Understanding and summarising texts

Comprehension is an essential competence needed for reading and studying texts. The Reciprocal Teaching (RT) method was created to teach pupils to reason over a text and to identify the main pieces of information it contains. Pupils, working in pairs or in small groups, learn to identify the essential contents of the text using four techniques: predicting, forecasting; questioning, coming up with questions; clarifying, explaining difficult words and concepts; and summarising, rewriting in a shorter version using other words. The book is aimed at pupils in their fourth and fifth year of primary school, who, with the teacher as a guide and each other’s help, will learn to work on different kinds of texts, automatising the skills needed for studying any subject. The book is divided into two parts: the theory, which describes how Reciprocal Teaching works and the four techniques, and the practical material, which enables teachers to set up an authentic text comprehension workshop.

It includes:

• 3 guided texts to help students in the first phase of applying the method;
• 42 level one texts and 34 level two texts, accompanied with hypotheses, examples and tips in order to understand how to proceed with and correct one’s own work;
• 4 entry tests and 4 exit tests in order to assess the progress made with the Reciprocal Teaching method;
• 2 photocopiable bookmarks for memorising the four techniques and strategies for understanding difficult words;
• 4 photocopiable playing cards