IES 1May 10th 2012

Today• Introduction to reading skills

Yesterday’s reading

Yesterday’s reading• It was not especially difficult.

• Why?

Reading• Obviously, reading is a highly important skill (in any

language).

• Why is it especially important in university?

• What is special about reading at KAC?

Reading skills• There are several reading skills we will look at:

• - Using clues to determine meaning.

• - Extensive reading.

• - Intensive reading.

• - Skimming.

• - Scanning.

Reading skills• Using clues to determine meaning:

• - Use words around an unknown word to try and determine the unknown word’s meaning.

Reading skills• Extensive reading:

• - Reading for enjoyment with a focus on general understanding.

• - Texts are generally not too difficult, but not too easy.

• - Sometimes called “free reading”.

• - Useful for:• Learning many aspects of a language.

Reading skills• Intensive reading:

• - Reading carefully for an exact understanding of a text. (i.e., understanding every word in a paragraph.)

• - This can be useful for:

• understanding instructions.• filling-out application forms.• understanding very specific details (i.e, textbook).

Reading skills• Skimming:

• - Quickly looking through a text to get a basic idea of what the text is about.

• - Can be useful for:

• - Previewing a text.• - Get a general outline of a text.• - Reading something when you have little time.

Reading skills• Scanning:

• - Locating specific information in a text.• - Search for key words or ideas (you know what you are

looking for).

• Can be useful for:

• - Finding the answer to a question. - Reading tables and graphs.

Reading skills• Today: Using clues to determine meaning.

•Context

Example

“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were to solve the problem.”

Reading skills• In Korean texts…

• - What do you do if you see a word you don’t know in a text (i.e., book)?

• What do you do in the same situation if the text is English?

Example

“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were to solve the problem.”

- What is “glockum”?

- You can check your dictionary.

Example

“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were to solve the problem.”

- In a group, try to guess what “glockum” means.

Guessing a wordFirst: what part of speech is the word?

Noun

Verb

Adjective

Adverb

Preposition

Conjunction

article

PART OF SPEECH BASIC FUNCTION EXAMPLES

noun names a person, place, or thing pirate, Caribbean, ship

pronoun takes the place of a noun I, you, he, she, it, ours, them, who

verb identifies action or state of being sing, dance, believe, be

adjective modifies a noun hot, lazy, funny

adverb modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb

softly, lazily, often

preposition shows a relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and other words in a

sentence

up, over, against, by, for

conjunction joins words, phrases, and clauses and, but, or, yet

interjection expresses emotion ah, whoops, ouch

article identifies and specifies a noun a,an, the

Example

“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were to solve the problem.”

-What part of speech is “glockum”?

try to guess what “glockum” means.

glockum• Guesses:

• - evidence• - ability

• - key

• Clue

• - professor

• -knowledge

Reading clues• How did your team guess the meaning of the word?

There are several kinds of reading clues

Deduction.

What does the sentence seem to be about?

Which words in the sentence does the unknown word seem to relate to?

“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were to solve the problem.”

examples

• Can you turn the zong on, it’s cold in here?

• This food can’t be re-zonged?

• My wibble is not working, so I had to take the bus.

There are several kinds of reading clues

Part of speech

Which part of speech is the unknown word?

Is it a noun? Verb? Adjective? Preposition? Something else?

Use the words around the unknown word to guess what part of speech it is.

“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were to solve the problem.”

There are several kinds of reading clues

Chunking

What do the words around the unknown word mean?

How could the unknown word relate to the surrounding words?

- This is like a more focused kind of deduction.

“John decided that he really needed the glockum if he were to solve the problem.”

Examples

1) The tiger's roar could be heard in villages far away.

What does roar probably mean? A) food a tiger eats B) a tiger's dream C) a tiger's ear D) a sound a tiger makes

Examples

2) The thought of eating a rat is abhorrent to most people.

What does abhorrent probably mean? A) fun, lively B) horrible, repugnant C) delicious, tasty D) sweet, sugary

Examples

Petra has so many friends because she is a gregarious person.

What does gregarious probably mean? A) introverted, self-contained B) shy, quiet C) friendly, outgoing D) rude, hostile

Examples

 When Sara was sick, her voice was almost inaudible. We couldn't hear what she was trying to say clearly.

What does inaudible probably mean? A) very loud, easy to hear  B) very soft, hard to hear C) very strange, uncommon  D) very shy, introverted

There are several kinds of reading clues

Vocabulary activation.

When skimming through a text, what seems to be the topic of the text?

Does the design to the text give any clues?

Does the kind of publication give clues (i.e., a novel, a textbook, a newspaper article).

Which words can you think of that belong to this vocabulary category?

Audio journal• Collect all of your audio journal entries so far.

• Listen to all entries, then answer the following questions:

1. What parts of speaking do need to improve?

2. What parts of speaking are you OK at?

3. In your opinion, what was your best entry? Briefly explain why.

4. If you are going to improve your speaking, what do you have to do?

5. What have you been doing to improve your speaking since coming to KAC?

Audio journal• Go to the website “Homework” section and follow the

directions for recording.

Deadline: Thursday May 17th