Bahan Pertemuan Ketiga/ 15 April 2011-USM
Improve Reading Skills
By Kenneth Beare
Ask yourself this question: Do I read every word in your own language when I am reading a schedule, summary, or other outlining document?
The answer is most definitely: No! Reading in English is like reading in your native language. This means that it is not always necessary to read and understand each and every word in English. Remember that reading skills in your native language and English are basically the same.
Here is a quick overview of the four types of reading skills used in every language:
Skimming – used to understand the "gist" or main idea. Skimming is used to quickly gather the most important information, or 'gist'. Run your eyes over the text, noting important information. Use skimming to quickly get up to speed on a current business situation. It's not essential to understand each word when skimming.
Examples of Skimming:
The Newspaper (quickly to get the general news of the day)
Magazines (quickly to discover which articles you would like to read in more detail)
Business and Travel Brochures (quickly to get informed)
Scanning
Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information. Scanning - used to find a particular piece of information Extensive reading - used for pleasure and general understanding Intensive reading - accurate reading for detailed understanding
Run your eyes over the text looking for the specific piece of information you need. Use scanning on schedules, meeting plans, etc. in order to find the specific details you require. If you see words or phrases that you don't understand, don't worry when scanning.
Examples of Scanning
• The "What's on TV" section of your newspaper.
• A train / airplane schedule
• A conference guide
Extensive reading
Extensive reading is used to obtain a general understanding of a subject and includes reading longer texts for pleasure, as well as business books. Use extensive reading skills to improve your general knowledge of business procedures. Do not worry if you understand each word.
Examples of Extensive Reading
• The latest marketing strategy book
• A novel you read before going to bed
• Magazine articles that interest you
Intensive reading
Intensive reading is used on shorter texts in order to extract specific information. It includes very close accurate reading for detail. Use intensive reading skills to grasp the details of a specific situation. In this case, it is important that you understand each word, number or fact.
Examples of Intensive Reading
• A bookkeeping report
• An insurance claim
• A contract
Bahan Pertemuan Keempat/………../USM
What's Wrong?
Intensive Reading
The following lesson focuses on reading intensively, in other words, understanding every word. Generally, teachers tend to ask students to read quickly for a general understanding. This method of reading is called "extensive reading" and is very helpful in getting students to deal with large chunks of information. However, at times students do need to understand details and this is when "intensive reading" is appropriate.
Aim: Developing intensive reading skills, vocabulary improvements concerning fine differences between related vocabulary terms
Activity: Intensive reading exercise in which each sentence must be read very carefully to discover mistakes and inconsistencies of syntax
Level: Upper-intermediate
Outline:
• Discuss different types of reading skills with students:
o Extensive reading: reading for pleasure with emphasis on general understanding
o Intensive reading: reading carefully for an exact understanding of text. Necessary for contracts, legal documentation, application forms, etc.
o Skimming: quickly looking through text to get an idea of what the text concerns. Used when reading magazines, newspaper articles etc.
o Scanning: locating specific information in a text. Usually used in timetables, charts, etc.
• Ask students to give examples of when they employ the various reading skills. This part of the discussion can serve to raise awareness concerning the fact that it is not always necessary to understand every word.
• Pass out handout and have students get into groups of 3-4. Ask students to read one sentence of the stories at a time and decide what is wrong with the sentences in terms of vocabulary (contradictions).
• Follow-up with a class discussion about the various problems with the text.
• Have students get back into their groups and try to substitute appropriate vocabulary for the incongruencies.
• As homework, ask students to write their own "What's Wrong?" story which will then be exchanged with other students as a follow-up activity to the lesson in the next class period.
What's Wrong?
This exercise focuses on intensive reading. Read one sentence at a time and find the inappropriate vocabulary mistake or contradiction. All errors are in the choice of vocabulary NOT in grammar.
1. Jack Forest is a baker who always provides his customers with tough meat. Last Tuesday, Mrs Brown came into the shop and asked for three fillets of brown bread. Unfortunately, Jack only had two fillets remaining. He excused Mrs Brown and promised her that he would have too much bread the next time she came. Mrs Brown, being a reliable customer, assured Jack that she would return. Later that day, Jack was sealing the shop when he the phone sang. It was Mrs Brown requiring if Jack had baked another slice of brown bread. Jack said, "As a matter of truth, I burnt some extra loaves a few hours ago. Would you like me to bring one buy?". Mrs Brown said she would and so Jack got into his bike and road to Mrs Brown's to deliver the third pound of brown toast.
