Teamwork for Reading

Reading Comprehension through Games

In our English lessons, we are working on reading comprehension in a collaborative and fun way. This week, the students played a memory game with questions and answers based on short texts about children’s lives, hobbies and families.

Nas clases de inglés estamos a traballar a comprensión lectora dun xeito colaborativo e ameno. Esta semana o alumnado xogou a un memory de preguntas e respostas a partir de pequenos textos sobre a vida, as afeccións e a familia de nenos e nenas.

How did we do the activity?

The class was divided into four groups. We prepared four sets of cards with questions and answers about the four children from the text.

Each group received one set of cards.
After reading the text together and practising the new vocabulary, the students worked in groups to match questions with their correct answers.
Then, groups rotated the sets so that everyone worked with all the characters.
As a final challenge, only the questions were distributed. In turns, groups asked each other the questions.
- A correct answer = 1 point.
- If a group didn’t know the answer, the turn passed to the next group.
- The group with the most points was the winner.

A clase organizouse en catro grupos. Preparamos catro xogos de tarxetas con preguntas e respostas sobre os catro nenos do texto.

A cada grupo entregóuselle un xogo de tarxetas.
Despois de ler o texto en común e traballar o vocabulario, o alumnado tiña que emparellar as preguntas coas respostas correctas.
A continuación, os grupos foron rotando os xogos para traballar con todos os personaxes.
Como colofón, só se repartiron as preguntas. Por quendas, os grupos facíanse preguntas entre si.
- Resposta correcta = 1 punto.
- Se un grupo non sabía a resposta, o turno pasaba ao seguinte.
- Gañaba o grupo con máis puntos.

This activity is part of an active methodology where students are the main actors of their learning. Research in foreign language teaching (Ellis, 2005; Lightbown & Spada, 2013) shows that young learners acquire language more effectively when tasks are meaningful, interactive and enjoyable.

Esta actividade forma parte dunha metodoloxía activa, na que o alumnado é o verdadeiro protagonista da aprendizaxe. Segundo a investigación en didáctica das linguas estranxeiras (Ellis, 2005; Lightbown & Spada, 2013), o alumnado de primaria aprende mellor cando as tarefas son significativas, interactivas e divertidas.

Advantages of this activity:

Improves reading comprehension skills.
Encourages teamwork and cooperation.
Helps to remember vocabulary and grammar in context.
Motivates students through play.

By learning English in this way, children don’t just memorize; they use the language to communicate and solve problems together, which is one of the key goals in Primary Education.

Vantaxes desta actividade:

Mellora a comprensión lectora.
Fomenta o traballo en equipo e a cooperación.
Axuda a consolidar vocabulario e estruturas gramaticais en contexto.
Motiva ao alumnado a través do xogo.

Así, o inglés non se aprende só para memorizar, senón para comunicarse e resolver problemas en grupo, que é un dos obxectivos fundamentais da educación primaria.