activities for paraphrasing

• AI Content Shield
• AI KW Research
• AI Assistant
• SEO Optimizer
• AI KW Clustering
• Customer reviews
• The NLO Revolution
• Press Center
• Help Center
• Content Resources
• Facebook Group

Paraphrase Games and Activities You Should Know

Table of Contents

Paraphrase games and activities teach your students to paraphrase without putting them to sleep. This article teaches and reinforces this skill in fun and exciting ways by using activities and games.

Students must sometimes find solutions or facts from what they’ve read and not merely duplicate the source. We call this “paraphrasing.”

Why does this matter? First, we want to make sure we don’t plagiarize, so we don’t use someone else’s work and call it our own. After rephrasing and rethinking, teachers need to hear what a student says to know if they understand.

Why Play Paraphrase Games?

Teachers must often hear students synthesize and rewrite words to evaluate if they grasp it. Most people aren’t born knowing how to paraphrase. These activities and games teach and reinforce paraphrase.

Most of us aren’t born knowing how to paraphrase, though. Use these games and activities to help your students learn and practice paraphrasing.

1. Paraphrasing Races

The teacher puts the students into groups and gives each group a sentence. They have three minutes to come up with as many different ways to say the sentence as they can. Each good way of putting it is worth one point. The winner is the team with the most points.

2. Fun Question and Answer

At its core, paraphrasing means rewriting something in your own words, so have students start by doing that. Split your students into pairs and ask them questions.

Questions like “What did you do yesterday after school?” Tell me your vacation plans etc.

• Student A gives a three- or four-sentence answer to the question.
• Student B rewrites what Student A said.
• Then, each pair changes roles.

You should show the class how to do this a few times before you start.

3. Quiz, Quiz, Trade Game

This is another version of the “Talk at First” Game. Start by:

• Giving each student a piece of paper with a sentence on it.
• Have students find partners.
• Student A says her sentence, and Student B rewrites it in his or her own words.

The students then switch places. Then, they trade cards and go on to find different partners.

4. The Use of Index Cards

Ask students to take something their parent or sibling says and put it in their own words. Send them home with two index cards. On one, have them write down the original idea and on the other, how they changed it. Share the next day in class.

5. Identify Me

Make index cards with samples of academic text, like a few sentences from your science or social studies book.

Instructions

Give each group both a set of sample text cards and a set of blank index cards. Have each group choose someone to be the first judge and someone else to be the reader.

The judge picks a ready-made card and reads it out loud. Then, the judge puts it in the middle of the group so that everyone can see it.

Everyone in the group (except the reader) rewrites the text in their own words and writes it on a blank index card.

The card is then put in the reader. The reader reads each quoted card aloud, and the judge tries to guess who authored it. Give points for each right answer. Switch roles and keep playing until all of the task cards are used up.

6. Paraphrase Together

Try rewriting a short paragraph as a whole class. Use your document, camera or write it on the board to show the paragraph. You might want to give each student a copy. Make sure your pupils are aware of the distinction between paraphrasing and summarizing . Talk about the different ways to do things.

The students are to use the Four R’s to paraphrase correctly.

Reword the sentences

• Students should try to reword the sentences. Use synonyms for words and phrases whenever you can.

Rearrange the sentences

• Students should be able to change the order of the words in a sentence to make a new sentence. They can even switch the order of the ideas in a paragraph.

Realize that s ome words are unchangeable

• Students should be aware that some words and phrases cannot be changed. Words such as names, dates, titles, etc., but they can be rephrased in a different way.

Recheck for same meaning

• Make sure that the meaning of your paraphrase is the same as the original.

Paraphrase games are a great way to practice and develop your paraphrasing skills . They provide a space to reflect on and improve on your writing skills as well as work on teamwork, and creativity.

With a bit of creative thinking and originality, these games provide a lot of possibility for unforgettable moments.

Pam is an expert grammarian with years of experience teaching English, writing and ESL Grammar courses at the university level. She is enamored with all things language and fascinated with how we use words to shape our world.

Explore All Paraphrasing Tool Articles

Advanced & effective paraphrase simplify tool.

The paraphrase simplify tool is designed to paraphrase and simplify your text effectively. This tool can be used for in-depth…

• Paraphrasing Tool

What Is a Paraphrase Citation?

When you paraphrase, many people think you don’t have to give a citation. Understand that because you have used someone’s…

Paraphrasing Vs Summarizing: What’s the Difference?

Paraphrasing and summarizing are two similar activities, but they are not the same. To understand the difference between paraphrasing vs…

The Best Paraphrase Tools: A Review

When it comes to paraphrase tools, there are so many to choose. This is why we decided some paraphrase tool…

The Best Paraphrasing Hacks From Students Themselves

Did you have a tough concept that you had a lot of trouble understanding? Paraphrasing helps with that. But it…

What are the Best Paraphrasing Tool to Download

Paraphrasing is the process of rewriting or rephrase a sentence without changing its meaning. A paraphrasing tool allows you to…

Best 5 Paraphrasing Exercises

Read on to see our helpful paraphrasing exercises and tips in this article to get you started.

One of the most important skills you can hone as a student or writer is to paraphrase the words of other academics and experts effectively. Since new knowledge is built upon that which is already known, it makes sense that you’d want to reference the ideas of others in your work. However, this is often easier said than done. Paraphrasing, especially if you want to do it well, can be challenging.

Fortunately, as is the case with most other skills in life, you can improve your ability to paraphrase through practice. For instance, you can improve this skill by regularly doing paraphrasing exercises. As I was an academic for a long time in my life, I thought it might be helpful to those who have little or no experience in paraphrasing if I provided a list of paraphrasing exercises. If you’re such a person, I hope that this article will get you started on your journey toward mastering the art of paraphrasing. Your academic or writing career will undoubtedly be better off for it when you do.

The Art of Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing exercises and activities to help you master the skill, 1. broaden your vocabulary, 2. create a word map, 3. paraphrase in small chunks, 4. ways to paraphrase shorter and easier sentences, 5. imagine you’re explaining the source material to someone, helpful tips, 1. avoid plagiarism, 2. summarizing is not paraphrasing, 3. changing word order is not paraphrasing.

Although paraphrasing is an essential skill when writing papers, essays, or articles, it’s one that many find challenging to master. To paraphrase the words of others, you need first to comprehend their meaning, and then you need to express this meaning in your own words. To do this effectively requires a broad and sophisticated range of vocabulary and advanced grammar skills.

