SKKN SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT TEACHING SKILLS TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI Đơn vị: Trường THPT Long Thành _ Mã số:……………………… SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT TEACHING SKILLS TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS Người thực hiện: Trần Thị Thủy Tiên Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu: Quản lý giáo dục:  Phương pháp dạy học môn:  Phương pháp giáo dục:  Lĩnh vực khác:  Có đính kèm:  Mô hình  Phần mềm  Phim ảnh Năm học: 2011 – 2012  Hiện vật khác SƠ LƯỢC LÝ LỊCH KHOA HỌC I THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ CÁ NHÂN: Họ tên: TRẦN THỊ THỦY TIÊN Ngày tháng năm sinh: 01 / 01 / 1968 Nam, Nữ: Nữ Địa chỉ: Tổ 19, Khu Phước Hải, Thị trấn Long thành, huyện Long Thành, tỉnh Đồng Nai Điện thoại: 0613844281 (CQ); 0613 546764 (NR) Chức vụ: Giáo viên Trung học phổ thong Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Long Thành II TRÌNH ĐỘ ĐÀO TẠO: - Trình độ chuyên môn cao nhất: Cử nhân tiếng Anh - Năm nhận bằng: 1990 - Chuyên ngành đào tạo: Tiếng Anh III KINH NGHIỆM KHOA HỌC: - Lĩnh vực chuyên môn có kinh nghiệm: Giảng dạy - Số năm có kinh nghiệm: 20 năm - Các sáng kiến kinh nghiệm có năm gần đây: • Some thoughts about teaching vocabulary in grade 10 in High Schools • Some thoughts about teaching reading skill in High Schools Name of Experience Initiative: SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT TEACHING SKILLS TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS PART I BACKGROUND AND THE REASON FOR THE STUDY The impetus for this study comes from my own year-to-year efforts to teach students to the Reading comprehension tests in Grades 10, 11, 12 in Long Thanh High School I feel that the majority of students always find it hard to this type of tests At first sight, they not figure out the content of the passage, but they are not patient enough to read the passage to the end under the pressure of time during the test Also, this part accounts for a small percentage in the whole test As a result, students usually put this part aside and return to it at the end of the test time At that time, students will make ticks on this part without intention On the other hand, teachers rarely show or sometimes refuse to teach students how to the Reading Comprehension test due to the seemingly unsuccessful results despite their unfailing endeavor to improve students’ reading Although there have been plenty of descriptions of what teachers have done or what materials have been presented, there have still been few practical results of how or / and what our students learn To help students of High School confidently come in the coming final test, Thanh Nien Paper holds a live consultancy instructing students to revise for the final exam with the topic “To get good mark in the GCSE examination” at 2p.m on April 3rd, 2012 In that talk, Ms Tran Thi Huyen Thanh – Head of English Section, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School, Ho Chi Minh City assumed that the part in which students usually make the most errors is Reading Comprehension because students have a small number of vocabulary She said that in a passage of English, students often not master all the vocabulary, so they cannot understand the meaning of the passage She advises that students should carefully read each sentence and calmly read the whole passage in order to analyze the meaning of the sentences Owing to the necessities, I have made up my mind to choose “Some thoughts about teaching skills to Reading comprehension tests” as my topic of the study II AIM OF THE STUDY: With the above mentioned reasons in mind, I have the specific aims as follows: To help students improve the skills of doing reading comprehension tests To encourage students to confidently cope with this type of tests so as to complete the tests at best they can To encourage students to get full mark on this part of test III SOURCE OF THE STUDY: The materials that have been greatly valuable to my study are from the book of Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, University of Science - Toefl, Preparation Course, Reading Comprehension Besides, the examples to illustrate my thesis are all in the textbooks - Tiếng Anh 10, 12 – Nhà xuất Giáo dục, and also from the latest one-period tests as well as the first and second semester tests PART I SITUATION JUDGMENT: As regards the teaching of reading, I not totally deny the energies the teachers in explaining the text However, in discussion with the teachers in our school, I feel that our investment of energies in teaching the reading part is meaningless It is because most students learn in advance from the Instruction Books the content of the text in Vietnamese, not in English, while teachers take no notice of that Little by little, students get a habit of being unable to read the English passages by themselves They always expect their teachers to translate the passages into Vietnamese, or choose the options with no intention As for teachers, after asking students, especially good students, to translate the text, or doing it for the worse students, teachers let students the tasks without giving any explanation Consequently, students get confused and not know what they need to find from the text and how to choose the answers In the end, students refuse to read the passage or read them without intention, then choose the answers randomly and never know whether their answers are right or not As a result, students put no efforts into the part