ESL Activities

ESL lesson planning made easy!

  • Warm-Up
  • Listen
  • Read
  • Speak
  • Write
  • Jobs & TEFL Cert

in Reading

ESL Brochure Scanning Activity | ESL Brochures

If you’re looking for some scanning activities to improve reading skills, then you’ll want to try out this ESL brochure activity. Keep on reading for all the details you need to know about brochure scanning.

brochure-scanning-esl-activity

ESL brochure scanning activity

Skills: Reading/Speaking
Time: 10 minutes
Level: Beginner to Low-Intermediate
Materials: Brochure/Timetable

Table of Contents

  • Brochure Scanning English Reading Activity
    • Option #1: Intermediate Students
    • Option #2: High Beginner Students
    • Option #3: Beginner Students and ESL Brochures
    • Scanning Activities For Any Level
  • Teaching Tips For Brochure Scanning Activity
  • Procedure for this ESL Scanning Activity
  • Like this ESL Brochures Activity?

Brochure Scanning English Reading Activity

Scanning is reading for specific information and it makes an excellent ESL reading activity. Language learners tend to focus on trying to understand every word, so they need to practice quickly finding specific key words. This will increase their reading speed in general and help move them towards more natural reading practices.

To provide realistic practice, collect travel brochures, bus timetables and menus. If you do not have local access to any of these, a quick Google search will give you a wide variety. Here are a few sample scenarios you can use depending on the level of your student.

Option #1: Intermediate Students

Find a vacation bargain. Give your student a budget, length of travel, and any other limitations, such as “type” holiday (beach, historical, adventure, etc.). This is highly variable according to the materials you have available and your student’s level.

The student should scan the brochure for trips that match the criteria. To add more speaking, begin by discussing the student’s idea of a great vacation, and then work together to find a trip that matches those criteria.

Option #2: High Beginner Students

Try a new restaurant. Have your student find menu items with certain qualities, such as vegetarian, lamb, or no onions. Can he/she make a reservation for 8PM on Monday? What is the phone number for reservations? And so on.

Option #3: Beginner Students and ESL Brochures

Take a bus from point A to point B for a meeting at a given time and then return. Have the student use a bus timetable to plan the journey. Have your student quickly scan the brochure to find the requested information. You can either have the questions printed in advance, or you can ask him/her to find certain information.

Scanning Activities For Any Level

As a pre-reading activity, reproduce several paragraphs from a novel and give your student 2-3 basic questions to answer such as:

What are they doing?

What color is the character’s hair?

Who is this about?

What is the character wearing?

ESL Reading Activities for Teenagers and Adults: Practical Ideas for the Classroom (ESL Activities...
5 Reviews
ESL Reading Activities for Teenagers and Adults: Practical Ideas for the Classroom (ESL Activities...
  • Amazon Kindle Edition
  • Bolen, Jackie (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
  • 68 Pages - 02/16/2020 (Publication Date)
Check Price on Amazon

Teaching Tips For Brochure Scanning Activity

If your student is lower level, have printed questions for him or her to use with the brochure. For example, “What time is the last bus to _____ on Sunday nights?”

If you are looking online for printable realia, add “PDF” to your search and the results will begin with PDF files that match your search terms.

Or, if you can get a Flight Centre or Thomson brochure, you can a lot of mileage out of it beyond scanning. They are basically magazines with hundreds of travel packages of all types and for a range of budgets, although nothing is too luxurious. The higher your student’s level, the more freedom you have to expand the activity.

Procedure for this ESL Scanning Activity

1. In advance, get a brochure or print one from the Internet. Restaurant menus, bus timetables and travel brochures are perfect for this. See the examples above for some ideas.

2. Prepare some questions for the student to answer using the information in the brochure.

3. Explain to the student that he/she is not to read word for word. He/she should only be reading to find the answers to the questions.

4. Have him/her find the answers to the questions.

Like this ESL Brochures Activity?

It’s from 39 Awesome 1-1 ESL Activities: For Teenagers and Adults. In the book, you’ll get 38 more equally awesome ESL activities across all 4 skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing) that you can use in your private lessons. No more watching the clock waiting for the lesson to be over. No more bored students! And finally, no more wasting a ton of time on lesson planning.

You can get the book in both digital and print formats. The digital one can be read on any smartphone, tablet, Mac, or PC by getting the free Kindle reading app.