2. My favorite reptile is the Cheetah. It is truly an amazing creature which can trot at a top speed of 60 m.p.h.! I've always wanted to go to the cool planes of Africa to see the Cheetah in action. I imagine it would be a disappointing experience looking at those Cheetah run. A few weeks ago, I was watching a National Geographic special on the radio and my wife said, "Why don't we go to Africa next summer?". I hopped for joy! "That's a lousy idea!", I stated. Well, next week our plain leaves for Africa and I can hardly imagine that we are going to Africa at first.
3. Frank Sinatra was an infamous singer, known throughout the world. He was a novice at singing in the "crooning" style. During the 50s and 60s grunge music was very popular throughout clubs in the US. Las Vegas was one of Frank Sinatra's favorite squares to sing. He often traveled into Las Vegas from his hut in the woods to perform in the evening. Audiences inevitably booed as he sang encore after encore to the delight of international fans from around the county.
Bahan Pertemuan Kelima/ 2011-USM
Reading Tips to Improve Your Vocabulary
By Kenneth Beare, About.com Guide
Reading Tips to Improve Your Vocabulary
• Construct vocabulary trees from short stories or articles you are reading.
• Build mind maps based on the stories or articles you are reading.
• Photocopy a page or an article and highlight all the words you do not understand. Look up those words and add them to your vocabulary diary.
• When you come across a word you do not understand, first try to understand based on context.
• Focus on prefixes and suffixes and find examples in a text you are reading. Underline and try to understand based on the prefixes or suffixes. Try to come up with the antonyms. These are words with an opposite meaning and are often related (unhappy - happy, misinformation - information, etc.)
• Read a short story and try to retell or rewrite the story using as much vocabulary from the story as possible.
• Note down nouns and adjectives you do not understand. Use a thesaurus to help you find synonyms to these words. Finding synonyms will help you learn groups of words with similar meanings.
Reading Tips to Improve Your Conversational Skills
• Choose an article or short story to read with a friend or classmate. Discuss the article together.
• Choose an article or short story to read with a friend or classmate. Each person should write down five questions about the article and his / her partner.
• Read a few articles to develop a debate. Hold the debate in class making arguments based on what you have read.
• Read a short play with a few friends. Continue the conversation by each taking a character from the play and having a discussion about something that happened in the play.
• Read dialogues. Once you've practiced the written texts, improvise a continued conversation using the same characters as in the dialogue.
• Read short biographies. Pair up with a friend or classmate and take on the roles of interviewer and famous person (taken from the biography).
Reading Tips to Improve Your Grammar
• Focus on various tenses or forms, by highlighting examples of a specific form in a text you are reading.
• Highlight all auxiliary verbs in a text. Discuss which tenses take the highlighted auxiliary verbs.
• Choose a few sentences from your reading material and highlight content words (main verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs) in red and structural words (articles, auxiliary verbs, any and some, etc.) in yellow or another color.
• Find linking words (although, however, but, first, next, etc.) and notice how they relate sentences to each other.
• Use a text as a basis for a sentence auction in class. Change some of the sentences to an incorrect version and see if you can fool your classmates into thinking they are correct.
• In small groups, highlight sentences using different tenses. Each students explains the reasons for the tense in each sentence.
• Mark-up a few sentences from an article selecting subject, auxiliary verb, main verb, adjective, etc.
Reading Tips to Improve Your Listening Skills
• Read the text as you listen to it on an audio book.
• Take advantage of audio books. Read a page and then listen to that page. Repeat once a day.
• Read aloud to each other in small groups. Each student is responsible for explaining new vocabulary in the paragraphs he / she reads.
• Ask your teacher to choose a book to read aloud to the class. Do a few pages each day.
• Listen to easy audio books in English on your way to and from work.
Bahan Pertemuan Keenam/ 2011-USM
Reading Comprehension Techniques
1. Three Step Method
Preview
Reading
Review
2. Skimming
3. Outlining
Underlining
Note taking
4. Phrasing (grouping words)
5. Getting the Main Idea
6. Reading the Questions first
7. Predicting Questions
8. Questioning the Author
What is the author's purpose?
What is the author doing in this paragraph?
Why did the author put this information here?
What is being compared/contrasted here?
What alternatives does the author offer?
What is the author implying?
What is the author not telling you?
What is the author's tone?
