1. Feedback On Summary Writing
温州二外
徐绿杨

2. major supporting detail minor supporting detail
A summary is made up of __________ and __________ of its original passage. ____________ should be left out.
Something unexpected happened last week.
I caught a bad cold and lost my voice.
I made every effort to pronounce a sound, but it didn’t work.
topic sentence
major supporting detail
minor supporting detail
…………………(Main Point 1)……………………(Main point 2) …………………(Main Point 3)……………………(Main point 4)
A main point is made up of a topic sentence and the details which is essential (必要的) or important. (A Hand Book of Writing)
A summary must express the original passage (原文) fully and clearly, so there is no need for the readers to read the original one. (A Hand Book of Writing)

3. Topic Sentence
Para. 2:
The British are officially the worst language learners in Europe.
Para. 3:
Learning a foreign language is not popular at school in Britain.
Para. 4:
The government is now looking at different ways to improve language learning.

4. Minor Supporting Detail
Para. 2
According to a survey published by the European Commission, the British are officially the worst language learners in Europe —62 percent of them can’t speak any other language except their own. While 38 percent of British speak one foreign language, only 18 percent speak two. The average number of that among European Union citizens is that 56 percent speak one foreign language and 28 percent speak at least two. Moreover, 51 percent of EU citizens can have a conversation in English.
Minor Supporting Detail
Group A
(1) British’s foreign language skills are the poorest among the Europeans.
(2) British’s foreign language skills are the poorest among the Europeans, because 62% of them can’t speak any foreign language.
(3) A survey showed the worrying situation of British language learners. Most of them can only speak their mother tongue.

5. Major Supporting Detail
Para. 3
Learning a foreign language is not popular at school in Britain. Research shows that British children start studying a foreign language at the age of 11, which is considered too late for language learning. Many even easily give up as it is more difficult to get good grades in languages than in other subjects such as science or history. Meanwhile, only limited choices of foreign languages are offered as school courses.
Major Supporting Detail
Group B
(1) Students are not fond of learning a foreign language at school for many reasons.
(2) Because of late learning age and few choices, foreign language learning doesn’t win popularity in British schools.
(3) Because of late learning age, bad grades, and few choices, foreign language learning doesn’t win popularity in British schools.

6. Major Supporting Detail
Para. 4
Now British people are encouraged to try new languages. It may be an ambitious task to change people’s attitude to learning languages but the government is determined to try. The government is now looking at different ways to improve language learning. One idea is to start younger and introduce foreign languages from the age of 5 rather than 11. Another plan is to give students more choices in school courses, including Arabic, Mandarin and Japanese. It remains to be seen whether the people will have growing interest in learning foreign language.
Major Supporting Detail
Group C
(1) Many different solutions come up to solve the problem.
(2) Now the government is taking many measures in order to encourage British people in language learning.
(3) The government is making a few attempts to change the situation. For example, they lower the starting age and offer more options.

7. Version 1
Many Europeans can speak foreign language. But lots of the British can’t speak any other language except English. They have the least foreign language learners in Europe because learning a foreign language is not welcomed at British school. Children begin studying too late to get good grades easily. However, more and more British are trying to learn foreign languages. Government tries to begin younger and give more courses of languages.

8. Version 2
A official survey shows that British learn language worst in Europe, and the average number of EU foreign language learners is totally more than Britain’s. What’s more, many British children are not willing to learn foreign languages. To change this serious situation, the government is trying to improve language learning.

9. Homework
Polish you summary to make sure the accuracy of all the main points.