of Reading Comprehension I always see that the greatest problem students face in any English paper is Reading Comprehension Students either spend much time on it without knowing for sure the answers or it without intention As for me, I would like to present in this paper some following skills to help my colleagues teach students how to get over this problem so that the latter can this part more easily and exactly I hope that my topic “Some thoughts about teaching skills to Reading comprehension tests” can result in effective ways in teaching students how to complete their tests perfectly II TEACHING SKILLS TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS: Each reading passage is often followed by questions of reading comprehension and vocabulary Topics of the reading passage are varied, but they are often informational subjects such as history, literature, art, architecture, geology, geography, and astronomy Time is definitely a factor in the Reading Comprehension Some students, especially average students, note that they are unable to finish all the questions in this section Others cannot understand what the passage is about, so they without intention and don’t know surely if their answer is true Therefore, they need to make the most efficient use of their time in this section to get the highest score The following method is the best way of attacking a reading passage to get the most questions correct in a limited amount of time STRAGIES FOR THE READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS Skim the reading passage to determine the main idea and the overall organizations of ideas in the passage You not need to understand every detail in each passage to answer the questions correctly It is therefore a waste of time to read the passage with the intent of understanding every single detail before you try to answer the questions Look ahead at the questions to determine what types of questions you must answer Each type of question is answered in a different way Find the section of the passage that deals with each question The question – type tells you exactly where to look in the passage to find correct answers - For main ideas questions, look at the first line of each paragraph - For directly and indirectly answered detail questions, choose a key word in the question, and skim for that key word (or a related idea) in order in the passage - For vocabulary questions, the questions will tell you where the word is located in the passage - For overall review questions, the answers are found anywhere in the passage Read the part of the passage that contains the answers carefully The answer will probably be in the same sentence (or one sentence before or after) the key word or idea Choose the best answer to each question from the four answer choices listed in the textbook The best answer can be chosen according to what is given in the appropriate section of the passage, eliminate definitely wrong answers, and mark the best guess on the answer sheet The following skills will help students to implement these strategies in the Reading passage of the test A QUESTIONS ABOUT THE IDEAS OF THE PASSAGE It is very common for reading passages of the test to have questions about the overall ideas in the passage The most common type of question asks about the main idea, topic, title, or subject Skill Answer main idea questions correctly Students may be asked to identify the topic, subject, title, primary idea, or main idea These questions are all really asking what primary point that the author is trying to get across in the passage, and it is not difficult to find the main idea by studying the topic sentence, which is most probably found at the beginning of a paragraph If the passage consists of only one paragraph, students should study the beginning of that paragraph to determine the main idea If a passage consists of more than one paragraph, students study the beginning to determine the main idea Example In the Second Semester Test, Grade 12, year 2010-2011, Code AV 121, the Reading comprehension is that: The Asian Beach Games is a multi – sport event held every two years among athletes representing countries from Asia The games are regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia The first Games were held in 2008 in Bali, Indonesia This Games will be composed of sports with strong television appeal such as windsurfing, kite boarding, swimming, beach volleyball, beach handball, beach soccer, and dragon boat racing The Asian Indoor Games is a multi – sport event held every two years among athletes representing countries from Asia The Games are regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia The first Games were held in Bangkok, Thailand This Games will be composed by sports with TV broadcasting potential and not included in the Asian Games and Winter Asia Games Programs and are not Olympic sports The sports program will comprise from six to eight exciting sports with strong television appeal, including electronic sports, extreme sports, aerobics, acrobatics, indoor athletics, dance sports, inline hockey, fin swimming, and 25 meters short course swimming Question 27 The passage is about ………………………… A The Asian Beach Games and the Asian Indoor Games B The Olympic Council of Asia C The Asian Games and Winter Asian Games Programs D The Asian Indoor Games and Winter Asian Games Programs In the above given passage, there are four paragraphs Students should be sure to read the first sentence of each paragraph to determine the subject, title, or