Tea Party Pre-Reading Strategy in Education

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Tea Party Strategy Overview

One of the possible strategies that teachers may use for the purpose of involving students into work and improving their reading skills is called “tea party.” This name means that one can behave as if they were at a tea party: talk, discuss various subjects, share one’s opinion, and listen to other people. A teacher may implement this strategy with descriptive as well as expository texts. Students become familiar with phrasing and content words and learn how to work with texts and their contents. A teacher is to distribute cards with significant words, phrases, or sentences. Students should discuss them with their mates and after that create I/We think statements which later will be compared with the actual text.

Lesson Plan

Text used: “The Ant and The Grasshopper” (Maugham, 2015).

Literacy strategy used: tea party strategy.

Lesson aim/objective: by the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

identify a central idea of a text, objectively reconstitute a plot, and analyze its narrative arc;
react to literature making use of facts and details from the text to justify their opinion and arrive at a certain conclusion;
show how previous literary works may be interpreted later;
estimate a literary selection from different points of view.

Lesson Opening: the name of Aesop is written on the blackboard, and his picture is shown. At the beginning of the lesson, a teacher asks students what they know about Aesop and his fables. Students share their knowledge and listen to their peers in groups. The “Do Now” task is to create a brainstorming web-based on what students recollect.

Teaching:

Part of the lesson	Duration	Activities
Introduction	10 min.	A teacher introduces the “Do Now” task. Students are divided into several groups. Each group makes a brainstorming web and then presents the main points. Students with disabilities might need to break down the task (for example, to speak about Aesop as the author and then mention his works).
Tea party discussion	15 min.	The teacher draws attention to one of the fables, “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” and suggests students should discuss several quotations. The following quotes may be taken: “I suppose every family has a black sheep” (Maugham, 2015, p. 79). “One day, without warning, he announced that he didn’t like work and that he wasn’t suited for marriage” (Maugham, 2015, p. 83). “We shall see if it really pays best to work or be idle” (Maugham, 2015, p. 85). “I burst into a shout of laughter as I looked at George’s wrathful face, I rolled in my chair, I very nearly fell on the floor” (Maugham, 2015, p. 88). ELL students may need an explanation of some words and expressions. The differentiation strategy offers a short vocabulary list. Addressing students with disabilities, a teacher may pay attention to certain phonemes, and so on. Students start moving around the classroom and discussing and write brief I/We think statements.
Reading	5 min.	Students read the full text of the story.
Post-reading discussion and assessment	10 min.	Students compare their expectations and the story and share their impressions with their classmates. A teacher observes how each student participates in the discussion and asks questions.
Review and closing	5 min.	The main ideas of Aesop’s and Maugham’s works are summarized. The link to the next lesson may be provided.

Assessment/ Checks for Understanding: to assess students’ understanding, two main methods might be used: observation and questions. First of all, the level of participation in discussions may serve as one of the indexes. If a student shares their ideas and actively takes part in discussions, they are likely to learn something and develop their skills. Besides, a teacher may ask questions, explain a particular idea, and so on and evaluate the answers taking into account the value of different opinions.

Reference List

Maugham, W. C. (2015). Collected works of W. Somerset Maugham. New York, NY: E-artnow.