Some solutions help students do reading exercises well in the examinations for good students in english

In the process of cultivating good students in English, I recognize that Reading exercises are still quite difficult for students and they always make mistakes and go wrong when they do

INDEX

A.Introduction

I The reason for choosing the topic

II The purpose of research

III The objects of research

IV The method of research

B The content of the experienced initiative

I The rationale of the experienced initiative………

II The real situation before applying the experienced initiative III The solutions of implementation………

1 Equipping the reading method………

a Skimming ………

b Scanning ………

2 Improving the reading skill………

a Broadening the vocabulary and knowledge

b Improving the ability of reasoning………

3 Providing the skills to do some types of reading exercises… a Filling in the gap with one suitable word………

b Answering the questions by choosing the best choice……

c Reading the passage and answering the questions…………

4 The effect of the experienced initiative

C Conclusion and suggestion:

I Conclusion

II Suggestion

1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 5 5 7 8 8 10 12 14 14 14 15

A INTRODUCTION

I The reason for choosing the topic

Nobody can deny the vital role of English in the development of our society these days It is the effective implement to integrate into the region and the world, the mean to approach the information technology and science, the good way to understand the culture of the countries in the world as well as the important events… With all above reasons, Vietnam’s education and training has given the vital target for the foreign subject: the syllabus of English is to form and develop students’ knowledge and basic skills about English, especially build the necessary virtue to help them study further specialized level of education or apply to their life flexibly

Learning English well is not easy so the teachers who are assigned a task to cultivate good students of English meet lots of difficulties in finding the most effective methods to impart knowledge for students well and help them get high results in the examinations In the process of cultivating good students in English, I recognize that Reading exercises are still quite difficult for students and they always make mistakes and go wrong when they do those reading exercises such as: Filling in the gaps, choose the best answer, read and answer the questions… While all types of reading exercises are often in the examinations and occupy high mark in the exam paper With my experience in the process of revising and drilling students and reference from my colleagues, I have observed, studied and recognized some reasons which students often meet when they do the exam as well as found out some solutions to help them overcome those mistakes above

With all above reasons, I choose the topic “Some solutions help advanced students in grade 9 do Reading Exercises effectively in the examination” to research.

II The purpose of research

When I write the experienced initiative, I really wish my students will not only have more useful knowledge to do reading exercises well but also give them the most effective methods to do the exam with high result Moreover overcoming the mistakes, difficulties which students meet in doing Reading exercises mentioned in the topic will help them reduce difficulties and be more confident in doing tests Besides it is a useful document for English teachers to refer in the process of teaching good students in English

III The objects of research

- Good students in grade 9 take part in revising for English’s exam at Secondary schools

- Reading texts in the English tests for talent students

- The method of research

- Studying reasoning: reading newspaper, books, documents, lesson plan

- Investigating the real situation

- Counting figures and result of studying

- Observing the reality: observing students when they do tests

- Experimenting the teaching methods

- Summarizing the results, learning from the colleagues’ experiences

B THE CONTENT OF THE EXPERIENCED INITIATIVE

I The rationale of the experienced initiative

English at secondary school improves students a basic, useful knowledge and it is also the first step for them to study at advanced level at universities or colleges, even for their jobs in the future According to some experts, teachers of English should pay attention to the

factors which effect on the quality of student’s task in doing reading exercises such as: the ability of concentration, reading the instruction, reasoning and judgment… However, students are usually get used to reading word by word and do not notice in reading generally the whole task Therefore teachers need to form the basic skills to do the types of reading exercises that will help them develop the ability of awareness and capacity of action

II The real situation before applying the experienced initiative:

In fact, students at rural areas like our Thach Quang secondary school are still learning

in the difficult studying conditions so it is not easy for them to get access to reference books

or modern technology equipment Furthermore, the students’ ability of analysis, mentality and summarizing are limited; the skills of doing tests are confused While students need to have good basic knowledge, various awareness about every field combining with summarizing thought and flexible judgment that will help them get high mark in the exams

Before applying the experienced initiative, the result of cultivating good students in English I was assigned in 2013-2014:

4 Trịnh Đức Trường 9 9,0 The result made me worried too much and I always tried my best to find out the solution Because students do grammar exercises and writing quite well but reading exercises which account for one third in the paper exam, they made too many mistakes After observing students do these exercises I realized that they didn’t know the method of reading, the shortage of knowledge (both vocabulary and other field), the limited reasoning and do not have the skills to do each type of reading exercises

III The solutions of implementation.

