Get the Gist

                               What is it?

Get the Gist! This is a great summarization activity that can be used by English language learners of all ages in the k-12 setting. In this activity, a text is read either by the students or the instructor. After reading the passage, the ESL instructor supports the students in identifying the ten "most important" words or concepts from the reading. These words or concepts would then be listed on the board for the class to see. The class then proceeds to write summary statements using as many of the key words as possible. To close the activity, a topic sentence is composed to proceed the summary statements. This is a great strategy that can be implemented with students' grade level reading programs. It helps them break down dense information by distinguishing from essential and non-essential information. 


                     Ways to Implement

                     Use post-its                               Use the 5Ws

        





             Why it's Beneficial to Students

Using the Gist activity is beneficial to English Language learners. It's a reading strategy that should be modeled by the teacher so students can learn how to implement it on their own. As you see above, teachers may implement through the use of post-its, hand outs, or even on poster paper. This strategy aids students in focusing on the main idea, especially in text that may be overwhelming. 


                                    WIDA Standards

This activity helps address a variety of WIDA and Common Core standards. It can easily be adjusted to meet the WIDA standards for the language of Language Arts, Social Studies, or even Science. An ESL teacher may even use a text from students' mainstream class since often ESL students are only pulled out for a small duration of the school day and left in mainstream classes during these subjects. It can also be applied across various language domains. The Gist activity can be used in speaking. Students would have to orally present the summary and or words. For the writing domain, students would compose a final summary of either words, phrases, or full sentences/paragraph. As you can see, it can easily be adjusted by level and grade.