Running head: READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 1

Reading and Writing Thematic Unit

Sarah van Nostrand

Yuanyuan Sun

Hanan Alqarni

Colorado State University

READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 2

Course Description

The title of this course is Reading and Writing for Academic English. This is the most

advanced level reading and writing course that the language program, and it is the last course the

students need to complete before they can begin applying to a college or university here in the

United States. The focus of this course is to understand authentic and complex texts, enhance

reading skills and strategies, and develop and enhance academic writing skills in English. The

main goals are reflective of the title of the course and are two-fold: improve reading fluency and

comprehension, and improving academic writing skills. The objectives for this course vary,

depending on the lesson and unit. However, everyday objectives include promoting the

development of new reading strategies to read with greater fluency and comprehension, as well

as learning new writing strategies for academic study through independent and group work.

There are 15 students in this ESL course, ranging in age from 18 to 25. There are seven

females and eight males, all of whom are currently enrolled in ESL courses with the hope of

applying to either undergraduate or graduate study in the United States. Eleven students are

native Arabic speakers (from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) and four are native Chinese speakers.

For the unit that will be elaborated on in this report, titled College Life, daily objectives

will include developing specific strategies to help students be successful in college, such as

targeting and reading key words in a passage to predict the content, developing outlines for

writing argumentative essays, and understanding how to properly cite work. In addition, students

will each be given the same writing and reflection journal with blank, lined paper to be used both

for in-class activities as well as homework assignments.

This reading and writing course takes place for 60 minutes, four days a week, and runs

for 15 consecutive weeks. The course is broken down into five thematic units, each lasting
READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 3

approximately three weeks. All thematic units incorporate lessons conducive to the goals of the

course. However, activities and materials will change depending on the topic of each thematic

unit. The thematic unit, as mentioned above, is the last unit of the semester, titled College Life. In

this thematic unit, students are exploring some of the academic and social features of college life

through various activities that target reading comprehension and fluency, as well as academic

writing skills and strategies such as argumentative writing.

The theoretical foundations that motivate the classroom instruction in reading and writing

revolve around the four strands of a language course: meaning-focused input, meaning-focused

output, language-focused learning, and fluency development (Nation & Macalister, 2009).

Ideally, all language lessons incorporate an equal amount of each strand. For example, intensive

reading falls under the language-focused learning strand, extensive reading falls within the

meaning-focused input strand, and essay assignments and other written activities fall within the

mean-focused output strand.

This course is based around the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach.

Although this is an advanced reading and writing course, it is still primarily student-focused. As

this is an advanced course, students are expected to be engaged in active reading and writing

during much of the class. This includes student-to-student interaction. Basing much of the course

principles around communicative competence, as described by Larsen-Freeman and Anderson

(2011), students should be able to apply what they learn inside the classroom out in the real

world, or in this case, at a college or university. With CLT, the teacher must take on the role of

the facilitator to promote this student-to-student interaction. The teacher should keep classroom

lectures as brief and minimal as possible and be tolerant of fluency-based errors, since errors are

seen as a natural part of language development.

READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 4

Under the umbrella of CLT, Content Based Instruction (CBI) is also implemented. CBI

fits within the framework of CLT and the course as a whole because it integrates language

learning with content learning, and often includes academic subject matter, (Larson-Freeman,

2011). Through this approach, students are learning language through exploring different topics.

In the case of this thematic unit, students are learning language through the study of college life.

This communicatively-focused reading and writing course should be based around authentic

texts, writing prompts, and individual and group reading activities, which is another reason CLT

and CBI are used together. Since the focus of the course is on real language use, a variety of

linguistic forms are presented together. The emphasis is on the process of communication rather

than just mastery of language forms, (Larson-Freeman & Anderson, 2011).

The focus of assessments in this unit will be formative. The purpose of which will be to

collect information for remediation and determine where students need assistance. This will be in

the form of written activities collected during class, and a graded vocabulary quiz that will take

place at the end of the unit, in Lesson 4. Through written feedback from students as well as a

graded quiz, the teacher can begin to reshape lesson plans based on remediation strategies.

