Integrating Reading & Writing into English Forward Lessons

The English Forward curriculum in its current form is focused on giving students the opportunity to practice listening and speaking. We know, though, that listening and speaking are only half the battle—reading and writing are just as important for our students. So how can we integrate reading and writing into how we use English Forward?

You might remember that the Lesson Flow can be used twice to cover the same topic—once for speaking & listening and again for reading & writing. Depending on the role that you want reading & writing to play in your lesson, you have two good options.

1. You can create a separate lesson that follows the Lesson Flow, contains the same topics and vocabulary as an English Forward lesson, but focuses on reading and writing. For example, Lesson 7.1 Healthy Eating focuses on being able to talk about healthy/unhealthy foods and becoming familiar with www.MyPlate.gov. The lesson introduces students to vocabulary surrounding healthy/unhealthy foods, and uses a Healthy Mean Plan worksheet to get students to talk about their diets and meal plans. If we wanted to take this same topic and create a reading and writing lesson we would need an activity that emphasizes reading and writing more than what’s there currently. These activities could include: writing or following a recipe for a healthy meal, or creating and writing down a plan for eating healthy food. Depending on how much reading & writing is required, this might be more appropriate for higher level students.
2. You can integrate reading and writing into a current English Forward lesson as an extension, or where appropriate in the lesson. For example, in Lesson 7.1 Healthy Eating, Step 2 asks you to conduct a presentation about healthy and unhealthy foods and how they relate to your own habits and goals. A written version of the presentation could be provided to students so that they can read along with you as you go through the presentation. This written version could also be used as a tool when they go to create their own Healthy Mean Plan later in the lesson.

How do you integrate reading and writing into English Forward lessons for your students? Let us know in the comments below!