1 Equipping the reading method:

a Skimming:

 What does skimming mean?

Skimming means reading quickly the entire main contents of the reading text but do not read the small parts of the text deeply Students can read quickly by reading the title, topic sentences and concluding sentences to get the content of the reading text Because the reading text in English is written in two ways: deductive and inductive method Students can skim when the passage is too long or time is limited Skimming helps get the main content as well as the writer’s opinion in each part of passage When students understand the important information, they will decide to continue reading deeply or not

 The steps to skim:

- Read the title first then read the topic sentences to get the main content of the passage

- Read the topic sentence of each part of the passage It is usually at the beginning of the text or at the end

- When students read the passage, they should pay attention to the wh-questions such as: who, what, which, where, when, why….and the important words which are noun, figure, bold words or capital letters

- They need to understand the logic of the reading text basing on the marking words such as: because, firstly, secondly, finally, but, the, includes, etc… Those words will help them read quickly and recognize how the reading text is written: listing, comparison-contrast, time-order and cause-effect Skimming is very important to catch the content of each paragraph

Example: Read the passage and choose the best answers to questions below.(5 pts)

For most people, the distinction between vegetables and fruits is fairly clearly Scientists, however, have varied opinions in this regard For example, horticulturists categorize a watermelon as a vegetable despite its general acceptance as a fruit Botanists identify a tomato as a fruit even though it is commonly used as a vegetable

These differences stem from the ways in which fruits and vegetables are classified For a botanist, a fruit is a seed – bearing portion of flowering plant or tree According to this definition, a tomato is a fruit For a horticulturist, a vegetable is the edible portion of a plant that must be replanted annually According to this view, a tomato is a vegetable A horticulturist sees a fruit as coming from a plat or tree that lives at least two years In the case of fruits and vegetables that meet the criteria of both group of scientists, such as apples

or potatoes, there is no conflict

1 What does this passage mainly discuss?

A The work of botanists and horticulturists

B Common types of fruits and vegetables

C Scientific differences between fruits and vegetables

D The seed – bearing nature of fruit

To answer the question, students use skimming skill by reading the first sentence of the passage to get the answer “For most people, the distinction between vegetables and fruits is

fairly clearly.” Moreover both fruits and vegetables are mentioned in the passage so the correct answer is C

b Scanning:

 What does scanning mean?

Scanning means that students read very fast to get the data, necessary specific information to answer the questions Scanning is usually applied for some types of reading text like: True-False-Not given, multiple choices, Complete the summary…

 When is scanning applied?

It is applied to find out the data in the text such as name, figures, date or the phrase words not given in the text

 The steps to scan:

- Analyze the organization of the text before scanning

- Have to orient and remember what kinds of information they are looking for That will help them save time while reading

- Define the information in which part of the text after skimming then scan to locate the exact information students need The information may be ordered basing on the letter or time so students should focus on these to define easily

- Stop before the information students need and read the related sentences to answer the question correctly Students should notice the couple sentences in the text because it makes them confused or wrong

Example: Read the text carefully, then choose the correct answer (A,B,C or D).

Britain in now a highly industrialized country and there are only 238.000 farms in the

UK More and more farmers leave the land because they can’t earn enough money to survive Only large farms are economic and because of this most British farms are big They usually grow cereals in the east of England and raise sheep and cows in the north of England Scotland The small family farms often have to earn more money by offering bed and breakfast accommodation to tourists

Farming methods in Britain have also changed Fields used to be quite small, divided

by hedges which were sometimes a thousand years old and full of wild flowers and birds Many hedges were pulled up to allow farmers to use modern machinery Now most fields in England are large by European standards

