Strip Cloze

Students reconstruct missing letters, words, or phrases that have been blacked out by a narrow strip overlaid on a projected text.

Procedure

1. Select an article or text that will interest students and project it on the board.
2. Allow students enough time to read the text from beginning to end. Deal with any vocabulary or language problems. Optionally discuss the content or theme.
3. Insert a narrow rectangular shape over part of the text — either vertically or at an angle — using a digital tool (e.g., Insert > Shapes in a Word document). This arbitrarily conceals some letters, words, and phrases.
4. Begin reading the article aloud, but stop before the first word partly concealed by the strip.
5. Ask students to call out the missing word, spelling it if necessary.
6. Check their answer by continuing to read to the end of the line, then contract the strip to reveal the correct answer.
7. Continue this procedure for the rest of the article.
8. When you have worked through the whole article, move the strip to a new position. Pair students and ask them to work through the article together.

Tips

• The arbitrary shape of the strip means that sometimes only letters are missing, sometimes whole words, sometimes full phrases — this creates varied difficulty.
• Can be applied to any reading text, not just newspaper articles.
• Repeat the procedure by moving the strip to a different position for additional practice.
• Works well at any level — adjust text difficulty rather than the technique itself.