• Sequence Reconstruction:

Enhance students' comprehension by having them reorganise paragraphs based on the text's complexity. A great source for this activity is the transcript of a listening exercise where the paragraphs have been scrambled. You can adjust the difficulty using a tool like Diffit to suit your students' level, and then use a text-to-speech tool to create the corresponding audio. This approach combines reading and listening skills, reinforcing understanding in a multi-sensory way.

•Reading for Speaking: Dictogloss Technique

Dictogloss is a powerful strategy that nurtures both collaborative learning and reading comprehension. In this approach, create two texts on the same subject but with varied details: Text A and Text B. Students read and summarise their assigned text, then explain it to their partner. The partner, in turn, summarises what they heard and relays the key points from their own text. This method not only enhances understanding but also builds teamwork and communication skills.

If you want to enhance memory, get student B to repeat what student A has summarised and vice versa.

• Listening for Speaking: Dictogloss Adaptation

Dictogloss is a versatile strategy that can be adapted to various learning activities. For instance, it can be used as a listening comprehension activity. In this adaptation, students listen to two distinct texts and then summarise them for their peers. This variation focuses on listening comprehension while still fostering collaborative learning and discussion. The adaptability of Dictogloss empowers educators to use it in different contexts to enhance students' comprehension and language skills.

• Bingo Reading:

Create a fun and engaging reading session by turning it into a bingo game. Prepare multiple texts and post them around the classroom. Each student receives a bingo card (you can use this website: https://myfreebingocards.com/bingo-card-generator) with comprehension questions related to the texts. As they move around reading the texts, they answer the questions on their card. The first student to complete their card shouts, "Bingo!" This activity encourages active reading and adds a playful competitive element.

• Bingo Listening:

Based on bingo reading, you prepare a text and comprehension questions. Then, you provide the students with bingo cards (https://myfreebingocards.com/bingo-card-generator) containing the answers to the questions (depending on the level, you might want to make the activity more challenging by selecting different words that avoid repeating the question). You can create bing cards with 6 squares and a total of 10/12 questions.

Then, you play the audio twice or three times.

You give students time to compare their answers; finally, you show the questions and the answers.

If you have time, you can give students the script and they correct their answers. In this way they will engage in reading as well as listening.  

• Reading Backwards:

Flip the traditional reading exercise by having students generate their own questions about the text. These can be about content, grammar, or vocabulary. By creating questions, students engage more deeply with the material, ensuring a better grasp of the nuances in the text. This method encourages critical thinking and creatively reinforces language skills.

• Reading relay: I adapted this activity from the book 100 Teaching Ideas. Prepare a text relevant to the topic you are studying. Print several copies and stick them on the wall. You also need to prepare questions for the text, ideally one for each paragraph. Questions might be in L1 or L2. Put students into groups of 3 or 4 and give them numbers. Student n1 goes to the text and tries to memorise as much as possible in 1 minute. Students 2, 3, and 4 read the questions and highlight the key elements they need to look for. When the minute is over, student 1 comes back and reports what he has read, and the other students answer the questions. This is in turn until they answer all the questions. You can put a timer when students need to change roles.

Main goal: ‘trick’ the students into reading what is basically the same text over and over again whilst making them read six. In this sense, they are possibly one of the most effective recycling tools ever, allowing L2 teachers to expose their learners to the core items in their syllabi many times over throughout the duration of the academic year. 

• Spot the differences

This reading involves using 3 to 6 short texts (about 100 words each or longer according to the level) that are nearly identical, except for a few key details. The activity challenges students to identify the differences between the texts. The differences might be in terms of vocabulary or grammar patterns. This can be turned into a competitive game with time limits, encouraging students to spot the differences quickly and accurately.

• Bad translation

It is a Narrow Reading technique in which students are given three or four similar texts along with their translations. The teacher intentionally includes four or five mistakes in the translations, focusing on specific vocabulary or structures. Students must find these errors, which encourages them to process the target language carefully and learn vocabulary incidentally.

• jigsaw translation 

Students are given the text in L2 and the translation in L1 under the form of a jigsaw they need to reorder. 

• Summaries

In this activity, students receive 3 to 6 texts on the same topic, which are similar but not identical. Each text is summarized in 40-50 words in the students' L1 or L2. The student's task is to match each summary to the correct text. To increase difficulty, you can include one or two extra summaries as distractors.

• Pictures

Choose an image related to the topic or grammar structures you want to practice. Then, create three or more narrow reading texts that describe the picture in detail. Only one text should be 100% accurate, while the others contain one or two incorrect details. Students must identify the text that perfectly matches the image. This activity enhances vocabulary and reading skills and can also help MFL GCSE students prepare for the oral photocard task by modeling useful language and approaches.