Jigsaw Reading Activity Using TV Listings

Donna Hurst Tatsuki
tatsuki [at] kobeuc.ac.jp

Objectives:
- Build group cohesion through collaborative work.
- Give students practice in reading a chart style TV guide in English by scanning for information
- Give students the opportunity for meaningful speaking practice of time expressions.
- Require the students to write information accurately.
Level:
- False Beginner, Low Intermediate
Materials:
- TV listings for one week, one page per day.
- Small Group Charts.
- Large Group Charts.
Preparation:
- Calculate how many members would be in one group if you split the class into seven groups (one group per day of the week).
- Make photocopies of TV listings so that each small group member will have one copy of his/her groupªfs day.
- Make copies of small group chart, one per student in class.
- Make seven copies of the large group chart.
Procedure:
- Part I
  - Split class into seven groups, equal if possible.
  - Hand out the small group charts, one to each student.
  - Give each group the TV Listings for their day.
  - Instruct the groups to find the times and channels for each of the program types listed. (eg. Cartoons, Movies, News, Sports). Suggest that each member of the group look for one kind and share his/her information with the group.
  - When the students have finished filling in their small group charts, collect the TV listings.
- Part II
  - Make large groups. One person from each of the small groups goes to a different large group. They take the notes that they wrote on their small group charts with them to read aloud.
  - With one person as scribe, the large groups fill in the week schedule for the program type assigned to the group.
  - Report to class findings (number of total listings per day, per week).
  - Prize for the members of the first large group finished and correct in their findings.

Handout

Jigsaw Reading Activity Using TV Listings

Part 1: Small Groups

Program Type	Channel & Time
Animation
News
Sports
Movies

Part 2: Large Groups

Day	Times & Channels
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

This is a sub-page of ESL/EFL Lessons Using Movies

The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. IV, No. 3, March 1998
http://iteslj.org/