English 131: Academic Reading and Writing: Instructors’ Guide
Prepared by Ann M. Johns, PhD, Fulbright Senior Specialist
University of Limpopo, May/June, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Current research on reading and writing pedagogies
Goals for the curriculum
How to Use These Lessons
Lesson content
Suggested lesson structure
Formative and summative assessment
Lesson 1: Proud to be South African
Reading: “Proud to be South African” from the Mail&Guardianonline.
Objectives
Pre-reading: Completing a short a questionnaire
Silent reading: Scanning to answer questions
Group reading: Identifying methodology and results
Grammar activities: Using verbs in past and present tenses
Vocabulary activities: Finding words for discussing research
Writing activity: Writing a research summary
Reflecting upon learning
Lesson 2: A Role Model
Reading: “A Role Model” from the Engl131 Continuous Assessment Workbook. Original source: Sunday Times
Magazine, April 16, 2000.
Objectives
Pre-reading: Identifying role models in our lives
Silent reading: Scanning the text for specific information
Group reading: Focusing on important details
Grammar activities: Finding, using, and punctuating compound sentences
Creative activity: Giving compound sentences a beat
Vocabulary activity: Using colloquial and academic registers
Pronouncing academic words
Writing activity: Writing a personal essay about your role model
Reflecting: Thinking about yourself as a future role model
Lesson 3: Environmental Protection in South Africa
Reading: “A Victory for Environmental Protection” Mail&Guardianonline
Objectives
Pre-reading/prior knowledge: Making lists
Silent reading: Scanning for main ideas
Group reading: Preparing oral reports from the reading
Creative activity: Creating art
Grammar activity: Using the past perfect and the past
Vocabulary activity: Finding interesting verbs
Acting out the verbs
Writing activity: Preparing a memo
Criteria for scoring
Reflecting: Comparing a memo with other genres
Lesson 4: Using Technology for Education
Reading: “Getting Into the Maths Mix” Mail&Guardianonline
Objectives
Pre-reading: Drawing from prior knowledge about technologies
Silent reading: Reading to paraphrase
Group reading: Listing problems and solutions
Grammar activity: Using the active and passive voice
Vocabulary activity: Defining and using new words from context
Creative/oral activity: Making a song or poem
Writing activity: Preparing a problem/solution summary
Reflecting upon learning
Lesson 5: Problems in South Africa
Reading: “Feeding the Needy” Mail&Guardianonline
Objectives
Pre-reading: Naming problems facing South Africa
Silent reading: Scanning for specific information
Group reading: Identifying the problem/solution structure of the text
Grammar activities: Becoming writer responsible
Vocabulary activities: Finding action verbs
Creative activity: Acting out action verbs
Writing (and speaking) activities: Preparing a newscast; writing a news
article---problem/solution structure
Reflecting: Learning about South Africa’s problems
Lesson 6: Song---and Odd Behavior
Reading: Adapted from The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sachs
Objectives
Pre-reading: Thinking about songs
Silent reading: Relating the text to life experience
Group reading: Paraphrasing parts of the text
Grammar activities: Finding and using adverbs
Creative activity: Acting out adverbs
Vocabulary activity: Finding synonyms
Writing activity: Writing a cause/effect paragraph (guided)
Reflecting: Remembering a favorite song
Lesson 7: Africa’s Musical Roots
Reading: Adapted from McBride, James (April, 2007). “Hip-hop Planet,”
National Geographic, pp. 100-119.
Objectives
Pre-reading: Identifying musical genres/roll call
Silent reading: Listing important points in the reading
Group reading: Rereading the text
Grammar activity: Finding phrasal verbs
Creative activity: Acting out phrasal verbs or creating a poem
Using phrasal verbs
Vocabulary activity: Talking about language registers
Defining and pronouncing academic words
Writing activity: Using sources to make a comparison
Criteria for scoring
Reflecting on learning: Using sources
Lesson 8: Traditions and Mixtures
Readings: Adapted from Laurie Levine’s Drum Café’s Traditional Music of South
Africa. Johannesburg, SA, 2005.
Quotes from Chris Abani’s Graceland. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
(Picador), 2004.
Objectives
Pre-reading/prior knowledge activity: Identifying and listing ritual practices
Silent reading: Scanning for important information
Group reading: Comparing information from the reading with cultural
experiences
Grammar activity: Identifying and using –ing words
Using commas after introductory phrases and clauses
Vocabulary activity: Understanding citation language
Writing activity: Preparing a comparison/contrast essay (using sources)
Reflecting: Upon cultures and traditi
Lesson 9: Our Complex Brains
Reading: “A Brain Divided,” adapted from a biology textbook
Objectives
Pre-reading: Thinking about your brain. [Completing a
KWL1 chart]
Silent reading: Identifying the major parts of a text
Group reading: Charting the text2
Grammar activity: Examining one use of the present
Vocabulary activity: Changing parts of speech
Writing activity: Preparing a brief report on an experiment
Reflecting on what was learned: Completing the KWL chart
Lesson 10: AIDS in South Africa
Reading: Adapted from Deborah Posel’s “Life and Death in a Time of AIDS,”
WISER, a publication of the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, 2004
Objectives
Pre-reading: Completing a KWL chart
Silent reading: Finding details about the history of AIDS
Group reading: Examining the text for constraints on progress
Grammar activities: Identifying and using textual metadiscourse
Vocabulary activities: Finding and using long academic words
Pronunciation practice
Writing activity: Updating information from the reading
Reflecting: Critique of the reading or comments on personal experience
Other short readings on AIDs
Lesson 11: Education, Student Consciousness, and the Future of Democracy
Reading: Adapted from Jonathan Jansen’s “The role of education in the struggle for, and consolidation of,
democracy. In Andries Walter Oliphant, Peter Delium, and Lalou Meltzer (eds.). Democarcy: Marking the
present/re-presenting the past. Pretoria: University of South Africa Press, 2004.
Objectives
Pre-reading: Drawing from prior knowledge about the ‘Soweto Riots’
Silent reading: Learning about the writer of the text
Group reading: Outlining the argument and evidence in the text
Grammar/mechanics activity: Using the semi-colon
Vocabulary activity: Working with a central concept
Writing activities: Preparing a rhetorical précis of the author’s argument or
responding to the author in a letter
Reflecting on education and democracy
Lesson 12: Ready for 2010?
Readings: “South Africa’s 2010 Cup Challenge,” BBC News, 2006/07/07.
“South African Football: The Long road to the World Stage,” Go2Africa (Home)
“South Africa ‘will be ready’ for the 2010 Cup” by Edwin Naidu, The Sunday Independent, 25/06/2006.