As stated in the introduction, you can improve your paraphrasing skills through paraphrasing exercises. Doing this will help you construct meaningful and original paraphrased sentences and increase the speed at which you work. Especially when you’re a student, reading, and paraphrasing the words of other scholars and experts can form a big chunk of your work. Learning how to paraphrase well and at a quick pace will enhance your academic experience and will open up your schedule for other activities, such as sports or parties.

Our paraphrasing vs. summarizing guide might be helpful.

Now that you know the importance of paraphrasing, let’s dive right in and look at some exercises and activities that can help you improve. Remember, as is the case when learning any other new skill, you need to engage with these exercises regularly.

Since you cannot paraphrase appropriately without a decent range of vocabulary, it makes sense to aim to add more words to your vocabulary bank constantly. Of course, if you’re an academic, you’ll want to focus on improving your academic vocabulary in your specific field. However, since academic language has a formal tone, you can add general terms to your vocabulary bank to help you express yourself more sophisticatedly. Examples of such words, for instance, are verbs such as “theorize,” “opine,” “constitute,” and “approximate.”

There are various ways in which you can enrich your academic vocabulary. These include:

• Keeping a word journal: A great way to learn new words is to carry a little book along with you, in which you can write down words that you don’t know. You can write down the word and then look up the meaning when you have time. It can also be helpful to construct your sentence with the word once you’ve jotted down its definition.
• Highlight words in texts: Whether you’re working with a physical copy of a text or a digital version, it’s good to highlight or underline words that you don’t know. You can then either write a definition of the words in the margin or, if you’re working with a digital copy, you can add a comment. Another good tip is to write by hand – people learn better when writing something by hand than if they typed the same information.
• Read as much as you can: Although this may be obvious, the best way to improve your vocabulary is to read as many books and articles as you can fit into your schedule. Even if you don’t have the time to look up the meaning of each word that you don’t understand, just seeing the word pop up in different contexts will help you work out the meaning for yourself over time. Apart from reading, you can also listen to podcasts or watch documentaries and news channels.

If you’re battling to paraphrase an original paragraph or sentence into your own words, it can be helpful to create a word map. You can, for instance, write a few complex words or phrases down on a piece of paper. Next, draw a box around each word or phrase, and leave enough space around each so that you can draw and link other boxes. As a next step, you can draw boxes in which you write the synonym of each word. You can also write down the definition of each word if you’re unsure of its meaning.

Next, you need to clarify the relationship between these words or terms. Draw arrows between them indicating patterns, correlation, or cause and effect. You can also add boxes between the original words or phrases in which you add other words, such as verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, or adjectives. Doing so can help you further explain the terms or link them meaningfully. Once you’ve added all the information you can think of, try to create a paraphrased sentence or paragraph from your word map.

A valuable way to learn how to paraphrase when you’re a beginner is to break sentences into smaller parts. For example, instead of paraphrasing a long and complex sentence, which can become overwhelming if you’re not used to this process, you can focus on shorter phrases. Let’s take a look at an example. Here, for instance, is a long and complex sentence:

“ Many impacts are unavoidable and will hit the world’s most vulnerable populations hardest, it warns — but collective action from governments to both curb greenhouse-gas emissions and prepare communities to live with global warming could yet avert the worst outcomes. “

You may find it challenging to paraphrase this sentence as a whole. However, breaking it into smaller chunks makes the task more doable. You can break this sentence up in the following way:

• Many impacts are unavoidable
• And will hit the world’s most vulnerable populations hardest, it warns
• But collective actions from governments
• To both curb greenhouse-gas emissions
• And prepare communities to live with global warming
• Could yet avert the worst outcomes

Remember, the sentence structure of your paraphrased version can and often will look different from the source. This means that you can form two or multiple sentences if this helps you create a meaningful paraphrased version, even if the original is one sentence.

If you want to practice your paraphrasing skills, you can do so by paraphrasing a sentence in two or three different ways. You can practice finding different synonyms, grammar, and sentence structures while retaining the meaning across all versions.

If you have time, you can do this exercise with longer sentences. However, it may be good to start by paraphrasing shorter sentences. Doing so will allow you to focus on finding multiple synonyms and different ways to write the same sentence.

Here’s an example:

“ Scientists know that bees are dying from a variety of factors. “

Paraphrased version 1:

“Experts maintain that the future of bees is in danger due to multiple causes.”

Paraphrased version 2:

“There are many different reasons why bees are going extinct, according to scientists.”

A helpful way of practicing paraphrasing while reading through articles or research papers is to recite your paraphrased version of some more complex sentences. Since the first step of paraphrasing is to ensure that you’ve correctly understood the source, repeating what you’ve just read in your own words can help you grasp the meaning of the source material.

You don’t need to use formal academic language and complex terms when doing this paraphrasing exercise. Instead, the aim is to repeat what you’ve read in plain and simple terms. Also, since you don’t need to write anything down for this paraphrasing exercise, it’s something you can regularly do while you’re reading through the source material.

It’s vital that you understand what you’re reading and that all the information is not just going over your head. Doing this exercise, primarily when you find yourself drifting off or having problems grasping a sentence, will ensure that you’ve understood the section you’ve read. At the same time, you get to practice your paraphrasing skills.

Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind while paraphrasing.

Even though you’re not using direct quotes when paraphrasing but rather stating another author’s ideas in your own words, you still need to reference their work. Failing to do so amounts to plagiarism, a serious offense, whether you’re producing academic work or an article for a web page.

The format you have to use when citing the work of others varies. For instance, in academic writing, you need to provide in-text citations and a list of references at the end of your essay, article, or thesis. The precise way you’ll write your in-text citations and list of references will be determined by the formatting style, whether this is APA , Harvard , Chicago , or MLA .

Although both tools or techniques involve using your own words to describe somebody else’s text, they are different. You need to retain the original work’s meaning with both techniques while using your own words. When you’re summarizing a work , you’re selecting only the most essential points of the text and rewriting these in your own words. This means that you provide a short overview of what a text is about.

It would be best to remain far more loyal to the source material with paraphrasing. You refer to specific ideas an author has provided to incorporate these into your work. To ensure that you’re not changing the original version too much or skewing the meaning the author intended to bring across, you have to rewrite actual sentences and paragraphs. You can’t just write a summary of large chunks of text.

