Reading and comprehension
учебно-методический материал по английскому языку (5 класс) по теме

Cheat! - level 1

Instructions: 

102

Friends or exams? Which are more important?

Show Preparation

Mo was waiting outside her class. She was feeling sick. She always felt sick in exam week. She had two exams that day. Physics was first and she hated physics, it was her worst subject. But this was the last day of exams! Terry looked back at her from the front of the line, then looked away quickly. Mo thought she looked guilty. She didn’t have a problem with physics. She didn’t have a problem with anything! 

“Hi, Mo, it’s your favourite exam today” said Nima as she arrived. Terry looked back again. “What’s wrong with her?” said Nima. “I thought you were friends.”  “Yes, so did I,” said Mo. “but she hasn’t spoken to me for two weeks.” She promised to help me revise for the physics exam, but then she ignored all my calls and texts. And when I rang her house, her mum told me she was busy. She doesn’t remember who her friends are!” said Mo angrily. “Are you listening Maureen Quinn?” Mr Reed was talking to the class and the other students were going into the exam room. Mo gave Nima a worried look and followed them.

Mo couldn’t answer question number five, it was too difficult. She looked up and saw Terry sitting in the next row. Mo was surprised. Terry was holding her phone under the table and she was reading from it. Mo didn’t know what to think. Is that how Terry always got good grades? She felt really angry at Terry but didn’t know what to do. She thought about telling the teacher, but what would everyone else think of her? It wasn’t fair! Mo never cheated and she failed lots of exams. Terry had already put her phone away when Mo looked up again. She looked back at Mo and smiled sadly. “Stop writing and put your pens down” said Mr Reed as he started to collect the exam papers. Oh no, Mo hadn’t answered two of the questions. She was going to fail again!

Mo wanted to talk to Terry at lunch time, but she couldn’t find her in the dining hall. The next exam was history. That was Mo’s favourite subject but she didn’t feel good. She was angry with Terry. Nima went home for lunch every day, so she couldn’t talk to her either. Mo went to the library to study. She didn’t know what to do about Terry. She thought about telling a teacher, but everyone would hate her if she did that. “It wasn’t fair!” she thought. “Terry was getting good grades by cheating all that time. And I thought we were friends!” Just then, Mr Reed walked past her table. “Mr Reed...”

Mo was sitting behind Terry again in the history exam that afternoon, but Terry didn’t take her phone out. Maybe she didn’t need to cheat at history. Mo was feeling bad again, but she had no problems with the exam. Why did she tell Mr Reed? But it was too late now. He wanted her to look at him and nod if she saw that Terry had her phone in the exam. She was on the last question, when she saw that Terry had her phone under the table. Without thinking, Mo looked up and nodded to Mr Reed. Terry was looking at her phone and didn’t hear him as he walked silently up to her table. He didn’t say anything. Terry looked, surprised. He picked up her exam paper and pointed to the door, to tell Terry to go outside. Terry started crying as she walked to the door. Everyone was staring at her and Mo felt really sorry now.

She was leaving school, when she heard footsteps behind her. It was Terry. “Mo, wait!” she called. “I want to talk to you.” Mo could see Terry had been crying, her face was pale and her eyes were red. Mo couldn’t speak. “Listen, I’m really sorry I didn’t answer your calls. but we’re having a terrible time. My dad had a heart attack and he’s in hospital. He had a big operation today and I was very worried. I know it was stupid, but I was reading texts from my mum to see how it was going, but Mr Reed caught me. He thought I was cheating. But he believes me now.  I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what was happening. I know you’re a good friend. Will you forgive me?”

Brendan Dunne

Christmas ... German style!

