Learning to read properly

C. Now put the two skills together. Stress and pause where necessary:

Mar cus Au gus tus was a young boy / with i dea s.// As a small child,/ he had made toys out of no thing.// He i ma gined that stones were chariots / and small pieces of wood were wolves and thieves/ who were trying to steal his chariots / and all the se ster ces that he owned , / which he i ma gined were kept / in a large treasure chest.

3. Here is another IMPORTANT READING TIP for you:

If you are reading from the left page of a book, place your right hand behind the book you are holding. Slip the left hand page between your thumb and index finger of your left hand so that the thumb indicates where you are on the page you are reading.

Now slowly slide your thumb down as you read, always stopping it when you stop to look up from the reading.

This is useful for finding your place when you look back at the reading passage, see?

The same applies when you are reading from the right-hand page.

This time your left hand goes behind the book and you right hand thumb moves down as you read.

4. Here is an EXTRA READING TIP for you:

Use the commas and full stops and other punctuation marks to “tell” you where to breathe. In other words, Do not read too fast. YOU must be in control of the words!read with the correct phrasing. Pause where necessary.

5. When you read, read with understanding, enthusiasm, conviction and sincerity.

After all, if YOU are not interested, how can you expect your listener to be interested!

6. BEFORE you read a passage, ask your educator to tell you . . .

• how to pronounce any difficult words;
• the meanings of words you do not know.

Activity 2:

Reading exercise to prepare

[lo 3.1.8]

Find a passage at home (from a newspaper or a magazine), which interests you – JUST ONE PARAGRAPH of about 7 - 10 lines. Use all the above tips to practise reading well. You will be asked to read for the class. Here is a chance for you to make a fresh start this year to improve your marks and all your subjects. We remind you that reading is a VERY important skill!

Continue now with the next exercise, which will again put what you have just learnt to the test. Try to improve on your last performance.

Assessment

Memorandum

ACTIVITY 1

It is important to do this exercise slowly so that the pupils reap the FULL benefit.

Explain each item carefully and let them practise each BEFORE reading. PACE is the important issue here.

ACTIVITY 2

Now that they are prepared, they can try to read in front of the class.

They should pay important attention to the SELECTION of the passage and also know that they do need to PRACTISE at home first before reading in class.

• Go over the assessment chart so that they know how they will be evaluated