ACTIVITY 1 READING COMPREHENSION AND WRITING SKILLS B2 READING FOR SPECIFIC INFORMATION

MASTERS STUDENT MIGUEL ANDRS ESTUPIN LIZARAZO

VIRTUAL FACILITATOR WILMAR CASTAO MUOZ

EAST CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY IN AGREEMENT WITH NORTH CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION MASTER OF EDUCATION B2 ENGLISH READER COMPETITION 2013

READING COMPREHENSION AND WRITING SKILLS B2 - UNIT 1 READING FOR SPECIFIC INFORMATION

TOPIC 1: READING TO INFER THE SOCIAL COMMUNICATIVE PURPOSE OF A TEXT Objectives: Reading to infer the social communicative purpose of a text. Description: In this topic, students will focus on how infer information related to social topics. Many people have trouble reading. Reading is somewhat difficult for some people it can take time. Reading is the process of the brain where you can see the symbols on a page and your mind can see the patterns of the characters and understand the meaning of them. If you develop good reading skills, will be helpful in the future. Here are some steps and tips to get started. READING TIPS Find something to read. Examples include a children's book, a newspaper article a short story. Gives each letter as best you can and you will notice that the letters form a word type. Find a place to read where you can concentrate. This place may be where nobody bothers or just at home in a moment that there is no noise. Start your reading looking at the pictures or listening to music to get an idea about what you read. Start with titles, names or paragraphs largest letter on which you know or thought. Read everything you can. When you start to get bored or need a break, take it. Reading should be fun and enjoyable, do not forcefully. After the break, back to where you were and continue. Reads the material again. Okay reread something if you do not understand completely the first time. Go to the library and pick up several books. Choose books depending on your reading level, no matter what your age.

Read the page carefully. Do not rush, take your time. Most people believe that the words quickly see is a way to read with speed, but definitely this is not true. Reads again. If you do not understand what they are reading, reread the statement. Try to read the words aloud to yourself. If you do not understand something, ask a good reader who is close to you explain the meaning of utterances or just choose a book that is easier to read, that is also appropriate to your reading level. You can use your finger as a pointer; can help keep your eyes focused on the line you're reading, improving your understanding.

THE PURPOSE OF A TEXT Based on generic structure and language feature dominantly used, texts are divided into several types. They are narrative, recount, descriptive, report, explanation, analytical exposition, hortatory exposition, among others. These variations are known as genres. TO ENTERTAIN: Something read for pleasure or enjoyment, can also involve imagination. INSTRUCTIONAL TEXT: Tells how something should be done through a series of steps INFORMATION TEXT: Gives the facts about something. EXPLANATION TEXT: Tells how or why something happened, e.g. how something works DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: Actual events, places or objects PERSUASIVE TEXT: Present arguments and information from different viewpoints, to change or influence the readers way of thinking NARRATIVE TEXTS: A narrative is one in which reign the factual and events over the expression of feelings. In a narrative there are characters to which things happen, are interrelated and dialogue, is characterized by using past tense sentences with action verb and arranged chronologically. RECOUNT TEXTS: Narrative and recount in some ways are similar. Both are telling something in the past, it aims to retell something that happened in the past and to tell a series of past events

REPORT TEXTS: The informative text is written that disclosing reality objectively as the events focusing on conveying some knowledge. This format is characterized by a denotative use of language, which supports a single meaning, avoiding emotional expressions, emotional and aesthetic

TOPIC 2: USING DIFFERENT READING SKILLS TO GRASP INFORMATION FROM A TEXT AND ITS REFERENTS Objectives: At the end of this topic, students must be able to use different reading skills to grasp information from a text and its referents. Description: In this topic, students will be able to find specific information on a text in a rapid manner.

SCANNING Scanning is a strategy to improve reading abilities since it increases the speed and comprehension of the text. It is a quick overview of text to find particular information. Lets skip irrelevant sections of the text. Some authors use different techniques as font and color, to call attention to specific words or phrases. To scan a text you need: Do not read word for word Read faster. Spending many words.

READING WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF EVERY WORD GUESSING MEANING FROM CONTEXT: Use the clues it gives you the context to know what the meaning of a word is. The tracks of a word are when a person discovers the meaning of a word to see how the word was used in the statement.