9. SQ3R Method (from Effective Study by Francis Robinson)
Survey
Question
Read
Recite
Review
Preview
Preview involves skimming over a reading passage to get a general idea of its content and to help focus the reader's mind on the topic. It is a very valuable tool in faster reading.
To preview, look at the title and subtitles, then read quickly over the first and last paragraphs and skim through the rest of the passage to get an idea of what the passage will be about.
Questions
If there are comprehension questions, read them after the preview to help focus the mind on specific ideas to look for. Then read the passage, looking for answers to the questions.
If there are no comprehension questions, try turning the title and subtitles into questions to help you look for meaning in your reading.
Reading
Read through the passage carefully, but not too slowly. Keep in mind the questions you have formed so that you will be able to concentrate and stay focused on the reading material. In reading, try to keep a steady pace and avoid going back over words or phrases.
Review
After reading, skim over the passage again to remember main ideas and subpoints. Think of the answers to the questions or form an outline of the passage in your mind as you review.
Vocabulary
It is best to check the meanings of words in the passage, either before or after the reading, not during, as this will slow down your reading pace. Try to guess the what the words mean from the context (surrounding words) and only check the dictionary as a last resort.
Practice
It is sometimes useful to check your progress by keeping track of reading time, rate (words per minute) and comprehension (a percentage of correct answers to questions). There are several texts which enable you to do this through exercises. One of the best is a series entitled Timed Readings.
Topics for Semester
Skills, Strategies and Understanding
http://www.eslgold.net/reading/skills.html
• Critical Reading Towards Critical Writing (from The University of Toronto)
• How Do You Become a Better Reader? from Language Centre of HKUST
• How to Enjoy Reading from Language Centre of HKUST
• How to Get the Most out of Reading (from The University of Toronto)
• Improving Reading Speed from Language Centre of HKUST
• Reading Comprehension Techniques
• Reading Critically from Language Centre of HKUST
• Reading For Main Points from Language Centre of HKUST
• Reading For Specific Information from Language Centre of HKUST
• Reading Skills for Academic Study from Using English for Academic Purposes
• Taking Notes from Research Reading (from The University of Toronto)
• Techniques for Faster Reading
Improve Reading Skills
By Kenneth Beare
Ask yourself this question: Do I read every word in your own language when I am reading a schedule, summary, or other outlining document?
The answer is most definitely: No! Reading in English is like reading in your native language. This means that it is not always necessary to read and understand each and every word in English. Remember that reading skills in your native language and English are basically the same.
Here is a quick overview of the four types of reading skills used in every language:
Skimming – used to understand the "gist" or main idea. Skimming is used to quickly gather the most important information, or 'gist'. Run your eyes over the text, noting important information. Use skimming to quickly get up to speed on a current business situation. It's not essential to understand each word when skimming.
Examples of Skimming:
The Newspaper (quickly to get the general news of the day)
Magazines (quickly to discover which articles you would like to read in more detail)
Business and Travel Brochures (quickly to get informed)
Scanning
Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information. Scanning - used to find a particular piece of information Extensive reading - used for pleasure and general understanding Intensive reading - accurate reading for detailed understanding
Run your eyes over the text looking for the specific piece of information you need. Use scanning on schedules, meeting plans, etc. in order to find the specific details you require. If you see words or phrases that you don't understand, don't worry when scanning.
Examples of Scanning
• The "What's on TV" section of your newspaper.
• A train / airplane schedule
• A conference guide
Extensive reading
Extensive reading is used to obtain a general understanding of a subject and includes reading longer texts for pleasure, as well as business books. Use extensive reading skills to improve your general knowledge of business procedures. Do not worry if you understand each word.
Examples of Extensive Reading
• The latest marketing strategy book
• A novel you read before going to bed
• Magazine articles that interest you
Intensive reading
Intensive reading is used on shorter texts in order to extract specific information. It includes very close accurate reading for detail. Use intensive reading skills to grasp the details of a specific situation. In this case, it is important that you understand each word, number or fact.
Examples of Intensive Reading
• A bookkeeping report
• An insurance claim
• A contract
Bahan Pertemuan Keempat/………../USM
What's Wrong?
Intensive Reading
The following lesson focuses on reading intensively, in other words, understanding every word. Generally, teachers tend to ask students to read quickly for a general understanding. This method of reading is called "extensive reading" and is very helpful in getting students to deal with large chunks of information. However, at times students do need to understand details and this is when "intensive reading" is appropriate.