Although this is a “technique” employed by lazy students, you should be aware that merely swapping around the word order of an original text does not constitute paraphrasing. It’s also not good enough to merely change a sentence from passive voice to active voice or vice versa.

Using either of these as your only paraphrasing method when rewriting somebody else’s words can amount to plagiarism since you’ve not used your own words or demonstrated your understanding of the source material. In such instances, you’d be better off simply rewriting the author’s exact words and placing these in quotation marks.

To learn more, check out our guide on paraphrasing vs. plagiarism .

Bryan Collins is the owner of Become a Writer Today. He's an author from Ireland who helps writers build authority and earn a living from their creative work. He's also a former Forbes columnist and his work has appeared in publications like Lifehacker and Fast Company.

View all posts

• Our Mission

Teaching Students to Paraphrase

Ideas for scaffolding paraphrasing so that students correctly learn this valuable but difficult-to-master skill.

When discussing text in the classroom, it’s tough for students to shift from utilizing an author’s words (copying) to accepting the challenge to express that author’s idea in their own words (paraphrasing).

But teaching effective paraphrasing is necessary because the use of paraphrasing facilitates important literacy skills : It encourages repeated reading, develops note-taking habits as students track quotes and outline text details, and expands vocabulary as they consider appropriate ways to describe the original text. The skill may seem daunting to students because it takes time to find the appropriate words to reshape a sentence, but that is time well spent.

We also need to teach paraphrasing, of course, so that students develop the skill set required to avoid committing plagiarism unintentionally .

Student Tools

One way to support students is to make them aware of tools that may help when they’re paraphrasing. Think of these as training wheels—students won’t use them forever.

Academic Phrasebank : Ready-made phrases help students organize their sentences when they paraphrase. The site provides sentence starters for defining ideas, comparing and contrasting ideas, describing cause and effect, and explaining evidence to support statements.

For instance, if a student were paraphrasing vocabulary word X, they would be able to find sentence starters such as “The word X encompasses...,” “The word X is challenging to define because...,” and “The word X is intended to....”

Ashford University Writing Center : This website has a five-item quiz to review the paraphrasing process. It allows students to identify examples and non-examples of paraphrasing for a given text.

When examining non-examples, students are shown how replacing or rearranging words is akin to copying and pasting on a computer. Students see examples of effective paraphrasing, including a change of sentence structure or personal elaboration combined with limited quoted information.

Tone Analyzer : This tool allows students to enter a brief sample from a text and receive an analysis of the tone. When using this tool, students can request an assessment of whether the text illustrates anger, joy, sadness, etc. In addition to these emotions, the website includes language descriptors such as confident (used to describe texts that use active voice and/or words such as will , must , etc.) or tentative (texts with words such as seems , appears , might , etc.). This tool is useful in helping students successfully align the tone of their paraphrased material with the tone of the original text.

Student Self-Check Prompts

Students should outgrow the tools above, and teachers can encourage that growth by showing them how to monitor their own progress with paraphrasing. Students can self-check to determine how on track with paraphrasing they are by asking themselves these questions:

• Can I identify elements of the text that are most significant (and thus appropriate to preserve) when I put it in my own words?
• Can I recite elements of the text from memory in order to prepare to put it into my own words?
• How can I adjust the sentence structure to preserve the meaning of the text?

Student Cautions

Because the journey to paraphrasing may involve a few hiccups, it’s a good idea to identify potential student challenges. When paraphrasing, remind students that they should:

• Attempt to describe the text in their own words gradually, one component at a time (thanks to Doug Lemov and Maggie Johnson for this close reading strategy). For instance, they might first use their own words to describe significant phrases in the reading, and then make an effort to explain one or two key sentences, and finally attempt to paraphrase an entire paragraph.
• Monitor the similarities between the text and the paraphrase. For instance, after describing specific sentences or paragraphs, they should note how many words are shared. Instead of using the same words as the author, focus on mirroring the same main idea. The Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning at Yale offers easy-to-follow models for how to achieve this.
• Ensure that there is a sufficient number of word substitutions in the paraphrased material. (Substituting only a couple of words could constitute plagiarism.) Students should focus on changing the structure of the sentence . This may involve converting a simple sentence to a compound sentence or adding a prepositional phrase.
• Avoid adjusting special language (acronyms, figurative language, jargon, etc.). These kinds of terms are considered common knowledge, so using them in a paraphrase doesn’t constitute plagiarism. Resources such as the Purdue Online Writing Lab can help students figure out whether a particular term is common knowledge.

Teachers can push students to move beyond copying by encouraging them to see paraphrasing as the go-to reading response. When we equip students with needed resources, we make student voice the rule instead of the exception.

I Used My Own Words! Paraphrasing Informational Texts

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

Paraphrasing helps students make connections with prior knowledge, demonstrate comprehension, and remember what they have read. Through careful explanation and thorough modeling by the teacher in this lesson, students learn to use paraphrasing to monitor their comprehension and acquire new information. They also realize that if they cannot paraphrase after reading, they need to go back and reread to clarify information. In pairs, students engage in guided practice so that they can learn to use the strategy independently. Students will need prompting and encouragement to use this strategy after the initial instruction is completed. The lesson can be extended to help students prepare to write reports about particular topics.

Featured Resources

• San Diego Zoo: Animal Bytes  
• National Geographic Kids: Creature Features  
• Australia Zoo: Amazing Animals

From Theory to Practice

• Paraphrasing helps readers monitor their comprehension.  
• Paraphrasing encourages readers to make connections with prior knowledge.  
• Paraphrasing helps readers remember what they have read.
• In effective strategy instruction, the teacher explains the purpose of the strategy, how to use it, and when and where to use it  
• In effective strategy instruction, the teacher models strategy use for students and provides guided practice before expecting students to use the strategy independently.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

Materials and Technology

• Computers with Internet access  
• Whiteboard (or overhead) for projection of text and shared writing  
• Print or digital texts on instructional levels of students in the class  
• Individual copies of texts (if computers are not available)

Preparation

Student objectives.

