Read-alouds in turns, anyone?
Any fans of RAT – reading aloud in turns from a text – here? It’s probably not the most popular technique these days, to say the least. I reckon it might rank second among the most unpopular things a language teacher can say – right after ‘I teach them grammar’.
From my experience, including my own as a language student, reading aloud in turns usually results in:
a) Students only listening to themselves, and
b) It being boring. VERY boring. For all parties involved.
Unless, of course, you find a way to smartly play around with the T in the process by taking a staged approach – brilliantly explained by Paul Fanning aka Guinlist.
Recently, I tried a fantastic activity – Reader’s Theatre – that aligns perfectly with these stages, and (oh wow!) it actually gets students to really, really read and reap all the benefits of reading aloud.
First and foremost, no approach will work without a good text. Nowadays, we can simply ask ChatGPT to generate a Reader’s Theatre script on {topic} for {number} students with a focus on {language items}. You can even specify the desired genre or plot.
However, with so many great books already available, using AI to generate texts feels (or is) like reinventing the wheel – big time. Instead, we can use an LLM for what it does best: text transformation.
For my Reader’s Theatre activity, I chose The Adventure of the Three Students by Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes, an intriguing plot, great style, aaaand it’s in the public domain now. What’s not to love?
To create your script, upload the original text (if copyright permits) and prompt your LLM – any model will work, preferably one that allows you to adjust the temperature for greater control over the wording – to generate a Reader’s Theatre script for a specific number of characters. This depends on whether you want to include all the students in your group or split them into smaller teams to read aloud in small groups.
You can also specify which characters you’d like to feature or provide additional instructions to tailor the script to your needs.
When the script is ready, we need to do a bit of thinking and:
Authenticate – place it into a real-world context. The task should feel authentic – simply doing a ‘theatre thing’ may not work unless you’re teaching drama students. Good tasks could include recording a podcast or creating a YouTube video – this would actually get students to listen to their reading afterward. Win-win!
Prepare – Ensure full comprehension of the text and address any comprehension or pronunciation challenges. Have students read through the script and assign roles. In some cases, one student can take on multiple roles (e.g., Dr. Watson and Gilchrist). After assigning parts, let students read their lines individually before discussing any potential challenges. If pronunciation is a focus, YouGlish can be a great tool.
Rehearse – Have students practise reading aloud (‘first, listen to your ‘inner voice’, then say it’).
Perform – If you’re using the podcast idea, students will read aloud while recording their performances.
Revisit – With a podcast or YouTube video project, students will have the opportunity to review their own performances as well as those of their peers. To add a touch of healthy competition (and boost their motivation to engage with other teams’ readings) you can turn it into a mini Oscars party, with voting for categories like Best Podcast, Best Performance, or Best Accidental Sound Effect (a bonus point for popcorn).
To give students more choice and agency, you can encourage them to add a touch of improvisation by expanding their parts slightly – whether it’s an extra sentence or just three additional words.
And homework? Naturally, it would be to read the original short story.
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