Practising Cambridge English First Reading Part 3

Contents

A. TEACHERS NOTES ........................................................................................................ 2 A1. Lesson Plan................................................................................................................. 2 A2. Classroom Handout 1 ................................................................................................. 4 A3. Classroom Handout 2 ................................................................................................. 5 A4. Classroom Handout 3 ................................................................................................. 6 A5. Classroom Handout 4 ................................................................................................. 7 A6. Classroom Handout 4 Answer Key .......................................................................... 8 A7. Suggested homework/self study activities ................................................................... 9 B. GUIDANCE FOR FOLLOW UP ACTIVITIES....................................................................10

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Practising Cambridge English First Reading Part 3 A. TEACHERS NOTES

Description Time required: Materials required: 45 minutes Classroom Handout 1, 2 and 3 one copy (cut where indicated and put on the wall) + one copy of each text per group of students Classroom Handout 4 one per group of students

Aims:

To practise the skills required for Part 3 of the First Reading Exam through completing and writing Part 3 questions

A1. Lesson Plan

1. Lead in: talk about the different problems that students have when learning a foreign language. Try to elicit the techniques people use to get their message across when they dont have the right words e.g. gestures, miming, drawing pictures etc. Timing: 5 mins 2. Put the 4 texts (Classroom Handout 1, 2 and 3) on the walls of the classrooms sufficiently far apart so that students have to move around to look at them. You may want to put the four texts on different walls if there is enough space in the classroom. Explain that all four texts are about peoples experiences of living in a different country. Put the students into groups of three or four. Give students the list of questions (A5. Classroom Handout 4) and explain that the answer to each of these questions is a name Wendy, Julie, Kim or Kate. Explain that they are going to do a reading relay. The first student needs to read the first question and then go to the different texts to find which person is the answer to the question. They can ask the other students for help if they dont understand the question, but then they have to go and find the answer from the four texts themselves Speed is the key here. When they have found the answer they go and write the name on the sheet then the next student reads question 2 (asking their teammates for help with any vocabulary if necessary) then goes to find the answer in the four texts. This continues until they have answered all the questions. NOTE: have a look at the texts for this task before setting it up with your students. You may feel that the texts are quite difficult for your class and so you could put students into pairs within a team, so that pairs of students go to find an answer to one question, come back and then the other pair of students goes. While one student or pair of students go to
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Practising Cambridge English First Reading Part 3

look for an answer, the other students can be reading through the questions and making sure they understand them all. 6. When the first team have finished, sit down and go through the answers. (See A6. Classroom Handout 4 Answer Key for more details. 1. Kate; 2. Julie; 3. Wendy; 4. Kim; 5. Julie; 6. Kate; 7. Kim; 8. Wendy; 9. Kim; 10. Wendy) Timing: 15 mins 7. Then give the student groups all 4 texts (Classroom Handout 1, 2 and 3) and get them to write 4 which person questions to add to the list of questions - one about each text. Each group then gives their questions to another group who have to answer them. The original group then marks the answers. Timing: 15 mins 8. Explain to students that in an exam task there will be more distracters (each question may have distraction in all of the other texts). You could elicit from students the things that were distracting in the texts they looked at, e.g. giving and asking for directions appears in some form in three of the texts. Timing: 10 mins

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Practising Cambridge English First Reading Part 3

A2. Classroom Handout 1
Cut along the dotted lines so that all texts are on separate sheets of paper.

Wendy The other day in Annecy, I was sitting by the lake watching some ducks. I was also watching three boys wading through the shallow water throwing something at the ducks. At first, I thought it was food but I realised they were throwing stones. Aware that a large stone could severely injure or kill a duck, I looked around for the kids' parents and hoped they would notice what they were doing. If Id been in an English-speaking country, I wouldn't have waited, but that's the thing about learning a foreign language: the nuances make all the difference. Even if my French is word perfect, how do I convey the right amount of sternness in my tone? How do I pick the words that convey the sentiments? In our brains, our mother language thesaurus started growing when we were babies, but my French language thesaurus only began around five years ago. The appropriate words might not be the ones I'm really looking for. And on top of all that, what do I do if the kids shout something back at me that I don't understand? As I sat there wondering why it was taking me so long to react, I realised I was scared. Confrontation doesn't really bother me, but in another language and with kids who are already being naughty it made me hesitate. But what's more important? Me looking like a fool by saying the wrong thing in my second language (and that wouldn't be the first time), or trying to stop ducks getting killed? I walked over and told the kids off. I explained in dodgy French what might happen if they hit a duck and told them to stop. They replied in perfect French and I walked away. Did they stop? No. As I turned back to check, one held a stone ready to throw. He saw me and put his arm back down. Then I heard one of them say: 'It was him' in English and I realised they were English kids. How annoying! I could have told them off in perfectly good English, with all those well-picked words and correct intonations and so much less effort! A quick look around led me directly to the boys' mother, who I know, and the kids finally stopped throwing stones.
Wendy Hollands