main idea In Example 1, the first sentence of the first paragraph of this passage discusses the Asian Beach Games, and the second paragraph begins with “this Games”, which means that it is about the Asian Beach Games The first sentence of the third paragraph tells of the Asian Indoor Games, about which the fourth paragraph tells, also beginning with “this Games” So the whole passage discusses the two kinds of games: the Asian Beach Games and the Asian Indoor Games Therefore, the best choice is answer A The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about main idea questions: MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS HOW TO What is the topic of the passage? IDENTIFY THE What is the subject of the passage? QUESTIONS What is the main idea of the passage? What is the author’s main point in the passage? With what is the author primarily concerned? Which of the following would be the best title? WHERE TO FIND The answer to this type of question can generally be THE ANSWER determined by looking at the first sentence of each paragraph HOW TO Read the first line of each paragraph ANSWER THE Look for a common theme or idea in the first lines QUESTION Pass your eyes quickly over the rest of the passage to check that you really have found the topic sentence(s) Eliminate any definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices B DIRECTLY ANSWERED QUESTIONS Skill Answer stated detail questions correctly A stated detail question asks about one piece of information in the passage rather than the passage as a whole The answers to these questions are generally given in order in the passage, and the correct answer is often a restatement of what is given in the passage This means that the correct answer often expresses the same idea as what is written in the passage, but the words are not exactly the same Example 2: In English 10, page 45 and 46, Unit “Special Education”, Part Reading, the second paragraph: At first, there was a lot of opposition from the parents of the disabled children They used to believe that their children could not learn anything at all In the first week, only five children attended the class Gradually more children arrived Their parents realized that the young teacher was making great efforts to help their poor kids Task 2: Question 2: At first the parents were the idea of sending their children to the special class A interested in B opposed to C satisfied with D worried about Since in the first sentence of the paragraph, there is the noun “opposition”, we can see from the four answers the verb “opposed” in the answer B, they are in a family So the answer B is the best one The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about stated detail questions: STATED DETAIL QUESTIONS HOW TO According to the passage, … IDENTIFY THE It is stated in the passage … QUESTION The passage indicates that … The author mentions that … Which of the following is true …? WHERE TO FIND The answers to these questions are found in order in the THE ANSWER passage HOW TO Choose a key word in the question ANSWER THE Skim in the appropriate part of the passage for the key QUESTION word or idea Read the sentence that contains the key word or idea carefully Look for the answer that restates an idea in the passage Eliminate the definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices Skill Find “unstated” details Students will sometimes be asked to find an answer that is not stated or not mentioned or not true in the passage This type of question really means that three of the answers are stated, mentioned, or true in the passage, while one answer is not The actual job is to find the three correct answers and then choose the letter of the one remaining answer The teacher asks students to notice that there are two kinds of answers to this type of question: 1) There are three true answers and one answer that is not discussed in the passage 10 2) There are three true answers and one that is false according to the passage Example 3: In English 12, page 163 and 164, Unit 15 “Woman in Society”, Part Reading, the last paragraph: Today, although their status varies in different countries, women in most parts of the world have gained significant legal rights The most important of these are: the right to have equal work opportunities and pay to men, the right to vote, and the right to formal education Task 2: Question 5: Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the last paragraph as one of women’s legal rights today? A the right to hold property B the right to equal pay C equal employment opportunity rights D the right to vote The question asks for the one answer that is not mentioned, so three of the answers are listed in the passage and one is not Since the right to equal pay, equal employment opportunity rights, the right to vote, are listed in the passage, answers B, C, and D are incorrect However, the right to hold property is not listed in the passage, so answer D is the best answer to this question The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about “unstated” detail questions: HOW TO IDENTIFY THE QUESTION WHERE TO FIND THE ANSWER HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION “UNSTATED” DETAIL QUESTIONS Which of the following is not stated …? Which of the following is not mentioned …? Which of the following is not discussed …? All of the following are true except …? The answers to these questions are found in order in the passage Choose a key word in the question Scan in the appropriate place in the passage for