Aim: Developing intensive reading skills, vocabulary improvements concerning fine differences between related vocabulary terms
Activity: Intensive reading exercise in which each sentence must be read very carefully to discover mistakes and inconsistencies of syntax
Level: Upper-intermediate
Outline:
• Discuss different types of reading skills with students:
o Extensive reading: reading for pleasure with emphasis on general understanding
o Intensive reading: reading carefully for an exact understanding of text. Necessary for contracts, legal documentation, application forms, etc.
o Skimming: quickly looking through text to get an idea of what the text concerns. Used when reading magazines, newspaper articles etc.
o Scanning: locating specific information in a text. Usually used in timetables, charts, etc.
• Ask students to give examples of when they employ the various reading skills. This part of the discussion can serve to raise awareness concerning the fact that it is not always necessary to understand every word.
• Pass out handout and have students get into groups of 3-4. Ask students to read one sentence of the stories at a time and decide what is wrong with the sentences in terms of vocabulary (contradictions).
• Follow-up with a class discussion about the various problems with the text.
• Have students get back into their groups and try to substitute appropriate vocabulary for the incongruencies.
• As homework, ask students to write their own "What's Wrong?" story which will then be exchanged with other students as a follow-up activity to the lesson in the next class period.
What's Wrong?
This exercise focuses on intensive reading. Read one sentence at a time and find the inappropriate vocabulary mistake or contradiction. All errors are in the choice of vocabulary NOT in grammar.
1. Jack Forest is a baker who always provides his customers with tough meat. Last Tuesday, Mrs Brown came into the shop and asked for three fillets of brown bread. Unfortunately, Jack only had two fillets remaining. He excused Mrs Brown and promised her that he would have too much bread the next time she came. Mrs Brown, being a reliable customer, assured Jack that she would return. Later that day, Jack was sealing the shop when he the phone sang. It was Mrs Brown requiring if Jack had baked another slice of brown bread. Jack said, "As a matter of truth, I burnt some extra loaves a few hours ago. Would you like me to bring one buy?". Mrs Brown said she would and so Jack got into his bike and road to Mrs Brown's to deliver the third pound of brown toast.
2. My favorite reptile is the Cheetah. It is truly an amazing creature which can trot at a top speed of 60 m.p.h.! I've always wanted to go to the cool planes of Africa to see the Cheetah in action. I imagine it would be a disappointing experience looking at those Cheetah run. A few weeks ago, I was watching a National Geographic special on the radio and my wife said, "Why don't we go to Africa next summer?". I hopped for joy! "That's a lousy idea!", I stated. Well, next week our plain leaves for Africa and I can hardly imagine that we are going to Africa at first.
3. Frank Sinatra was an infamous singer, known throughout the world. He was a novice at singing in the "crooning" style. During the 50s and 60s grunge music was very popular throughout clubs in the US. Las Vegas was one of Frank Sinatra's favorite squares to sing. He often traveled into Las Vegas from his hut in the woods to perform in the evening. Audiences inevitably booed as he sang encore after encore to the delight of international fans from around the county.
Bahan Pertemuan Kelima/ 2011-USM
Reading Tips to Improve Your Vocabulary
By Kenneth Beare, About.com Guide
Reading Tips to Improve Your Vocabulary
• Construct vocabulary trees from short stories or articles you are reading.
• Build mind maps based on the stories or articles you are reading.
• Photocopy a page or an article and highlight all the words you do not understand. Look up those words and add them to your vocabulary diary.
• When you come across a word you do not understand, first try to understand based on context.
• Focus on prefixes and suffixes and find examples in a text you are reading. Underline and try to understand based on the prefixes or suffixes. Try to come up with the antonyms. These are words with an opposite meaning and are often related (unhappy - happy, misinformation - information, etc.)
• Read a short story and try to retell or rewrite the story using as much vocabulary from the story as possible.
• Note down nouns and adjectives you do not understand. Use a thesaurus to help you find synonyms to these words. Finding synonyms will help you learn groups of words with similar meanings.
Reading Tips to Improve Your Conversational Skills
• Choose an article or short story to read with a friend or classmate. Discuss the article together.
• Choose an article or short story to read with a friend or classmate. Each person should write down five questions about the article and his / her partner.
• Read a few articles to develop a debate. Hold the debate in class making arguments based on what you have read.
