Non Fiction - How students process the information?

Non fiction is something that we should take advantage of in our ESL classrooms. When students read non fiction texts they are exposed to words, ideas and concepts that they can use everyday in their own lives. Students are able to gain information about people, places and things and articulate that information to their peers.

When my students are reading non fiction texts I use the process: collect, summarize, and present. While students are reading, they collect important information and write it on post its. Then they summarize the information into their own words. Finally they present what they learned from the book. The present part can be done as an oral presentation. However, typically I have the students showcase their information through a writing piece and then share one thing from their writing. Different ideas for writing are as follows; a travel brochure, a feature article on a famous person, web comparing and contrasting two animals, write a letter to author about the book, etc. There are many different ways students can present their work, we just need to make sure our students are processing the information they are reading about.