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READING STRATEGIESREADING STRATEGIES

TEXT COMPREHENSIONTEXT COMPREHENSION

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1. KNOWN VOCABULARY2. COGNATE WORDS3. TYPOGRAPHIC CLUES4. AFFIXES5. NOUN PHRASES6. CONNECTORS7. REFERENCES8. BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE 9. PREDICTION10.INFERENCE11.PARAPHRASES12.BOOKMARKS (KEY WORDS)

STEPS TOWARDS A BETTER TEXT UNDERSTANDING

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You can reduce the risk of heart disease if you practice sports.

The methods of preparation are explained step by step.

Beta carotene fights certain types of cancer.

Maternal milk is an important weapon against child diseases.

She always takes the bus to go home

1. KNOWN VOCABULARY

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EAT SMART is a new show on food and nutrition.

Doctor Don Schubert is the host of a TV show.

Drink your orange juice and other food rich in vitamin.

The film about the war was very realistic.

She had to take a radiography of the arm.

2. COGNATE WORDS2.1 TRANSPARENT WORDS

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Sign up for twelve weeks .

Eat a proper diet.

Cataracts cloud over the lens of the eyes.

Their calculation are all accurate.

That store also sells unimportant articles.

2. COGNATE WORDS2.2 NONTRANSPARENT WORDS

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She is actually my sister.

They like to wear strange costumes.

His parents have traveled all over the world .

She usually pretends she is rich.

Her relatives are foreigners.

They smoke cigars.

2. COGNATE WORDS2.3 FALSE COGNATES

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WHEN: Mondays, 11 a.m. and Wednesdays,7 p.m.

For more information, call 495-2231.

The report found that a third of 11-year-old boys are on a diet.

The watched TITANIC on video.

The adress is 133 Elm Street.

3. TYPOGRAPHIC CLUES

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LESS: useless – helpless – careless – fruitless – powerless – homeless

FUL: useful – helpful – careful – fruitful – powerful – heartful

ER: colder – healthier – taller – nicer – thinner – larger

4. AFFIXES4.1 ADJETIVES

( LESS – FUL – ER )

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OUS: nervous – generous – famous marvelous – tenebrous – serious

ABLE: acceptable – readable – eatable – usable – breakable – changeable

Y: sunny – cloudy – rainy – healthy – windy – watery – dusty

4. AFFIXES4.1 ADJETIVES

( OUS – ABLE – Y )

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(TY – NESS – HOOD – SHIP – ER ) TY: city – certainty – fidelity – quality – honesty –

identity – tranquility NESS: happiness – blindness – nervousness –

darkness – weakness – uselessness – whiteness HOOD: childhood – neighborhood – parenthood –

brotherhood – manhood – adulthood – falsehood SHIP: citizenship – friendship – relationship –

companionship – hardship ER: reader – writer – swimmer – runner – learner

– speaker – consumer

4. AFFIXES4.2 NOUNS

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( LY )

LY: usually – rarely – quietly – frequently honestly – generally – easily – actually

4. AFFIXES4.3 ADVERB

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( FY - ATE )

FY: verify – classify – unify – clarify – identify – pacify – personify – quantify

ATE: assimilate – assassinate - permeate – innovate – congregate – communicate – hesitate – elaborate

4. AFFIXES4.4 VERBS

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… despite much more awareness, sweet snacks are still the weakness for young people.

Breakfast has become a healthier meal.

Apparently, young people are eating less fast food.

4. AFFIXESEXAMPLES

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GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

HEALTH AUTHORITY SURVEY

11-YEAR-OLD BOYS

FAT-FREE FOOD

CHOLESTEROL LEVELS

COMPUTER - AIDED TOMOGRAPHY

5. NOUN PHRASES

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6. CONNECTORS

because, since, as, due to, so, therefore, thus, if

though, although, on the other hand, but, however, yet ,

and, also, furthermore, besides, moreover, in addition, or

before, after, next, until, while, when, as soon as, afterwards

The children were crying because they were sick.

She was not feeling well, but she went to church.

She bought a new dress and went home by taxi

She went to sleep after she had eaten her food.

a) ADDITIVE

addition / alternation

a) ADVERSATIVE

contrast / concession

a) CAUSAL

cause / reason / effect condition

a) TEMPORAL

time

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Americans love coffee, but they are drinking less of it.

