ORIENTATION WEEK

HOW TO LEARN READING & WRITING

Overview
— How to learn reading
— How to learn writing
— How to learn vocabulary
Discussion
— How often do you read text in English?
— Why do we read?
How to learn reading
Ways of Reading Practice
 Intensive & Extensive Reading
Intensive Reading Extensive Reading
- Reading in detail with specific learning - Reading text for enjoyment to develop
aims and tasks general reading skills
- Short texts - Long texts (books/ research, etc.)
- Readers are also concerned with the - Readers are more concerned with the
meaning of individual words or meaning of text rather than the
sentences meaning of individual words or
- Bottom-up processing sentences
- Top-down processing
Basic ways of reading
Reflect: How do you read?

Work in groups of 2-3 Tell other members

what you can
remember from the
text
 Basic ways of reading
Skimming Scanning
- Read a text quickly to find out the - Read a text quickly to find out specific
What is
general theme, topic, or meaning information e.g. names, years.
it?
- Pre-reading tasks - Answer types of questions that ask for
When do
- Texts that don’t need a lot of details
we use
detailed attention - Already know what you’re looking for
it?
- Read the title - Identify the organization of the content
- Read the headings, subheadings, before you begin
How do illustration captions - Look for key words and related words as
we do it? - Read the first and last paragraph your eyes move quickly over the text
- Read the topic sentence of each - Look for the information in all formats:
paragraph charts, graphs, maps, captions
scanning scanning
skimming scanning
Recommended websites
— https://www.wonderopolis.org/

— https://english-online.at/
— https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/

— http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/
Critical Reading Strategies In Class
Before you read:
- Read the tasks
- Scan the text (title, sub-title, images, etc.)
- Make predictions

During reading
- Circle/ Underline keywords
- Answer the given tasks

After reading:
- Reflect on your initial ideas
- Reflect your understanding of the text
How to learn writing
Online dictionaries
The Don’ts
What to avoid?
 Contractions
I’ll à I will
— Don’ts
We can’t à We cannot
 Informal/Spoken
Words and Phrases
— kids, guys, stuff
— Don’ts — a little bit, a lot of, lots of
— This essay talks about…
— I want to say that …
— A solution I would like
to suggest is …
 Symbols and abbreviations
— ppl
— Don’ts
— approx.
— cities like HN & HCMC
 Imperative
Sentences
— Don’ts Remember that children
need care from parents.
Do make sure parents
spend time with their
children.
 And, Or, But at
Sentence
Beginnings
— Don’ts And there are some
advantages too.
But there are also some
disadvantages.
 First-person
pronouns (I, We)
— Don’ts I think people
should… à
It is advisable that …
 “You” to address
— Don’ts
the reader directly
Doing sports is good for
you.
 Asking Questions
So what are the
— Don’ts benefits of doing
sports? This essay will
discuss …
 Emotive Words
— Don’ts
The performance
seems really good.
 Exclamatory
— Don’ts Sentences
What a mess!
 Word Repetition
cause, cause, cause

lead to
result in
— Don’ts
create
produce
trigger
provoke
 Overgeneralisations
Everyone loves peace.
— Don’ts
à Peace is desirable.
The Dos
What’s the Norm?
 Language Use
— semi-formal
Dos — academic / concise
— neutral / objective
 Words in Full
Dos laboratory, NOT lab,
vocabulary, NOT
vocab
 Hedging Language
The earth will get warmer.
Scientists predict that the
Dos earth will get warmer.
It is predicted that the
earth will get warmer.
 Write Numbers
Under 10 as Words
Dos
3 à three
 Impersonal,
Passive
Dos Constructions
It is suggested that …
 Nominalization
(noun forms of verbs)
More and more people
demand high-quality
goods.
Dos
— There is a growing demand
for high-quality goods.
— People’s demand for high-
quality goods is growing.
How to learn vocabulary
 Dictionary Recording
Vocabulary work vocabulary
Building
Strategies
Instructions
Here is an entry from the Oxford Student’s Dictionary. Label the parts of
the entry 1-5 using the words in the box.

part of speech definition pronunciation

example sentence stress mark
 Recording
Vocabulary

WORD CARDS MIND MAPS TABLES

Word cards
Mind
maps
Tables
Note
Wherever you record new
vocabulary, it is helpful to note more
than the translation. Also note, for
example:

■ the pronunciation
■ the stressed syllables
■ part of speech
■ associated words and grammar,
e.g., a biography of someone
Make word cards for the underlined words 1-6. Use your
dictionary.

1. I am studying Medical Science.

2. We scan a timetable to get the information we want.

3. Correct punctuation is very important in good writing.

4. Always check in a dictionary if you are not sure how a

word is spelt.

5. A biography is the story of someone’s life.

6. Novels, plays, and poetry are examples of literature.

https://quizlet.com
Making Reading & Writing A Joyful Habit
Suggested Project - Integrating Extensive
Reading with writing tasks
— Use literature
— choose the books and authors from their
preferences
— Create reading logs by submitting the written
record of their personal reactions, attitudes,
discoveries
— Suggestions: writing extended comments on a
passage or sentence from the text to interpret
the ideas or situations; retelling the story/ plot
with the view of a character
Thank You!