the key word (or related idea) Read the sentence that contains the key word or idea carefully Look for answers that are definitely true according to the passage Eliminate those answers Choose the answer that is not true or not discussed in the passage 11 Skill Find pronoun referents In the Reading comprehension of the test, you will sometimes be asked to determine which noun a pronoun refers to In this type of question it is important to understand that a noun is generally used first in a passage, and the pronoun that refers to it comes after Whenever you are asked which noun a pronoun refers to, you should look before the pronoun to find the noun Example 4: In the Second Semester Test, Grade 12, year 2011-2012, Code AV 101, the Reading comprehension is that: Arctic Ice May Disappear in a Decade A new report on global warming predicts the frozen Arctic Ocean will soon be like a normal sea in the summers There are shocking changes happening in the polar environment and its fragile eco-systems For millions of years, the sea around the North Pole has been frozen all year round Recent research from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Catlin Atlantic Survey show things are changing fast They predict that within a decade, the Arctic will be largely ice-free in the summer They base their prediction on the rate at which the sea ice is currently thinning The lead researcher, professor Peter Wadhams said, “The area is now more likely to become open water each summer, bringing forward the potential date when the summer sea ice will be completely gone.” An ice-free Arctic will have consequences for the whole world’s weather patterns The Arctic sea ice is a key part of the Earth’s climate system Experts call it Earth’s “refrigerator” They said that as it disappears, the world will become a lot warmer Scientists are still unclear exactly what changes there will be to our weather Forecasters predict an increase in all kinds of disasters and extreme weather events These include massive flooding, much more dangerous hurricanes and the spread of the world’s deserts These new findings provide an urgent call for world leaders to act The timing of the WWF report is a reminder to those attending the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December Rich countries will face pressure to agree to reduce their carbon emissions by40 per cent by 2020 Question: 33 What does the word “it” in paragraph refer to? A the Arctic sea ice B climate system C refrigerator D the Earth To answer this question, students should look before the pronoun it for singular nouns that pronoun could refer to An ice sea Arctic, the Arctic sea ice, the Earth’s climate system come before the pronoun, so they are possible answers Then students should try the three possible answers in the sentence in place of the 12 pronoun From the following sentence students should notice that as it disappears, the world will become a lot warmer , so the best answer to this question is answer A The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about pronoun referents: HOW TO IDENTIFY THE QUESTION WHERE TO FIND THE ANSWER HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION PRONOUN REFERENTS The pronoun “…” in line X refers to which of the following? The line where the pronoun is located is generally given in the question The noun that the pronoun refers to is generally found before the pronoun Find the pronoun in the passage (The line where the pronoun can be found is generally stated in the question.) Look for nouns that come before the pronoun Read the part of the passage before the pronoun carefully Eliminate any definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices C INDIRECTLY ANSWER QUESTIONS Some questions of the Reading Comprehension section of the test will require answers that are not directly stated in the passage To answer these questions correctly, you will have to draw conclusions from information that is given in the passage Two common types of indirectly answer questions are: (1) implied detail questions and (2) transition questions Skill Answer implied detail questions correctly You will sometimes be asked to answer a question by drawing a conclusion from a specific detail are details in the passage Questions of this type contain the words implied, inferred, likely, or probably to let you know that the answer to the question is not directly stated In this type of question it is important to understand that you not have to “pull the answer out of thin air.” Instead, some information will be given in the passage, and you will draw a conclusion from that information 13 Example 5: In English 10, page 45 and 46, Unit “Special Education”, Part Reading, the second paragraph is : At first, there was a lot of opposition from the parents of the disabled children They used to believe that their children could not learn anything at all In the first week, only five children attended the class Gradually more children arrived Their parents realized that the young teacher was making great efforts to help their poor kids Task 2: Question 3: It can be inferred from the second paragraph of the reading passage that there has been A a change in the parents’ attitude towards the class B a lot of protest from the parents against the class C a feeling of doubt in the teacher’s ability D a belief in the parents’ opposition To answer this question, students should refer to the part of the passage where it states that in the past the parents had a lot of opposition, but now they don’t, so