Experience innovation Part I INTRODUCTION I. Back ground and the reason for the study For the purpose of teaching language, we may divide language into the various skill areas such as writing skill, reading skill, listening skill and speaking skill and concentrate on once at time. Reading is a receptive skill. When we read we are able to understand written language in books, letters, etc. However, to teach a reading lesson effectively and successfully, it’s important for the teacher to give clear instructions. The way a teacher gives instructions for a reading passage can be vital. A good instruction should: a. not be ambiguous, but be short, simple and clear b. make the students understand the requirements of the tasks and know what they are going to do Teacher should: + give simple and clear instructions pausing frequently and using gestures, etc to clarify them + give or show an example, orally and/ or on the board, of what he/she wants the students to do + get a student or a pair of students, to give an example to the class. This checks that they have understood and it helps further clarify the task to other students The main reason why I vote for this study derived from the period of time at a high school when I was a trainee student. I have realized that the students feel confused when the teacher just asks them to do the task without giving any explanation. Therefore, Teacher: Nguyen Thi Huu Hong 1 Experience innovation it’s easier and simpler for the students to do the reading tasks if the teacher provides them with some strategies or tips when dealing the reading tasks Owing to the necessities, I have made up my mind to choose “ Some tips/ strategies on giving instructions for reading exercises” as my topic of the study II. Aim of the study With the reasons above in my mind, the specific aim of the study accordingly are: 1. To help the students improve their reading skills. 2. To encourage the students to use the language they’ve learnt to solve the communicative tasks. 3. To encourage the students to be interested in learning English III. Sources of the study The materials that have been greatly valuable to my study are from the text books - English 10,11, “Thiết kế bàai giảng tiếng anh lớp 11- NXB Ha Nội”, and “Methodology- Part II- Nguyen Thu Hien, MA” I hope that my topic “ Some tips/ strategies on giving instructions for reading exercises” can result in effective ways in teaching reading skill. Teacher: Nguyen Thi Huu Hong 2 Experience innovation Part II DIFFERENT TYPES OF READING EXERCISES A. Multiple choice exercises  Exercise 1: (Unit 9- English 11- page 102) Task 1: Circle the letter (A,B,C or D) before the word that has the opposite meaning to the italicized word. 1. Thanh Ba Post Office has a spacious and pleasant front office A. large B. beautiful C. cramped D. open 2. Our well-trained staff are always courteous to customers. A. helpful B. rude C. friendly D. open 3. This speedy and secure service of transferring money can be useful. A. rapid B. hurried C. careful D. slow 4. If you want to send a document and do not want to lose its original shape, send it by a fax machine. A. unique B. outdated C. changed D. imaginative Tips:  Read through the sentences in the task  Locate the words in italic in the passage  Read around these words and guess their meaning Eg: The word “speedy” in line 3 in the paragraph about Express Money Transfer is the same meaning as “quick”. Students can get the meaning of the word “speedy” thanks to such word as “express” and “quick” (Teacher may note that some of the words in this task are hard to guess because the context is not helpful enough. Teacher should therefore give students more instructions and guide. For example teaching them to combine different methods to deal with difficult words) Eg: The word “ spacious” occurring in line 2 of the first paragraph. T may guide students so that they can see that this word may have a positive meaning Teacher: Nguyen Thi Huu Hong 3 Experience innovation because it is used to Thanh Ba post office. Advertisements often contain positive words. Looking at the four choices in the answer to question 1, students can see that A,B and D all have a positive meaning, so the answer should be C. Also “ spacious” is related to “ space”, so it may mean “ having a lot of space”. “ Cramped” means “ narrow”, so it should be the answer.  Do the same with the rest  Exercise 2: (Unit 10- English 11- page 117) Task 2: Circle A,B,C or D before that best sum up each paragraph 1. Paragraph 1 A. Human beings need to grow food. B. Human beings pollute the environment. C. Human beings interfere with nature. D. People should stop living in cities and villages. 2. Paragraph 2 A. Many animals are disappearing. B. Human beings are responsible for the changes in the environment. C. People are in danger of becoming extinct. 