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A3. Classroom Handout 2
Julie Im not very good at speaking foreign languages but I still manage to communicate in most countries with a combination of acting, gestures and drawing pictures, and Ive met many other people who do the same. The most impressive was a lady in Gdansk, Poland. My husband and I wanted to go to a shopping centre that was a little way out of town. We had the name written down and we were hoping to find someone who could tell us how to get there. We asked several people and were met with blank faces. Then we came to a little newspaper booth and we showed the lady working there. She smiled at us and went to get another lady. The lady came out onto the street and looked at our piece of paper. Then, without saying a word we could understand, she explained clearly that we needed to go up the road to a set of traffic lights, cross over and wait at a tram stop. We had to buy a ticket then go three stops on the tram. When we got off we needed to go right at a roundabout and then take the second left. All this was explained with a combination of gestures and movements. We followed her directions which were actually easier to remember than spoken ones - and we got to the shopping centre no problem at all! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kim Here in So Paulo, Brazil, Im often treated as a local, and I dont even need to pretend to be one. Im not sure whether Im mistaken or this is just the way they treat foreigners. Other than the people who know me, when I come into contact with a local, Im assumed local by default. Even after talking to me and recognising my very foreign Portuguese, they still speak to me in Portuguese. There is simply no option to speak English. I dont have this common problem of locals not wanting to practise their language with me. The only places I speak English are in the office and at hotel receptions (the only people in the hotels who can speak English are the receptionists). I arrived in the city 4 weeks ago and since then Ive been asked for directions twice and been pulled into conversations on the street. The latest one happened today. I was walking down the street and a homeless man suddenly jumped right in front of me and started shouting at me. Ive seen homeless people here trying to join conversations with the pedestrians, so it seemed something quite common. He was yelling so fast that the only word I heard him repeating was Japons. So I told him I didnt understand what he was saying and Im not Japanese, but he continued. I crossed the street and left him behind. Sometimes even my colleagues speak Portuguese to me by accident. One time, my boss came to see me after meeting a customer. He looked serious as he started explaining the situation to me, in Portuguese. I gave him a blank look. Then he repeated what he said. So I gave him another longer blank look. Then he suddenly realised what he was doing.
Edwin Law at: http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/07/09/treated-as-a-local
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A4. Classroom Handout 3
Kate It had problems communicating in China about something I thought would be understood in any language. I was in Beijing and very excited about going to see the Great Wall of China. We were staying just outside the city centre, but I'd heard from other tourists that we could get a direct train to the Great Wall from the local station. Off we went to the station to buy our ticket, hoping that the ticket lady would understand the English for this number one tourist attraction. She didn't. I then drew a picture of the Great Wall as best as I could on a scrap of paper, with lots of gesticulations for how big it was. Still no luck! Because it was a little local station, there were no tourist posters to point at and no-one spoke a word of English. We had to give up, go back to the hotel and ask the receptionist to write it down for us in Chinese, then return the next day.

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A5. Classroom Handout 4
Exercise One
Which person 1. was surprised the woman she was talking to didnt understand where she was going? 2. was able to understand the directions she was given? 3. didnt realise that the person she was speaking to spoke her language? 4. can only speak English in two places? 5. had to ask a number of people before she was understood? 6. tried to explain how big a place was without using any words? 7. has been asked directions in a language they dont understand well? 8. used language to try to stop something happening? 9. keeps meeting people who think she comes from the city she lives in? 10. was worried she might say the wrong thing? 11. 12. 13. 14.

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A6. Classroom Handout 4 Answer Key
Exercise One 1. Kate hoping that the. 2. Julie We followed her directions.. 3. Wendy I realised they were English kids. 4. Kim The only places 5. Julie We asked several people. 6. Kate with lots of gesticulations 7. Kim Ive been asked for directions twice. 8. Wendy I explained in 9. Kim Im often treated as a local. 10. Wendy I realised I was scared.

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A7. Suggested homework/self study activities
1. Two of these texts were taken from blogs on the internet. As a follow on activity you could get students to search for a blog about a certain topic on the internet. Part 3 of the Cambridge First Exam is often a first person account so encouraging students to read blogs or twitter/facebook posts is going to help students with this type of text. You can search for blogs by typing blog+topic into a search engine like google (e.g. blog + sport will find blogs about sport. 2. Get students to choose a blog that they like about a specific topic and write 3 questions about it. The teacher can then compile the questions into a worksheet and then pin up texts around the room. Students may feel motivated as they have sourced the texts. You could let all students do the reading at the same time (in pairs) to vary the activity. Note that if students all search for texts on a particular topic then there may be more overlap and more cases of distraction occurring naturally.

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Practising Cambridge English First Reading Part 3 B. GUIDANCE FOR FOLLOW UP ACTIVITIES
1. The texts for this activity were taken from a number of sources. a. blog - Wendys story: http://www.lefrancophoney.com b. blog - Kims story: http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/07/09/treatedas-a-local/ c. friend - Kates story: thanks to Kate Wallace d. me - Julies story It is difficult finding several blogs that work together for this activity so look to your friends and yourself for experiences that are similar to the ones you have read blogs are only written anecdotes so dont be afraid to use personal accounts. 2. When you have your texts write some questions about each one, jumble them up and create a worksheet similar to A5. Classroom Handout 4. You can then tailor the practice to your students interests or to the topics they need to do more work on.

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