AliceK

Monday, 15 December, 2014 - 09:39

One enormous advantage of spending my year abroad in Germany is being here to celebrate Christmas. Germany is an absolutely beautiful country but especially at winter. The Christmas markets fill most towns and cities with an array of colours, smells and tastes. I had been to 'German' Christmas markets in England before, for example the ones in London and Manchester but nothing compares to the real Christmas markets here in Germany. I was lucky enough to have my family visit me last weekend for the first time since I moved here. We had a lovely time and seemed to eat and drink for the entire weekend! The Gluehwein and Lebkuchen is just too tasty to resist! Gluehwein is a red wine which is mulled with herbs and spices and Lebkuchen is similar to gingerbread, often covered in chocolate or sugar.

It was really nice to see my family again and has made me even more excited to go home to England to celebrate. Christmas in Germany is quite similar to England but one big difference is that it is celebrated on the 24th December rather than the 25th. Most families go to church and have a large meal in the afternoon followed by present giving. Whereas in England, we call the 24th December "Christmas Eve". Each family is different but my family celebrates Christmas eve by having a nice meal together, going to church, listening to Christmas carols and watching a typical Christmas film. This year, we have decided to cook a course each. I will be cooking the starter and would like to pick a typically German dish.

We wake up early on Christmas Day, to swap a few small presents followed by a nice breakfast before the drive to my auntie's house where we see our entire family and have an even bigger meal! There are usually around twenty guests so there is always plenty of food! We then swap more presents in the afternoon. As my family is so big, we do something called "Secret Santa." This means that in November, you pick somebody's name at random out of a hat and you have to buy them a present for Christmas.

I can't believe it's Christmas already. The past four months have flown by but I'm already looking forward to coming back to Germany in the New Year.

Comics

16

WilliamA

Wednesday, 6 November, 2013 - 11:39

So here I am abroad in a country not too dissimilar from my own. Much of the culture is in common and I don’t think I’ve made too many faux pas. So it would be fair to say that the manners and social dynamics aren’t worlds apart. Any problems that pop up can usually be solved through the use of my pigeon French and a bit of tact. However there are some times when making the extra effort to get out of my comfort zone doesn’t seem worth it and so I take a more solitary option. I end up looking for something I know will put me at ease. As a bit of a nerd, few things do this better than reading comics. I love reading in general but there’s something about a good bit of sequential art that really gets to me.

One day in France when I was in one of these solitary moods, I went into a shop to get a few things and happened to see a classic spiderman story in French. Being a bit of a sucker for the classics, I bought it. On the bus ride home I had a leaf through it and found that despite not knowing a lot of the language used, I could pick it up the story easily from the context. It probably helps that I know a lot about Spidey anyway.

And that’s the beauty of any real world linguistic resource over a dry, abstract phrase from a textbook or dictionary. Anything from comics to TV shows, to signs on buildings gives you more of a sense of how a language is used on a day to day basis. This is vital for someone like me in a place where I’m dealing with the language in reality and stock phrases can only get me so far.

While TV shows, films and songs are great for improving listening skills, it can be difficult to pick up new vocabulary from them as by the time you’ve noted a useful phrase, you’ve lost track of what’s going on. Comics, on the other hand, allow you to go at your own pace.  If you can find the right one, the story can be great. Not to mention the artwork which is often superb in the 60s editions. All of this means an opportunity to be exposed to the language in a way which proves very comfortable and engaging, which I thoroughly recommend.

The next thing for me, I think, is to delve into the world of native French comics, wish me luck.

Fairy tales fight back

6

BethanyS

Wednesday, 26 November, 2014 - 12:26

We all know the stories. The princess falls in love with the prince. He rescues the damsel in distress from the tower or the dragon or the wicked queen … or anything at all really. The plot in many fairy tales relies on a woman in trouble needing a brave, strong man to rescue her.    

I loved Disney as a child, and I still do, but it is clear that stories such as Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are based on gender stereotypes. They show children that women spend their time looking pretty, cooking and cleaning and that women need a man to look after them. These ideals are old-fashioned and outdated.  I personally would feel uncomfortable teaching these values to children – boys or girls. 

