When it comes to exploiting texts for language teaching, the choice of text matters. Different types of texts suit different purposes.
Some types of text often seen in language teaching classrooms:
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Texts for reading comprehension tend to contain more receptive structures and vocabulary that are more challenging for students. The aim is to "test" students' ability to answer questions related to a text. Typically students are required to use strategies such as skimming (reading for gist) and scanning (looking for specific info), and they are not generally required to fully understand the text or to engage with the language content beyond what is required to answer the questions. Many texts found in textbooks -- especially at lower levels -- fall into this category, I guess because they are the sorts of texts they will encounter in MFL exams.
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Texts for extensive reading are usually much longer than comprehension texts (as the name implies) and usually contain language which is highly comprehensible (>95%?). Students read for general interest and enjoyment. TPRS novels / Graded readers -- provided they are at the correct level for the student -- fall into this category.
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Texts as a springboard for follow up work of some kind, such as project work, discussion, etc. Although they may be used as a springboard for more productive work, these tend to be informative texts where the aim is for students to gather information about a particular topic so that they can then move on to the follow up task. These texts are more commonly used at higher levels of proficiency.
- Model texts with a production focus are generally texts containing language most of which we would like to find its way into students' (productive) linguistic repertoire, language that students can internalise and use or adapt to create their own spoken or written "output". This category includes, for example, the "parallel texts" used by those who use a "parallel text knowledge organiser" approach, where core vocab and structures are exemplified via a model L2 text broken down into sections and translated into the L1 so that students can see how different parts of the L1 and L2 texts relate to each other.
This blog post focuses on category 4 above - Model texts with a production focus - and on the sorts of things that teachers can do using TextActivities to exploit this sort of text to the max, providing their students with TONS of different ways of practising the core vocab and structures contained within the text, and helping to embed these core structures and vocab items into their students' productive linguistic repertoire.
Below is an example of the sort of text I have in mind. It is the text that is used as the basis for all of the many examples used in this blog post, almost all of which are automatically generated based on your text:
Je me suis levé à sept heures et je me suis douché dans la salle de bains. J'ai pris le petit déjeuner dans la cuisine, et puis je me suis brossé les dents. J'ai quitté la maison à huit heures pour aller au collège. J'ai pris le bus, et je suis arrivé au collège à neuf heures moins le quart. J'ai pris le déjeuner à la cantine à une heure. J'ai quitté le collège à trois heures et demie et je suis rentré en bus. Je suis arrivé chez moi vers quatre heures. J'ai regardé un peu la télé, puis j'ai pris le dîner à six heures. Après le dîner, j'ai fait mes devoirs, j'ai lu un peu et j'ai écouté la radio. Puis, à dix heures, je me suis lavé et je me suis couché.
The text deals with the perfect tense in French in the 1st person. It includes vocab and structures that we would like our students to be able to use, not just understand.
Every screen image and sample link in this ve-e-e-ery long blog post is based on a single TextActivities resource, featuring the above text.
In the image below, you can see this text in "Resource View" on TextActivities, along with a translation into English (the yellow box), an audio control so that students can listen to the text spoken by text-to-speech, and matching French / English vocab items taken from the text, again with audio to listen to the French vocab items spoken by TTS.
The main French text also contains clickable elements (in blue) which represent all of the vocab items listed below the text. These are clickable, so that students can click to see the English translation of each item:
>> Click here to access the Resource View for this sample French resource on TextActivities
INFO RE. LINKS IN THIS BLOG POST...
Note that all of the links on this page are based on a French sample resource. Note that you can access all of them via the "Resource View" link above, simply by clicking on the "Activity View" tab and opening the activity menu.
Note also that where the blog post features links to 3 different versions of an activity, you can access these versions via the site itself.
For example, to restart an activity with or without TTS audio (where available), you can simply click on the arrow to the right of the Restart button and choose from the options presented (see pic below).
And this button (shown here as green = parallel text showing) is where you can easily turn on or off the parallel English text:
INFO RE. THE RESOURCE & ACTIVITIES
As we have seen from the "Resource View" image above, the 3 main components of the resource that we are going to focus on in this post are:
- A model French text
- An English translation of the French text
- A list of matching items (English / French) using words and chunks from the text
All of this data can be input into the "New resource" page on TextActivities in a matter of minutes and saved as a resource that can be accessed by everybody, by just members of your subscription, or by you only. (The resource can be used as the basis for assignments and competitions in your TextActivities classes even if it is saved as private.)
Nearly all of the activities featured in this blog post are automatically generated based on the above 3 components!
Let's start by looking at the activities based on the text itself...