the answer B is incorrect It also says that their parents realized that the young teacher was making great efforts to help their poor kids, which means the parents don’t have the feeling of doubt in the teacher’s ability, then the answer C is incorrect, too The sentence “Gradually more children arrived” shows that the parents have a change in the parents’ attitude towards the class, so the answer D can’t be correct and the best answer is A The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about implied detail questions: HOW TO IDENTIFY THE QUESTION WHERE TO FIND THE ANSWER HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION IMPLIED DETAIL QUESTION It is implied in the passage that … It can be inferred from the passage that … It is most likely that … What probably happened …? The answers to these questions are found in order in the passage Choose a key word in the passage Scan the passage for the key word (or a related idea) Carefully read the sentence that contains the key word Look for a answer that could be true, according to that sentence 14 D VOCABULARY QUESTIONS In the Reading Comprehension section of the test, there will be a number of vocabulary questions To answer this type of question, it is of course useful if you know the meaning of the word that the test is testing However, it is not always necessary for you to know the meaning of the word; often there are skills that you can use to help you find the correct answer to the question: (1) finding definitions from structural clues; (2) determining meanings from the word parts, and (3) using context clues to determine meanings Skill Find definitions from structural clues When you are asked to determine the meaning of a word in the Reading Comprehension section of the test, it is possible (1) that the passage provides information about the meaning of the word, and (2) that there are structural clues to tell you that the definition of a word is included in the passage Example 6: In law, a nuisance is an act that has no legal justification and which interferes with the safety or comfort of other people Public nuisances, those which are injurious to the community, may be prosecuted as crimes Question: A nuisance is _ A a protective law B an injurious act C a legal justification D a safety precaution We should choose answer B because a “nuisance” is an act which interferes with the safety of others, that is, an injurious act The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about structural clues to help you understand unknown vocabulary words: STRUCTURAL CLUES HOW TO What is …? IDENTIFY THE What is the meaning of …? QUESTION What is true about …? TYPES OF Punctuation: comma, parentheses, dashes CLUES Restatement: or, that is, in other words, i.e Examples: such as, for example, e.g 15 WHERE TO FIND Information to help you determine what something means THE ANSWER will generally be found after the punctuation clue, the restatement clue, or the example clue HOW TO Find the word in the passage ANSWER THE Locate any structural clues QUESTION Read the part of the passage after the structural clue carefully Eliminate any definitely wrong answer and choose the best answer from the remaining choices Skill Use context to determine meanings of difficult words On the test you will sometimes be asked to determine the meanings of the difficult words, a word that you are not expected to know In this case, the passage will give you a clear indication of what the word means Example 7: In the Second Semester Test, Grade 12, year 2011-2012, Code AV 101, the Reading comprehension is as follows: Arctic Ice May Disappear in a Decade A new report on global warming predicts the frozen Arctic Ocean will soon be like a normal sea in the summers There are shocking changes happening in the polar environment and its fragile eco-systems For millions of years, the sea around the North Pole has been frozen all year round Recent research from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Catlin Atlantic Survey show things are changing fast They predict that within a decade, the Arctic will be largely ice-free in the summer They base their prediction on the rate at which the sea ice is currently thinning The lead researcher, professor Peter Wadhams said, “The area is now more likely to become open water each summer, bringing forward the potential date when the summer sea ice will be completely gone.” An ice-free Arctic will have consequences for the whole world’s weather patterns The Arctic sea ice is a key part of the Earth’s climate system Experts call it Earth’s “refrigerator” They said that as it disappears, the world will become a lot warmer Scientists are still unclear exactly what changes there will be to our weather Forecasters predict an increase in all kinds of disasters and extreme weather events These include massive flooding, much more dangerous hurricanes and the spread of the world’s deserts These new findings provide an urgent call for world leaders to act The timing of the WWF report is a reminder to those attending the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December Rich countries will face pressure to agree to reduce their carbon emissions by40 per cent by 2020 16 Question 32: The word “fragile” in the passage mostly means ………………… A easily broken B easily damaged C physically weak D extremely complicated To answer this question, students should look at the sentence that contains the word fragile It comes before the word eco-system, which means that it is an adjective of the latter