paraphrasing esl lesson plan

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Paraphrasing ESL Lesson Plan [Free PDF]

• Posted by by ESL Questions About
• 9 months ago

Table of Contents

Introduction

The ability to paraphrase is a crucial skill for English language learners as it helps them to express ideas in their own words, improve comprehension, and develop their writing skills. In this ESL lesson plan, students will learn the art of paraphrasing, understand its importance in effective communication, and practice using various techniques to rephrase sentences and passages. This topic is essential for ESL learners as it not only enhances their language proficiency but also encourages critical thinking and creativity in language use.

Vocabulary Building

Contextual usage.

1. When you paraphrase a sentence, you reword it to convey the same meaning using different words. 2. Finding a synonym for a word can help in paraphrasing sentences effectively. 3. It’s important to rewrite the passage in your own words without changing its original meaning. 4. Plagiarism is unethical and involves presenting someone else’s work as your own without proper acknowledgment. 5. Originality is valued in writing, and paraphrasing helps maintain originality while using existing ideas.

ESL Warm-up Activity

To kick off the lesson on paraphrasing, start with a fun activity called “Word Swap.” Prepare a list of common phrases or sentences and write them on separate cards. Then, provide each student with a card and ask them to paraphrase the phrase or sentence in their own words. Encourage them to focus on using synonyms and rephrasing the content creatively. This activity not only sets the tone for the lesson but also gets students actively thinking about how to express ideas differently using language elements relevant to paraphrasing.

Main ESL Lesson Activities

Vocabulary activity: synonym match.

To reinforce the concept of paraphrasing, create a set of cards with various words and their synonyms. Divide the class into pairs or small groups and distribute the cards. Instruct the students to match each word with its synonym, encouraging them to discuss and justify their choices. This hands-on activity not only enhances vocabulary but also reinforces the importance of using synonyms in paraphrasing.

Listening Exercise: Paraphrase the Dialogue

Play a short dialogue or audio clip for the students, then provide them with a transcript. Ask them to work in pairs to paraphrase the dialogue, focusing on expressing the same ideas using different words. Afterward, facilitate a class discussion where each pair shares their paraphrased version, promoting listening comprehension and collaborative learning.

Roleplay: Paraphrasing Scenarios

Create roleplay scenarios where students are required to paraphrase sentences or passages based on different contexts such as formal settings, casual conversations, or academic discussions. This activity encourages creativity in language use and provides an opportunity for students to practice paraphrasing in real-life situations.

Writing Task: Paraphrasing Practice

Provide students with a short passage or article and ask them to individually paraphrase it while maintaining its original meaning. Encourage them to focus on using diverse vocabulary and sentence structures. After completion, facilitate a peer review session where students can exchange and provide feedback on each other’s paraphrased versions, promoting independent thinking and constructive criticism.

ESL Homework Assignment

For homework, students are tasked with selecting a short paragraph from a book, article, or any written material of their choice. They are then required to paraphrase the entire paragraph, ensuring that the meaning remains intact while using their own words. Additionally, students should identify and replace at least five key words with suitable synonyms to further enhance their paraphrasing skills. This assignment reinforces the lesson content by providing practical application and encourages independent practice in paraphrasing.

In conclusion, the Paraphrasing ESL Lesson Plan has covered key points that are essential for English language learners. Students have learned the importance of paraphrasing in effective communication, as it allows them to express ideas in their own words and improve comprehension. They have also explored various techniques for paraphrasing, such as using synonyms and rephrasing sentences creatively.

Reflecting on what they have learned, students can apply these skills in their language development by enhancing their vocabulary, improving their writing skills, and developing critical thinking abilities. Paraphrasing not only helps students express ideas more clearly but also encourages originality in their language use.

By mastering the art of paraphrasing, students will become more confident and proficient in their English language abilities. They will be able to convey information effectively, understand complex texts, and engage in meaningful conversations. Paraphrasing is a valuable skill that will benefit them not only in academic settings but also in real-life situations where clear communication is essential.

Why this topic is great for ESL learning

Enhances language proficiency.

The Paraphrasing ESL Lesson Plan is a great topic for ESL learning as it enhances language proficiency. By learning how to paraphrase, students develop a deeper understanding of vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure. They learn to express ideas in their own words, which improves their overall language skills.

Promotes Critical Thinking

Paraphrasing requires students to think critically and analyze the meaning of the original text. They need to understand the context and rephrase it using different words while maintaining the same meaning. This promotes critical thinking skills and encourages students to engage with the content on a deeper level.

Encourages Creativity

Paraphrasing allows students to be creative with their language use. They have the opportunity to explore different ways of expressing ideas, using synonyms, and rephrasing sentences in unique ways. This fosters creativity in language development and encourages students to think outside the box.

Improves Communication Skills

Effective communication is a key aspect of language learning. Paraphrasing helps students improve their communication skills by teaching them how to convey information clearly and accurately. It enables them to express complex ideas in simpler terms, making their communication more accessible and engaging.

