READING STRATEGIES:
SKIMMING, SCANNING, READING INTENSIVELY
Today we shall devote our lesson
to reading. Reading is a language skill. What other language skills do you know?
·
listening
·
speaking
·
writing
There are different types of reading, because
there are different reading purposes. It is very important to understand why you
have to read a text and to choose that reading strategy which is most
appropriate to the task. This is very relevant to examinations where you have
limited time to do a large amount of reading. Don’t waste your time by trying to
read each text slowly and carefully from the beginning to the end. USE ONE OF
THE FOLLOWING READING STRATEGIES: SKIMMING, SCANNING, AND READING INTENSIVELY.
I. Match the reading skill on the left to the
description on the right.
1. Skimming
a) reading very carefully to be sure you
understand exactly what the writer means
2. Scanning
b) reading the text fairly quickly in order to
understand the topic and the main points
3. Reading intensively
c) looking through the text to find
specific information that you need to answer a question
II. Which skill should you use when you:
a) read the instructions and questions?
________
b) read the text for the first time? ________
ñ) need particular facts or figures from the
text? ________
d) are choosing the right answer to a multiple
choice question? ________
III. Think about how you would read the following
pieces of written language, then discuss the questions below with another
student.
1. a) A list of results for an exam you’ve
taken. (3 pages) ________
b) A letter from a friend who’s studying in
Australia. (3 pages) ________
2. a) Detailed instructions for reaching a
friend’s house. (half a page) ________
b) A review of a film you were thinking of
going to see. (half a page) ________
3. a) A newspaper in your own language. (16
pages) ________
b) A newspaper in English. (16 pages) ________
The choice of reading strategies depends on
the task which is given afterwards. There are three most popular tasks: multiple
choice questions or unfinished statements, multiple matching and gap-fill. They
require different reading strategies and we shall practise all of them at our
lesson.
IV. Multiple choice
American Holidays
People in every culture celebrate holidays.
Although the word “holiday” means “holy day”, most American holidays are
not religious. They are commemorative in nature and origin. American
holidays have different cultural sources and traditions, but all of them have
taken on distinctively American flavor. In the USA the word “holiday” is
synonymous with “celebration”.
Each of the 50 states has jurisdiction
over its holidays. In practice, however, most states observe the federal
(“legal”) public holidays.
Ten holidays per year are proclaimed by the
federal government. They are as follows:
·
New Year’s Day
(January 1)
·
Martin Luther King Day
(traditional – January 15; official – third
Monday in January)
·
Presidents’ Day
(third Monday in February)
·
Memorial Day
(traditional – May 30; official – last Monday in
May)
·
Independence Day
(July 4)
·
Labor Day
(first Monday in September)
·
Columbus Day
(traditional – October 12; official – second
Monday in October)
·
Veterans’ Day
(traditional – November 11; official – second
Monday in November)
·
Thanksgiving
(fourth Thursday in November)
·
Christmas
(December 25).
In 1971 the dates of many federal holidays
were officially moved to the nearest Monday by president Richard Nixon. There
are four holidays which are not necessarily celebrated on Mondays: Thanksgiving,
New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Christmas. When they fall on a Sunday, the
previous day is also a holiday.
Federal government offices, including the post
office, are always closed on all federal legal holidays. Schools and businesses
close on major holidays, like Independence Day and Christmas.
Federal legal holidays are observed according
to the legislation of individual states. The dates of these holidays and
others are decided upon by state government. Each state can agree on the same
date that the President has proclaimed, such as Thanksgiving. State legislation
can also change the date of a holiday for its own special commemoration. The
closing of local offices and businesses will vary. Whether citizens have the day
off from their work or not depends on local decisions.
You can look through an ordinary calendar and
discover many “minor holidays”. They are observed by a relatively small number
of people or by a particular interest group. For example, “Girl Scouts’ Day”,
“Citizenship Day” would have limited observance.
Events involving famous Americans, living or
dead, have a wider appeal. Many Americans may have forgotten the exact
date when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated (November 22, 1963),
but they remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they
first learned about his tragic death. Other days commemorate events which may be
personally significant for one generation but have no great importance
for another. For example, Pearl Harbor Day (December 7) marks the day when
Japanese Imperial Forces attacked Hawaii in 1941 and brought the USA into World
War II.
GLOSSARY:
holy connected with God and religion
commemorative adj. giving honor to
the memory of
flavor n. taste
jurisdiction n. the right to use the
power held by an official body
legislation n. body of laws
appeal n. power to move the feelings,
attraction, interest
assassinate v. to murder for
political reason or reward
significant adj. of noticeable
importance
There are a number of unfinished statements
about the text above. You must choose the answer which you think fits best. Give
one answer only to each question.
