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Cloze Activities
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During a cloze activity, students fill in the blanks as they listen.  I like them because students must pay full attention as they listen and their listening comprehension drastically improved.  You can use cloze activities with songs, stories, or any type of paragraph.  Students can work with partners or individually. 

 

Cloze Activities
    Missing words
    1. Read a paragraph out loud or play an audio clip.
    2. Students fill in missing words as they listen. 
    3. Include just a few blanks to prevent overwhelming students, especially beginners. 
    4. Allow students to discuss the meaning and pronunciation of words in a group or with a partner
    5. Types of Blanks to Include:
      • Blanks without a word bank.
      • Blanks with a word bank.
      • Two words in parentheses so students can choose the correct word.
    Partner Cloze Activity
    1. Type up a story or paragraph with blanks and make two different versions, an A and a B version.  Add blanks to every other sentence or to every other paragraph.  Each version contains different material missing. 
    Example:

    Version A
    Hay una chica que se llama María.  María ______ en México.  Vive con su familia.  María _____ una familia grande. 

    Version B
    Hay una _______ que se llama María.  María vive en México.  Vive con su _____.  María tiene una familia grande. 
    1. Divide students in pairs.  Partner A gets the A version and partner B gets the B version.
    2. Partner A reads the first sentence aloud while Partner B fills in the blank. 
    3. Then Partner B reads the second sentence while Partner A fills in the blank.
    4. Students dictate their paragraphs to each other until they have filled in each blank.
    5. Students compare their sheets when they are finished. 
    Songs
    1. Students listen to a song.
    2. They fill in the blanks as they are listening.
    Verb Cloze Activity
    1. Read a listening passage or play an audio clip.
    2. Write out a transcript of the clip.
    3. Give students a copy of the transcript with missing key verbs. 
    4. Students listen and fill in the blanks.
    5. Variation: You could also focus on nouns, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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