word So it cannot be easily broken, physically weak or extremely complicated, then answers A, C, and D are incorrect As a result, answer B is the best answer to this question The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about vocabulary questions containing difficult words: VOCABULARY QUESTIONS CONTAINING DIFFICULT WORDS HOW TO “What is the meaning …?” IDENTIFY THE “Which of the following is closest in meaning to …?” QUESTION The word is a difficult word, one that you probably not know WHERE TO FIND The question usually tells you in which line of the passage THE ANSWER the word can be found HOW TO Find the word in the passage ANSWER THE Read the sentence that contains the word carefully QUESTION Look for context clues to help you understand the meaning Choose the answer that the context indicates Skill Use context to determine meanings of simple words You will sometimes be asked to determine the meaning of a simple word, a word that you see often in everyday English In this type of question, you should not give the normal, everyday meaning of the word; instead, the test wants to know the meaning of the word in this situation Example 8: A line from the passage: … He put his answer this way … Question: The word “put” is closest in meaning to which of the following? A placed B set C expressed D handed In this type of question, students should understand that put is a normal, everyday word, and they are not being asked to give the regular meaning of a normal, everyday word Because the primary meaning of to put is to place, answer A is not 17 the correct answer To answer this type of question students must see which of the answers best fits into the sentence in the passage We cannot place an answer or set an answer or hand an answer, but we can express an answer, so answer C is the best answer to this question The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about vocabulary questions containing simple words VOCABULARY QUESTIONS CONTAINING SIMPLE WORDS HOW TO “What is the meaning …?” IDENTIFY THE “Which of the following is closest in meaning to …?” QUESTION The word is a simple word, one that you see often in everyday English WHERE TO FIND The question usually tells you in which line of the passage THE ANSWER the word can be found HOW TO Find the word in the passage ANSWER THE Read the sentence that contains the word carefully QUESTION Look for context clues to help you understand the meaning Choose the answer that the context indicates E OVERALL REVIEW QUESTIONS Often in the Reading Comprehension section of the test, the last question (or two) for a particular reading passage is an overall question, one that asks about the passage as a whole rather than one small detail The overall review questions are generally not main idea questions; instead they ask about some other aspect of the passage as a whole The most common types of overall review questions are (1) questions that ask where in the passage something is found; (2) questions about the tones of the passage; (3) questions about the author’s purpose in writing the passage, or (4) questions about which course the passage might be a part of Skill Determine the tone, purpose, or course Other types of overall review questions occur occasionally in the Reading Comprehension section of the test Possible questions of this type are those that ask about: (1) the tone of the passage; (2) the author’s purpose in writing the passage, and 18 A question about the tone is asking if the author is showing any emotion in his or her writing The majority of the passages on the test are factual passages presented without any emotion; the tone of this type of passage could be simply informational, explanatory, or factual Sometimes on the test, however, the author shows some emotion, and you must be able to recognize that emotion to answer a question about tone correctly If the author is being funny, then the tone might be humorous; if the author is making fun of something, the tone might be sarcastic; if the author feels strongly that something is right or wrong, the tone might be impassioned A question about purpose is asking what the author is trying to in the passage You can draw a conclusion about the author’s purpose by referring to the main idea and the organization of details in the passage For example, if the main idea is that George Washington’s early life greatly influenced his later career and if the details give a history of his early life, the author’s purpose could be to show how George Washington’s early life influenced his later career However, the answer to a purpose question is often considerably more general than the main idea A more general author’s purpose for the main idea about George Washington would be to demonstrate the influence of early experiences on later life (without any mention of George Washington) Example 9: In English 10, page 45 and 46, Unit “Special Education”, Part Reading: A TEACHER IN A SPECIAL CLASS Like other teachers, Pham Thu Thuy enjoys her teaching job However, her class is different from other classes The twenty-five children, who are learning how to read and write in her class, are disabled Some are deaf, some dumb and others mentally retarded Most of the children come from large and poor families, which prevents them from having proper schooling At first, there was a lot of opposition from the parents of the disabled children They used to believe that their children could not learn anything at all In the first week, only five children attended the class Gradually