—>Buy 39 Awesome 1-1 ESL Activities on Amazon Today<—

1 on 1 ESL activities

Have your Say about this ESL Brochure Scanning Reading Activity!

What are your thought about brochure scanning? Do you have another ESL reading activity that you like to use to teach your students this important reading skill?

Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. Also be sure to share this article on Twitter, Pinterest, or Facebook.

p.s. Do you need more ideas for the travel unit that you can find in many textbooks? Check out some ideas right here: ESL Travel Activities and Games.

brochure-scanning-esl-reading-activity

Last update on 2021-04-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Related posts:

postcards-writing-activityPostcards: A Fun ESL Writing Activity wh-question-gamesWH Questions Activities and Games, Lesson Plans & Worksheets ESL-activityBall Toss Game for Kids or Adults | Beach Ball Icebreaker Activity esl-holiday-travelTravel & Holidays ESL Games, Worksheets | ESL Travel Activities advanced-esl-conversation-classAdvanced English Conversation Activities and Lesson Plan Ideas

Games, Activities & ESL Teaching Tips

* indicates required

About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 15 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 30 books for English teachers and English learners, including Business English Vocabulary Builder and 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities for Teenagers and Adults. She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

You can find her on social media at:
Facebook
Pinterest

« ESL Classroom Management Tips and Tricks | Teaching ESL
Side Gigs for Teachers: Ways to Actually Make Money »

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. What does this mean? I recommend products (only ones that I like) and if you purchase a product through that link, I earn some money.

Search this Site

101 Activities and Resources for Teaching English Online: Practical Ideas, Games, Activities & Tips...
101 Activities and Resources for Teaching English Online: Practical Ideas, Games, Activities & Tips...
Check Price on Amazon
101 ESL Activities: For Teenagers and Adults
101 ESL Activities: For Teenagers and Adults
Check Price on Amazon
Advanced English Conversation Dialogues: Speak English Like a Native Speaker with Common Idioms and...
Advanced English Conversation Dialogues: Speak English Like a Native Speaker with Common Idioms and...
Check Price on Amazon
English Collocations in Dialogue: Master Hundreds of Collocations in American English Quickly and...
English Collocations in Dialogue: Master Hundreds of Collocations in American English Quickly and...
Check Price on Amazon
ESL Listening Activities for Teenagers and Adults: Practical Ideas for English Listening for the...
ESL Listening Activities for Teenagers and Adults: Practical Ideas for English Listening for the...
Check Price on Amazon
39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities: For Teenagers and Adults
39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities: For Teenagers and Adults
Check Price on Amazon
67 ESL Conversation Topics with Questions, Vocabulary, Writing Prompts & More: For English Teachers...
67 ESL Conversation Topics with Questions, Vocabulary, Writing Prompts & More: For English Teachers...
Check Price on Amazon
Sale 1001 English Expressions and Phrases: Common Sentences and Dialogues Used by Native English Speakers...
1001 English Expressions and Phrases: Common Sentences and Dialogues Used by Native English Speakers...
Check Price on Amazon

Recent Articles

  • Past Continuous Activities, Games, Worksheets & Lesson Plans ESL
  • Concept Checking Questions (CCQs): Check Form, Meaning, Function
  • ESL Flashcard Games & Activities For Kindergarten, Children & Adults
  • About + Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Top Selling ESL Activity Book

39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities: For Teenagers and Adults (Teaching ESL Conversation and...
39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities: For Teenagers and Adults (Teaching ESL Conversation and...
Check Price on Amazon

Search

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

More ESL Activities and Games

English-speaking-tip

English Speaking Tip: Closing a Conversation | ESL Speaking Tips

classroom-games-for-teenagers

ESL Activities for Teenagers: Top 31 | Fun ESL Games for Teens

list-of-topics-to-debate

Debate Topics: Funny, Silly, Controversial, Interesting and More!

esl-interview-activity

Man/Woman on the Street ESL Interview Activity

About, Contact, Privacy Policy

Best-selling author and English teacher Jackie Bolen has been talking ESL activities and games since 2015. The goal is to bring you the best ideas, lesson plans, and activity recommendations for your TEFL classes.

Get in touch: About + Contact

Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

Email: [email protected]

ESL Activities on Pinterest

ESL Activities on Facebook

Address: 2436 Kelly Ave, Port Coquitlam, Canada

Copyright © 2021 Jackie Bolen + ESL Activities. All rights reserved.