References

Larsen-Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (2011). Techniques and principles in language teaching

(3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Nation, I. S. P., & Macalister, J. (2009). Language curriculum design. Routledge.

READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 5

Scope and Sequence

Content Reading Skills Writing Skills Learning Outcomes

Lesson -College -making predictions -practice writing new -increased oral

1: Life through topic- vocabulary reading speed
- Work-life related vocabulary -practice using -strengthened
Balance -finding connections keywords and phrases reading
text between vocabulary to help express comprehension skills
-list of new -practice reading opinion -begin developing
vocabulary more quickly opinion writing
-topic- through 4-3-2 strategies
related activity
vocabulary
-expressing
opinion

Lesson -College -practice reading -practice writing an -Understanding

2: Life fluency through outline of an cohesion of
-Argument speed reading argumentative essay argumentative essays
essay exercises -practice brainstorm -Increase students
sample -intensive reading writing silent reading speed
-strategies on test structures -Express agreement
of summary and genre features and disagreement in
by deletion -reading strategies writing
-agreeing to analyze
and arguments
disagreeing
templates

Lesson -College -practice reading -how to draft an -enhance reading

3: Life comprehension argumentative essay comprehension
-student through intensive -paraphrase writing -support claims
outlines reading activity -citing for quotations using reasoning and
-practice reading vs. citing for sufficient evidence
key words and paraphrasing -ability to
phrases to predict differentiate between
point of view direct quotes and
paraphrasing
READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 6

Content Reading Skills Writing Skills Learning Outcomes

Lesson - College -practice -How to meat & -Understand what

4: Life comprehending veggies & bottom dangling quotes are
-The Quote author's intention slice a quote and why they should
Sandwich -practice using -Practice referencing avoid them
handout. voice in reading original sources -Understand
through reading -vocabulary quiz consequences of
-Templates passages with (practice quiz-taking copying text:
handout quotes/conversation strategies) plagiarism
s
-Citations
handout
-quotes vs.
paraphrasin
g
READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 7

Lesson Plans

Lesson 1: College Life & work/life balance: expressing opinion

Pre-lesson inventory:

Overview of lesson goals:

Practice oral reading

Practice reading for comprehension

Practice opinion writing

Overview of classroom objectives:

Make predictions

Make connections between vocabulary

Develop strategies for opinion writing

Increase oral reading speed

Build reading comprehension skills

Materials to bring to class:

Copy of lesson plan

Copy of new vocabulary words for students

Copy of topic related words handout for students

Copies of class reading handout for students

READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 8

Equipment needed for class:

Computer

Projector/screen

Document camera

Assignments to collect from students: none

Special room arrangements: none

Warm-up: Introducing new vocabulary (10 minutes)

Purpose: Introduce new unit vocabulary; go over pronunciation and spelling of new words; be

able to use new vocabulary in a sentence

Procedure:

1. Place copy of new unit vocabulary words under document camera for class to see.

2. Ask for volunteers to read aloud the new words, one at a time. As volunteers read each

word aloud, have students write down each new word in their vocabulary journals.

3. Go over meaning and spelling of each word. Help students with pronunciation and stress

when necessary.

4. Ask for volunteers to pick one or more of the new words to use in a sentence.
READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 9

Transition: Have students turn to a neighbor and discuss whether they have heard of or used any

of the new vocabulary words before. If so, when? In what context?

Activity 1: Predict the Passage (15 minutes)

Purpose: Build comprehension through making predictions; making connections between

vocabulary

Procedure:

1. Place topic related words handout under document camera for students to see

2. Go over each word and check for understanding (these should already be familiar to

students).

3. Tell the class to independently use the eight topic-related words on the projector screen to

predict what the upcoming passage they are about to receive will be about.

4. Give students about five minutes to look over the words and form their predictions.

5. Call on volunteers to tell the class what they predict, and give their reasoning. Does

everyone agree with the predictions made? Why/why not?