• Read a short play with a few friends. Continue the conversation by each taking a character from the play and having a discussion about something that happened in the play.
• Read dialogues. Once you've practiced the written texts, improvise a continued conversation using the same characters as in the dialogue.
• Read short biographies. Pair up with a friend or classmate and take on the roles of interviewer and famous person (taken from the biography).
Reading Tips to Improve Your Grammar
• Focus on various tenses or forms, by highlighting examples of a specific form in a text you are reading.
• Highlight all auxiliary verbs in a text. Discuss which tenses take the highlighted auxiliary verbs.
• Choose a few sentences from your reading material and highlight content words (main verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs) in red and structural words (articles, auxiliary verbs, any and some, etc.) in yellow or another color.
• Find linking words (although, however, but, first, next, etc.) and notice how they relate sentences to each other.
• Use a text as a basis for a sentence auction in class. Change some of the sentences to an incorrect version and see if you can fool your classmates into thinking they are correct.
• In small groups, highlight sentences using different tenses. Each students explains the reasons for the tense in each sentence.
• Mark-up a few sentences from an article selecting subject, auxiliary verb, main verb, adjective, etc.
Reading Tips to Improve Your Listening Skills
• Read the text as you listen to it on an audio book.
• Take advantage of audio books. Read a page and then listen to that page. Repeat once a day.
• Read aloud to each other in small groups. Each student is responsible for explaining new vocabulary in the paragraphs he / she reads.
• Ask your teacher to choose a book to read aloud to the class. Do a few pages each day.
• Listen to easy audio books in English on your way to and from work.
Bahan Pertemuan Keenam/ 2011-USM
Reading Comprehension Techniques
1. Three Step Method
Preview
Reading
Review
2. Skimming
3. Outlining
Underlining
Note taking
4. Phrasing (grouping words)
5. Getting the Main Idea
6. Reading the Questions first
7. Predicting Questions
8. Questioning the Author
What is the author's purpose?
What is the author doing in this paragraph?
Why did the author put this information here?
What is being compared/contrasted here?
What alternatives does the author offer?
What is the author implying?
What is the author not telling you?
What is the author's tone?
9. SQ3R Method (from Effective Study by Francis Robinson)
Survey
Question
Read
Recite
Review
Preview
Preview involves skimming over a reading passage to get a general idea of its content and to help focus the reader's mind on the topic. It is a very valuable tool in faster reading.
To preview, look at the title and subtitles, then read quickly over the first and last paragraphs and skim through the rest of the passage to get an idea of what the passage will be about.
Questions
If there are comprehension questions, read them after the preview to help focus the mind on specific ideas to look for. Then read the passage, looking for answers to the questions.
If there are no comprehension questions, try turning the title and subtitles into questions to help you look for meaning in your reading.
Reading
Read through the passage carefully, but not too slowly. Keep in mind the questions you have formed so that you will be able to concentrate and stay focused on the reading material. In reading, try to keep a steady pace and avoid going back over words or phrases.
Review
After reading, skim over the passage again to remember main ideas and subpoints. Think of the answers to the questions or form an outline of the passage in your mind as you review.
Vocabulary
It is best to check the meanings of words in the passage, either before or after the reading, not during, as this will slow down your reading pace. Try to guess the what the words mean from the context (surrounding words) and only check the dictionary as a last resort.
Practice
It is sometimes useful to check your progress by keeping track of reading time, rate (words per minute) and comprehension (a percentage of correct answers to questions). There are several texts which enable you to do this through exercises. One of the best is a series entitled Timed Readings.
Topics for Semester
Skills, Strategies and Understanding
http://www.eslgold.net/reading/skills.html
• Critical Reading Towards Critical Writing (from The University of Toronto)
• How Do You Become a Better Reader? from Language Centre of HKUST
• How to Enjoy Reading from Language Centre of HKUST
• How to Get the Most out of Reading (from The University of Toronto)
• Improving Reading Speed from Language Centre of HKUST
• Reading Comprehension Techniques
• Reading Critically from Language Centre of HKUST
• Reading For Main Points from Language Centre of HKUST
• Reading For Specific Information from Language Centre of HKUST
• Reading Skills for Academic Study from Using English for Academic Purposes
• Taking Notes from Research Reading (from The University of Toronto)
• Techniques for Faster Reading
yup. Its sometimes not necesary to know all of the words in a passage, as long as u can make a conclusion n know what is it about
BalasHapus