3. Paragraph 3 A. Human beings have made efforts to protect the environment B. Scientists have made a long list of endangered species. C. People should keep away from animals and plants. D. Rare animals do not disappear. 4. Paragraph 4 A. The survival of endangered species. B. The Earth- a happy planet. C. Conditions for a peaceful co-existence. D. People’s interference with the environment. Strategies:  Read the first, the middle and the last sentences of each paragraph Teacher: Nguyen Thi Huu Hong 4 Experience innovation  Read the options in each question carefully and underline the words that make them different Eg: In question 2 these are “ animals disappearing” “ human responsible”, “ people becoming extinct”, and “human are endangered species”  Then choose the best answer Eg: We can see that B, C or D do not sum up the paragraph. B is too broad. C and D are not supported by information in the text. So the best answer must be A ( It is based on the last sentence of the paragraph)  Do the same with other sentences  Exercise 3: (Unit 4- English 11- page 48) Task 2: Choose the best answer from A,B,C or D for each of the following sentences 1. Volunteers usually help those who are sick or old in their homes by_______ A. mowing the lawns, doing shopping and cleaning up their houses B.cooking, sewing or washing their clothes. C. telling them stories, and singing and dancing for them. D.taking them to baseball games. 2. Big brothers is ________ A. the name of a club B.a home for children C. the name of a film D.an organization for boys who no longer have fathers. 3. Most of the boys’ and girls’ club use many high school and college students as volunteers because they________ A. have lot of free time B.can understand the problems of younger boys and girls C. know how to do the work Teacher: Nguyen Thi Huu Hong 5 Experience innovation D.are good at playing games 4. Volunteers believe that ____ A. in order to make others happy, they have to be unhappy. B.the happiest people are those who make themselves happy. C. the happiest people are those who are young and healthy. D.bringing happiness to others makes themselves the happiest people 5. The best title for the passage is____ A. Taking Care of Others B.Volunteer Work in the United States C. Volunteers: The Happiest People in the World D.Helping Old and Sick People in the United States Strategies:  Skim the five sentences to understand them  Underline the key words Eg: In the sentence 1, the key words are “ volunteers”, “ help” “sick or old” , “home”  Locate the information in each sentence in the reading passage and read this part carefully Eg: In sentence 1, these information appears in line 1,2 of the second paragraph  Read the four choice given to choose the most suitable one  Do the same with other sentences Eg: The best answer for then sentence 1 is “A”  To complete sentence 5, students can read the passage and try giving its title. Then search through the list of the title provided in the task to find the most suitable one. Students should make sure that the title chosen covers the entire text and not just one idea within it.  Exercise 4: (Unit 14- English 11- page 156) Task 1: The words/ phrases in italics in the following sentences all appear in the passage. Circle the correct answer Teacher: Nguyen Thi Huu Hong 6 Experience innovation 1. The activities are home based . They are organized_____ A. At home B.Outdoors C. In the basement of the house 2. Television viewing is by far the most popular pastime. This mean_____ A. people have to go very far to watch television B.television viewing is much more popular than any other pastime C. television viewing is as popular as other pastimes 3. There are many different courses on offer . This mean___ A. there are many different courses on television B.there are many different courses to be taken C. there are many different courses that teach people 4. Besides watching television, people have other pursuits . This mean_____ A. besides watching television, people have other leisure activities B.besides watching television, people have to work C. besides watching television, people don’t enjoy doing anything else 5. Spectator sports are_____ A. sport people take part in B.sport people often watch C. beautiful sports 6. Entry qualification are _____ A. necessary conditions for being admitted to the course B.ability to pay the fees C. entry examinations Strategies: Teacher: Nguyen Thi Huu Hong 7 Experience innovation  Read the sentences carefully  Go back to the passage to locate the italicized words/ phrase  Read around the italicized words/ phrase so that we can guess its meanings Eg: The phrase “ home based” in sentence 1 is found in line 1 of the first paragraph may refer to “ at home”- “A”. Students can understand this meaning thanks to the activities that are given as example in this paragraph: “ watching T.V, listening to music, reading…”  Then read the three choices given in the book an work out which one is closest in meaning to the word/ phrase  Do the same with other sentences B. Gap- filling exercises  Exercise 1: (Unit 10- English 11- page 116) Task 1: The words in the box all appear in the passage. Fill each blank with a suitable word. Pollutants decreasing protect Interference extinct endangered 1. Dinosaurs became_____ millions of years ago. 2. She tried to _______herself from the wind. 3. This species of bird is _______in numbers every year. 4. The chemical _______from cars and factories make the air, water and soil dangerously dirty. 