Luckily, Disney has clearly seen that their female characters were weak and helpless and their new films feature strong female characters. Tangled, which tells Disney’s story of Rapunzel, was released in 2010. Rapunzel is an intelligent and creative 18 year old who asks a man to help her to visit the kingdom. Although he is helping her, she also helps and saves him. She uses her intelligence and people skills to save him from a group of criminals, and she uses her magic (perhaps a symbol for special talents) to heal him when he is hurt.

Disney’s award winning film Frozen was released in 2013. Based on Hans Christian Anderson’s story The Snow Queen, it tells of a young girl, Elsa. Elsa can make it snow and turn water to ice. When she starts an eternal winter, it is her sister, Anna, who decides to save the kingdom.  When Anna’s heart is frozen, an act of true love is needed to save her. We immediately think of true love’s kiss. In the end, the act of true love which saves Anna is her decision to give up her life for Elsa. 

The females in these stories are intelligent, brave and adventurous. They are better role models for young girls and show children that girls can be heroes too. Disney’s choice to show strong, independent females working together with men shows the progress which has been made in gender equality. Hopefully, through efforts such as this, the idea that a man always rescues the woman will not be passed on to future generations. 

Finding the motivation to read

23

IainG

Monday, 23 June, 2014 - 14:14

I really do love to read. Escaping into another world in a work of fiction, or burying myself in news and 'general interest' articles has helped me to learn so much, and to enjoy myself greatly. Why, then, can I never find the time to read?

I think I read more than I realise. At work I am constantly reading: I read and write many emails; I research information to create activities and to look for inspiration for classes; and, as with many jobs, I often have to read reports.

I really cannot deny, then, that I read a lot at work, but this does not excite me at all. At school, along with all my classmates, I had to read plenty but I must admit that I did not particularly enjoy it. Being forced to analyse texts so much was never my cup of tea. I found it difficult, stressful and boring. Now, reading at work, I feel the same. I do not read for pleasure there, I just have to do it.

I do love reading but after spending a day at work reading, the motivation to pick up another pile of papers filled with words fills me with dread.

When I do sit down to read, most often I head to the web to look at news articles and, particularly, the blogs posted on newspaper websites. The New Yorker (an American magazine) also publishes some fantastic articles on all sorts of subjects, and I try to follow a couple of authors’ blogs (mainly Andrew Solomon and David Sedaris). And, of course, I usually have a book that I can say I’m reading, even if it does take me a (very) long time to do so. I'm currently reading Gabriel García Márquez’s 'Chronicles of a Death Foretold'.

Once I sit down to read these things, I really like it, especially long articles or books, which, no matter where I am – at home, on the bus, or in a coffee shop – I am enthralled and entrapped by the stories.

Sitting down to do this is difficult. Before starting to read I feel tired and a bit too crabby to be picking up a book. As soon as I do, though, I become mesmerise by the story, and can read for hours on end

Love is Blind - level 1

Instructions: 

37

Deshi likes the girl, but does she like Deshi?

Show Preparation

Hi Lang

I’m writing in English to practise. I’m sorry I didn’t answer your email. I started school the day after we arrived in Boston and I’ve got too much work to do. I hate it here. I can’t understand what people are saying. The accent is very strange.

I miss Shanghai and I miss playing in the band with you. I try to practise the guitar, but the neighbour who lives opposite is angry because his daughter plays the violin and he said the noise disturbs her. I saw her staring out of the window at me. I think she hates me too. She’s really beautiful...

Hey, I’ve got to stop. My mum just came back from work and I haven’t finished my homework.

Please write back soon. I want to hear about what you’re doing in London. Can you understand the accent?

Deshi

PS: I think I’m in love!

Deshi turned off the computer and opened his English book, but it was difficult to concentrate on irregular verbs. He couldn’t stop thinking about the girl in the building opposite. She had beautiful eyes. He opened his bedroom window and looked across the street. Her window was open too and he could hear her practising classical music on her violin. She was very good. “She probably hates rock music!” thought Deshi. “Have you finished your homework?” Deshi’s mum opened the door. “Quick! Dinner is in half an hour!” He wasn’t hungry.

