Lesson II: How to Improve Reading Comprehension

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Lesson II How to Improve Reading Comprehension
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How to BeginBefore you begin reading, decide
something. What are you going to read about?Look
at the title of what youre reading. The title
(name) tells you what youre reading about.Close
your eyes for a moment. Think of anything you
already know about this topic.
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Baseball is the best thing in my life
What do you see when you see this topic?
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Connect Reading to What You Already KnowIts
time to connect (link) your new reading to what
you already know. ?Take out a sheet of paper.?
List four things that you already know about this
topic.? List four words you might come across
while you are reading. ? List two questions that
might come up in the reading.
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Pre-Reading Finding the Building
BlocksReading is made up of words, sentences,
and paragraphs. These are the building blocks of
reading. Before you begin reading, you need to
find the beginning, middle, and end of
paragraphs. You need to examine how a paragraph
is put together.
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Pre-Reading ParagraphsReading is made up of
paragraphs. A paragraph is a group of sentences.
Paragraphs tell you a complete set of thoughts.
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Here is an example of a paragraphVictor likes
playing baseball. His team is called The
Rockets. Last weekend, his team played in the
park. Victor led The Rockets. He assigned batting
order. Though The Rockets won, it wasnt by a
lot! Victor felt happy that his team won, but he
was delighted just to play. When the game ended,
he wished he could continue playing.
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Look at the first page of what you will be
reading on your own. ? Locate the first
paragraph.? Find the first sentence. ? Find the
last sentence. ? How many sentences are in the
middle? ? How many sentences are in the whole
paragraph? A paragraph has a beginning, middle,
and end. Understanding more about paragraphs will
improve your reading comprehension.
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Reading How Paragraphs Are Put TogetherIts
time to examine how a paragraph is put together.
Look at what you will be reading. Now, read the
first paragraph.
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Here is an example of a paragraphVictor likes
playing baseball. His team is called The
Rockets. Last weekend, his team played in the
park. Victor led The Rockets. He assigned batting
order. Though The Rockets won, it wasnt by a
lot! Victor felt happy that his team won, but he
was delighted just to play. When the game ended,
he wished he could continue playing.
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• Paragraph BeginningChoose the most important
  sentence in this paragraph. You can choose only
  one! The most important sentence in a paragraph
  is called the topic sentence. The topic sentence
  tells you what the rest of the paragraph is about
  (overview). Hint The topic sentence is often
  found at the beginning of the paragraph.

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Paragraph MiddleLook at rest of the paragraph
and find a detail. A detail is a small thing that
tells you something more about the topic. Details
are likely to be located in the middle of the
paragraph. The middle of the paragraph is the
place where details are added to the paragraph
topic.
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Paragraph EndChoose the concluding sentence
(result) of the paragraph. The concluding
sentence is what the topic and details build up
to. The concluding sentence often sums up the
paragraph. Hint The concluding sentence is
often located at the end of the paragraph.
Sometimes the concluding sentence will give you
an idea about what the next paragraph will be
about.
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Silent ReadingIts time to read more. Try
reading the first 3-4 paragraphs silently.If a
word is hard, go on to the next word. As you
read, picture what the reading is saying. For
example, if the reading were a drawing or a
movie, what would it look like? Its faster to
form words in your mind than to say them aloud.
Reading silently, while picturing whats
happening, will improve your reading
comprehension.
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Reviewing Reading AloudNow, try re-reading
the first 3-4 paragraphs aloud slowly.If a word
is hard, go on to the next word. After finishing
each paragraph, ask yourself, What is this
paragraph about? Answer this question aloud.
If its hard to answer this question, look at
the beginning of the paragraph. Find the
paragraphs topic sentence again. Reviewing
reading helps you decide whether something in the
reading has confused you. It helps you see if
youve missed something. Reviewing what youve
read will improve your reading comprehension.
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Reading for VocabularyIf you understand what
youre reading about, you can start to learn
vocabulary (new or hard) words. Vocabulary words
are words you skipped when reading before.
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How to Read Vocabulary WordsLook at the first
paragraph. Pick out a vocabulary word. Choose a
small part of the word that isnt hard. Say that
small part aloud. Look at the rest of the word.