Transition: Have students form pairs, pick student volunteers to help pass out class reading

handout (one per pair).

Activity 2: Work-life Balance - 4-3-2 Reading (15 minutes)

READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 10

Purpose: Increase oral reading speed through reading fluency strategies.

Procedure:

1. Be sure each pair has one copy of class reading handout, titled Work-life Balance

(http://study.com/articles/Dealing_with_Stress_During_College.html)

2. Have each pair decide who will be the reader and who will be the listener in this activity

3. Explain 4-3-2 activity, remind readers that each time they read the text they should try to

read a little faster so that the listener is still receiving about the same amount of

information even though the reader is speaking for less time.

4. Teacher says Go! and the readers begin reading to the listeners. After four minutes, the

teacher stops the readers.

5. Tell students to find a new partner and that they will be reading for three minutes this

time around. Say Go! and have readers read the same passage for three minutes to their

new listening partner.

6. After three minutes stop the students and have them find new partners again. This time

the reader will read for two minutes to their new listening partner, still trying to convey

the same amount of information. Stop the readers after two minutes.

Transition: Have each student get a piece of scrap paper and write down their thoughts on the

activity in one or two sentences. Did they enjoy it? Why or why not. Collect for feedback.

Activity 3: Work-life Balance - Expressing your Opinion (15 minutes)

READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 11

Purpose: Differentiate between opinion and fact; begin developing new writing strategies for

expressing opinion

Procedure:

1. Pose question to class: What does it mean to have an opinion? How is an opinion

different from a fact? Call on volunteers for ideas. Give brief one to two-minute lecture

on the difference between fact and opinion.

2. Give students who were listeners in the last activity a copy of the Work-life Balance

handout so that every student now has one.

3. Give students time to independently read over the text one more time and give the option

of writing down notes as they read.

4. Tell students to decide first in their minds whether or not they agree with the article, and

develop three supporting reasons why or why not.

5. Have students get out a clean piece of paper and write independently for seven to eight

minutes explaining their opinion of the text, using their three supporting reasons to

defend their answer. Give examples to get students started: My opinion is that I

agree with this text because I disagree with this text because

6. Collect student writing for feedback

Closure: (5 minutes)

Pose question to class: Should we share our opinions or keep them to ourselves? Tell

students to think on this at home and be prepared to discuss tomorrow. Answer any

remaining questions about the text, go over homework assignment.

READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 12

Homework: Tell students to find someone to talk to outside of class (a friend, family member,

neighbor, etc.) and ask them what their opinion is on the importance of having a work-life

balance. Have students write down what their response is in at least three full sentences on a

piece of paper and bring to class tomorrow. Be prepared to discuss and compare with your own

opinion in class.

Lesson 1 Handouts

Work-life Balance

Juggling between your social niches and school work can be a challenge, but spending

all your effort only on school work could be draining. Make use of the college environment to

find a work-life balance. Being in college is the best time and setting for you to build life-long

relationships, as well as expand your social and professional networks. Use social platforms

such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Tumblr. Join social groups and professional groups;

attend activities and have fun at the same time. This will allow you to relax and see things in the

real world. Don't forget to network for success! Manage a professional profile on LinkedIn and

collect contacts. It's never too early to expand the horizon of unlimited possibilities. More

importantly, learn work-life balance.

(http://study.com/articles/Dealing_with_Stress_During_College.html)
READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 13

Lesson 2: College Life & grading: argumentative essays

Pre-lesson inventory:

Overview of Lesson Goals:

Enhance reading comprehension

Practice different reading strategies
Build reading fluency
Gain experience in argumentative writing

Overview of classroom objectives:

Practice speed reading in word recognition and in reading for understanding.

Practice writing with conjunctions in order to achieve the communicative purpose

of argumentative essay writing.

Identifying the text structure of argumentative essays.
Be familiar with organization of argumentative essays writing.

