Term 1, 2003
Overview
Reading well is a skill, whether in your own language or in a foreign language. Good readers
are usually able to transfer their native-language reading skills to another language, though many people do not do this simpy
because they don't know they have the skills in their first language. This course is therfore designed to help make
that transfer, and to teach reading skills to those who may not be familiar with them.
The course is first a skills course, and only secondly a language course. That is not to
say that language is ignored; rather, English is used to teach a 'subject' and for that reason may be regarded as more 'authentic'
than may be the case with some of the other cousres you will be taking.
The course provides a step-by-step approach to building a variety of general reading skills,
and some specific ones, such as reading a balance sheet.
Purpose
The purpose of ths course is to equip you with basic reading skills which will be used in
subsequent courses, for daily reading, and for the rest of your lives.
By the end of this course you should be able to demonstrate improved competence in basic
reading skills. These skills include:
- increasing reading speed
- reducing dictionary dependency
- pediciting
- scanning
- skimming
- identifying main and supporting ideas
- understanding relaionships within a sentence and between parts of a text
- developing vocabulary knowledge and the ability to use it
- displaying the ability to paricipate in group discussions by using vocabulary and fixed
expressions accurately
- summarizing information from a text orally, and in written format
- presenting a point of view clearly and with sufficient suport
- reading tables. figures. charts, graphs
- reading numbers
- understanding the language of headlines
- distinguishing between fact and opinion
- judging reliability
Materials
English by Newspaper by Terry Frederickson and Paul Wedel, publ. Newbury
House
Effective Reading by Simon Greenall and Michael Swan, publ. Cambridge University
Press
Timed Readings, Books 1 - 5, publ. Jamestown Publishers
New Ways in Teaching Reading, edited by Richard r. Day, publ. TESOL
Reading practice from TOEFL exam. Barrons publication
Assessment
Paricipation, Attendance, 3 tests
Title of Unit
Prefatory Statement
Significant Assumptions
Outcomes/Standards/Objective
Whole class Activities
Small groups
Individual
Alone
Ongoing Activities
Student Resources
Unit Launch
Organization of Unit
Wk 1, 2, 3...
Detail plan for 2 days
Supporting Materials for Teachers who teach the unit
Assessment package