Think of the sound of the letters. Try to say the
rest of the word. Read the sentence the
vocabulary word is in. Does the vocabulary word
fit in the sentence? If it fits, youve read the
vocabulary word! Pick out four more vocabulary
words. Use these steps to read them.
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How to Build up Your VocabularyEven people
who went to school for many years come across new
or hard words. If youre not sure what a word
means, do what they do get a dictionary
(paperback or online) and look up vocabulary
words. If you use a dictionary a lot, youll get
faster at looking up words. The more words you
look up, the easier itll be to recognize the
roots (main parts) of words. Its important to
accept that building a good vocabulary is
something that people do their whole lives! Many
people keep a list of vocabulary words, the word
meanings, and where they saw the word.
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Talk Back to ReadingIts important to talk back
to what youve read. Talking back will not only
help you get involved with the reading, it also
make the reading more meaningful for you.Talking
back will help you pick out parts of the reading
that are important. It will help you ask
questions. It will help you remember what youve
read. It will also help you decide on the
purpose (what the writer wants you to think
about) of the reading.
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You can talk back by writing down ideas that
the reading makes you think about.Take out a
sheet of paper, or a notebook. Draw a line down
the middle of the paper.
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Pick a sentence from what you just read. Be
sure to pick out a sentence that you like! Write
down the sentence on the left side of the paper.
For example, you read a paragraph Victor likes
playing baseball. His team is called The
Rockets. Last weekend, his team played in the
park. Victor led The Rockets. He assigned batting
order. Though The Rockets won, it wasnt by a
lot! Victor felt happy that his team won, but he
was delighted just to play. When the game ended,
he wished he could continue playing.
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Victor likes playing baseball. His team is
called The Rockets. Last weekend, his team
played in the park. Victor led The Rockets. He
assigned batting order. Though The Rockets won,
it wasnt by a lot! Victor felt happy that his
team won, but he was delighted just to play. When
the game ended, he wished he could continue
playing.
pick out a sentence that you like!
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On the right side of the paper, write down
what that sentence makes you think about. For
example, you can write something about your own
life.You might write down
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On the right side of the paper, you can also
write questions about vocabulary or grammar. You
can also write down the writers purpose. If you
dont agree with the reading, write that too!You
might write down
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Picture the Reading TimelineIts important
to picture events that youve read about.
Picturing events will help you understand the
reading. You can picture events by showing the
sequence (order) in which they happen.
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Make a timeline. Take out a sheet of paper, or
a notebook. Draw a long line. Under the line
write BEGINNING, MIDDLE, END.
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On top of the line, list what happened in the
reading. Victor likes playing baseball. His
team is called The Rockets. Last weekend, his
team played in the park. Victor led The Rockets.
He assigned batting order. Though The Rockets
won, it wasnt by a lot! Victor felt happy that
his team won, but he was delighted just to play.
When the game ended, he wished he could continue
playing.
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Making a timeline helps you understand the
reading. It helps you remember the sequence in
which things happened. Understanding sequence
will improve your reading comprehension.
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Picturing the Reading Sun MapHere is
another way to picture the reading. Make a map
showing whats important. You can do this by
mapping the main idea (topic), and details
(smaller parts). You can do this by making a sun
map.
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Take a sheet of paper. Draw a big circle with
lines coming from it.
The big circle is the sun. The lines coming from
it are the suns rays..
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Mark the sun MAIN IDEA. Mark each of the rays
DETAIL.
The main idea is a way of saying in only a few
words what the whole reading is about. The main
idea can work as a title (name) for the reading.
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Whats most important is that Victor likes
playing baseball. That Victor likes playing
baseball is the main idea.Mark the main idea
inside the sun.
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Small parts of the reading are called details. A
detail is only about one thing. A detail is NOT
the most important thing about the reading. It
will NOT work as a title (name) for the
reading.Victor likes playing baseball. His
team is called The Rockets. Last weekend, his
team played in the park. Victor led The Rockets.
He assigned batting order. Though The Rockets
won, it wasnt by a lot! Victor felt happy that
his team won, but he was delighted just to play.
When the game ended, he wished he could continue
playing.
