Kansas TESOL
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Kansas TESOL
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Expanding Reading
Skills: Intermediate
2,
2nd Ed. This text is intended for high school and college students or
other adults who want to develop their reading skills for academic,
personal, and/or career goals.
It was designed for ESL students, but can be successfully used with
native English speaking adults in developmental reading classes as
well. Expanding Reading Skills:
Intermediate is the third in a five-book reading program intended
to meet the needs of students from the beginning through the advanced
levels. There are five
thematic units as well as a research and writing skills unit. Each unit has three or four
reading passages and a variety of reading, writing, discussion, and
structured exercises. The
readings are relevant to today’s concerns, and have been chosen from both
published and unpublished sources.
The five unit topics are:
“Fashion and Style”, “Disaster Strikes”, “Across Many Cultures”,
“Technology: Some Interesting
Effects On Our Lives”, “How to Improve Your Memory”, and a very valuable
additional topic entitled , “Expansion: Developing Research and Writing
Skills.” Each unit begins with an extensive headnote designed to help
orient the learners to a good understanding of the context of the topic
before they begin reading. It
also provides social and historical information about the topic, so that
the readers can relate the text material to previous knowledge and
experience. It is recommended that the
instructor work directly with students in the first unit.
Many students are unaware of the process approach to reading which
is in the format of this book.
There are three planned readings.
The first reading is to be read quickly while the student is
looking for the main ideas.
In the second reading, the students can browse through the passage
taking more time and feel free to look up unfamiliar words in the glossary
in the back of the book, or in the dictionary.
During the third reading, the students are to read quickly again,
and concentrate on understanding the main idea and the meanings of new
vocabulary words used in context. In
the Readers’ Response section of each unit, the students are encouraged to
take pen and paper and begin to write about anything of interest in the
selection for 15 minutes.
Examples of student responses are given so the learners have an
idea of what they are to do.
After the learners have written down their responses, they have the
opportunity to read and listen to each other’s responses. Then the learners discuss and list
what they thought the main ideas were in their own words. More group interaction is achieved
as the students discuss their answers, and students are able to analyze
the reading passages in various ways: multiple choice and true or false
questions, match up of numbers, or cross out words that don’t belong. Another section studies vocabulary. First the learner is to guess the
meaning of the italicized word, and then they are to look up the
word. Following this
activity, the learners have a close exercise which they are to complete
individually, and then discuss why they chose their answers. Finally, students answer questions
which allow them to apply the subject matter to their own lives. In
addition to the above which all the units have, Unit 2 adds the reading of
charts, and use of idioms, and the use of “it” and to what it refers. Unit 3 adds dictionary study and
special expressions. Unit 4
teaches the learner how to rate something on a scale. Following Unit 5 about developing
memory skills, an extension chapter is included about research and writing
skills teaching the table of contents, how to choose a topic to write on,
library research, taking notes, quoting and paraphrasing, footnotes and
bibliography, interviewing skills, making an outline, the parts of a
composition, and the first, revised and final drafts. Overall, this textbook would be an excellent text to use, if
the budget would allow each student to have a book. It is also necessary for this text
to be used in a class setting.
An individual learner could not very well study this book, because
of all the interaction that is required with other students. An ESL student mixed in class with
native English speaking students who are all studying for the GED exam
would not be able to use this text, unless the whole class needed this
instruction. Examples of real
learners writings on the topics would be very beneficial to the
learners.
If the Intermediate 2 level is for high school and college students, then who are the Advance 1& 2 levels for? It seems that this book would be considered an advanced book, if it was compared to other intermediate texts. This text does provide for a lot of opportunity-vocabulary, study skills, thinking skills, interacting with others, making choices, and application of what is learned to everyday life. Reviewed
by:
America Writes: Learning English Through American
Short Stories Format: Each unit
contains pre-reading activities, literary terms, idioms explained,
reading, comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, discussion questions, writing
suggestions. There are four
units in a chapter, and each chapter ends with analysis, comparison and
free-writing activities, frequently confused words, spelling and a review
test. There are five
chapters, each revolving around a theme: “A life lesson,” “The Unexpected
twist,” “Irony,” “Family Relationships,” and “Meeting
Challenges.” Indices and
Charts: a detailed six-page
table of contents, and appendix with a list of common errors, literary
terms and irregular verbs, and a thorough index. Critique: The
format is pedagogically sound, with pre-reading activities to activate
schema, idioms explained to allow students to read otherwise frustrating
material at home, surface-level comprehension questions, and activities
for developing critical thinking skills. I especially like the
end-of-chapter activities which encourage synthesis of the four readings
in light of their common theme.
The fact that the vocabulary and grammar exercises refer back to
the text helps students make the connection between focused exercises
(form) and real-world communication (function). Short stories are an excellent
medium for language instruction.
A well-written short story holds the reader’s attention, with no
element superfluous to the plot.
They often present culture through a sort of artistic lens,
magnifying those aspects often invisible to the naked eye. The wide variety of stories by
American authors is also testimony to the diversity of the cultural
tapestry we call America, and helps our students understand that there is
not one monolithic national culture, as may be the case in their home
country. I intend to try some
of these stories in conjunction with the NorthStar High Intermediate
Reading text, with the possibility of adopting this text in the near
future. Reviewed
by:
Making
Connections 1, An Integrated Approach to learning English Intended Skill
areas/levels: Middle and High
School ESL students. Unit 5
through Unit 8 are suited for the Adult intermediate learner. This text is primarily age
appropriate for Middle and High School Students. This
text is set up in Eight units which are broken down in smaller subject
areas. The firs t four units
are subject and age appropriate for in Middle and High School
students. Units 5 through 8
can be used for adult students without any modification to fit age and
maturity level. The
table of contents is very easy to read and the break down of topics is
concise. This
text is best suited for Junior High or 5th through 8th grades users who
have learned survival and street English and are now progressing into more
advanced reading and writing.
These students should be upper intermediate level in reading and
writing skills. The
Units 5 through 8 are well suited for the second half of the semester of
these Middle School
grades. It is also
ideal for adult learners progressing into level 2 or 3 of reading and
writing skills. These adults
students will progress very quickly through this text, primarily because
they will only be studying English as a second language. The Middle school students will
progress slower because of the need to learn other subject areas
material. The adult learner
already has some or most of this other subject material to which to attach
the new English. This text
can be used for them for reading literature and writing.
Reviewed by: |