Americans developed tinned food. Most of it was marketed.

Nevertheless, over half of those teenagers interviewed still eat meat.

7. REFERENCES

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When she is not planting, she is washing her clothes at the

creek. The indian Ana Fortes has done that since she was a

child. Her surname seems to make justice to her health

because Fortes means ´strong´ in Portuguese. She keeps

on strong at her 109 years of age to make her best in order

to keep still alive the tradition on how to cope with the land

and the spirit of fight of the indigenous race. (adapted from

Diário Catarinense 08/17/03

When she is not planting, she is washing her clothes at the

creek. The indian Ana Fortes has done that since she was a

child. Her surname seems to make justice to her health

because Fortes means ´strong´ in Portuguese. She keeps

on strong at her 109 years of age to make her best in order

to keep still alive the tradition on how to cope with the land

and the spirit of fight of the indigenous race. (adapted from

Diário Catarinense 08/17/03

ExophorExophoric-ic-Anaphoric-Anaphoric-CataphoricCataphoric References (i)References (i)Directions

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"A famous doctor had cured a child of a very serious illness. The mother is grateful and goes to the doctor's office to thank him. "

Doctor", says she, "there are some things we can't pay for. I thought that you would want to accept this wallet which I made for you with my own hands.

" Madam," answered the doctor rudely, "I don't practice medicine for sentimental reasons. You must pay me in money. Your bill is two hundred dollars." The lady opened the wallet, took out the five hundred dollars she had put in it and gave the doctor two hundred."

this wallet

doctorThe mother

you

“I

me

you

him

sheI

Imy

YouYour

she it

Overall References for the words Doctor-Mother-Wallet

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- Amelia's letterDear Members of the UNICEF,

I am an eleven-year-old girl and come from a small village. I left home to come to the city and to work to send money to my family… I work twelve hours a day for very little money… 

8. PREDICTION

UNICEF

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Amelia's letter

Dear Members of the UNICEF,

I am an eleven-year-old girl and come from a small village. I left home to come to the city and to work to send money to my family. Now I make T-shirts in a factory. I work twelve hours a day for very little money. The factory is very dirty and hot.

Amelia's letter

Dear Members of the UNICEF,

I am an eleven-year-old girl and come from a small village. I left home to come to the city and to work to send money to my family. Now I make T-shirts in a factory. I work twelve hours a day for very little money. The factory is very dirty and hot.

9. BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

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The boss is very mean and often beats us. He makes us work very hard without breaks. My friends and I want to leave but we know that working in the factory is better than begging in the streets.

Could you please tell us what to do?Amelia.

9. BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

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1. In his message, the Pope:

01.shows the difficult life conditions of millions of human beings near the turn of the century.

02. says there is no need to support Humanitarian Organizations in the fight against hunger.

10. INFERENCE

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04. says that nature should be respected and the distribution of wealth should be just.

08. points at some strong social differences present in industrialized nations.

16. advises people from all areas of activity to start a movement against Christianity.

10. INFERENCE

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We tend to think of them as anonymous statistics.

The chief is very heartless and often spanks us. He forces us to work very hard without intervals.

We tend to think of them as faceless statistics.

The boss is very mean and often beats us. He makes us work very hard without breaks.

11. PARAPHRASES

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1) Today we are aware that the means at our disposal are certainly insufficient to meet the needs of the almost eight hundred million people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition, and still struggle for survival, on the threshold of the Year 2000.

01. nowadays, there are people still struggling for survival.

01. nowadays, there are people still struggling for survival.

12. BOOKMARKS

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When a word is a ‘kind of’ a larger whole

When a word is a ‘kind of’ a larger whole

The word is repeated using one related meaning.

The word is repeated using similar words of the same class.

When the word is repeated whether in the same grammatical group or not.

When a noun has generalized reference within the major noun classes

Brazil and Argentina are the largest countries in South America

We fixed the pie together. It was a delicious dish.

The thief held his gun high with three bullets inside. The shining metal scared everybody.

The doctor knew he had to be an excellent surgeon this time.