A. ACTIVITIES BASED ON THE TEXT ITSELF
This section looks at getting students interacting with the model text, by rebuilding it in blocks, filling in gaps, reordering words, separating words or typing in missing letters.
Since our resource contains a parallel English text, most of the examples here are going to show this parallel text being used to support students.
The parallel English text makes it clear to students what the French text "means", and it guides them in completing the activity by providing a structure for the text reconstruction, so students don't have to (a) make guesses or rely too heavily on context within the text in order to build the text if seeing it for the first time, or (b) remember what the original text structure was if they have already seen it before.
The parallel text essentially changes the activities from pure text-reconstruction activities to scaffolded translation activities.
BLOCKS
The "Blocks" section of the TEXT activity menu involves rebuilding the text in blocks of text.
Multi-choice translation
Available in multiple formats (3, 4 or 6 options per section). The image above shows 4 options. Students click one option each time to add to the text, and they continue until the text is completed.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
Jigsaw Translation
Available in multiple formats (6, 8, 12, 18 or 24 tiles). The image shows 12 tiles. Students click on the tiles in the correct order to rebuild the text.
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
Million Translation
Students choose 1 of the 4 options each time to rebuild the text. If they make a mistake, the game is over!
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
Speedread
A good test for when students are more familiar with the text, rebuilding it against the clock. How far can they get before all 3 lives are lost?
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
This time I've shown the activity without the parallel text, because there isn't really enough time for students to read this anyway. Speedread is not available with TTS audio, as the whole point oif the activity is text reconstruction against the clock.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above
WORDS
The "Words" section of the TEXT activity menu includes activities such as gap-fill, jumbled words, word separation (i.e. "Break the flow"), and text rebuild based on single words.
Word By Word
Available in 3 versions (1, 2 or 3 words at a time). Students rebuild the text by choosing each time from 6 options presented to them.
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
Gap-fill (random)
A gap-fill activity where a random selection of words are gapped each time the activity is started. Available with 6 to 26 gaps. Students click on the word in the word list which corresponds to the gap that is currently highlighted (the blue box). Students can click on any of the gaps to highlight a different word.
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
Gap-fill (user-defined)
Similar to the random gap-fill, but based on the gaps as specified by the teacher when they created the resource. Can include multiple word gaps. You can also include "red herrings" (i.e. words which don't fit in any of the gaps). The maximum number of words or chunks that can show in the word list is 26, so if you have 6 red herrings, for example, only 20 gaps will appear in the text. And if you have specified more than those 20 gaps, the 20 will be selected at random from the gaps you have specified.
This activity is NOT automatically generated based on your text, since you need to specify which words are to be gapped.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
Find the gap
For each section, students first decide where the gap is / where a word is missing. Then they click the word from the 4 options provided to fill that gap.
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation).
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
Space ("Separate the flow") *
Students click into the block of text at all points where there should be a space, some punctuation, or both. (Spaces and punctuation are added if the click is correct). Can be played with 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or all of the spaces affected.
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
Jumbled words *
For each section of the text, students click the words in the correct order to rebuild the section.
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
LETTERS
The "Letters" section of the TEXT activity menu essentially deals with spelling activities, with varying degrees of support or scaffold provided.
No vowels *
Available with 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or all of the words in the text affected. All vowels have been removed. Students use the letter buttons (or their keyboard) to fill in the missing letters.
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
No consonants *
Available with 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or all of the words in the text affected. All consonants have been removed. Students use their keyboard to fill in the missing letters.
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
50:50 *
Available with 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or all of the words in the text affected. 50% of the letters have been removed. Students use their keyboard to fill in the missing letters.
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
Initials *
Available with 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or all of the words in the text affected. All except the initial letters of each word have been removed. Students use their keyboard to fill in the missing letters.
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
Word shapes *
Available with 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or all of the words in the text affected. All letters of each of the affected words have been removed. Students use their keyboard to fill in the missing letters.
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
Anagrams *
Available with 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or all of the words in the text affected. All letters of each of the affected words have been removed, and the letters of that word are shown as letter buttons, which students must click in the correct order to rebuild the word.
This activity is automatically generated based on your text.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above (i.e. translation)
>> Click here for a version with audio instead (i.e. dictation)
>> Click here for a version which includes parallel text and audio (i.e. dictation / translation combined)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
* Activity interchangeability :)
When accessed via the resource or competition page, all of the above activities marked with an * on this page -- i.e. the 8 activities directly above this section -- can be switched on a per-section basis. So you can switch to a more or less challenging activity mid-text when working front of class :)
GAMES
The "Games" section of the TEXT activity menu includes games which are also listed in the blocks, words and letters sections. We've already seen a couple of these in previous sections (Million, Speedread). The others are ones that I wouldn't usually recommend using along with a parallel text, because they have time constraints, making it difficult for students to look between the game and the text, so I'll list them here briefly just for the sake of completeness. They are more intended as fun games that students will enjoy, but since they do get students engaging with the words and spelling of the core structures and vocab of the text, they are still good practice for helping students develop their productive skills. Note that TTS audio is not available for these activities.