more children arrived Their parents realized that the young teacher was making great efforts to help their poor kids Watching Thuy taking a class, one can see how time-consuming the work is During a maths lesson, she raised both arms and opened up her fingers one by one until all ten stood up She then closed the fingers one by one She continued the demonstration until the children realized they had just learned how to add and subtract The children have every reason to be proud of their efforts They know a new world is opening up for them 19 Question 5: The writer’s attitude towards Thuy’s work in the passage can be described as _ A humorous B angry C suspicious D admiring The question asks about the tone (writer’s attitude) of the passage To determine the tone of a passage, students should look for any indications of emotion on the part of the writer In this passage, the writer shows the great efforts the teacher has made to help the poor kids who later see a new horizon opening up for them Therefore, the best answer to this question is answer D There is nothing in the passage to indicate any humor A, anger B, or suspicion C on the part of the writer The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about tone, purpose, or course questions: TONE, PURPOSE, OR COURSE TO Tone: What is the tone of the passage? THE Purpose: What is the author’s purpose in this passage? HOW IDENTIRY QUESTION WHERE TO FIND Tone: THE ANSWER There will be clues throughout the passage that the author is showing some emotion rather than just presenting facts Purpose: Draw a conclusion about the purpose form the main idea and supporting details HOW TO Tone: Skim the passage looking for clues that the ANSWER THE author is showing some emotion QUESTION Choose the answer that identifies the emotion Purpose: Study the main idea in the topic sentence and the details used to support the main idea Draw a conclusion about the purpose III EFFECTS OF THE STUDY: Over a year of teaching according to the previously given rules, I found that my students’ skill of doing the reading comprehension has improved remarkably This study has been used in the school year 2011 – 2012 at classes 10A1, 12A1, 12A2, and 12B1, and the result is as follows: 20 Before the study: Class 10A1 12A1 12A2 12B1 Not very well 30/45 21/43 24/42 37/45 Students’ number of doing tasks % well 66.7 15/45 48.8 22/43 57.1 18/42 82.2 8/45 % 33.3 51.2 42.9 17.8 Students’ number of doing tasks % well 22.2 35/45 14 37/43 23.8 32/42 44.4 25/45 % 77.8 86 76.2 55.6 After the study: Class 10A1 12A1 12A2 12B1 Not very well 10/45 6/43 10/42 20/45 Together with this result, my students are not only confident to the type of Reading Comprehension test but also able to get full mark in it They are no longer scared of coping with the Reading Comprehension tests Instead of that, they are eager to this part because it make their scores perfect 21 PART CONCLUSION This article has reviewed some practical ways to teach students how to the Reading part in their tests It can be thought that the tips or strategies mentioned above are not always completely effective However, I have lately succeeded myself in using them for teaching skills how to the Reading part in the tests I found that the attitude of students towards the Reading Comprehension tests has changed They have eagerly tried to their best in completing the part of reading comprehension of their tests I hope that this article will prove useful to some of my readers, especially the teachers of grade 12, who badly need to provide their students with skills of fulfilling their coming final examinations Besides, this kind of skill is helpful for all students who have English tests in all examinations Most of the students follow the teacher’s instructions and know for sure what to I have found it less time-consuming and more labor-efficient from a practical point of view Above all, through the Reading passages, students gain a good command of such fields as cultures, societies, peoples, and so on, of other countries in the world The measures I’ve given out are just from my own experiences during the process of teaching students in grades 10 and 12 I have not appointed to teach grade 11, so I have not dealt with the texts in grade 11’s curriculum I think that with the affection for our students and with the devotion to teaching, we – the teachers – will have more methods of teaching language, because our aim is to help our students become good learners Above here are only my little ideas, I am looking forward to receiving your comments so that I may more and more improve my teaching in English 22 REFERENCES Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, University of Science, Toeft, Preparation Course, Reading Comprehension, Bộ Giáo dục Đào tạo, Tiếng Anh 10, Nhà xuất Giáo dục Bộ Giáo dục Đào tạo, Tiếng Anh 12, Nhà xuất Giáo dục Michael A.Pyle M.A., Mary Ellen Munoz Page M.A., Jerry Bobrow, Ph.D., Cliffs Toefl Preparation Guide, CBT Updated and Revised 2004-2005, Nhà xuất trẻ Pamela J Sharpe, Ph.D., Toefl iBT 2006-2007-2008, 12th Edition, Nhà xuất trẻ NGƯỜI THỰC HIỆN TRẦN THỊ THỦY TIÊN 23 TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE PART I Background and the reason for the study II Aim of the study III Source of the study 4 5 I Situation judgment II Teaching skills to Reading Comprehension tests 6 PART A Questions about the ideas of the passage Skill B Directly answered questions Skill Skill Skill C Indirectly answer questions Skill D Vocabulary questions Skill Skill Skill E