Students will

• Demonstrate comprehension by paraphrasing facts from informational texts  
• Gain knowledge and apply what they have learned about paraphrasing by reading information about three unusual animals

Session 1: Introduction of Paraphrasing

Session 2: review and guided practice with paraphrasing, session 3: review and guided practice with paraphrasing, session 4: review and independent practice with paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing is a good way to prepare students to write written reports. When students put information into their own words, they are not copying directly from a text. After the previous four sessions, a possible extension would be to identify another topic (such as countries, planets, plants), have students brainstorm what kind of questions would be interesting to answer about these, assign print materials or websites for students to read and paraphrase, take notes to answer the questions, and prepare written reports. These would be more formal than the quick writes that were done in the paraphrasing sessions.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• Throughout the sessions, when students are working in pairs or independently, make note of whether or not they are using their own words in paraphrasing. Be ready to intervene with additional modeling and practice if students are having difficulty paraphrasing.  
• The quick writes at the end of the sessions should be collected to see whether students are using their own words, whether they have understood the text they read, and what information they have learned about the animals. Compare the prior knowledge that you assessed at the beginning of each session with the information included in the quick writes to see what new information has been learned.

Add new comment

• Print this resource

Explore Resources by Grade

• Kindergarten K

Your browser is not supported

Sorry but it looks as if your browser is out of date. To get the best experience using our site we recommend that you upgrade or switch browsers.

Find a solution

• Skip to main content
• Skip to navigation
• Macmillan English
• Onestopenglish
• Digital Shop

• Back to parent navigation item
• Sample material
• Amazing World of Animals
• Amazing World of Food
• Arts and Crafts
• Mathematics
• Transport and Communication
• Teaching Tools
• Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship
• Support for Teaching Children
• Vocabulary & Phonics
• Spelling Bee Games
• Phonics & Sounds
• The Alphabet
• Onestop Phonics: The Alphabet
• Alphabet Booklet
• Interactive Flashcards
• Warmers & Fillers
• Young Learner Games
• Stories and Poems
• Fillers & Pastimes
• Fun Fillers
• Ready for School!
• Topics & Themes
• Young Learner Topics
• Young Learner Festivals
• Festival Worksheets
• Art and Architecture
• Business and Tourism
• Geography and the Environment
• Information Technology
• Science and Nature
• Topic-based Listening Lessons
• Cambridge English
• Cambridge English: Preliminary (PET)
• Cambridge English: First (FCE)
• Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)
• Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)
• General English
• News Lessons
• Topics and Themes
• Beyond (BrE)
• Beyond: Arts and Media
• Beyond: Knowledge
• Go Beyond (AmE)
• Go Beyond: Arts & Media
• Go Beyond: Knowledge
• Impressions
• Macmillan Readers
• A Time to Travel
• Life & School
• Skills for Problem Solving
• Digital Skills for Teens
• Support for Teaching Teenagers
• Games Teaching Materials
• Business and ESP
• Business Lesson Plans
• Business Skills Bank
• Business Top Trumps
• Elementary Business Lessons
• HR Management
• Business News Lessons
• ESP Lesson Plans
• Career Readiness
• Professional Communication Skills
• Cambridge English: Business (BEC)
• Everyday Life
• Celebrations
• Live from...
• Live from London
• Discussion Cards
• Writing Lesson Plans
• Life Skills
• Support for Teaching Adults
• Vocabulary Lesson Plans
• Language for...
• Vocabulary Teaching Materials
• Macmillan Dictionary Blog
• Vocabulary Infographics
• Kahoot! Quizzes
• Blog Articles
• Professional Development
• Lesson Share
• Methodology: Projects and Activities
• Methodology: Tips for Teachers
• Methodology: The World of ELT

Advancing Learning

• Online Teaching
• More from navigation items
• 1 Advancing Learning
• 2 Advancing Learning: The challenges of speaking
• 3 Advancing Learning: Confessions from an obsessive language learner: what I have learnt from continually studying languages for 32 years
• 4 Advancing Learning: Developing real conversation skills
• 5 Advancing Learning: Does anyone really need to use a dictionary?
• 6 Advancing Learning: Empowering students with paraphrasing strategies
• 7 Advancing Learning: EMI: English as a medium of instruction
• 8 Advancing Learning: The Fifth Skill – ‘viewing’
• 9 Advancing Learning: Five strategies to help students cultivate a growth mindset
• 10 Advancing Learning: Gamification
• 11 Advancing Learning: Global Citizenship Education in the ELT classroom
• 12 Advancing Learning: Guilt-free teaching – how your students learn more when you plan less
• 13 Advancing Learning: Helping very young learners improve their collaboration skills
• 14 Advancing Learning: How to approach essay writing
• 15 Advancing Learning: Long live 'Life Skills'!
• 16 Advancing Learning: Making blended learning useful and effective
• 17 Advancing Learning: Moving towards learning-friendly teaching
• 18 Advancing Learning: Multisensory learning in the inclusive classroom
• 19 Advancing Learning: Online Language Teacher Education
• 20 Advancing Learning: A practical guide to online professional development
• 21 Advancing Learning: The secrets of using learning routines with young children
• 22 Advancing Learning: Teaching mediation
• 23 Advancing Learning: Top tips for managing your pre-primary classroom

Advancing Learning: Empowering students with paraphrasing strategies

By Judy Alden

• No comments

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

Advancing Learning: Top tips for managing your pre-primary classroom

Related articles.

Power Relationships: Adult (B2)—Education for Sustainable Development and Citizenship Programme

This lesson can help your students identify real-world examples of the effects of power relationships and privilege.

Empathy: Secondary (B1)—Education for Sustainable Development and Citizenship Programme

This lesson can help your students show empathy with another’s perspective of the world.

Education for Sustainable Development and Citizenship Secondary (B1): Power Relationships

Help your students identify power relationships and different forms of power.

No comments yet

Only registered users can comment on this article., more from advancing learning.

By Kateryna Protsenko

What is ‘conversation’ and how can teachers improve students’ conversation skills?  This article, by Kateryna Protsenko, looks at the different ways to improve this skill.

By Liz McMahon

What are the challenges of teaching curriculum subjects through English at Primary level? Liz McMahon looks at some of the issues.

By Russell Stannard

Russell Stannard details how his own language learning has given him insights into how to better teach his students.

Join onestopenglish today

With more than 700,000 registered users in over 100 countries around the world, Onestopenglish is the number one resource site for English language teachers, providing access to thousands of resources, including lesson plans, worksheets, audio, video and flashcards.