Football (random / user-defined)
Football is a game which can be played individually (against the computer), or as a game for 2 players or teams. It is available in 2 versions, along similar lines to the gap-fills mentioned earlier in this post: 1 where gaps are totally random, and 1 where they are based on the gaps as defined by the teacher when they set up their resource.
The random activity is generated automatically based on your text, whereas the user-defined one is only available if you have defined gaps for a a user-defined gap-fill.
>> Click here to access the random version
>> Click here for the user-defined version
3 in a row (random / user-defined)
3 in a row is a game which can be played individually (against the computer), or as a game for 2 players or teams. It is available in 2 versions, along similar lines to the gap-fills mentioned earlier in this post: 1 where gaps are totally random, and 1 where they are based on the gaps as defined by the teacher when they set up their resource.
The random activity is generated automatically based on your text, whereas the user-defined one is only available if you have defined gaps for a a user-defined gap-fill.
>> Click here to access the random version
>> Click here for the user-defined version
Word invaders
In this game, a section of the L2 text is presented but with 5 consecutive words missing. These words appear jumbled up below. Students need to click the words in the correct order to shoot down all of the invaders (the purple squares). They have 3 lives, represented by the coloured bars. If an "invader" reaches a coloured bar, a life is lost!
>> Click here to access this game
Letter invaders
In this game, a section of the L2 text is presented but with 10 consecutive letters missing. These letters appear jumbled up below. Students need to click the letters in the correct order to shoot down all of the invaders (the purple squares). They have 3 lives, represented by the coloured bars. If an "invader" reaches a coloured bar, a life is lost!
>> Click here to access this game
Snake
In this game, a section of the L2 text is presented but with 10 consecutive letters missing. These letters appear in snake form in the letter grid. Students have to click on the first letter and drag through the remaining letters to fill the letter gaps in the text section. This is a 3-minute timed game.
>> Click here to access this game
B. PARALLEL TEXT VOCAB ACTIVITIES = FIND THE FRENCH
The sample resource featured in this blog post has been set up so that the main French text containing all of the core structures and vocab (i.e. the one used above for all of the text activities) will appear as the parallel text for the VOCAB / MATCHING activities. (This is an option on the resource creation page requiring a single click on a checkbox.)
This allows you to provide students with what are essentially "Find the French" activities, where students are given a prompt and have to either match with or complete the correct French item, with the original French text available as support and to assist with spelling if required.
N.B.: For this blog post, I am only going to list those VOCAB / MATCHING activities which fit the "Find the French" brief. I mention this so that readers are aware that there are many other games and activities available, which you can explore by following any of the links on this page and then opening and browsing the VOCAB / MATCHING activity menu.
Multi-match
Available in multiple formats (1 in 3, 1 in 6, 1 in 12). The image shows 1 in 6, i.e. students are presented with 6 options to choose from. Here the location of the various French chunks within the parallel text may be helpful in helping students decide the correct match.
This activity is automatically generated based on your matching items.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above. i.e. English prompt, Find the French.
>> Click here for a version with a French audio prompt instead. i.e. dictation: match the spoken and written forms
>> Click here for another version combining an English text prompt with a French audio prompt (i.e. dictation / translation combined; reinforces meaning as well as practising the sound / spelling links)
In the 2nd and 3rd of the links above, the parallel text isn't really required to solve the puzzle / answer the question, so it is perhaps a little redundant. However I have included it in these links because it may be interesting for students to be able to see the vocab items in context. For these 2 TTS-enabled links, the TTS audio also plays automatically, so you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads.
Match Jumble
For each item, students click on the words in the correct order. They can refer to the parallel text to help them reorder the words.
This activity is automatically generated based on your matching items.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above. i.e. English prompt, Find the French.
>> Click here for a version with a French audio prompt instead. i.e. dictation: match the spoken and written forms
>> Click here for another version combining an English text prompt with a French audio prompt (i.e. dictation / translation combined; reinforces meaning as well as practising the sound / spelling links)
In the 2nd and 3rd of the links above, the parallel text isn't really required to solve the puzzle / answer the question, so it is perhaps a little redundant. But it does help. And it may be interesting for students to be able to see the vocab items in context. For these 2 TTS-enabled links, the TTS audio also plays automatically, so you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads.
