In progress
Reading for Life Lessons
Minnesota ABE Supplemental Services, Linda Strand, 2004-2005
And the Minnesota Literacy Council
Focus:
Reading a Table of Contents (Reading for Life, volume 2, unit 18: Table of Contents)
Objectives:
Learners will be able to read and interpret information found in a Table of Contents
Key Vocabulary:
location, page, index, table of contents, alphabetical order, appendix, unit, chapter, topic, subtopic, references
Materials:
a variety of books with Table of Contents pages
Procedure - Real-life application:
T shows one of the books (non-fiction works best). T says: “I have this book on ______. I would like to read the whole book, but I don’t have time to do it. I am most interested in ________ (T mentions something that would be a part of the book). How could I find the part of the book that deals with that subject without reading the whole book?”
T elicits and discusses with students differences between a table of contents and an index.
Table of Contents challenge: Students find and list 10 things with table of contents pages. They can do this at the learning center, at home or on a class trip to the library. They should try to find different types of material (e.g. textbooks, magazines, cookbooks, Yellow Pages, etc.)
Comparison: Each student chooses four books. Then they find and compare the Table of Contents pages. T may wish to draw up a chart to help them.
Progress to Reading for Life, v.1 competency worksheets:
Applicable worksheets: RFL v.2, unit 18
Progress to multiple-choice format activities:
Extensions:
- See Daily Living Activities RFL v.2 page 92
- Write and design an information booklet about a topic studied in class: health, job searches, finances, etc. and include a table of contents
- Use the preview option on an Internet book seller’s website such as amazon.com. Students can browse the table of contents and example pages to make fictional purchasing decisions.
- Information gap activity: erase, cover up, or white out ½ of the information from a table of contents (make 2 versions). Students ask partners for the missing information and fill in the blanks.
- Scanning races: call out information that is located in table of contents and students try to be the first to find it and circle it
