Reading & Writing Activities
Finding Things to Read
Project Gutenberg
70,000 free ebooks and audiobooks
Breaking News English
Short articles with activities. 6 reading levels.
Lythrum Press
Free ebooks (genres, e.g., fantasy, horror, sci-fi, self-help).
English E Reader
Free books. 8 reading levels.
Open Library
Millions of books. Requires sign up.
Local Library (example)
www.stockport.gov.uk/join-your-local-library; Trafford library, Oldham Library;
Free books, ebooks, magazines, and audiobooks online and hardcopy.
Stockport: No proof of name or address needed. You don't have to live in Stockport.
The Onion
Mock news stories that are funny but not true.
The Conversation
https://theconversation.com/uk
Articles with academic rigour and journalistic flair.
For Reading Any Article
Highlight or underline any words you don’t know the meaning of or find difficult to spell.
Write a Summary
Write one to three sentences. Practice using WWWWWWH (who, what, why, where, when, how, which).
Argue
Write whether you agree with the argument. Yes or no? Why?
Word Classes, Language Features & Punctuation
Highlight or underline examples we have discussed recently in class.
Edit
Suggest improvements for SPaG (Spelling, Punctation and Grammar).
If you had to reduce the word count, what would you cut out?
Writing Tasks
1. Article Writing
- Write an article responding to a current event. Present a different perspective or suggest solutions to the issue mentioned.
2. Speech Writing
- Write a speech for your classmates, discussing the same issue covered in the article. Focus on persuading your audience to care about the topic.
3. Formal Letter
- Imagine you are writing to a local newspaper in response to the article. Express your agreement or disagreement with the writer’s views.
4. Creative Writing
- Write a short story or personal reflection inspired by the themes in the article.
5. Transactional Writing - Review
- Write a review of the article. What worked well, and what could have been improved?
6. Transactional Writing – Report
- Write a report on the same topic for a different audience (e.g., a younger student or a professional setting). Adapt your tone and style.
Email Writing Task
What would Kanye West say to Taylor Swift?