1 British farmers give up working on their farm because _

A they are tired of the farm work

B they can’t earn their own living by farming

C they are forced to leave the land

D they want to continue to live

To answer the question, students use scanning skill by reading the question first then find the words “farmers give up working or their farm because” in the question and find the similar one in the passage “farmers leave the land because they can’t earn enough money to

survive.” and it is not difficult for them to choose the correct answer is B

2 The small family farms often offer bed and breakfast accommodation to tourists

A to show their friendship

B because they want to have more tourists to their farms

C so that the tourists will return to their farms the next time

D in order to improve their earnings

To answer the question students use scanning skill by reading the question first “The

small family farms often offer bed and breakfast accommodation to tourists…….” Then find the similar one in the passage: “The small family farms often have to earn more money by offering bed and breakfast accommodation to tourists.” and it is not difficult for them to choose the correct answer is D

2 Improving the reading skill:

In fact, students always make the popular mistakes such as: being lack of vocabulary, grammar and reading skill, do not know how to do reading text effectively, do not remember the information in the text and do not know how to answer the question…while they read the text Therefore, to do the reading exercises well, students need to have good knowledge about vocabulary and grammar, good ability of reasoning

a Broadening the vocabulary and knowledge:

Students should read newspaper, magazines or books in English to broaden their vocabulary Because the content from newspaper, magazines or books may help them understand the related reading text

Example: Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word from A, B, C or D.

Most people are afraid of sharks, but they usually do not much about them For example, there are about 350 species of sharks that live in oceans over the world All of sharks are carnivores, but most of them don’t attack people Some sharks are very small – the smallest shark is about 6 inches long – about as long as your hand But some sharks are very large The largest species of sharks may be 60 feet long and weigh 15 tons Unlike

many other kinds of fish, sharks do not have bone Their bodies are made up of a kind tough white flexible material (called cartilage) Sharks do not have ears However they “hear” sounds and movements in the water Any sounds or movement make the water vibrate

Sharks can feel these vibrations, and they help the sharks find food Sharks use their large

find food, too Most sharks see best in low light They often hunt for food at dawn, in the evening, or in the middle of the night

Nowadays, scientists want to learn more about sharks for several reasons For example cancer is common in many animals, including people However, it is rare in sharks Scientists want to find out why sharks almost never get cancers May be this information can help people prevent cancer, too

1 According to the passage, sharks………….

B Usually live in warm water D always attack humans

With the students who are interested in biology and usually read the documents about the animals and plants, it is not difficult for them to choose the correct answer for the question is

C because they can find the word having similar meaning in the text is “All of sharks are carnivores”

Besides students ought to use dictionary regularly, it not only helps them look up the meaning but also give them much information around such as: preposition, prefix or suffix relate the words

 Phrasal verbs:

Example 1: The verb “look” can be followed by some prepositions and each has different meaning

- Look for: find something

- Look after: care someone

- Look up to: respect

- Look forward to: wait for

- Look down on: feel superior to

- Look ahead : make a plan for future

- Look around/round: visit somewhere

- Look at: see/ check before making a decision

- Look back: remember about the past

- Look down on somebody: contempt somebody

- Look out :be care full

- Look through: read quickly

Example 2: The verb “come” can be followed by some prepositions and each has different meaning

- Come about: happen

- Come out: appear

- Come up: occur - usually a problem

- Come up against: meet a difficulty

- Come up to: equal - especially expectations, standard

- Come up with: think of - especially an answer, a plan, a solution

 Phrasal words:

In the Reading exercises, especially the type: filling in the gaps, students need to have good knowledge about phrasal words that will help them do it better

Example:

- To be in danger of: be dangerous

- To be shortage of = to be lack of

- To run out of

- All over the world

- A large number of

- To be out of fashion

- To look forward to

- Out of order

- Keep out of touch

- To keep in touch

- Get out of hand = get out of control

b Improving the ability of reasoning.

 Reasoning:

Firstly, Students have to understand the disposition of the reading text clearly A reading text usually has three parts: introduction, body and conclusion The first sentence often gives the main content of the text and then it will be developed in the body and conclusion Likewise, students need to know how the reading text is organized: following the time, space, events, or logic of function…

Example: Read the passage and answer the questions.