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One detail is that Victors team is called The
Rockets. Another detail is that the team played
on a weekend. A third detail is that Victor
assigned batting order.Another detail is that
the team won their last game. Mark the details
outside the sun.
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Making a sun map helps you learn how to find the
main idea and details. Understanding the main
idea and details will improve your reading
comprehension.
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Now, youre ready to. Lets do some more !
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Jim Henson can be credited with many
accomplishments he had the most profound
influence on children of any entertainer of his
time he adapted the ancient art of puppetry to
the most modern of mediums, television,
transforming both he created a TV show that was
one of the most popular on earth. But Henson's
greatest achievement was broader than any of
these. Through his work, he helped sustain the
qualities of fancifulness, warmth, and
consideration that have been so threatened by our
coarse, cynical age.
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Consideration means A. remembering.B.
deliberateness.C. carefulness.D. kind and
considerate regard for others.
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2. Cynical means A. uninformed.B.
angry.C. unhappy.D. believing that people's
motives are bad.
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3. The article credits Henson with A. a good
character.B. ability to make money.C.
cynicism.D. a narrow vision.
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4. Henson came to be widely known because of A.
puppetry.B. television.C. warmth and
consideration.D. adaptability.
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Answer Key 1-D..........2-D..........3-A.......
...4-B
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Dirty BritainBefore the grass has thickened on
the roadside verges and leaves have started
growing on the trees is a perfect time to look
around and see just how dirty Britain has become.
The pavements are stained with chewing gum that
has been spat out and the gutters are full of
discarded fast food cartons. Years ago I remember
travelling abroad and being saddened by the
plastic bags, discarded bottles and soiled
nappies at the edge of every road. Nowadays,
Britain seems to look at least as bad. What has
gone wrong?The problem is that the rubbish
created by our increasingly mobile lives lasts a
lot longer than before. If it is not cleared up
and properly thrown away, it stays in the
undergrowth for years a semi-permanent reminder
of what a tatty little country we have now.
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Dirty Britain (2)Firstly, it is estimated that
10 billion plastic bags have been given to
shoppers. These will take anything from 100 to
1,000 years to rot. However, it is not as if
there is no solution to this. A few years ago,
the Irish government introduced a tax on
non-recyclable carrier bags and in three months
reduced their use by 90. When he was a minister,
Michael Meacher attempted to introduce a similar
arrangement in Britain. The plastics industry
protested, of course. However, they need not have
bothered the idea was killed before it could
draw breath, leaving supermarkets free to give
away plastic bags.
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Dirty Britain (3)What is clearly necessary
right now is some sort of combined initiative,
both individual and collective, before it is too
late. The alternative is to continue sliding
downhill until we have a country that looks like
a vast municipal rubbish tip. We may well be at
the tipping point. Yet we know that people
respond to their environment. If things around
them are clean and tidy, people behave cleanly
and tidily. If they are surrounded by squalor,
they behave squalidly. Now, much of Britain looks
pretty squalid. What will it look like in five
years?
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Dirty Britain (4)Q1 - The writer says that it
is a good time to see Britain before the trees
have leaves because ..(a) Britain looks
perfect.(b) you can see Britain at its
dirtiest.(c) you can see how dirty Britain is
now.(d) the grass has thickened on the verges.
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Dirty Britain (5)Q2 - According to the
writer, things used to be ..(a) worse
abroad.(b) the same abroad.(c) better
abroad.(d) worse, but now things are better
abroad.
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Dirty Britain (6)Q3 - For the writer, the
problem is that ..(a) rubbish is not cleared
up.(b) rubbish last longer than it used to.(c)
our society is increasingly mobile.(d) Britain
is a tatty country.
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Dirty Britain (7)Q4 - The writer thinks
..(a) it is too late to do anything.(b) we
are at the tipping point.(c) there is no
alternative.(d) we need to work together to
solve the problem.
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Dirty Britain (8)Q5 - The writer thinks that
..(a) people are squalid.(b) people behave
according to what they see around them.(c)
people are clean and tidy.(d) people are like a
vast municipal rubbish tip.
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Now, Reading Comprehension is a piece of cake.