Overall, the Paraphrasing ESL Lesson Plan is an excellent topic for ESL learning as it enhances language proficiency, promotes critical thinking, encourages creativity, and improves communication skills. By mastering the art of paraphrasing, students become more confident and proficient in their English language abilities.

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Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is finding another way to say something when you don't know how to say it.

Paraphrasing is not only an essential skill for all speakers but also key to learners developing communicative ability beyond their existing knowledge of language.

Example The learner is describing a photograph of a glider and doesn't know the word, so paraphrases by saying ‘an airplane that uses the wind'.

In the classroom One way to practise paraphrasing is through word games. For example, in a definition game learners have to provide paraphrases, so that others can guess the original word. This can be done in written form in crossword activities as well.

Further links: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/heroes-villains-pride-prejudice-0 https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/windrush-generation https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/green-great https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/creativity-language-classroom  

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• 6 Advancing Learning: Empowering students with paraphrasing strategies
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Advancing Learning: Empowering students with paraphrasing strategies

By Judy Alden

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Paraphrasing is a skill that is often assessed in exams. Experienced teacher and assessment writer Judy Alden examines how to teach it, offering practical tips and techniques you can take straight to the classroom.

Introduction

As English Language teachers, one of our core aims is to teach our learners how to express themselves. And I’m sure, like myself, you receive a great deal of satisfaction when your learners are able to reproduce the language that you’ve taught them. But what else can we do to avoid learners simply sticking to the script? The answer is quite simple: we need to demonstrate the power of paraphrasing in the classroom.

Paraphrasing is an essential skill that helps learners develop their communicative ability beyond their existing knowledge of language. In other words, it’s an empowering skill that enables learners to keep learning new words or phrases similar to the ones they already know. This is why in this article we’re going to look at a paraphrasing technique, activities to encourages students to paraphrase, and how paraphrasing is often a skill that is assessed in exams in all the subskills.

Synonyms for all levels

Teaching synonyms is a straightforward technique that can be adapted to all levels of learners. In fact, it’s probably one of the first strategies used with lower level learners to start expanding their vocabulary. For example, when teaching the A2 word ‘ grandmother ’ the synonyms ‘ grandma, granny, gran, nanna, nan ’ can also be taught since they are the informal versions of ‘grandmother’ which native speakers would tend to use. With higher level students, you can use the same approach but with a more complex word bank of synonyms. Learners at all levels need to identify and separate which synonyms are formal ( green ) and which are informal ( blue ).

Rather than teaching students how to express something with one word, think about having them build up sets of synonyms. Then learners will know how to create their own word banks of linking words that have similar meanings so they can express themselves in a variety of ways right from the start.

Four paraphrasing activities

As every teacher knows, having a toolkit of ideas keeps things fresh in the classroom. So how can we encourage our students to use paraphrasing strategies in the classroom on an ongoing basis? One way to achieve this is to include learner-centred ice-breakers to target this skill. Here are four ice-breakers that you might want to try or adapt for your learners.

Social Butterfly (speaking)

This ice-breaker focuses on paraphrasing when answering questions at an imaginary party. Elicit a few questions from your learners and write down a list of question prompts they need to ask people (e.g. …name? …age? …hobbies? …free time? …last holiday? etc). Then tell learners that they must go and mingle. Encourage them to be ’social butterflies’ and speak to as many people as possible in the allotted time (five minutes). When they mingle, they must take turns asking and answering the questions. Let learners know that whenever someone answers a question, they must say either ‘ Pardon? ’ or ‘ Sorry? ’ to prompt their partner to rephrase what they have said.

You might want to write one or two examples up on the board. For example,

What’s your name?

My name ’s Kasia.

I’m called  Kasia.

What do you like doing in your free time?

I usually go swimming  or visit  my friends .

I like going for a swim  or hanging out  with my mates .

To create a party-like environment, you could play music while learners complete the task. While the activity is taking place, monitor and record good examples of paraphrasing, then go over them as a whole group.

Full Picture (reading & speaking)

To avoid having this jigsaw reading task become a detailed reading task, text selection is essential for this five-minute ice-breaker. Choose a brief, three-paragraph text that has a clear beginning, middle and end – a text about a sequence of events, for example, works well for this type of task. Then place learners into groups of three and give each student a different paragraph. If possible, put each paragraph on different colour card. Give the class one minute to read their paragraphs without writing down any notes. When time’s up, they must place their texts face down. For the next three minutes, each teammate has about a minute to tell their team what their paragraph said, so they can decide on the order of the paragraphs. For the final minute, ask teams to give reasons for their decisions. This will encourage learners to further paraphrase their texts before you, finally, ask teams to turn the texts over and check if they figured out the correct order.