• Connect with us on Facebook
• Connect with us on Twitter
• Connect with us on Youtube

Onestopenglish is a teacher resource site, part of Macmillan Education, one of the world’s leading publishers of English language teaching materials.

• Privacy Policy
• Cookie policy
• Manage cookies

©Macmillan Education Limited 2023. Company number: 1755588 VAT number: 199440621

Site powered by Webvision Cloud

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

How to Teach Paraphrasing to High School Students

Research Writing , Secondary Literacy , Writing

Paraphrasing is a skill that students often learn in elementary or middle school. However, it is important to teach paraphrasing to high school students as well. Paraphrasing is an important writing skill. It encourages students to expand their vocabulary and modify sentence styles. It also challenges them to read closely and analyze meaning.

Paraphrasing is also an essential skill to avoid plagiarism . As high school students begin researching and developing more complex ideas, it is important to clarify the difference between paraphrasing a sentence and plagiarizing an essay.

What is the Goal of Paraphrasing?

Put simply, the goal of paraphrasing is to use the student’s own words to rephrase the words of another source. When students use their own words, they demonstrate that they have interpreted the information, made sense of it, and reiterated it to their audience. Thus, the goal of paraphrasing is also to demonstrate the student’s understanding of the source .

Students can also use paraphrasing as a tool to deepen their own understanding of a text . This is especially useful for English Language Learners reading at a new Lexile level. It can also help students reading antiquated texts, like Shakespeare or Beowulf . Finding meaning within each sentence or phrase can act as a stepping stone to understanding challenging texts as a whole.

Finally, an important goal of paraphrasing is to help students avoid plagiarism . Students can avoid direct plagiarism by rewording their sources and reiterating their understanding. Additionally, they can avoid other forms of plagiarism by properly integrating citations into their writing .

What is the Difference Between Paraphrasing and Summarizing?

Knowing the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing is essential for students writing standardized tests , including the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) , the AP Language and Composition Exam, and both the SAT and the ACT.

Summarizing involves highlighting the main points of an entire work or idea. A summary includes some of the supporting details, but not all. The goal of a summary is to capture the “big picture. ” In contrast, paraphrasing involves reiterating isolated details within a work or idea . Paraphrasing restates the specific details within a work. It is not necessary to make a connection between these details and the “big picture” of a text.

What is the Difference Between Paraphrasing and Annotating?

Paraphrasing and annotating share similarities. For one, both aim to explain a section of a work. Paraphrasing and annotating are also important parts of the close reading process. To differentiate between these two skills, it is best to consider paraphrasing as rewording the text, and annotating as reacting to the text . Deeper analysis, criticism, and opinion are important elements of annotation, but students should avoid including these elements when paraphrasing.

Activities to Teach Paraphrasing to High School Students

Use music to introduce paraphrasing to high school students.

Whether they realize it or not, students are using paraphrasing skills in their everyday life . When sharing information across cultural or generational boundaries, paraphrasing is often necessary. If you’ve ever needed to ask your students to translate modern music or slang, then you’ve essentially asked them to paraphrase! Similarly, if your students have asked you to decode a challenging sentence or paragraph within a text, they’ve also asked you to paraphrase.

A fun way to teach paraphrasing to high school students is to start in their comfort zone. I have had great success with using modern music to teach paraphrasing to older classes. This involves finding song lyrics that rely on slang words or cultural phrases and prompting students to paraphrase each line. Your students will get a kick out of explaining the meaning of these lyrics to you.

Here are some song suggestions for this activity. ( Note that some songs deal with mature themes. )

• “ 3 Nights ” by Dominic Fike
• “ Green Eyes ” by Arlo Parks
• “ Thinkin Bout You ” by Frank Ocean
• “ Sunflower ” by Harry Styles
• “ Don’t Start Now ” by Dua Lipa

With the right group of students, exploring the genre of rap can be a productive and engaging lesson for teaching paraphrasing . Unfortunately, rap music is not written for the classroom – even censored versions deal with mature subject matter. Use your professional judgment to determine whether or not this type of activity would be suitable for your students. The following song lyrics offer cultural dialect and a level of complexity that would be an engaging challenge to paraphrase:

• “ Humble ” by Kendrick Lamar ( censored version )
• “ Savage ” by Megan Thee Stallion ( censored version )
• “ God’s Plan ” by Drake ( censored version )
• “ Oceans ” by Jay Z
• “ The Season / Carry Me ” by Anderson .Paac

Apply Paraphrasing to More Challenging Texts

Now that students have practiced paraphrasing using high-interest texts , you can challenge them with literature outside of their comfort zone. Simply select an excerpt from a text written in Old English and format it on a worksheet with a blank text box next to the text. Students can paraphrase the text line-by-line to decipher meaning . This activity would pair well with any Shakespeare text in your school curriculum.

Alternatively, you could assign an antiquated text to explore as a class . Some options include The Seafarer , Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal , or the epic poem Beowulf . I find this activity especially effective when I divide a text amongst groups of students and assign them the task of paraphrasing different sections.

Model Paraphrasing During Read-Alouds in High School

Teaching paraphrasing can be as simple as modeling it during a read-aloud period in your classroom. This can involve pausing after reading important parts of the text to reiterate the message. You can also practice paraphrasing aloud after reading complex sentences to offer clarification.

After teaching students about paraphrasing, you can also ask them to paraphrase for you during read-alouds. If you haven’t taught this skill yet, you can simply ask students a simpler prompt, like “In your own words, what is this sentence/paragraph communicating? ”

To differentiate between paraphrasing and annotating , you can ask students to keep their responses separate from their reactions to the text. When they begin to offer too much insight, analysis, or criticism, you can coach them to take a step back and focus simply on the meaning .

To differentiate between paraphrasing and summarizing, you can also prompt students to summarize the text after the read-aloud. If you haven’t taught the skill of summarizing yet, you can simply ask students another simple prompt like “ what is this text about? “

Practice Integrating In-Text Citations to Teach Paraphrasing to High School Students

As mentioned, one of the goals of paraphrasing is to help students avoid plagiarism in their writing. To do so, students must be able to properly integrate in-text citations . These two skills will help students to credit sources and maintain academic integrity.

I teach this skill explicitly to students by practicing in-text citations in class. Mondays Made Easy offers in-text citations practice worksheets to model how to write parenthetical and integrated citations in student writing. These worksheets explore high-interest topics and offer a number of differentiation options , including different Lexile levels and a Tic-Tac-Toe activity to implement student choice.

