Grammar and writing activities are so much fun. Especially the ‘fill in the blanks’ one is kids’ favourite. It is one of the most liked and enjoyable activities. This activity is a part of Cloze Reading Strategies for Kids. The term might sound a bit odd, but it is just like a puzzle with some missing parts. The students have to place the parts accurately and complete it. The fun part, they don’t really need any help for solving this fantastic puzzle.
The students have to fill it with the best of their understanding. This helps children enhance their creativity and imagination skills. And of course, it improves their grammar and vocabulary. They are forced to get their brains on the running tracks and run as far as they can. In simple words, they expand their imagination and think of multiple possibilities that could fit in and complete the paragraph. What comes out is a result of their creativity and imagination. This result further boosts up their confidence and takes it to another level. And it becomes even easier for the teacher to assess their students and provide necessary attention.
This is why there is no one level of cloze reading strategies. Right from primary schools to their high school, students of every age can practice this brilliant activity.
Are you planning to try this in your classroom? Wonderful! Here is the procedure and information you would need.
Seven Step Cloze Reading Strategies for Classroom
If you are a teacher and wish to implement the cloze reading strategy in your classroom, then here we have listed the steps you need to follow.
Step 1: Find a paragraph from a textbook or any other source of about 10-12 lines. It can be a short story, description, biography, etc. Whatever it is, the language and the length of the paragraph should be of the level of your students.
Step 2: If it is not, then try to make it uncomplicated by replacing difficult words with their simplified meanings. The best option can be, you start with an easier one and then slowly and steadily increase the level. You also have to ensure the content is interesting enough to engage your students.
Step 3: Let the first and last lines remain the same. This will give your students a basic idea of what the paragraph is about. For instance, if it’s a story, then they will get to know the beginning and conclusion and help themselves in completing the rest.
Step 4: Remove one or two words after every seven words. This method is known as the word-count formula, and you can even create your own. Like for young kids, you can remove words after every four or five words.
Step 5: Show time! Ask your students to read the incomplete text first. Ask them if they understood what the story or description was about. You can also give them a gist of the paragraph. You can even give a demo by solving the first one for them.
Step 6: Once read and understood, ask them to begin placing the missing words suitably.
Step 7: For young kids, you can create a word bank as well. Take all the missing words and jumble them up. Ask the kids to search for the words and place them appropriately.
Final Step
This challenging yet interesting activity can be upgraded to another level. Want to know how? After practicing several cloze reading paragraphs with your students, ask them to create one of their own. This would be super fun for them and for you as well! You would be able to analyse their skill development and thought progression through this.
Keep exploring English Bix for more fun and interesting activities as we have plenty of them here.