The ancient town of Hoi An lies on the Thu Bon River, 30 km south of Da Nang It was formerly a major trading center in Southeast Asia between the 16th and 17th centuries Hoi An is famous for its old temples, pagodas, small tile-roofed houses and narrow streets All the houses were made of wood and their pillar were carved with ornamental design

All visitors to Hoi An is commended a visit to the Assembly Hall of Cantonese Chinese Congregation This house was built in 1855 and still keeps many precious objects that belonged to the Chinese community of Hoi an Another attractive address to tourists is Tan Ky House, which was conducted nearly two centuries ago as house of a Vietnamese merchant The house now looks almost exactly as it did in the early 19th century

In recent years, Hoi An has become a popular tourists destination in Viet Nam In

1999, it was certified by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site

Questions:

1 How old is the Assembly Hall of Cantonese Chinese Congregation?

To answer the question correctly, student have to read the question first, it is not difficult for them to understand the question “how old” which is about age They find the sentence

“This house was built in 1855” and they reason that to find out the age of this house they have to give the year at present eliminate the year 1855 so the correct answer is “It is 161 or the short answer is: about 161”

2 Was Hoi An declared by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site twenty years ago?

To answer the question correctly, student have to read the question first and focus on the phrasal words “twenty years ago” then find the information in the passage “In 1999, it was certified by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site.” Then they will find the correct

answer is “ No, it was not/ wasn’t” Because from 1999 to 2016 is seventeen years not twenty years

 Guessing:

Students try their best to guess what the writer imply and then make the questions and answer themselves to understand the reading text better Students should notice suggested details around the reading text For example: pictures, photos, or title, the first sentence or the last sentence of the text Because they are the important factors which help students understand the content of the text easily

Example: Read the passage, and then choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

A recent investigation by scientists at the US Geological Survey shows that strange animal behavior may help predict future earthquakes Investigators found such occurrences about ten kilometers from where a fairly recent earthquake took place Some birds made strange sounds and flew about widely, dogs barked and ran around uncontrollably

Scientists believe that animals can sense these environmental changes as early as several days before disaster

In 1976 after observing animal behavior, the Chinese scientists were able to predict a terrifying earthquake Although hundreds of thousands of people were killed, the government was able to evacuate millions of other people and thus keep the death toll at a lower level

1 Which of the following is not true according to the passage?

A Some animals may be able to sense a coming earthquake

B By observing animal behavior, scientists can predict an earthquake

C The Chinese scientists have successfully predicted an earthquake and saved many lives

D All birds and dogs in surrounding areas went wild before the earthquake

To answer the question correctly, students have to guess by using the elimination method The sentence: “strange animal behavior may help predict future earthquakes Investigators found such occurrences about ten kilometers from where a fairly recent earthquake took place” proves that the choice A,B is true for passage The sentence: “In

1976 after observing animal behavior, the Chinese scientists were able to predict a terrifying earthquake” proves that the choice C is true for passage So the choice D is the correct answer for the question

3 Providing the skills to do some types of reading exercises.

a Filling in the gap with one suitable word.

To do the type of reading exercises well, students have to define which kind of word

is used to fill in the gap Therefore, students should understand clearly the function and preposition of each word basing on the following rules:

- Noun often stands at the first of the sentence, plays as a role of the subject or stands after the verb with the role of objective

- Adjective is used to modify noun and stands before the noun Otherwise, it also gives information about quality, size, age… Especially students should notice some structures which is are related to adjectives such as: comparative, superlative, equal,…

- Adverb usually stands before or after verb and modify verb

- Verb usually stands after subject or adverbs of frequency Students should pay attention about the forms of verb It may be verb which is in past participle form, -ing form

- Preposition always goes with verb or adjective as phrasal words However, preposition is too various and complicated, students often worry too much and make mistakes To define the exact preposition, students should pay attention to the word before the gap if it

is verb or adjective and the scene of the sentence to understand its meaning then choose the correct preposition Otherwise, students sometimes do the test badly when they meet the preposition of time so they should base on the words of time before the gap to choose the correct one to fill in