If you’ve been struggling to teach paraphrasing to high school students , I hope these lesson plans and ideas are able to offer you some engaging solutions. For more activities and advice for the English Language Arts classroom, be sure to follow along on Instagram:

mondaysmadeeasy

Canadian Curriculum Designer and Education Blogger

Reader Interactions

[…] in-text citations indicate where an idea originally came from. The idea could be word-for-word or paraphrased. As their name suggests, in-text citations exist within the text of an essay or paragraph. They […]

[…] You can incorporate classroom playlists into your English Language Arts curriculum in a number of ways. One way would be to simply have students select a song and write about the author’s purpose. Another way would be to assign students a playlist, have them select a song, and then have them paraphrase the music lyrics. […]

• Professional development
• Knowing the subject
• Teaching Knowledge database N-P

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  

Research and insight

Browse fascinating case studies, research papers, publications and books by researchers and ELT experts from around the world.

See our publications, research and insight

•  All topics A-Z
•  Grammar
•  Vocabulary
•  Speaking
•  Reading
•  Listening
•  Writing
•  Pronunciation
•  Virtual Classroom
• Worksheets by season
•  600 Creative Writing Prompts
•  Warmers, fillers & ice-breakers
•  Coloring pages to print
•  Flashcards
•  Classroom management worksheets
•  Emergency worksheets
•  Revision worksheets
• Resources we recommend
• Copyright 2007-2021 пїЅ
• Submit a worksheet
• Mobile version

an Excelsior University site

Paraphrasing Activity

Write  |  Read  |  Educators

Grumble... Applaud... Please give us your feedback!

• Drafting & Integrating »
• Paraphrasing Activity »

• English Language Arts
• Graphic Organizers
• Social Studies
• Teacher Printables
• Foreign Language

Home > English Language Arts Worksheets > Paraphrasing

When we do research, we will often find value in the work of others. By sharing this information or ideas with our audience we can immediately establish trust from them. We can achieve this by rewriting these thoughts in our own words. When we are paraphrasing in our work it is important to keep the original meaning and facts intact. In many cases the sheer volume of the original work is reduced in form when being paraphrased. In some cases, you will only need to paraphrase a sentence, in other situations an entire paragraph will be your target. Being able to paraphrase properly is a key research communication skill. It displays that we have a good command on our sources. This also serves as a potent substitute for a direct quote, which in certain situations can flow much better. Sourcing our arguments is helpful because it adds a level of validation to what we are saying. Otherwise it may come across as an opinion. It also displays that you have control over and a high level of understanding of the source because you were able to write it in your own words. When you are about to paraphrase something make certain you fully understand what is being said, if anything is unclear ask someone who is knowledge of it.

The best way to approach paraphrasing is to start by reading the work a few times. Now write an original thought based on what you have read. Make sure what you write keeps the nature and tone the author was originally trying to create. When you complete your paraphrase make sure to include a citation of where the original source is given credit. These worksheets will help you learn how to use paraphrasing in your work.

Get Free Worksheets In Your Inbox!

Printable paraphrasing worksheets, click the buttons to print each worksheet and answer key..

The Paragraph

Paraphrasing means restating an author’s words in your own words without changing the meaning of the passage or including any interpretation of your own. When you paraphrase something, you only relay the idea expressed, not the entire quoted passage.

From Sources

Read each passage. On a separate page, paraphrase each passage. Try not to look back at the original while you are paraphrasing.

Susan B. Anthony

Read Susan B. Anthony's speech below. Then paraphrase the speech.

Highlight the portion of the text that you would like to focus on. Then paraphrase the ideas on the notecard below.

Paraphrasing Practice

Paraphrase each passage.

Read and Paraphrase

An onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like the sound it is trying to describe.

Paraphrasing with Synonyms

Rewrite each sentence below, replacing each underlined word with a synonym.

Paraphrasing Worksheet

Read the assigned passage. Then answer the questions below.

Using Synonyms When Paraphrasing

Rafael Palma

Paraphrase Palma's speech for use in your article. Then complete the worksheet below.

Paraphrasing means restating what an author has said in your own words without changing the meaning of the passage or including any interpretation of your own. When you paraphrase something, you only relay the idea expressed, not the entire quoted passage.

As you conduct your research, fill out the questionnaire below for each of your sources.

Paraphrase It

A citizen is someone who is able to legally participate in a political community such as a state, country, or local government.

This American Government

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Paraphrasing Exercise

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Directions: On a separate piece of paper, write a paraphrase of each of the following passages. Try not to look back at the original passage.

1. "The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera. "The cold ocean water around Antarctica flows north to mix with warmer water from the tropics, and its upwellings help to cool both the surface water and our atmosphere. Yet the fragility of this regulating system is now threatened by human activity." From "Captain Cousteau," Audubon (May 1990):17.

2. The twenties were the years when drinking was against the law, and the law was a bad joke because everyone knew of a local bar where liquor could be had. They were the years when organized crime ruled the cities, and the police seemed powerless to do anything against it. Classical music was forgotten while jazz spread throughout the land, and men like Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie became the heroes of the young. The flapper was born in the twenties, and with her bobbed hair and short skirts, she symbolized, perhaps more than anyone or anything else, America's break with the past. From Kathleen Yancey, English 102 Supplemental Guide (1989): 25.

3. Of the more than 1000 bicycling deaths each year, three-fourths are caused by head injuries. Half of those killed are school-age children. One study concluded that wearing a bike helmet can reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent. In an accident, a bike helmet absorbs the shock and cushions the head. From "Bike Helmets: Unused Lifesavers," Consumer Reports (May 1990): 348.

4. Matisse is the best painter ever at putting the viewer at the scene. He's the most realistic of all modern artists, if you admit the feel of the breeze as necessary to a landscape and the smell of oranges as essential to a still life. "The Casbah Gate" depicts the well-known gateway Bab el Aassa, which pierces the southern wall of the city near the sultan's palace. With scrubby coats of ivory, aqua, blue, and rose delicately fenced by the liveliest gray outline in art history, Matisse gets the essence of a Tangier afternoon, including the subtle presence of the bowaab, the sentry who sits and surveys those who pass through the gate. From Peter Plagens, "Bright Lights." Newsweek (26 March 1990): 50.

