Text connections

Text connections in a non-fiction text

In this exercise, students will learn to connect what they read in factual texts to other texts, their world, and their own experiences. Making these connections develops their understanding of the content and their ability to reflect on the text.

Implementation

Shared reading
Read a short piece of the factual text aloud to the students. It is advisable to divide the text into smaller sections so that the students have the opportunity to reflect after each part.

Discussion
After reading a section of the text, use the following questions to guide students in making text connections. Have students reflect on these questions and discuss together:

Have you heard of this before?
Have students think about whether they have come across similar information elsewhere, for example in another text or in the media. This will help them build on their prior knowledge.

Have you read any other texts that are about the same thing? Which one?
Encourage students to connect what they have just read to other texts, either fiction or non-fiction, that they have read before.

Is there anything from the text that you can connect to yourself and the life you live?
This question helps students make personal connections and reflect on how the content of the text relates to their own experiences.

Continue working cooperatively 

In this method, the text is divided into smaller sections, and each student or group is responsible for reading and understanding a specific part. After reading their section, they discuss with their peers and share their thoughts and reflections on that part of the text.

Divide the text into sections:
Divide the factual text into smaller sections, with each section focusing on a specific topic or important point. Each student or group gets a section of the text.

Read and reflect:
Students read their assigned section and use the questions to make text connections (e.g. have you heard of this before, is there anything in the text that you can connect to yourself?).

Group discussion:
Students discuss their text with others in the group and share their reflections. They can discuss the connections they have made to their own experiences, other texts, or the world around them.

Bringing the groups together:
When everyone has gone through their part of the text, the whole class or the whole group comes together, and each student/group presents their part of the text. They connect their reflections and connections to the other parts of the text.

Adaptations:
You can use pictures, visual aids, or word cards to facilitate the text connections. Also, consider providing simpler examples of connections to make the exercise more concrete and easy to understand. Encourage students to share their thoughts orally before writing down their reflections.