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virgokaren

Vernique2005 :
Cambridge's Strategic Reading 可以自學嗎？
我唔識教耶！

Vernique2005

Virgokaren:

哈哈哈﹗﹗ 你看過本書未呀﹖ 它的format 像informational text, 又有一點像newspaper article. 我有D學生一開始不太習慣這種太學術性的paper 都覺得好難入手﹐ 但慢慢就會慣。你教的方法其實很簡單﹕

1) 先看一次 (有人讀俾拒聽最好)﹐ 不用字典﹐ 只要看懂main subject 是什麼﹐ 問問她知不知道份paper 想argue 些什麼。
2) 第二次看﹐ 拿字典﹐ 看懂每段的大意和明白vocabs
3) 第三次看﹐ 找一些有pattern的sentences. 非常typical 的 structures 會像以下那些 (臨時作來充數的 )﹕
a) Dr. A Johnson, a famous researcher from the University of X, argued that...........
b) Observing that there is a co-relationship between A and B, a psychologist decides to perform an analysis on..........
4) 分析句子結構﹐ 再作句
5) 做書裡面的練習
6) 本人最喜歡的部份--讀出聲 。最好叫小朋友讀到好像news reporter 甘就perfect 勒﹗ 留意發音﹐ 儘量叫拒唔好停﹐ 再看看她緊張時有沒有跳行/跳字讀﹐ 有沒有er..hm...之類的聲音
7) 反復練習 (通常放下一星期後再review)。

其實Cambridge 的一篇article 就可以用很久 (因為真係好多野要學)﹐要把reading 分開這麼多次是因為讀者的經驗未夠﹐ 如果是experienced reader 讀一次就可以做好所有steps. 把文章的每一個字都看清楚是close reading, 這跟速讀不同﹐ 速讀只會看大意﹐要練速度的話要從general reading 開始。(但其實兩種閱讀方法最後會combine, 因為當你讀大學但又想有時間去玩時﹐ speed reading + close reading 先至是唯一的出路﹐ 就像計數的要快而準一樣)

close reading 的用處通常是在閱讀理解或文章分析上有最大用途﹐ 因為我們可以從reading 中學到grammar, sentence structure, word choice 和 writing (對中國人來說還有練speaking 的好處﹐ 畢竟不是每個人都可以開口成文﹐ 而讀到這麼順的句子時很多好學的孩子都會有很大的成功感).

以下是Washington 大學教close reading 的 notes (可能有點難﹐ 但沒所謂﹐ 反正看明了以後就會從reading 中慢慢找到竅門--然後再教孩子。)

http://courses.washington.edu/spcmu/425/notetaking.htm

你努力啦﹗ 真的不難﹐ 是 style 的問題﹐ 就像如果你現在給我看中文版的會計paper 一樣﹐ 我一開始一定唔知發生什麼事﹐ 但看到有些repeated 的 structures 後就會慢慢了解﹗

Vernique2005

virgokaren 寫道:

Cambridge's Strategic Reading 可以自學嗎？

Sorry. 唔記得答你﹐ Cambridge's Strategic Reading 是絕對可以自學的﹐ 一本字典﹐ 一個website 教發音(www.m-w.com)﹐ 加時間就可以﹗通常一篇article 教1小時左右。 如果怕悶﹐ 就找其他表兄弟姊妹一起讀/研究研究﹐ 討論一下就可﹗

evelyn317

Hello Vernique2005

Thank you very much for your sharing.

song

Vernique2005

I am so happy to find your info. here that is very useful and informative. Thks so much for sharing and spedning time on typing. I would like to ask my relative in the States to buy me some books for my P.1 girl. I have clicked your California Redling List. There are so many. Could you pls chose of them from the list for me pls? The biggest book exhibition in Hong Kong is coming soon. Pls give me the list so I can try to get them at this show. OR any more other books that you strongly recommended?? Thks a lot!!

ppq

thank you !i will try my to do it .
but  where can i bought it, Is that really hard to buy it at hk? anyone know it ? or buy it at amazon.couse of any more popular book easy to buy it, would u like to recomman any other ?
thank a lot of your helping.
            

Vernique2005

Hi ppq and Song:

The reading list is supposed to be very very long.  According to the US/Canadian standard, the K-2 readers are just quick readers (which means students should be able to read at least one title per day)  So I guess buying the readers is not the most economical solution (most picture books are sold for $19.99US or more......)  My cousin studies grade 2 in Canada, and he reads about 5 books a week.  We usually use library books for reader, and only buy him informational books for references  (books that deal with geography/history/science, etc)

I just checked the HK public libary catalogue, they actually have most of the books that the California's Department of Education recommends.  Why don't you guys try reserving them online and have a look at them first before buying?

