[NIFL-ESL:5391] Re: newspaper summaries

From: Heide Wrigley (hwrigley@aiweb.com)
Date: Mon Dec 18 2000 - 17:36:43 EST


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From: Heide Wrigley <hwrigley@aiweb.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-ESL:5391] Re: newspaper summaries
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Hi, I've not been able to follow the entire thread so if someone already
mentioned this, please forgive me. 
 
One way of building the background knowledge or "schema" that students need
to understand a story (and you can't summarize what you don't understand
obviously) is to use stories that are a couple of days old but are still
hot.  Students can be invited to watch the news the night before (in English
or in the native language if that option is available), and discuss what is
happening the next day (this works best for big stories that get a lot of
coverage; storms, natural disasters and extreme weather are always good).
Learners who have a hard time accessing the meaning of a news story and
summarizing the key points may need to get lots of opportunities to work
with items that have a highly familiar content so that they have brain
energy left to deal with the meaning-making tasks inherent in summarizing.  
 
In other words, if the content is new to students, the format of a news
story is new, the cognitive strategies used for summarizing are unfamiliar
to students, and they are struggling with English, we'll need to give them a
break on at least three of the five challenges. 
 
cheers 
'
Heide Spruck Wrigley 
 
 
 -----Original Message-----
From: BJTeach@aol.com [mailto:BJTeach@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2000 1:58 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [NIFL-ESL:5390] Re: newspaper summaries



One way to get ESL students to summarize news stories is to use the Internet

and find the newspaper in their native language..  Have them read it then 
write a short paragraph in English about what they have read.   

The native language work gives them the background knowledge they need to 
write summary.  It is difficult to summarize things of which you have no 
previous knowlege.   

The old training mantra for adults:  "work from what they know to what they 
don't know" 

Barb Sabaj 
District 214 Adult Education & Literacy 
bjteach@aol.com 


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<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face="Comic Sans MS"><SPAN class=210333522-18122000>Hi, 
I've not been able to follow the entire thread so if someone already mentioned 
this, please forgive me. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face="Comic Sans MS"><SPAN 
class=210333522-18122000></SPAN></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face="Comic Sans MS"><SPAN class=210333522-18122000>One 
way of building the background knowledge or "schema" that students need to 
understand a story (and you can't summarize what you don't understand obviously) 
is to use stories that are a couple of days old but are still hot.&nbsp; 
Students can be invited to watch the news the night before (in English or in the 
native language if that option is available), and discuss what is happening the 
next day (this works best for big stories that get a lot of coverage; storms, 
natural disasters and extreme weather are always good).&nbsp; Learners who have 
a hard time accessing the meaning of a news story and summarizing the key points 
may need to get lots of opportunities to work with items that have a highly 
familiar content so that they have brain energy left to deal with the 
meaning-making tasks inherent in summarizing.&nbsp; </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face="Comic Sans MS"><SPAN 
class=210333522-18122000></SPAN></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face="Comic Sans MS"><SPAN class=210333522-18122000>In 
other words, if the content is new to students, the format of a news story is 
new, the cognitive strategies used for summarizing are unfamiliar to students, 
and they are struggling with English, we'll need to give&nbsp;them a break on at 
least&nbsp;three&nbsp;of the five challenges.&nbsp;</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face="Comic Sans MS"><SPAN 
class=210333522-18122000></SPAN></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face="Comic Sans MS"><SPAN 
class=210333522-18122000>cheers&nbsp;</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face="Comic Sans MS"><SPAN 
class=210333522-18122000>'</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff face="Comic Sans MS"><SPAN 
class=210333522-18122000>Heide Spruck Wrigley&nbsp;</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN 
class=210333522-18122000></SPAN></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN 
class=210333522-18122000></SPAN></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><SPAN 
class=210333522-18122000>&nbsp;</SPAN>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> 
BJTeach@aol.com [mailto:BJTeach@aol.com]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, December 18, 
2000 1:58 PM<BR><B>To:</B> Multiple recipients of list<BR><B>Subject:</B> 
[NIFL-ESL:5390] Re: newspaper summaries<BR><BR></DIV></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2>One way to get ESL 
  students to summarize news stories is to use the Internet <BR>and find the 
  newspaper in their native language.. &nbsp;Have them read it then <BR>write a 
  short paragraph in English about what they have read. &nbsp; <BR><BR>The 
  native language work gives them the background knowledge they need to 
  <BR>write summary. &nbsp;It is difficult to summarize things of which you have 
  no <BR>previous knowlege. &nbsp; <BR><BR>The old training mantra for adults: 
  &nbsp;"work from what they know to what they <BR>don't know" <BR><BR>Barb 
  Sabaj <BR>District 214 Adult Education &amp; Literacy 
  <BR>bjteach@aol.com</FONT> </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>

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