In China it appears that the notion of literacy centers are a foreign concept. It is imperative that students bound for the United States get a firm grasp on the concepts that are often reinforced in the literacy centers. These skills are critical to academic success in America.
A literacy center is basically a small group where the students practice a specific skill/activity. it is important to teach the concept first, then let the students have fun at the literacy center. A certain amount of time is given (usually about 20 minutes for native speakers – I’d extend that for English language learners) to complete the activity and then they move on to the next center or station or the next lesson (depending on how your class is structured.)
This is how I would do it:
Introduce the concept with a ppt. Then have small groups of different activities that work on the same skill. The concept is primary designed for elementary and middle school kids, but I believe you can adapt it to suit the needs of college students.
Click here to go to a page that has several resources that will give you a better idea of what a literacy center is all about.
Click here for the best description of literacy centers/learning stations I can find on the net.
Lots of links to inference activities
http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001681.shtml
http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001679.shtml
http://www.ehow.com/way_5279281_inference-activities-middle-school.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art
http://wvde.state.wv.us/strategybank/MakingInferences.html
Lots of links to main idea activities
http://www.brainpopjr.com/reading/comprehension/mainidea/grownups.weml
http://www.ehow.com/way_5438549_main-idea-cards-student-activities.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art
PowerPoint links to reinforce the concept
http://languagearts.pppst.com/mainidea.html
Links to fact VS opinion activities
http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001407.shtml
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/lessons/secondary/broadcast_news/bw_fact_vs_opinion_lesson.cfm
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/4017
Click here for strong VS weak opinion – It was tough finding useful stuff on this one.
Links to author’s tone activities
http://www.pampetty.com/tone.htm
[url=http://colegiobolivar.edu.co/apenglish/Documents/Tone Exercise.doc]colegiobolivar.edu.co/apenglish/Documents/Tone Exercise.doc
infusion.allconet.org/Power Points/TonePurpose.ppt
Links to author’s purpose activities
http://lesson-plans-materialssuite101.com/article.cfm/authors_purpose_lesson_plan
Click here for more author’s purpose activities.
Research skills – I couldn’t find what I was looking for…but the type of things I would do here would be to cut out or print out a label, a classified ad, an advertisement, a pie chart, or bar graph (something that contained written and visual information.) Then the students have to find the information to answer questions and then answer another question that requires them to write about it.
Dictionary skills - http://www.rhlschool.com/research.htm
More Useful Stuff
Persuasive writing lesson – goes along with fact VS opinion
http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/495.shtml
More ppt’s that will help you reinforce the skills.
Click here for a list of Powerpoints that will reinforce these skills and more!
Take your time and sift through these resources, I’m sure you will find something useful. Please report any broken links. I like to keep thing updated. Thanks!