Materials to take to class:

Copy of lesson plan

Copies of class reading handouts for students
Copies of handouts with strategy of summary by deletion for students
Copies of templates handouts for students

Equipment needed for class:

computer
projector/screen
document camera
marker
READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 14

Assignments to collect from students: Opinion collection homework from the last lesson.

Special room arrangements: none

Warm-up: Group discussion of homework assignment (10 minutes)

Purpose: To make transition from the topic of expressing opinion in lesson 1 to argumentative

essay reading and writing.

Procedure:

1. Students will be asked to find a partner and share their collection of opinions for four minutes.

2. Volunteers will be asked to share their opinions on the topic of work-life balance in class.

3. While students state their opinions in the class, the teacher will list the mentioned points on the

board.

Transition: The teacher will summarize that having only a list of opinions will not be effective

writing. To organize and make opinions persuasive is an important strategy for college students

to master in academic writing. The teacher will also give brief introduction of class plan.

Activity 1: Skimming & Conjunction Relationships (15 minutes)

READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 15

Purpose: Increase students silent reading speed and ability to comprehend a texts main idea.

Focusing on conjunction relationships in the essay and its function on helping achieve

communicative purpose of specific genre type of argumentative essay.

Procedure:

1. Each student will be given a copy of handout with the argument essay, titled Grading.

(http://www.buowl.boun.edu.tr/teachers/sample%20student%20essays/GRADING.htm )

2. Students will be asked to read through the essay quickly to get the main idea of what the

essay is about. They will also be told that there is no need to note every word while reading.

3. While students skim the essay, write the signals of conjunction with the line number on

the board. The signals include conjunctions, verbs, preposition groups and other forms. For

example:

-Thus (line 9)

-However (line 14)

-Causes (line 21)

4. After students skim the essay, they will be given the instruction to find words in the essay.

5. Students are required to find the two related parts and identify what relationship each

word signals.

6. Discuss conjunction relationships in class.

7. Wrap up the activity by clarifying how conjunction relationships help with understanding

argumentative essay ideas.

READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 16

Transition: The students will be told that understanding relationships between sentences and

paragraphs with help of conjunctions benefits the next activity.

Activity 2: Prcis (15 minutes)

Purpose: Build reading comprehension skills through learning summarizing and paraphrasing

strategies; learning to pick out main ideas; better understand text structure of argumentative

essays through summarizing.

Procedure:

1. Students are divided into small groups of two or three.

2. Students are given handouts with strategy of summary by deletion. Explain concept of

summary by deletion, give examples in the essay to show how it works.

3. Each group will be asked to make a list of the main ideas in the essay making by using the

summary by deletion strategy.

4. Walk around the classroom and offer support

5. The class as a whole will discuss the main points. The teacher will write the points on the

board.

6. Each group will write Prcis, which is a short composition about one-quarter of the length of

the essay.

Transition: Have each student get a piece of scrap paper and put them in new groups.
READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 17

Activity 3: Partial Writing (15 minutes)

Purpose: To prepare the students for writing their own essays and to discuss and share their

knowledge.

Procedure:

1. Have students work in small groups to list words or sentences that they will use in their

personal argumentative assays.

2. Let the students share with the class what interesting words or phrases they come up with.

3. Ask the students to write a list of what advantages and disadvantages of free higher education.

4. Let the students share with the class what interesting ideas they have listed about free higher

education

5. Distribute the templates handouts and ask the students to discuss them in their groups.

Closure: (5 minutes)

Reflection: answer any remaining questions about the templates used in class.

Homework: Tell the students to write an outline of the following essay question:

University education should be free to everyone, regardless of income. To what extent do you

agree or disagree?

Lesson 2 Handouts

Argument Essay Sample

READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 18

Grading

As students we all have been challenged to do our best. Throughout our lives we have

been labeled with our grades; in high school, the ones with low grades were left alone in misery,

while the ones with higher grades were praised as the leaders of this horse race. Then, the

question that comes into mind is: is it right to categorize students, does grading contribute to

education?

