With a view to developing fluency in reading, the direct use of a dictionary

should always be kept as a last resort. This does not mean that the use of
a dictionary is not recommended. You can perhaps show them the importance
of using a dictionary by showing in what ways it can contribute to learning
English.
Ask your learners to bring their dictionaries to school and ask them to do
the following exercise. Look at your dictionary and find out if it includes the
following contents. My dictionary contains: a. different meanings of words;
b. information about pronunciation; c. information about grammar; d.sample
sentences; e.study pages, etc... The point is to make the learners aware that
dictionaries can help them learn the language if used in a reasonable way. You
will also be well advised to make your learners go back to the good old habit
of keeping a vocabulary notebook.

Discover the language pp.10-11

Skill building in this rubric is treated at different levels: the word level, the
sentence level, and the paragraph level.

Task one
The aim of this activity is to familiarise the students with frequency adverbs
and their pronunciation. Make the learners aware of the difference in degree
among the frequency adverbs included in the chart.

Task two
Refer the learners to paragraph three. It is this paragraph which talks about
Kirsi’s regular activities. Ask the learners to pick out the sentences which
contain the frequency adverbs and to place these on the chart they will have
drawn on their rough copybook beforehand.
Task three
In this task the learners will observe/study the sentences in order to identify
the position of the adverbs of frequency in the sentences. They will draw the
rule as to the sentence position in which frequency adverbs usually occur. You
can interact with your learners as follows.
‘What is the function of the word which comes before the adverb of frequency?
Is it an object or a subject? What about the word which comes after it?’ …The
rule is that frequency adverbs usually occur between the subject and the verb
in full affirmative/negative sentences.

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Task four
In this task, the learners will use questions included in a questionnaire to
conduct an interview about regular activities.
Procedure
Direct the learners’ attention to the questionnaire and ask them to identify
what it is about. Once they have identified it, interact with them (in open
class) simulating a sample interview. Show the learners how to make notes by
jotting down the responses of your informants/learners on board. The learners
will make notes on rough pieces of paper when it is their turn to do the task in
pairs.You can refer to the script on p.(i) at the end of the textbook for further
reference as to how interviews are conducted.

Task five
This is a follow-up to task four. The learners will use the notes they have
made about their partners’ regular activities to write/produce a short report.
Hamid generally gets up around 7 in the morning. He always goes to school
by bus and he studies from 8.30 to 12 in the morning. …
Task six
Proceed as in task one and make learners pronounce and interpret the
adverbs of degree on the chart.

Task seven
Proceed as in task two. Make learners read the text very quickly and pick
out the sentences containg degree adverbs.

Task eight
The learners analyse the sentences and draw the conclusion. Proceed in the
same way as in task three. Interact with your learners to enable them to draw
the following rule: Degree adverbs occur before the adverbs or adjectives that
they modify.

Task nine
The aim behind this task is to consolidate the function of locating a place
(e.g., a country or a town) and related language forms.
The learners will produce short dialogues using the cues in the box.

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 (Sample Dialogue):
A: Tell me, which continent is your country located in?
B: It is located in Africa.
A: Which country borders it to the west?
B: Morocco. (or Morocco borders it to the west.)
A: What’s its average temperature in summer?
B: It’s more than 30° C.
A: What is it famous for?
B: It’s famous for its beautiful beaches, marvellous southern regions,
and historical sights.

Write it right p. 11
This task aims to make the learners re-invest what they have learned in the
Disover the language rubric to write a reply to the e-mail message that they
have read in the Read and check rubric.

Procedure
This writing task, like the other tasks in this sub-rubric, focuses on purpose
as well as on text type. It focuses on the text in the sense that it stresses the
importance of the paragraph as the basic unit of written expression. The
learners are ‘taught’ how to build and organise paragraphs. In this text-
focused approach to writing, we usually use the following techniques: writing
parallel or model paragraphs, forming paragraphs from jumbled sentences,
or building paragraphs from topic sentences with or without cues. Therefore,
we strongly recommend that you refer your learners to Kirsi’s e-mail on page
9 of the textbook, and have them take it as a parallel or model of building and
organising the paragraphs of their replies. Provide them with a topic sentence
for the first paragraph. (Cf. Letter of reply, p.21 of the texbook) The learners
can check whether they have organised their paragraphs correctly by referring
to the same letter).
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 The writing task on page 11 of the textbook also focuses on purpose. In other
words, there is a reason behind the writing task assigned to the learners. They
won’t write just for writing but with a purpose. The task simulates a situation
more or less authentic wherein the learners have to write a reply to an e-mail
from a pen-friend of theirs.

Apart from the focus on text and purpose, it is helpful to bear in mind that
writing demands that learners follow some strategies like making a first draft
and having the draft revised by the leaners themselves or by their peers before
writing the final version. These strategies are part and parcel of two other
approaches to writing: the fluency and accuracy approaches. Learners write
as much as possible during the preparation of the first draft without caring
too much about mistakes. The aim at this stage is fluency. The feedback that
learners get from their peers will allow them to focus on accuracy (correction
of mistakes) when writing the revised version of their papers. (More will be
said about writing later).

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