Deshi couldn’t sleep that night and he was late for school the next morning. He ran out of the house and there she was! She was sitting in her dad’s car with the window open. Deshi dropped his schoolbag and she turned to look at him. He couldn’t move. Her eyes were green. He’d never seen anyone with green eyes before. He smiled at her but she just stared at him like he didn’t exist. Deshi could feel his face turning red. He picked up his bag and ran for the bus.

School didn’t go well that day. He failed a maths test and the English teacher shouted at him for not concentrating. At lunch time, he wasn’t hungry. The food in the cafeteria just made him feel sick. And then he had to stay late after school for extra English and missed the bus. He decided to walk home. He was crossing the park near his street, thinking about his school back in Shanghai and how he missed it. Then, he saw her. She was sitting on a bench with her dog. “Oh no, she’s seen me,” he thought. He waved at her but she just ignored him again. “Idiot!” he said to himself. “Why did I wave? Now she really hates me.” Later that evening, Deshi was practising his guitar with the headphones on. His friends in Shanghai thought he was very good but now he didn’t want anyone to hear him playing. He was thinking about getting a a classical guitar when his mum came into the room. She had a letter in her hand. “The postman made a mistake,” she said. “This is for the building across the street. Can you take it over while I’m making dinner?” “OK, mum!” said Deshi.

Deshi thought about how unhappy he was as he went down the stairs. His mum had no time for him, she was always working. School was really difficult and he had no friends in Boston. He was outside the building opposite when the door opened. “Oh no, it’s her!” he thought. The girl was about to come down the steps when she dropped something. Without thinking, Deshi picked it up. “Hello?” she said, frightened. “Who’s there?” Deshi was confused. “Er, I live across the street.” “Are you the boy who plays the guitar?” she said. “Hi, I’m Helen. I really like your music and I’m sorry my dad complained.” Deshi looked at what he was holding. It was a white stick. She was blind.

Brendan Dunne

Who was William Shakespeare?

82

Jane Bristow

Tuesday, 19 March, 2013 - 17:08

William Shakespeare is known across the world as the writer of plays such as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, and as one of the most famous British people ever. Sometimes known simply as ‘the Bard’, he lived over four hundred years ago – not bad for the son of a man who made a living from making gloves.

Part of the fascination is that despite being so well-known we don’t actually have much information about him; even his name is spelt differently each time it appears, ranging from ‘Shak-peare’ to ‘Shaksper’. Over the years people have argued long and hard about whether he wrote the plays, although these days he’s generally accepted as the author of about thirty eight plays, some of which were written in partnership with others. He also wrote lots of famous poetry.

Baptised on 26th April, 1564, his actual birthday isn’t known but conveniently England’s national day, St George’s day, is the 23rd of April so over the years this is when his birth has been celebrated. Whether or not this is true he certainly died on this same date in 1616, having made a successful career in London first as an actor with a group called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and then as a writer.

In the UK Shakespeare is taught throughout school, making it easy to forget that lots of the plays are actually very funny; some parts are also incredibly rude which means they’re sometimes not covered in lessons. At the time they were written plays were enjoyed by rich and poor alike - it was like going to the cinema - and only later on did the theatre become more exclusive.

Some famous quotations from Shakespeare include now common phrases which he probably invented such as the ‘green-eyed monster’ (meaning jealousy) mentioned in The Merchant of Venice and the idea of being ‘eaten out of house and home’ for someone who’s got a greedy guest from Henry IV. There’s also some imaginative insults such as saying someone is ‘like a toad; ugly and venomous’ in As You Like It or ‘fat as butter’ in Henry IV. The most famous quote of them all is of course the much more serious ‘To be or not to be’ from Hamlet. Basically whether you want witty one liners or grim drama Shakespeare has something for everyone.