It is assumed and stated in the philosophy of the current educational system that grading

encourages learning and without it students would not study. That is far from being true and also

expresses another flaw of our education system. The system is based on fear: the basic motive for

students to study is fear of low grades. Furthermore, because the grades are the main criteria for

passing courses, students do not study: they just develop methods of cheating. Thus, without

learning the subject, they keep passing.

Since grades received in exams are more important than learning the subject matter, all

students have to do to pass their courses is memorize how a specific problem is solved. Without

knowing why such a method is used, students cannot apply their ability to solve the problem to

daily life. However, they pass exams without learning why, how or what of the matter.

Another disadvantage of grading is that grades of a student are not updated. That means

the grades of a student for the first year of school will still be valid in the last year, whether his

knowledge about the subject has improved or deteriorated. Considering all the factors that affect

a students exams and marks, even a small incident may have a great impact in the long run.

Apart from these problems, which can be virtually solved by optimizing and improving

the grading system, the most important defect of the system cannot be repaired without changing

the whole system. The grading system causes inequalities, superior-inferior relations,
READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 19

classifications and even conflicts. It may be maintained that societies of the modern world are

structured on these basic principles, but the fact that something exists does not justify it.

Moreover, the people grown up in such an education system will not be able to see the other side

of the walls, or will be afraid even to take a glimpse.

To sum up, grading students is not a good practice and should be abolished. It is clear that

education, especially education during childhood, has a great effect on ones life. And if you

bring the children up in conditions of conflict and competition, they will look for conflicts in the

future too.

(http://www.buowl.boun.edu.tr/teachers/sample%20student%20essays/GRADING.htm )

Template Handout

Introducing an Ongoing Debate

In discussions of X, one controversial issue has been __________. On the one hand,
__________ argues __________. On the other hand, __________ contends __________. Others
even maintain __________. My own view is __________.

When it comes to the topic of __________, most of us will readily agree that __________.
Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of __________. Whereas some
are convinced that __________, others maintain that __________.

In conclusion, then, as I suggested earlier, defenders of __________ cant have it both ways.
Their assertion that __________ is contradicted by their claim that __________.
READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 20

DISAGREEING, WITH REASONS

I think X is mistaken because she overlooks __________.

Xs claim that __________ rests upon the questionable assumption that

__________.

I disagree with Xs view that __________ because, as recent research has shown,

__________.

X contradicts himself. On the one hand, he argues __________. But on the other

hand, he also says __________.

By focusing on __________, X overlooks the deeper problem of __________.

X claims __________, but we dont need him to tell us that. Anyone familiar with

__________ has long known that __________.

AGREEINGWITH A DIFFERENCE

o I agree that __________ because my experience __________ confirms it.

o X surely is right about __________ because, as she may not be aware, recent studies

have shown that __________.

Xs theory of __________ is extremely useful because it sheds insight on the difficult

problem of __________.

I agree that __________, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people believe
__________.

Those unfamiliar with this school of thought may be interested to know that it basically
boils down to __________.

If group X is right that __________, as I think they are, then we need to reassess the popular
assumption that __________.

AGREEING AND DISAGREEING SIMULTANEOUSLY

Although I agree with X up to a point, I cannot accept his overall conclusion that
__________.

Although I disagree with much that X says, I fully endorse his final conclusion that
__________.
READING AND WRITING THEMATIC UNIT 21

Though I concede that __________, I still insist that __________.

Whereas X provides ample evidence that __________, Y and Zs research on

__________ and __________ convinces me that __________ instead.

X is right that __________, but she seems on more dubious ground when she

claims that __________.

While X is probably wrong when she claims that __________, she is right that

__________.

Im of two minds about Xs claim that __________. On the one hand, I agree that

__________. On the other hand, Im not sure if __________.

My feelings on the issue are mixed. I do support Xs position that __________, but

I find Ys argument about __________ and Zs research on __________ to be equally persuasive.

(http://www2.brooklyn.liu.edu/wac/workshops/spring07/Index_of_Templates%5B1%5D.pdf)