5. The blue whale is a(n) _______species. 6. Because of the _______of human beings, many animals have become extinct. Strategies:  Look for the instances of the new words in the text and read around them Teacher: Nguyen Thi Huu Hong 8 Experience innovation  Use the context in which the words occur and their knowledge of word formation to understand the meanings Eg: The word “ pollutant” found in the last line of the first paragraph means ” substances that pollute”. Students can understand this meaning thanks to the phrase “ destroying the air” and their knowledge of the verb “ pollute”  To do the task more easily if we work out what part of speech is needed in each blank so that we can choose the word that best fits in Eg: Sentence 1 requires “ an adjective” “ Dinosaurs became _______millions of years ago.” There is one adjective in the box. So the word” extinct” is the answer  Do the same with the rest.  Exercise 2: (Unit 11- English 11- page 126-127) Summary: Complete the summary of the reading passage by filling each blank with a suitable word from the box (This is a kind of exercise to check students’ understanding of the reading passage. So teacher should encourage students to do the exercise without looking back the reading. It the students can’t remember the content, they can go back to the text to look for the information) one environment alternative limited unlimited sources energy fuels We need energy to live and work. Our major sources of (1)_____ is oil. Oil is (2)_____kind of fossil fuel. The amount of fossil (3)_____ in the world is (4)_____. Therefore, we must save it, and at the same time, we must find new sources of energy. Geothermal heat and nuclear power are (5)_____ sources of energy. They can give us electricity. Other alternative(6)_____ are the sun, waves and water. These sources are not only(7)_____ and valuable but also clean and safe for the (8)_____. People should develop and use them more and more in the future. Strategies:  Read through the passage Teacher: Nguyen Thi Huu Hong 9 Experience innovation  Work out what part of speech is required for each blank  Read the words/ phrases before and after the blanks to choose the suitable words Eg: The first blank requires a noun, and the phrase “our major source of_____ is oil”. So the next word will certainly be “ energy”  Do the same with the rest  Exercise 3: (Unit 14- English 10- page 144) Task 2: Scan the text and complete each of the following sentences with a word or a number. 1. Only ______ teams competed in the first World Cup. 2. Today the final tournament of the World Cup has ______teams. 3. The team which was defeated in the first World Cup final was ____ 4. The final match of the 2002 World Cup attracted a television audience of over ___billions viewers. 5. After FIFA’s first meeting, _____years has passed before the first World Cup was held in Uruguay. Strategies:  Read through the sentences and identify the key words Eg: The key words in the first sentences are “ teams”,” first World Cup”  Go back to the passage and locate the key words Eg: These information appears in sentence 4 of the second paragraph  Read around these words to find the answers Eg: The answer is “13”  Continue with the rest  Exercise 4: (Unit 4- English 11- page 48) Teacher: Nguyen Thi Huu Hong 10 [...]... English 10- page 55) Task 3: Answer the questions, using the cue below 1 What can a computer do to help us on our daily life? visit, pay, read, receive, send, learn 2 Why is a computer a miraculous device? Capable of, a calculating machine, an electronic store, a magical typewriter, a personal communicator, for entertainment 14 Teacher: Nguyen Thi Huu Hong Experience innovation Strategies:  Skim the two . document and do not want to lose its original shape, send it by a fax machine. A. unique B. outdated C. changed D. imaginative Tips:  Read through the sentences in the task  Locate the words. our daily life? visit, pay, read, receive, send, learn 2. Why is a computer a miraculous device? Capable of, a calculating machine, an electronic store, a magical typewriter, a personal communicator,