For example, you read the following statement and want to know what does the word "pessimistic: My mom is always happy and optimistic, totally opposite of my brother, the pessimist. So you can tell, by the statement that the word pessimistic means the opposite of happy, means sulking and angry. Experienced Good readers always use context clues. If you find a word you cannot understand, use the dictionary. If you want to save time and trouble to be turning the pages, go to an online dictionary. GRAMMAR POINT SOME MODAL VERBS IN THE PAST (WITH HAVE): CANT HAVE & NEEDNT HAVE STRUCTURE: Pronoun + modal + (not) + have + past participle of the main verb + complement Example: I cannot have failed the exam! Cant have expresses certainty: I am sure I did not fail the exam. + modal + (not) + have + past participle of the main verb + complement Example: You need not have repaired that framework! Neednt have expresses an unnecessary action that was actually done :

Pronoun

Example: You already repaired that framework but it was not necessary because I dont like it anymore. WRITING SKILLS Relating reading to personal experience allows you to talk more easily about the topic. To do this, you will need to clearly summarize what the author say in their

text(s), and clearly describe your own personal experience, explaining how it is similar to or different from what the author(s) discuss(es).

ORTHOGRAPHIC POINT BASIC WRITING SKILLS When we write a composition, it is not enough to have good ideas or persuasive arguments. It is important to express them correctly.

Word order: Subject + Verb + Object + Complements (manner place time) I found the book easily at the library yesterday

Subject-verb agreement: The subject and the verb must agree in number. For example, when the subject is singular, the verb must also be singular: "She sings well" Some nouns are always followed by a singular verb (everything, news, furniture, information) Some nouns are followed by a plural verb (people, children, police, trousers) TOPIC 3: WRITING REPORTS ABOUT SPECIFIC TOPICS OF INTEREST Objectives: At the end of this topic, students must be able to write a report about a specific topic of interest. Description: In this topic, students will focus on how to write a report. You will learn what a report is how it is constructed and, finally, you will be asked to write one your own report of a text given.

WRITING A REPORT 1. Write your introduction. Your intro is where you introduce your topic and state your thesis. Your intro should be engaging but not corny--the goal should be to hook the reader so that they want to read the rest of your report. You should provide some background information on your topic and then state your thesis so that the reader knows what the report is going to be about. 2. Write your body paragraphs. The body paragraphs are where you state your evidence that supports your thesis. Each body paragraph consists of a topic sentence and evidence supporting the topic sentence. The topic sentence introduces the main idea of the body paragraph and links the paragraph back to the thesis. 3. Support your topic sentence. After you write your topic sentence in the body paragraph, provide evidence found in your research that supports your topic sentence. This evidence can be descriptions of things mentioned in your topic sentence, quotes from experts on the subjects, or more information about the topic listed. 4. Write your conclusion. This paragraph both summarizes your thesis again, and provides your final thoughts on your topic. It should reiterate to the reader what the reader should be taking away from your report.

ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS Definitions: Adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. They may come before the word they describe (That is a cute puppy.) or they may follow the word they describe (That puppy is cute.).

Adverbs are words that modify everything but nouns and pronouns. They modify adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs. A word is an adverb if it answers how, when, or where. The only adverbs that cause grammatical problems are those that answer the question how, so focus on these

Rules 1. Generally, if a word answers the question how, it is an adverb. If it can have an -ly added to it, place it there. Examples: She thinks slow/slowly. She thinks how? Slowly. She is a slow/slowly thinker. Slow does not answer how, so no -ly is attached. Slow is an adjective here. She thinks fast/ fastly. Fast answers the question how, so it is an adverb. But fast never has an -ly attached to it. We performed bad/badly. Badly describes how we performed

2. A special -ly rule applies when four of the senses - taste, smell, look, feel are the verbs. Do not ask if these senses answer the question how to determine if -ly should be attached. Instead, ask if the sense verb is being used actively. If so, use the -ly.

Examples: Roses smell sweet/sweetly. Do the roses actively smell with noses? No, so no -ly.

The woman looked angry/angrily. Did the woman actively look with eyes or are we describing her appearance? We are only describing appearance, so no -ly. The woman looked angry/angrily at the paint splotches. Here the woman did actively look with eyes, so the -ly is added. She feels bad/badly about the news. She is not feeling with fingers, so no -ly.