Song:  If you are planning to buy books from the States, try to ask your relatives to get you workbooks instead. Have a look at the list of materials below, maybe you will find something for your child. For your case, you can go under language art/grammar/writing/reading. You may also want to look at Phonics because all Americans learn about that in elementary schools.
A good website is:
http://store.teachchildren.com/languagearts.html

Hey, when will the book exhibition end?  I am interested in going there, too~!

bb2001

Hello  Vernique2005,

I feel I'm a bit late to read this column, you are really helpful.

The last day of HK bookfair will be 25th Jul.

BTW, do you know which Phonics system is most popular in U.S. now for elementary schools? Thanks.

Vernique2005

hi bb2001:
oh.. It's too bad that the bookfair ends so early.  I won't be able to go there then...

In terms of phonics system, we rarely use IPA. (I know that IPA is quite popular in HK, but that is rarely used in North America unless you study Linguistics at a university.  The main purpose of IPA is to do transcription.  There is just way too much detail in the IPA system that an average person wouldn't use in everyday speech.)

Most of the time, we teach phonics in grades 1-4.  Some free exercises for phonics can be found at:
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/phonics/

Unfortunately, this website does not give you the whole package.  However, phonics lessons are very typical, so anything like that would work.  In Canada, we take phonics for granted, so people actually don't have to attend private lessons for it.

Hope it helps!
  

virgokaren

Vernique2005：

我未看過本書，只在網上看了一下它提供的sample，怕沒有標準答案，我會教錯佢嘛！
有了你的提示，我會努力嘗試和她一起學習，相信我也會有得益！
我駛唔駛買埋本 teacher's book 扮 teacher 呀？
你提供的 web dictionary 好有用呀！
Thousand thanks！Longing to see u！

Vernique2005

Virgokaren:
唔駛買teacher's book 啦﹗慢慢摸下就可以了﹐ 把錢省來將來買book 2 仲好﹗
P.S: 麻煩check check e-mail, 寄左3 個有關讀障的字體給您看﹐ 請小心研究我的錯字。(字是小妹我自己寫的﹐ 千祈唔好嚇親﹐ 記住﹐我現在已經沒問題的了)

song

Vernique2005,

Thank you very much!!! All your info provided is extremely useful. I will do what you ask me to. Thks a lot!!

Song

Hin.Hei

I find the discussions very informative, thanks very much.

My son, studying in P2, likes reading books very much, but he is only interested in reading Chinese.  In fact, he has just finished reading 射雕英雄傳 during these two weeks after the term-end exam.  With limited English vocab., he can't enjoy reading English stories.  For those storybooks of lower levels, he finds the stories too simple (as compared with those Chinese books he reads).  I am starting with the Oxford Story Tree, but his interests (and of course, his standard) in English is not that much.  Any suggestions in jumping out of this loop?

In addition, I'm thinking of introducing grammar to him systematically, so as to get him understand the rule.  Any suggestions ?

Thanks.

char.chan

wrong msg. [deleted]

aoj

Hin.Hei:

Try the Magic Tree House series of story books, written by Mary Popo Osborne.  The story is interesting and full of adventure.  Your son may find enjoyment.  Of course, it contains much more words as compared with those Ladybird/Oxford story tree series.  In fact, the English is not very very difficult for Primary school.
You may find these books at Popular/Joint/Page One.  In fact, I went to PageOne with my son, my son was also looking for one of the books.  I found that many Primary students are fond of these series.  

Hin.Hei

aoj:

Yes, I've already brought the Magic Tree House (the first 3 books).  To arouse his interest, I first start with reading the story for him, with some Chinese explanations on some of the vocab.  He does find them interesting, but he seems to be satisfied with this mode, without having the initiatives to pick up the books to read himself.

I note that the first 2 books got the Chinese-English version.  I will try and see if it works.

Vernique2005

Dear Hin.Hei:

You son reads 射雕英雄傳 in P2?? Well.. I have to admit that I do not even have to ability to do so now!hahha! I guess the reason why he hates reading English books is that his Chinese reading skills are so much better than his English reading skills.  Instead of forcing him to read books, trying other approaches may also work.  Does he likes electronics/computers?  You may ask him to read manuals with you.  You may also buy him some board games that have long lists of rules and ask him to read you the rules so that you can play with him.  For your boy, reading information book may be a better solution than reading story books.  You may want to get him a series of science books and focus on just 1 topic for a week.  For example, you may start from Geography.  Teach him the ideas of earthquake, then move on to Tsunami, and finally landslides.  Through reading this kind of books, he learns many English vocabs as well as scientific concepts.  If you have time, you may also ask him to draw diagrams/charts and ask him to present the ideas in English.  This is a good oral training as well.