Overall review questions Skill 9 10 12 13 13 15 15 16 17 18 18 III Effects of the study 20 Conclusion 22 22 PART REFERENCES 23 24 BM04-NXĐGSKKN SỞ GD & ĐT ĐỒNG NAI CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM Đơn vị ……………………… Độc lập – Tự – Hạnh phúc …………………., ngày tháng năm 2012 PHIẾU NHẬN XÉT, ĐÁNH GIÁ SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM Năm học: 2011 – 2012 Tên sáng kiến kinh nghiệm: …………………………… ………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Họ tên tác giả: ………… …………………Đơn vị (Tổ):……………………… Lĩnh vực: Quản lý giáo dục: ………  Phương pháp dạy học môn ………………. Phương pháp giáo dục…… Lĩnh vực khác………………… ……………. Tính mới: - Có giải pháp hoàn toàn  - Có giải pháp cải tiến, dổi từ giải pháp có  Hiệu quả; - Hoàn toàn triển khai áp dụng toàn ngành có hiệu cao  - Có tính cải tiến đổi từ giải pháp có triển khai áp dụng toàn ngành có hiệu cao  - Hoàn toàn triển khai áp dụng đơn vị có hiệu cao  - Có tính cải tiến đổi từ giải pháp có triển khai áp dụng đơn vị có hiệu  Khả áp dụng: - Cung cấp luận khoa học cho việc hoạch định đường lối, sách: Tốt  Khá  Đạt  - Đưa giải pháp khuyến nghị có khả ứng dụng thực tiễn, dễ thực dễ vào sống: Tốt  Khá  Đạt  - Đã áp dụng thực tế đạt hiệu có khả áp dụng đạt hiệu phạm vi rộng: Tốt  Khá  Đạt  XÁC NHẬN CỦA TỔ CHUYÊN MÔN (Ký tên ghi rõ họ tên) THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ (Ký tên, ghi rõ họ tên đóng dấu) 25 [...]... 20/45 Together with this result, my students are not only confident to do the type of Reading Comprehension test but also able to get full mark in it They are no longer scared of coping with the Reading Comprehension tests Instead of that, they are eager to do this part because it make their scores perfect 21 PART 3 CONCLUSION This article has reviewed some practical ways to teach students how to do the... the Reading part in their tests It can be thought that the tips or strategies mentioned above are not always completely effective However, I have lately succeeded myself in using them for teaching skills how to do the Reading part in the tests I found that the attitude of students towards the Reading Comprehension tests has changed They have eagerly tried to do their best in completing the part of reading. .. informational, explanatory, or factual Sometimes on the test, however, the author shows some emotion, and you must be able to recognize that emotion to answer a question about tone correctly If the author is being funny, then the tone might be humorous; if the author is making fun of something, the tone might be sarcastic; if the author feels strongly that something is right or wrong, the tone might be impassioned... students should remember about tone, purpose, or course questions: TONE, PURPOSE, OR COURSE TO Tone: What is the tone of the passage? THE Purpose: What is the author’s purpose in this passage? HOW IDENTIRY QUESTION WHERE TO FIND Tone: THE ANSWER There will be clues throughout the passage that the author is showing some emotion rather than just presenting facts Purpose: Draw a conclusion about the purpose... Find pronoun referents In the Reading comprehension of the test, you will sometimes be asked to determine which noun a pronoun refers to In this type of question it is important to understand that a noun is generally used first in a passage, and the pronoun that refers to it comes after Whenever you are asked which noun a pronoun refers to, you should look before the pronoun to find the noun Example 4:... Nhà xuất bản trẻ Pamela J Sharpe, Ph.D., Toefl iBT 2006-2007-2008, 12th Edition, Nhà xuất bản trẻ NGƯỜI THỰC HIỆN TRẦN THỊ THỦY TIÊN 23 TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE PART 1 I Background and the reason for the study II Aim of the study III Source of the study 4 4 5 5 I Situation judgment II Teaching skills to do Reading Comprehension tests 6 6 7 PART 2 A Questions about the ideas of the passage Skill 1... and supporting details HOW TO Tone: 1 Skim the passage looking for clues that the ANSWER THE author is showing some emotion QUESTION 2 Choose the answer that identifies the emotion Purpose: 1 Study the main idea in the topic sentence and the details used to support the main idea 2 Draw a conclusion about the purpose III EFFECTS OF THE STUDY: Over a year of teaching according to the previously given rules,... You will sometimes be asked to answer a question by drawing a conclusion from a specific detail are details in the passage Questions of this type contain the words implied, inferred, likely, or probably to let you know that the answer to the question is not directly stated In this type of question it is important to understand that you do not have to “pull the answer out of thin air.” Instead, some information... question about purpose is asking what the author is trying to do in the passage You can draw a conclusion about the author’s purpose by referring to the main idea and the organization of details in the passage For example, if the main idea is that George Washington’s early life greatly influenced his later career and if the details give a history of his early life, the author’s purpose could be to show... instead they ask about some other aspect of the passage as a whole The most common types of overall review questions are (1) questions that ask where in the passage something is found; (2) questions about the tones of the passage; (3) questions about the author’s purpose in writing the passage, or (4) questions about which course the passage might be a part of Skill 9 Determine the tone, purpose, or