- Wh-questions also appear in the gaps in the reading passage so that students ought to read the sentence deeply to understand the meaning of the question and find out the correct Wh-question

This type of Reading exercises often has two types: Filling in the gap with one suitable word or filling in the gap with one suitable word by choosing the best choice

Example 1: Fill in each of the blanks with one suitable word (10 pts)

Now many people are (1)…………the farms and moving into the cities They are looking for better jobs The cities are growing very quickly Most cities are very crowded People are driving more cars, burning (2)………… fuel, using more water, eating more food, making more garbage, and producing more things in factories than ever before Life is becoming difficult

Some governments are trying to plan for the future They are building new roads, putting up new houses, looking (3)………more water, and limiting growth in certain areas Still, city planners are getting worse People are crowding into the cities (4)

……….than cities can take them The cities are running out (5) ……… room What is the answer to this problem?

- The first blank needs a verb with “ing”, and students should notice “moving” after and then they can guess the correct V-ing in the gap is “leaving”

- To find the correct word for the second blank, students should notice the following sentence , especially the word phrases that are underlined: “People are driving more

cars, burning (2)………… fuel, using more water, eating more food, making more garbage, and producing more things in factories than ever before.” Then they will find

out the correct word is “more”

- The third gap is quite easy if the students know the meaning of the sentence because students meet the verb phrase “look for” so the answer is “for”

- The fourth gap needs an adjective in the comparison because following is than so students should read the full sentence to understand the meaning and the find the correct word is “faster”

- The fifth gap is also easy for students because they meet the verb phrase “ run out of” so the correct word is “of”

Example 2: Read the passage and then choose the best answer.

The Internet is celebrating its 30th birthday this year Its universal accessibility has (1) .it the most powerful and cost -effective tool in business and personal communication It currently has 60 million users and has a growth (2) of 200,000 users per month Not surprisingly, it has also created a great (3) of millionaires under the age of thirty The Internet was developed by scientists, originally as a way for the American government to withstand nuclear attacks, so it was mainly used in the field of military Who would have thought 30 years ago that its applications would have (4)

so many areas of our present-day life? And in the years to come, the Internet is getting the key factor not only in communication, but also in the (6) of knowledge on the planet Earth

- The first blank needs a verb in the past participle, and students can recognize the structure

in the sentence “ make + O + adj” and then they can choose the correct V-pp in the gap

- To find the correct word for the second blank, students should notice the following word phrase “200,000 users per month” in the passage so the correct answer is “C rate”

- The third gap is quite easy if the students know the word phrase “ a great number of” so the answer is “D number”

- The fourth gap needs a verb in the past participle form and students should read the full sentence to understand the meaning and the find the correct word is “D had”

- The fifth gap is also easy for students because after “the” they have to fill a noun so the correct answer is “B richness”

b.Answering the questions by choose the best choice

Read the question first to define the type of question if it is the main idea question, detail question, inference question

+ The main idea question:

It is often the first or the last question in the reading exercise When students the type

of question, they should use skimming to find out the answer They can read quickly by reading the title, topic sentences and concluding sentences to get the content of the reading text Moreover they need to understand the logic of the reading text basing on the marking words such as: because, firstly, secondly, finally, but, the, includes, etc… Those words will help them read quickly and recognize how the reading text is written: listing, comparison-contrast, time-order and cause-effect

Example: Read the passage, and then choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Basketball was invented in 1891 by a physical education instructor in Springfield, Massachusetts, by the name of James Naismith Because of terrible weather in winter, his physical education students were indoors rather than outdoors They really did not like the idea of boring, repetitive exercises and preferred the excitement and challenge of a game Naismith figured out a team sport that could be played indoors on a gymnasium floor, that involved a lot of running, that kept all team members involved, and that did not allow the tackling and physical contact of American style football

1 What is the topic of this passage?

A The life of James Naismith C Physical education and exercise

B The history of sports D The origin of basketball

To answer the question, students should skim the first sentence “Basketball was

invented…” and they may guess that the main content of the passage may relate to the basket

ball Students look at the answer A and realize that James Naismith was focused as the inventor of basketball but do not have any information about his life and work so the answer