5. While the Sears Tower is arguably the greatest achievement in skyscraper engineering so far, it's unlikely that architects and engineers have abandoned the quest for the world's tallest building. The question is: Just how high can a building go? Structural engineer William LeMessurier has designed a skyscraper nearly one-half mile high, twice as tall as the Sears Tower. And architect Robert Sobel claims that existing technology could produce a 500-story building. From Ron Bachman, "Reaching for the Sky." Dial (May 1990): 15.

China's Tiangong space station damaged by debris strike: report

Astronauts repaired the damage during two spacewalks this winter.

China will beef up its space debris procedures for astronauts after a partial loss of power on its Tiangong space station, according to state media.

Astronauts on the Shenzhou 17 mission conducted two spacewalks outside the Tiangong space station this winter, most recently on March 1. At the time, Chinese media said there had been a partial (but minor) loss of power supply after the outpost's solar panels suffered a debris strike.

These spacewalks were a success, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said Wednesday (April 24) in a press conference reported by the state-run media outlet Xinhua . The agency also plans to do more in the future to guard against space debris issues in orbit.

"The space station's core module Tianhe had suffered a partial loss of power supply due to the impact of the space debris on the solar wing's power cables," Xinhua reported, paraphrasing CMSA deputy director Lin Xiqiang.

Related: Watch Chinese astronauts fix Tiangong space station solar wing in 8-hour spacewalk (video)

Xinhua did not specify if the debris was from micrometeoroids or from human activity in space. Both debris types pose threats to Tiangong as well as the International Space Station (ISS). 

Human-generated orbital debris is growing: the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracks more than 43,000 overall space objects as of April 2024, according to SpaceTrack.org . As for active satellites, there are more than 7,500 as of May 2023, according to the Union for Concerned Scientists — most of them members of SpaceX's giant Starlink broadband megaconstellation.

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

ISS controllers, working with NORAD, have had to move the space station out of the way of debris more than 30 times since its first modules launched in 1998. The guidelines are strict, necessitating a maneuver if any debris arrives in a "pizza box" roughly 2.5 miles by 30 miles by 30 miles (4 by 50 by 50 kilometers) with the ISS at the center, according to  agency officials . 

China's space station as well has "executed maneuvers on multiple occasions to evade space debris impacts", according to the Xinhua report, and Lin discussed several measures the CMSA is taking to prevent future issues. (Tiangong's first element, the Tianhe core module, launched in 2021.)

—  How often does the International Space Station have to dodge space debris?

 — US space science could fall behind China if private successors to ISS are delayed, Congress warns

 — Watch Chinese astronauts fix Tiangong space station solar wing in 8-hour spacewalk (video)

"China has enhanced its capability to precisely forecast the orbits of the space station and small low-orbit targets, optimized the procedures for space collision warning and avoidance, and reduced the false alarm rate by 30%, according to Lin," Xinhua wrote, without revealing specifics.

Upcoming measures include more video scrutiny of Tiangong using a high-definition camera on its robotic arm and tasking the Shenzhou 18 crew (who are scheduled to launch on Thursday, April 25) to put in more reinforcements. They "will be tasked with installing space debris protection reinforcements for extravehicular piping, cables and critical equipment during their extravehicular activities," Xinhua reported.

NASA works separately from China in space matters due to a 2011 directive known as the Wolf amendment, which prohibits bilateral agreements and coordination between NASA and Chinese government entities without express permission from Congress. 

Lately, NASA and China have been forming independent coalitions for lunar exploration: Nearly 40 nations have signed on to NASA's Artemis Accords , with Sweden, Slovenia and Switzerland all joining in recent days. China, working with Russia, announced Wednesday three new partners for its own coalition: Nicaragua, the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization and the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Science. 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, " Why Am I Taller ?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace

NASA astronauts enter quarantine for 1st crewed Boeing Starliner launch on May 6

ESA graduates the 'Hoppers': Europeans, Australian pass astronaut basic training

Ancient rocks hold proof of Earth's magnetic field. Here's why that's puzzling

• newtons_laws The article says "The agency also plans to do more in the future to guard against space debris issues in orbit." Well of course one thing the Chinese could do in future to guard against space debris is to conduct no more anti-satellite tests like the one they did in 2007 that created more than 3,000 pieces of space debris..... :frowning: https://swfound.org/media/9550/chinese_asat_fact_sheet_updated_2012.pdf Reply
• View All 1 Comment

Most Popular

• 2 Hubble telescope celebrates 34th anniversary with an iridescent Dumbbell Nebula (image)
• 3 The mystery of how strange cosmic objects called 'JuMBOs' went rogue
• 4 China's Tiangong space station damaged by debris strike: report
• 5 Space Force tests small satellite jammer to protect against 'space-enabled' attacks

From Gen Z to boomers: How to give critical feedback at work

Generational expectations about workplace norms differ widely. so you may need to adjust how you give constructive criticism..

You have a slew of options in how you deliver critical feedback at work. And depending on your generation, what you deem acceptable may vary.

We heard from you, our readers, who had a lot to say about our recent story exploring Gen Z’s expectations for workplace feedback . Some of you think Gen Z needs to grow up and stop complaining — after all, you and your colleagues managed just fine. Others applauded Gen Z’s demand for more constructive delivery and pointed out that all generations want feedback that is timely, collaborative and balanced, even if the youngest are perhaps becoming the most vocal. And some believe good management practices apply to all generations.

With four generations (Gen Z, millennials, Gen X and boomers) making up the majority of the U.S. workforce, communication and behavioral norms may vary. Learning how to work with colleagues who have different views is key to success at work, experts who study multigenerational workforces say. When it comes to critical feedback, which can be tricky no matter who’s giving or receiving it, navigating differing expectations becomes especially important.

“The whole reason we want to understand generational differences, especially in critical feedback, is because we want the message to land as well as possible,” said Giselle Kovary, a generational expert and head of learning and development at Optimus SBR. “It’s less about what you want to say and more about how they need to hear it.”

Here are some expert tips for giving and receiving critical feedback.

Know your audience

To better understand someone and communicate the message effectively, consider a worker’s norms.

Resist the idea that how you expect to give and get feedback is the same for everyone else, said Megan Gerhardt, a professor at Miami University and author of “Gentelligence: A Revolutionary Approach to Leading an Intergenerational Workforce.” Instead, think about how a person might expect to give or receive feedback and work backward. That way you can deliver criticism in a way that will be heard and absorbed.