Match - No vowels
Students use the letter buttons / their keyboard to fill in the missing vowels in the French. They can refer to the parallel text to help them with the spelling.
This activity is automatically generated based on your matching items.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above. i.e. English prompt, Find the French.
>> Click here for a version with a French audio prompt instead. i.e. dictation: match the spoken and written forms
>> Click here for another version combining an English text prompt with a French audio prompt (i.e. dictation / translation combined; reinforces meaning as well as practising the sound / spelling links)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
Match - No consonants
Students use their keyboard to fill in the missing consonants in the French. They can refer to the parallel text to help them with the spelling.
This activity is automatically generated based on your matching items.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above. i.e. English prompt, Find the French.
>> Click here for a version with a French audio prompt instead. i.e. dictation: match the spoken and written forms
>> Click here for another version combining an English text prompt with a French audio prompt (i.e. dictation / translation combined; reinforces meaning as well as practising the sound / spelling links)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
Match - 50:50
Half of the letters in the French have been removed. Students use their keyboard to fill in the missing letters. They can refer to the parallel text to help them with the spelling.
This activity is automatically generated based on your matching items.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above. i.e. English prompt, Find the French.
>> Click here for a version with a French audio prompt instead. i.e. dictation: match the spoken and written forms
>> Click here for another version combining an English text prompt with a French audio prompt (i.e. dictation / translation combined; reinforces meaning as well as practising the sound / spelling links)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
Match - Initials
All but the initial letters of each word in the French have been removed. Students use their keyboard to fill in the missing letters. They can refer to the parallel text to help them with the spelling.
This activity is automatically generated based on your matching items.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above. i.e. English prompt, Find the French.
>> Click here for a version with a French audio prompt instead. i.e. dictation: match the spoken and written forms
>> Click here for another version combining an English text prompt with a French audio prompt (i.e. dictation / translation combined; reinforces meaning as well as practising the sound / spelling links)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
Match - Word shapes
All of the letters have been removed from the French, leaving just the word shapes. Students use their keyboard to fill in the missing letters. They can refer to the parallel text to help them with the spelling.
This activity is automatically generated based on your matching items.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above. i.e. English prompt, Find the French.
>> Click here for a version with a French audio prompt instead. i.e. dictation: match the spoken and written forms
>> Click here for another version combining an English text prompt with a French audio prompt (i.e. dictation / translation combined; reinforces meaning as well as practising the sound / spelling links)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
Match - Anagrams
All letters have been removed from the French item. The letters of each selected word appear jumbled up below. Students have to click these letters in the correct order to rebuild each word. They can refer to the parallel text to help them with the spelling.
This activity is automatically generated based on your matching items.
>> Click here to access the activity shown above. i.e. English prompt, Find the French.
>> Click here for a version with a French audio prompt instead. i.e. dictation: match the spoken and written forms
>> Click here for another version combining an English text prompt with a French audio prompt (i.e. dictation / translation combined; reinforces meaning as well as practising the sound / spelling links)
(N.B. For the 2 TTS-enabled links above (the 2nd and 3rd ones), the TTS audio plays automatically. So you may need to "Allow" this when the page loads)
ASSIGNMENTS?
All of the activities shown in this post, including the various different configurations to do with the parallel text, TTS audio, etc, can be set as assignment activities for students to complete in class or at home.
See this separate blog post on "Assignments on TextActivities"
As you can see, the TextActivities platform offers all sorts of activities and activity configurations based on
- an L2 text (production-focused, ideally)
- an L1 translation of that text
- vocab items from the text
And these can be delivered
- front of class
- as free practice via a resource
- as informal but focused practice via a competition
- as more formal assignments
- as class or homework
- as worksheets (print options are available too!)
:o)
VIDEO BONUS!
1. The TextActivies Resource page
A video intro to the resource page on TextActivities, looking at what all of the buttons do, the resource view and activity view tabs, the activity menu, the worksheet menu, plus a whistle stop tour of the various interactive activities.
The resource featured is a Spanish resource (the one created in number 2 below!) and has a total running time of approximately 30 minutes:
2. Creating a TextActivities Resource
How to create a new TextActivities resource. The resource includes (1) a text in Spanish, (2) matching vocab items, (3) a translation of the Spanish text into English.
The video also demonstrates how you can use ChatGPT to generate short texts of this type, along with the translation and matching vocab items.
In the video I use an image of a SentenceBuilder from SentenceBuilders.com, but you could also achieve a similar result by providing ChatGPT with a list of items to include (either exported using the teacher tools on SentenceBuilders, or from anywhere else where you have vocab items that you are working with).
The resource created is explored in more detail in video 1 above. The video has a total running time of approximately 8 minutes: