Read the way to better English. Работа №18820

“Sitting reading takes no more time and it

gives your language a lot more power”1

Jennifer Basset

Read the way to better English

In our modern society, reading is a particularly crucial skill. In fact, majority of people expect or think reading as a required skill. However, the sad truth remains that while most people can read, not all of them can comprehend properly the passage or body of the text is being read. No matter, whether it is an acquired skill or required skill, it should be developed and taught at the early age. Nowadays, the most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. What is more, reading Literature is very useful and helpful when you learn a language, particularly English. If students manage to read something new every day, learning English becomes an enjoyable journey. From my own experience teaching English language, I have come to the conclusion that using and inserting Oxford Bookworms Series at the lessons of English successfully improve vocabulary, listening, writing skills, and motivation. The Oxford Bookworms library, which provides a wide range of reading material for learners of English. All teachers know that reading is mostly done outside the classroom, although a little classroom time may be devoted to motivating and evaluating the reading. I have been using educational and methodical complex for students of the 6th -11th grades, called “Spotlight”. A distinctive feature of this course is the lesson of additional reading, called Extensive Reading-Across the Curriculum. The tradition of these textbooks (“Spotlight”. "English in focus") is the use of classical, including children's literature as material for reading. In the textbook for the Grade 6th, there is L. Carroll’s fairy tale episode “Alice in Wonderland” . The volume of one episode is to work during the lesson with a complete set tasks to the text. I have already mentioned, that using of The Bookworms Syllabus or The Oxford Bookworms library is useful and brings some diversity in classroom. If you don’t have time to do follow-up work, there are all kinds of Oxford Bookworms Activities and Worksheets, which can be used in class, as a set for homework or holiday tasks. The exercises in the Bookworms are useful for checking comprehension while reading, and for creative activity work. It’s more important for students to read and go on reading. As Jennifer Basset (Oxford Bookworms Series Editor) has said we can get any students to read when they don’t read in their own language, it is to begin lesson with a good story, everybody likes a good story. Use it it as a hook to catch your fish! Try some Jennifer Basset’s ideas:

-Set up a story time in class, perhaps 10 or 15 minutes once a week.

-Read the first page of a story to them, or play the audio recording.

-Retell about an interesting or exciting point, or stop at an interesting point

-Watch video episode from the story.

It is more important for students to go on reading outside class, it will help your students increase their vocabulary and improve their English. As for the teachers, it is very essential to set the students some goals, set them targets and achievements. Let me present to you an Oxford Bookworms’s set exercises for the 6-th grade from L. Carroll’s fairy tale “Alice in Wonderland”. I am sure it will help your students to read their way to better English.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

1.Fill in the gaps using: followed, polite, dream, get, locked, argued, bored, sleepy, woke, hurried.

One day, Alice was sitting under a tree with her sister. She was………..because she had nothing to do. It was a hot day, and she felt very…………………………

Suddenly, she saw a white rabbit. It……….. past her and ran down a large rabbit-hole. Alice………….the rabbit, and she went down the rabbit-hole too. Soon she was in a long, dark room. She saw a little bottle. When she drank from the bottle, she started to…………..smaller. There was a door in the room, but she couldn’t open it because it was……………At last she got out of the room, and met many strange people and animals. She tried to be ……………….to all of them, like the Queen of Hearts,………with her because they were always angry. Later, she …… up. I’ve had a very strange……………………, she told her sister.

2. Match a number from A with a letter from B to make complete sentences.

A:

Alice didn’t like her sister’s book

At first, Alice couldn’t get through the door in the dark room

The mouse got angry with Alice

…..

Alice went into the Duchess’s kitchen

The Queen of Hearts didn’t like the roses

B: a….because she was too big.

b….when she talked about cats.

c….because they were white.

d….because there were no pictures in it.

e….which was full of smoke.

3.Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?

a…The white rabbit took a watch out of its pocket

b…Alice was hurt when she fell down the rabbit-hole

c….The Hatter invited Alice to tea

d….When Alice was holding the Duchess’s baby, it turned into a cat

c….The dormouse liked sleeping

4.Which words are missing? For each sentence, tick a, b, or c.

1.In the long, dark room, there was a glass table with a …on it

a) a cake b) a flower c) a key

2.When the white rabbit saw Alice, he dropped….

a) a bottle b)a plate c) a pair of gloves

3. Alice saw a caterpillar smoking a

a) a pipe b) a cigar c) a cigarrete

4.We’re all …here,’ said the Cheshire Cat.

a) mad b)angry c)happy

5.Alice wasn’t afraid of the Queen of Hearts because the Queen was only…

a) a game b) a card c) a cat

6.At the trial of the Knave of Hearts, Alice wanted to hear…

a) the Queen b) a song c) the evidence

5.In the long, dark room, there was a bottle with a piece of paper round its neck. What were the words on the piece of paper?

………………………………………………………………………………………

Answer key:

1. bored, sleepy, hurried, followed, get, locked, polite, argued, woke, dream

2.1-d; 2-a; 3-b; 4-e; 5-c;

3. a-T; b-F; c-F; d-F; e-T;

4. 1-c; 2-c; 3-a; 4-a; 5-b; 6-c;

5. DRINK ME

References

1.Oxford Bookworms Library: Oxford Bookworms Green series./“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”/,Stage 2. Progressive (UK) Ltd, 2000 p.114

Oxford Bookworms library