Sean Banville's Blog

My latest addition to make Breaking News English better is the addition of a speed reading section. I have found my students get totally absorbed in the reading and follow-up activities. I can’t remember setting students off to do something and then they do it so attentively.

There are different “paths” to challenge students depending on the “Easier” or “Harder” lesson. Links follow each activity to take students to the next challenge. I’ll outline these below, and then ask some help questions.

These are the challenges for each path:

The “Easier”

1. Read the news article at 100 words per minute.
2. Read the article at 200 wpm.
3. Do the multiple choice quiz under the 200-wpm scrolled reading.
4. Read the text at 300 wpm.
5. Answer the comprehension questions (on paper).
6. Do an online text reconstruction activity.
7. Choose one of the other 30+ online activities based on the article.

The “Harder”

1. Read the news article at 200 wpm.
2. Read the article at 300 wpm.
3. Do the multiple choice quiz under the 300-wpm scrolled reading.
4. Read the text at 400 wpm.
5. Answer the comprehension questions (on paper).
6. Read the text at 500 wpm.
7. Do a drag and drop activity reconstructing the article.
8. Do an online text reconstruction activity.
9. Choose one of the other 30+ online activities based on the article.

A full list of the speed readings is here – http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/speed_reading.html

My Questions:

1. Does anyone know how I can make the text scroll at 150, 250, 350, 450… wpm?  The scroll speed in the javascript only seems to accept whole numbers. It would be great to have the in-between speeds too.
2. What do you think of the sequence of activities in each of the paths?
3. Can you think of any activities I could add that would enhance comprehension etc? I’m thinking about a reading for specific information activity in which students have to type in the exact word / number.
4. In the past month, I have added a “dictation challenge” and this “speed reading challenge”. Can you think of any more “challenges”?

Many thanks in advance for all / any feedback,

Sean