Pre-Reading Quiz

Pre-reading activities are critical in helping learners to get the most out of a text. When a learner’s prior knowledge is activated, his/her comprehension success is far greater. The pre-reading activity need not take as much time to result in better success with the text.

Preparation

Prepare 5–10 suitable statements (true or false) to use as predictions to the text topic.

Procedure

1. Distribute the statements either in a handout as below, project them on a wall, or write them on the board or a flip chart, etc. 2. Have students work alone (or in pairs or small groups) to give answers to the statements based on what they know about the topic. If this is done as pair or group work, let them discuss their answers and give justification as needed. 3. Have students read the text and check their answers to the statements as they read. They should be doing this activity during the reading.

When to Use It

• To promote prediction and schema setting • To get students practice in preparing to read

Level

Skills

Practice

Materials

Paper

Preparation Time

10 minutes

Activity Time

5 minutes for prediction + time for reading

Variations

1. Have learners/groups prepare statements on various readings suitable for true/false answers. Learners/groups swap their questions and readings. The readings could be different sources on one theme so it becomes an experience of comparing sources reporting on the same topic. 2. Intentionally use a fake news story to introduce the notion of reliable source for information to learners.

Example

T/F Prediction Response Statement about Text T/F Correct Answer