Back to the Board (listening & speaking)

Back to the Board is an ice-breaker that can be adapted for all ages and levels and is an excellent student-centred approach to revising vocabulary by paraphrasing key words. To set this task up, you need to divide the class into two teams and place two chairs at the front of the class facing away from the whiteboard or Smartboard. You’ll also need a list of vocabulary learnt in previous sessions and a scoreboard. Nominate one person from each team to sit with their backs to the board. Once they are seated, emphasise that they mustn’t peek! Then, write one word from your list on the board. Ask the class to describe the word on the board. The first person with their backs to the board to shout out the correct word earns a point for their team. Have a new pair come up, and keep repeating the process until you complete the list of words. The team with the most points wins.

It’s always a good idea to demonstrate at least one example before nominating the first two students:

• Write the word on the whiteboard: e.g., houseboat
• Demonstrate an explanation without saying ‘house’ or ‘boat’: It’s an unusual type of home that floats. You can see this kind of home on canals or lakes.

Message Trail (writing)

A very quick writing task to encourage learners to paraphrase when they write is called Message Trail. This ice-breaker is easy to prepare – all you need are four sentences targeting vocabulary and structures previously learnt in class. Put learners into groups of four and give each person a piece of paper that has a different sentence. Tell learners they need to change one word in the message so that it still has the same meaning then pass the message to the person on their left. Keep passing and rephrasing the messages until the teams run out of ideas of how to paraphrase the sentences. Finally, have each team read out their final sentence to compare the types of paraphrases they came up with. The team with the most paraphrases that still reflects the meaning of the first sentence wins.

It’s also a good idea to do one example with the class. For example:

I rarely  have enough time to clean my room.

I hardly ever have enough time to clean my  room .

I hardly ever have enough time  to clean my bedroom .

I hardly ever  have  time  to clean my bedroom.

Only on rare occasions  do I have time to clean  my bedroom.

Only on rare occasions do I have time to  tidy up  my bedroom.

Paraphrasing for exam success

You’ll be doing your learners a great service by reinforcing how to paraphrase in the classroom, as it is a skill that is needed for exams from A2 onwards. For speaking assessments, for example, encouraging learners to paraphrase by rephrasing statements, questions or ideas, and saying them in a different way, results in higher marks.

Many listening and reading exams often have questions that test listening or reading for detailed meaning, gist, feelings, attitudes and opinions, all of which require learners to decode paraphrases. In order to achieve this, learners need to piece together the different paraphrases they hear or read in order to arrive at the correct answer. So even at the lower end of the CEFR scale, paraphrasing comes into play.

Writing exams generally award lower marks if learners simply lift vocabulary off the question paper rather than paraphrase the information provided to complete the task. For example, the new B1 Preliminary Part 1 Writing task requires learners to write an email in about 100 words using four note prompts in a situational email. Learners should always aim to rephrase the prompts and the language that appears in the email in order to receive higher marks. Importantly, they need to identify what type of information they need to write about, rephrase information in the email and add their own ideas.

For example, learners should avoid copying large segments of text that appear in the email like this:

I’m really happy we’re working on the science project together too!

Encourage them to paraphrase like this:

I’m so glad we’re going to be partners for the science project!

Hopefully, by developing your learners’ ability to paraphrase in the classroom, they’ll have the skill and confidence to perform well in exams. However, the real icing on the cake is for learners to become self-aware of the power of paraphrasing and how it can support their language learning journey.

About the author

Judy Alden originally comes from Vancouver and has over 18 years’ experience teaching in South East Asia and Europe. She combines being a freelance assessment writer with delivering teacher training workshops, while also writing ELT course books and materials for international publishers.

As an assessment writer based in the UK, she often gets asked to produce listening assessments varying between British and American English. Judy has also written young learner assessment materials for the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education. 

• advancing learning

Advancing Learning: The challenges of speaking

Advancing Learning: Confessions from an obsessive language learner: what I have learnt from continually studying languages for 32 years

Advancing Learning: Developing real conversation skills

Advancing Learning: Does anyone really need to use a dictionary?

Advancing Learning: EMI: English as a medium of instruction

Advancing Learning: The Fifth Skill – ‘viewing’

Advancing Learning: Five strategies to help students cultivate a growth mindset

Advancing Learning: Gamification

Advancing Learning: Global Citizenship Education in the ELT classroom

Advancing Learning: Guilt-free teaching – how your students learn more when you plan less

Advancing Learning: Helping very young learners improve their collaboration skills

Advancing Learning: How to approach essay writing

Advancing Learning: Long live 'Life Skills'!

Advancing Learning: Making blended learning useful and effective

Advancing Learning: Moving towards learning-friendly teaching

Advancing Learning: Multisensory learning in the inclusive classroom

Advancing Learning: Online Language Teacher Education

Advancing Learning: A practical guide to online professional development

Advancing Learning: The secrets of using learning routines with young children

Advancing Learning: Teaching mediation

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