For boomers, respect their experience and expectations around formal processes, said Jake Aguas, a Biola University professor and author of “Generation Z and the Covid-19 Crisis.” Gen X is likely to need transparent, direct communication with an emphasis on autonomy. Millennials normally think about inclusivity and may expect a more informal coaching or mentorship approach. And members of Gen Z want to feel they can play a role in finding the solution as well as personal investment from the person giving them feedback, he said.

More on Gen Z at work

• Gen Z workers can take criticism. You’re just phrasing it wrong.
• Gen Z embraces side hustles because ‘loyalty is dead’
• Quiz: Do you talk more like Gen Z or a Boomer at work?
• No job, no shame: Young workers open up about unemployment
• Gen Z graduates are fluent in AI and ready to join the workforce
• Gen Z came to ‘slay.’ Their bosses don’t know what that means.
• Cringe quiz: Are you fluent in Gen-Z office speak?
• Gen Z workers demand flexibility, don’t want to be stuffed in a cubicle

That might mean changing the strategy depending on generation. For boomers, for example, Gerhardt suggests leading with curiosity, using phrases such as, “Can you help me understand why things are done this way?”

“My favorite analogy is think about it like you’re traveling,” she said. “You’re aware you’re going to a different culture … with different norms and views. When you interact, you work harder to make sure misunderstandings don’t occur.”

Prepare beforehand

Plan what you want to say, how to deliver it and the intended outcome. Whatever you do, just don’t wing it, Kovary said.

Homing in on your emotional intelligence skills can be helpful here, Aguas said. Be aware of yourself and how others may react to you. You can practice delivering feedback to friends and family members of different generations by asking them how they view a particular workplace procedure or how they might react if you offered a specific critique. Remember not to judge their answer, he said.

Develop a relationship

Establish a supportive relationship before you have to deliver critical feedback.

If the only time a colleague or employee hears from you is to hear what they’ve done wrong, the feedback could be taken much more harshly than intended, experts agree. Acknowledging someone’s experience, perspectives and efforts can go a long way in creating a connection and a relationship of mutual respect. That may make it easier for someone to hear critical feedback, as they’ll know the intention is good, Gerhardt said.

Managers and employees can also proactively set expectations by telling each other how they give or expect to receive feedback, Aguas said, such as explaining that they need a weekly one-on-one or hope to check in every couple of days.

Make it a two-way street

Approach every conversation with the expectation that you may also have to receive feedback.

No conversation should be one-way, even if you’re prepared to deliver specific points, Kovary said. Prepare to actively listen. Read between the lines, notice body language, validate the other person’s experience and paraphrase what was said back to ensure you’re understanding correctly.

If you’re on the receiving end, you may have to give feedback even if the door isn’t necessarily open for it. Aguas suggests taking a non-threatening approach by simply knocking on the metaphorical door.

“The number one thing I’ve seen work among all generations is to ask for permission,” Aguas said. “It could be as simple as, ‘I had a thought,’ or ‘I see something differently, and I’d love to share with you if you’re open to that.’”

Showing you intend to partner can make a difference, as all workers want respect, connection, agency and autonomy at work, Gerhardt said.

Ask when needed

Sometimes we don’t get feedback when we need it. In those cases, it’s on us to speak up.

For some, giving negative feedback is hard, and they may need a little push. So if you’re not getting enough feedback, you can frame it in a way that’s digestible, Kovary said. For example, you could say, “On a scale from 1 to 10, how did I perform? And what would I have needed to do to be a 10?”

Managers can also solicit feedback from the people who report to them: “How can I support you in your work? What activities do I do that engage you most often? Have there been things I’ve done that diminished or broke our trust?”

In all cases, detach the feedback from the person and focus on the work, Kovary advises.

Don’t make it personal

Before you get upset at critical feedback, pause, breathe and take a second to think.

Oftentimes, the intention of a person delivering feedback may be entirely different from its impact. Just because it’s delivered in a way you don’t like, don’t take it personally, experts advise.

“Feedback is like a piece of gum,” Aguas said. “You pop it in your mouth, you chew on it, and then you move on.”

If you’re getting feedback that rubs you the wrong way, ask clarifying questions, Gerhardt said. Sometimes getting that additional context can change how you perceive that feedback, she said. Consider: “Can you help me understand what the goals of this feedback are?” “Can you help me understand how this feedback compares to other people at my career stage?”

Don’t jump to conclusions, as generational norms may muck up the intended message. It can also help to be vulnerable in how you’re taking the feedback. You can also ask for a few days to think before you respond to ensure you remove your emotions from the issue, Gerhardt said.

If you’re giving feedback, start and end at a place of understanding. Begin with the idea that this moment presents an opportunity, and end by checking that you’re on the same page, she added.

Leave room for improvement

Most importantly, recognize that there’s always room for improvement.

You should strive to ensure feedback is specific, measurable, action-oriented, timely and results-focused, Kovary said. And we should aim to be more open to receiving it. Those are things all generations can do better, she said.

“It doesn’t have to be as it always has been,” Gerhardt said.

Help Desk: Making tech work for you

Help Desk is a destination built for readers looking to better understand and take control of the technology used in everyday life.

Take control: Sign up for The Tech Friend newsletter to get straight talk and advice on how to make your tech a force for good.

Tech tips to make your life easier: 10 tips and tricks to customize iOS 16 | 5 tips to make your gadget batteries last longer | How to get back control of a hacked social media account | How to avoid falling for and spreading misinformation online

Data and Privacy: A guide to every privacy setting you should change now . We have gone through the settings for the most popular (and problematic) services to give you recommendations. Google | Amazon | Facebook | Venmo | Apple | Android

Ask a question: Send the Help Desk your personal technology questions .

• From Gen Z to boomers: How to give critical feedback at work April 22, 2024 From Gen Z to boomers: How to give critical feedback at work April 22, 2024
• From work devices to résumés: Resources to help you navigate a layoff April 17, 2024 From work devices to résumés: Resources to help you navigate a layoff April 17, 2024
• Gen Z workers can take criticism. You’re just phrasing it wrong. April 10, 2024 Gen Z workers can take criticism. You’re just phrasing it wrong. April 10, 2024