1. Most American holidays are
A. religious
Â. devoted to historic battles
Ñ. celebrated in memory of people and events
D. ethnic
2. Some holidays are called “federal” because
A. most states observe them
Â. federal offices are closed on these days
Ñ. they are proclaimed by federal government
D. they are celebrated on Mondays
3. Decisions on days off are made by
A. federal government
Â. individual states
Ñ. general vote
D. the president
4. Holidays which have a wider appeal are
A. Independence Day and Thanksgiving
Â. the ones connected with famous Americans
Ñ. President John F. Kennedy’s and Martin
Luther King’s Day
D. the ones which are personally significant
for this or that generation
Multiple choice questions test your
understanding of the text and the questions so make sure you study the exact
words in the question before making a choice. Be careful not to choose answers
because they look right if there’s no evidence for them in the text. And beware
of answers which say more than is true. These answers often contain words
like always or everybody, for example, when the truth is
sometimes or some people.
Multiple choice procedure
• Always skim the text before you look
at the questions.
• Don’t worry about words you don’t know
at this stage.
• Look through the questions to see
which parts of the text you need to read carefully.
• Scan to find those parts and then read
intensively.
• Try to work out the meanings of any
words you don’t know from the context.
• Check the questions again to be sure
you’ve really understood them.
These questions are usually fairly
straightforward because the answers are stated in the text – but as the text may
be long and the time is short, it’s a test of how quickly you can find the
answers. For this reason, it’s important to scan effectively the information you
need and not to spend time on other parts of the text.
Arbor Day (April 22)
In the 1840s, the midwestern state of Nebraska
was a territory within a wide prairie. When pioneers moved out to settle there,
they found few trees to build houses or to burn for fuel. There was no shade
from the sun or wind, and crops did not grow well in the dry earth.
J. Sterling Morton was one of those pioneers
who moved to the treeless Nebraska territory. He and his wife planted trees
immediately after moving from their hometown of Detroit, Michigan. Morton was a
journalist, and later the editor, of Nebraska’s first newspaper. In his writings,
he advocated planting trees to help life on this vast barren plain.
He became the secretary of the Nebraska
Territory. At a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture in January, 1872,
Morton proposed that citizens of the raw state of Nebraska set aside April 10 as
a day to plant trees. He suggested offering prizes as incentives for communities
and organizations that planted the most trees properly. Everyone welcomed the
idea enthusiastically. Nebraskans planted about one million trees on that first
Arbor Day. Today a visitor to Nebraska would never guess that it was once a
dusty prairie.
In 1882, Nebraska declared its own Arbor Day
as a legal holiday, and the date was changed to Morton’s birthday, April 22.
Because the best tree-planting season changes from region to region, other
states observe the day on different dates. Hawaiians, for example, plant Arbor
Day trees on the first Friday in November!
You are given a list of questions (1-4) and
a list of possible answers to choose from (A – E) These questions ask you to
choose what each of the 4 sections is about. There are 5 possible ideas. Answer
each question by matching a line in A with a line in B.
|
A |
 |
|
Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4
|
a The first Arbor Day b The hardships of the first settlers c Planting competitions on Arbor Day d The people who started the tradition e The dates on which the holiday is observed |
To answer these questions, you need to be
very clear about the development of the writer’s argument or, if it’s a
narrative, about the sequence of events. So read the text carefully and, before
you look at the possible ‘fillers’, think about what kind of information might
be missing in each gap. When you are choosing an answer, look for grammatical
and logical clues.
MEMORIAL DAY
This holiday is a day on which Americans
honor the ________. Originally a day on ________ frogs or flowers were placed on
graves of soldiers who ________ in the American Civil War, it has become a day
on which the dead of all wars and all other dead are ________ the same way.
Families and individuals honor the memories of ________ loved ones who have died.
Church services, visits to the cemetery, flowers on graves, or even silent
tribute mark the day with dignity and solemnity. It is a day of reflection.
However, to many Americans the day also signals the beginning of summer – with a
________ weekend to spend at the beach, in the mountains, or at home ________.
In many ________, special ceremonies are
held in ________ or at monuments for the war dead by veterans of military
services. Some hold parades and ________ hold memorial services or
special programs in churches, schools or other ________ meeting places.
On Memorial Day the President or Vice
President of the USA gives a speech and lays a wreath on the tombs.
VOCABULARY:
dignity äîñòîèíñòâî
solemnity òîğæåñòâåííîñòü
wreath âåíîê
public, people, others, globe,
communities, holiday, cemeteries, three-day, arrange, remembered, weekend, their,
died, theirs, which, famous, dead, relaxing
Answers:
I. 1–b,
I. 2 – c,I.
3 – a
II. a – 3, b –
1, c – 2, d – 1+3
III. People’s reading strategies will vary
as there’s no one right answer
1a – 2
1b – 3
2a – 2
2b – 3
3a – 2+3
3b – 2, 3 (depending on the purpose: for
language practice or for getting information)
IV. 1 –c, 2 –c, 3 –b, 4 –b
VI. 1 dead
2 which
3 died
4 remembered
5 their
6 three-day
By B. Glybina, School No.1152
RESORCE:http://news.1september.ru/eng/1999/eng19-3.htm