The doctor had a strange feeling about the baby. He felt the baby would recover soon.

The beggar was put in jail. The man was only trying to get some money.

Brazil and Argentina are the largest countries in South America

We fixed the pie together. It was a delicious dish. (also known as Superordinate)

The thief held his gun high with three bullets inside. The shining metal scared everybody.

The doctor knew he had to be an excellent surgeon this time.

The doctor had a strange feeling about the baby. He felt the baby would recover soon.

The beggar was put in jail. The man was only trying to get some money.

a) Repetition

b) Synonymy

c) near-synonymy

d) Hyperonymy

f) General Words

e) Hyponymy

REITERATIONREITERATION

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Zero Tolerance - L O U D O N C O U N T Y, Va. For 16 weeks,

student Ben Ratner could only wave from a distance to his friends

at Blue Ridge Middle School in Virginia. He was banished from

the school – suspended for violating the zero tolerance policy

against weapons. Ben’s case is controversial. His school praised

him because he took a knife from a student who had threatened

suicide. Yet the school board ruled that he had to be punished

because he did not immediately give the knife to an adult.

She missed the bus, and couldn’t ake a taxi to arrive in time at her friend’s wedding. I know she’ll find another means of transportation to arive there in time for the party.

She missed the bus, and couldn’t take another taxi to arrive in time at her friend’s wedding. I know she’ll find another means of transportation to arrive there in time for the party.

student

student

School

school

school

school

knife

knife

Zero tolerance

zero tolerancesuspended

punished

banished

weapons

REITERATIONREITERATION

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A word is used with its opposite.Love and pity may lead me to the heavens. But hate and cruelty will lead me to the hell.Love and pity may lead me to the heavens. But hate and cruelty will lead me to the hell.

Words which have relational ties to a certain degree of proximity.The priest, as usual, prayed in his church with the help of the parishioners. The priest, as usual, prayed in his church with the help of the parishioners.

When the idea is presented in an ordered sequence.

The word is repeated using one of its opposite meaning.

When a word is ‘part of’ a larger whole.

Substitution of one thing for another based on their association or proximity .

First, the man wen into the room. Next, he went up the stairs. And finally sat down tired.

This tree has dark green leaves and white flowers which produce small red fruits.

We need some new faces around here. We are fed up with those people.

Although she is very ill, we expect her to be healthy soon..

First, the man went into the room. Next, he went up the stairs. And finally sat down tired.

This tree has dark green leaves and white flowers which produce small red fruits.

We need some new faces around here. We are fed up with those people.

Although she is very ill, we expect her to be healthy soon.

a) Enumeration

b) Oppositeness

c) Antonymy

d) Meronymy

e) Metonymy

f) Relationship

COLLOCATIONCOLLOCATION

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Zero Tolerance - L O U D O N C O U N T Y, Va. For 16 weeks, student Ben Ratner could only wave from a distance to his friends at Blue Ridge Middle School in Virginia. He was banished from the school – suspended for violating the zero tolerance policy against weapons. Ben’s case is controversial. His school praised him because he took a knife from a student who had threatened suicide. Yet the school board ruled that he had to be punished because he did not immediately give the knife to an adult.

Collocation - a pair of lexical items that are associated with each other in the language in some way.

COLLOCATIONCOLLOCATION

School

student

School board

zero tolerance policy

punished

suspended

banished

weapons

threatened

suicide

knife

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A famous doctor had cured a child of a very serious illness. The mother is grateful and goes to the doctor's office to thank him.

" Doctor", says she, "there are some things we can't pay for. I thought that you would want to accept this wallet which I made for you with my own hands.

" Madam," answered the doctor rudely, "I don't practice medicine for sentimental reasons. You must pay me in money. Your bill is two hundred dollars." The lady opened the wallet, took out the five hundred dollars she had put in it and gave the doctor two hundred."

the doctor

Doctor

the doctor

the doctor

curedillness

medicine

doctor

Overall Grammatical and Lexical Cohesion

grateful thank

dollars

money billdollars

pay

pay

hundred

hundred

hundred

says

replied

you

“I

me

you

him

The lady

Madam

childThe mother

I

sheI

my

You Your

she

this wallet

the wallet

which

it

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