Reading Culture Shock

Aims and Objectives Aims To introduce different strategies for reading To practice skimming and scanning skills - reading for gist and key information To practice reading for detail To practice writing a summary Objectives To locate specific information To identify the gist of a text To demonstrate comprehension of the text about the impact of culture shock To summarise

Do you find reading English texts difficult, average or easy?

Reading Skills Reading is an important part of learning English. This lesson will explain different strategies to help you develop your reading skills and give you the opportunity to practice these skills. We will look at: Skimming Scanning Reading for detail Guessing words from context

Reading Skills – What is Reading? Reading is simply knowing that certain letters form particular words, and remembering and understanding these words that you have previously seen. For Example: What are these letters? A H T They can also be H A T = hat When reading we use our eyes to see the letters and then convert them into words, sentences and paragraphs.

Reading for Gist - Skimming Reading for gist – also known as skimming. Reading to understand the general idea or main points of the text Read the text quickly – don’t stop to try and understand every word Read the text from start to finish – but not every word Look for: key words, words in bold, headings & titles, pictures Focus on information from the first and last sentences of a paragraph but look over the whole text

Skimming Example When looking for a book to read, you might read the title, look at the picture on the front of the book and quickly read the story on the back to find out the general storyline and then decide if you want to read it.

Reading for Specific Information - Scanning Reading for specific information – also known as scanning. Scanning – more searching, less reading Used to locate information quickly You already know what you are looking for You are searching for specific information and ignoring everything else Look for: keywords, numbers, names, headings & titles

Scanning Example When looking for a specific word in a dictionary for example the word ‘research’, you wouldn’t read the whole dictionary to find the word to understand the meaning. You would start by looking for words starting with the letter R and the Re.

Reading for Detail Read the text slowly You need to understand the vocabulary Look for keywords Underline or highlight important words or phrases as you are reading Question what you are reading - to check that you have understood Guess meaning of words from context – words you understand around the words you don’t know Look for synonyms – different words with the same meaning

Guessing Words from Context You won’t understand every word that you read It is important to try and guess the meaning of some words so you can understand the sentence or text You can do this by looking at the other words in the sentence

Guessing words from Context Example Our football team has lost all its games this year. Tom is a very good footballer. It would be beneficial if he joined the team, we might win some games Can you guess the meaning of beneficial? Our football team has lost all its games this year = we know that they are not doing very well Tom is a very good footballer If he joins the team they might win some games = make the team better Beneficial = helpful

Task 1 You are now going to read an article ‘Facing Culture Shock’ and practice reading for gist, specific information and detail. http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/Information--Advice/Preparation-and- Arrival/Facing-culture-shock Answer the questions and send them back to me. Don’t forget to answer the questions in full sentences.

Writing a Summary Definition: Summary - a short statement that gives only the main points of something, not the details A summary: talks about the main ideas from the original text uses different language from the original – use your own words Is shorter than the original text doesn’t include your own thoughts and opinions on the subject Don’t forget to let the reader know the text that you are summarizing. Give details that identify the title, author in your first sentence

Task 2 Write a 150 word summary of the text ‘Facing Culture Shock’. Send it back to me for marking.

Reflection Answer these questions. What reading skills have we practiced in this lesson? How will these skills help you in your future studies? How confident do you feel about using these reading skills?

Online Lesson In your online lesson you will: practise speaking about culture shock revise the vocabulary from this lesson collaborate with the other student’s to decided on your top tips to cope with culture shock have the opportunity to ask questions and moving to the UK

References Craven, M (2005) Quizzes, Questionnaires and Puzzles, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press English Club (2017) What is Reading? Available at: https://www.englishclub.com/reading/what.htm (Accessed 12/10/2017) Gaite, P (2017) Skills: Reading Lesson 6, (PowerPoint Presentation Slides), Pre- sessional Cardiff Metropolitan University, ELTC, August 2017 (Accessed 12/10/2017) Oxford Learner’s Dictionary (2017) Definition – summary. Available at: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/summary_1? q=summary (Accessed 12/10/2017) TESL Journal (2017) Conversation Questions Cultural Shock and Adapting to Canada. Available at: http://iteslj.org/questions/cultureshockcanada.html (Accessed 12/10/2017) UKCISA (2017) Facing Culture Shock. Available at: http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/Information--Advice/Preparation-and- Arrival/Facing-culture-shock (Accessed 12/10/2017)