the text into several parts. If it is difficult, prepare some language exercises etc. If it is boring, add pre, while, post reading activities, supplement with appropriate pictures.

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  Establish that adaptation of a textcan be of two types: easification and simplification. When a teacher makes the language of the text simpler e.g. paraphrasing, getting rid of difficult vocabulary, shortening the difficult passages, it is called simplification.This is difficult to do well, even for native-speakers and is not recommended as the authenticity of the English language can be lost. Easification is a process in which a teacher uses certain means to make it easier for the students to understand the text.
  

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  Say that participants will explore 4 techniques for easifying a text.
  

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   Divide participants into 4 groups and distribute
  

handout 1a to group 1
handout 1b to group 2
handout 1c to group 3
handout 1d to group 4

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   (15 min)Ask groups to do the tasks on their handouts.
  

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   (5 min)Write the following questions on the board / flipchart and ask groups to discuss these questions:
  

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  What did the teacher do with the text?
  
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  How was it helpful for learners?
  

Possible answers: The teacher adapted the text using four various techniques. It was easy for learners to read the text as learners did not waste their time looking up every word they didn’t know in the dictionary (handout 1a), questions in handout 1b made learners think about important things in the story and understand what was happening in the story. It was easy for learners to do the pre reading activity as it prepared them for reading, gave an idea what the text is about, and raised their interest in the story. The while reading activity made learners read and complete the task by paying attention to specific details in the story. Post reading tasks invited learners’ imagination because they asked them to write a letter in the name of the teacher and the pupil. these post reading activities helped learners to develop critical thinking skills (handout 1c). It was easy for learners to read the story as it is divided into small parts with accompanying tasks that encourage learners into further reading (handout 1d).

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  Ask groups to share their ideas with the whole group.
  

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  Establish that some texts are not easy to read for students and in order to make them more accessible for students teachers need to find ways to ‘easify’ them as in the example they have just experienced.