Outline

 Write this example sentence on the board: "Tom decided that he desperately needed the glockum if he
were to solve the problem"
 Ask students what they do if they are reading an English text and do not understand a specific word.
 Ask students what they do if they are reading a text in their native language and do not understand a
specific word.
 Ask students what 'glockum' means.
 Once students have established that they don't know what a 'glockum' is, ask them to guess at what it
might be.
 Ask students what part of speech a 'glockum' is (i.e. verb, noun, preposition etc.)
 Have students explain how they arrived at their guesses, which clues did they use?
 Explain the concept of reading in "chunks" i.e. looking at the text surrounding the unknown word for
clues.
 Show them an article from an advanced level magazine (Wired, National Geographic, The Economist
etc.)
 Ask students to identify the probable vocabulary areas that may be used in the example article.
 Explain the importance of activating vocabulary by first quickly glancing at the text to be read. This idea
is very important as the brain will begin to focus on related concepts thus preparing the student for
what is to be read.
 Point out that by using all of these clues (i.e. "chunking", part of speech, logical deduction, vocabulary
activation), students can arrive at a much fuller understanding of difficult texts - even if they do not
understand each word
 Have students divide into small groups and complete worksheet.
 Reading Clues

 Deduction - What does the sentence concern? Which words does the unknown word seem to relate to?
 Part of Speech - Which part of speech is the unknown word? Is it a verb, noun, preposition, adjective, time
expression or something else?
 Chunking - What do the words around the unknown word(s) mean? How could the unknown word(s) relate
to those words? - This is basically deduction on a more local level.
 Vocabulary Activation - When quickly skimming through the text, what does the text seem to concern? Does
the layout (design) of the text give any clues? Does the publication or type of book give any clues to what the
text might be about? Which words can you think of that belong to this vocabulary category? Make logical
guesses about the meaning of the unknown words in the following paragraph.
 Cultural reference – Does this word, and/or the text have anything cultural in them? Any famous artist,
character, or animal is cited or mentioned or hinted here?
 Contrast and Coherence – If there are two sentences, what is the relationship between them? They are
separated by a comma, a period, a preposition (but, and, etc.)? Analyze how the sentences are related.

Jack quickly entered the didot and cleaned the various misturaes he had been using to repair the wuipit.
He had often thought that this job was extremely yullning. However, he had to admit that this time
things seemed to be a bit easier. When he finished, he put on his redick and went back to the study to
relax. He took out his favorite pipe and settled into the beautiful new pogtry. What a fantastic schnappy
he had made when he had bought the pogtry. Only 300 yagmas!

 What could a 'didot' be?

 What part of speech is 'misturaes'?

 If Jack used the 'misturaes' to repair the 'wuipit' what do you think the 'mistraes' must be?

 What could 'yulling' mean? - What part of speech is often used with an ending '-ing '?

 Which synonym could be used for ' yulling '?

o fun
o difficult
o expensive

 What type of things do you put on?

 Based on the above question, what kind of thing must a 'redick' be?

 Is a 'pogtry' used inside or outside?

 Which words let you know that the 'pogtry' was cheap?

 What must 'yagmas' be?

o Clothes
o Cigarette type
o Type of money
 READING STRATEGIES
Exercise 1: Use your knowledge of the world to guess the
meanings of the underlined words.
1. The driver swerved to miss the little boy who stepped out
into the road.
To swerve is probably ________________________________
2. The podiatrist told the woman to take the medicine for 5
days and call him if she didn’t feel better.
A podiatrist is probably _______________________________
3. She picked the irises and arranged them in a vase to put on
the coffee table.
An iris is probably ____________________________________
4. Her tea was tepid, so she put it in the microwave.
Tepid probably means _______________________
Exercise 2: Use the punctuation clues to find the meaning of
the underlined words.
1. The deluge, a flood of rain, threatened to drown the little
town.
A deluge is _______________________________________
2. Sleet (half rain and half snow) can be very difficult to drive in
due to poor visibility.
Sleet is ___________________________________________
3. Freezing rain – rain which freezes when it hits the earth –
also causes many accidents.
Freezing rain is _____________________________________
4. People have gotten lost 10 meters from their homes in
blizzards – snowfalls that come down very thickly.
A blizzard is ________________________________________
5. Another dangerous form of weather is hail (falling balls of
ice) which has been known to get so big that it can break a car
windshield.
Hail is ____________________________________________
Exercise 3: Use definition clues to guess the meanings of the
underlined words.
1. Many new businesses go bankrupt, which means they lose
everything.
To go bankrupt is ____________________________________
2. Entrepreneurs are people who start their own businesses.
An entrepreneur is ___________________________________
Exercise 4: Use example clues to guess the meanings of the
underlined words.
1. A great part of Canada’s economy is based on its natural
resources, for instance coal, oil and wood.
2. The research company said that less-established car makets
such as Subaru and Isuzu could be forced out of North America.
Less-established is __________________________________
3. The Big Three are designing radical new cars including
vehicles that use radar and advanced computers.
Radical is __________________________________________
Exercise 5: Use comparison clues to guess the meaning of the
underlined words.
1. Both the vacuum cleaner and the smaller portovac are usefu
in doing the rugs.
A portovac is ________________________________________
2. Laura finds washing dishes relaxing. In the same way, Jane
finds folding laundry soothing.
Soothing means ____________________________________
Exercise 6: Use contrast clues to guess the meanings of the
underlined words.
1. Many old people stay home in inclement weather, yet they
go out walking on nice days.
Inclement weather is ________________________________
2. Instead of vegetating at home, lots of old people are very
active in the community.
To vegetate is _______________________________
Exercise 7: Review
1. The asp, a small poisonous snake, is found in Africa, Europe,
and Arabia.
An asp is _______________________________________
2. Rodents such as mice, rats and beavers, can often do a lot of
damage.
A rodent is ______________________________________
3. Gardeners curse the mole (a small rodent that likes to dig in
soft soil).
A mole is _________________________________________
4. The hare resembles a large rabbit.
A hare is ____________________________________
8. The large dog used by the Inuit in northern Canada to pull
sleds is called a husky.
A husky is _________________________________________
Coal oil and wood are _________________________________

The lovely egret is in danger of extinction because clothing manufacturers use their long, beautiful tail feathers to make
ladies' hats.
You can trust the salesmen at that store because they always conduct business in an aboveboard manner.