Today you can still visit the house where he was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, as well as where his wife Anne Hathaway was born. In London you can watch plays staged at Shakespeare’s Globe which is a reconstruction of the theatre he worked for. Not only is the theatre partly open to the elements but you can get ‘groundling’ tickets and stand just in front of the stage like the poorest would have done in the 16th century.

Zoos: cruel or caring?

RosemaryM

Monday, 10 November, 2014 - 16:07

Last weekend I visited a zoo with a friend. Whilst there, we debated whether or not zoos were a good thing. When I was little, I loved going to the zoo. Now, aged 20, I still enjoy visiting them. However, I am aware that there are lots of people who don't support these establishments.

Animal welfare is a growing concern in today's society. There are many people who believe that zoos are unethical. They argue that it is cruel to remove animals from their natural habitat and keep them in cages for the public to look at. An animal kept in a zoo will lead a different life to an animal that lives in the wild, for example animals in zoos don't have to hunt for food. Furthermore, some animals become unhappy in zoos because there isn't enough space. Zoos feature animals from places all over the world and animals must therefore adjust to different climates and seasons, depending on the location of the zoo in relation to where the animal comes from.

On the other hand, a trip to the zoo can be an educational experience. When students learn about endangered species and are able to see them in a zoo, they are more likely to support projects designed to save these animals from extinction. Zoos are involved in many conservation projects: supporting zoos provides essential funding for these projects. Due to threats such as poaching, there are arguably many species which would be extinct if they weren't kept in zoos. In addition, many zoos attempt to replicate an animal's natural habitat: a range of materials is used to create a space that is similar to what would be found in the wild. Lots of toys are usually put in exhibits to prevent animals from getting bored. Animals that live in tropical countries - especially reptiles - are typically housed indoors in warm, heated tanks which are kept at a temperature similar to that of their natural habitat.

Every zoo has a slightly different approach to animal care and welfare, but overall I think zoos are a good thing. Seeing animals in their natural habitat isn't always possible and I think zoos offer a good alternative. A trip to the zoo is both educational and fun - I'll definitely continue to visit zoos!

The 15-minute reading challenge

47

JoR

Friday, 31 January, 2014 - 20:46

My challenge for you is this: to read a book for 15 minutes every single day for a month.

Let me explain a bit, by telling you where the challenge came from. I have many things in common with my dad, like music taste and sense of humour, but sadly reading isn't one of them. I can happily spend a whole day curled up with a book, but my dad can't read a book for longer than about 5 minutes. He reads emails, websites and documents for work, but not books. He is a busy person, with a short attention span, so I think that sitting down to read for just 15 minutes a day is a good way to relax and to introduce him to reading. Giving yourself a goal or challenge is a good way to change a habit or achieve something, so why not try to create a new habit of reading?

My dad is by no means the only person who avoids books. I know lots of people would rather relax on their computers or in front of the TV. Everyone is different and has their own interests, but I think there are lots of benefits to reading, which screen-based activities (games, films, TV) don't have. 

Firstly, it's better for your eyes. Looking at screens can be very stressful for your eye muscles, and apparently you should avoid looking at screens for an hour before bed, to get a good night's sleep.

One thing I personally love about reading, is being transported to another world - I often forget the time or things that are going on around me! Reading is a great way to switch off before you go to bed, because you think more about the world of the book, rather than the real world and the problems you have during the day, so you can truly relax. I know you can be transported to a different world in a film or a TV show, but I think books do it better. While watching a film, I often talk to my flatmates, send texts, or paint my nails. A book, on the other hand, commands your full attention. 

I also love people. I am nosy, enjoy hearing what people are doing, and finding out what people think. Reading gives me the chance to get to know hundreds of new people! It also teaches you to see things from other people's point of view, and understand other people's decisions or opinions. With a book, you can hear everything a character is thinking or feeling - you really can be inside someone else's head!

So give it a go! Take 15 minutes when you're waking up, going to bed, eating lunch, or having a coffee. If you read a lot, why not try 15 minutes of an English book, or pass the challenge on to someone else? Good luck, and happy reading!