Another topic that you may want to explore is first aid.  Many first aid books are meant to be short and concise.  Just ask him to read one/two pages per day, then he will learn a lot.  From first aid books, you may ask him to see how procedures are listed, how actions/body movements are described and how specification is made.  Some good first aid books can be found in the St. John's Ambulance website.

I personally like the grammar books by Azar. The author is the one who presents the tenses in the clearest way because she uses diagrams and charts to explain time concepts.  I also like the fact that there are both written and ORAL exercises for learning grammar.  This way, the students would truly understand how grammar is applied in everyday speech.  You may find this book at:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-4183475-7714516

I usually use Basic English Grammar for Elementary students.  In addition, I use "Fun with grammar" to do activities with my students.

Hin.Hei

Vernique2005,

Thanks.  I'll try your suggestions.  He likes board games, I'll start with that.

Would you tell me the name of the book written by Azar that you mentioned?  I can't browse it at the link you quoted.

Search with the name "Azar", here are the list of the books, any one that you'd recommend to start off?

- Fundamentals of English Grammar, Full Text
- Fundamentals of English Grammar: Workbook A&B
- Understanding and Using English Grammar (Third Edition) (Full Student Edition without Answer Key)
- Understanding and Using English Grammar: Workbook
- Basic English Grammar, Book A

For "Fun with Grammar", do you mean the one "Fun with Grammar: Communicative Activities for the Azar Grammar Series, Teacher's Resource Book" by Suzanne W. Woodward or "Fun With Grammar: 75 Quick Activities & Games That Help Kids Learn About Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, and More : Grades 4-8" by Laura Sunley ?

Are they for students of different levels?

Thanks again.

m1m1sam

Do you mean the book "Understanding ... English Grammar"?  published by Pearson, isn't it?
quite a classic grammar book.  I think it's more suitable for intermediate level students --- at least upper primary students (of local schools in HK). Yes, i found this book's coverage on tenses quite comprehensive and thorough. Besides actual situational usage practice, the exercise also touch on the theory, that's the part i think elementary students (especially in HK) may not be able to handle.

Can u recommend some Grammar stuff for lower primary students? say Grade 1-2? I've got quite a no. of exercise books (DK, Letts, Scholastic...), but i found most of them (i mean workbooks st these levels)  focus more on phonics and vocab, the rhyming words,etc. Do u find these kind of workbooks useful (in grammar learning/teaching) ?

Vernique2005 寫道:

I personally like the grammar books by Azar. The author is the one who presents the tenses in the clearest way because she uses diagrams and charts to explain time concepts.  I also like the fact that there are both written and ORAL exercises for learning grammar.  This way, the students would truly understand how grammar is applied in everyday speech.  You may find this book at:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-4183475-7714516

I usually use Basic English Grammar for Elementary students.  In addition, I use "Fun with grammar" to do activities with my students.

Vernique2005

Dear Hin. Hei and m1m1sam:

The book that I was referring to is indeed the one that m1m1sam mentioned.

The easiest of the whole series is "Basic English Grammar, Full Student Text, Second Edition (Paperback)"
ISBN: 0133683176
We use this book for ESL Level 1 students in Canada (Level 1 is the easiest level for all immigrants), so I guess it should not be too bad.

The teacher's guide for grammar book is:
Fun with Grammar: Communicative Activities for the Azar Grammar Series, Teacher's Resource Book (Spiral-bound)
ISBN: 0135679265

If you are thinking of something that is even easier, you may try McGraw Hill's grammar practice book. (They have books for each grade)
ISBN: 0021856451

Indeed, McGraw Hill has a series of workbooks for grammar/reading, etc.  I don't usually use their grammar books because they are a bit easy.  However, I tried their reading exercises before.  I think their reading exercises are pretty nice.

I do agree with m1m1sam that Azar's grammar books sometimes involve theories that many schools in HK do not teach.  However, it's often through learning these theories that students truly understand grammar.  My belief is that we can always simplify the way of presentation, but never the content.  I guess Azar held similar views as she wrote the book as well.  The advantages of Azar's book are that what it teaches is pretty much what people around the world consider to be "standard." It even highlights the differences between American English and British English wherever applicable.  So I guess if you learn through this series of grammar books, you won't be frustrated in the future just because you don't know the grammar rules comprehensively enough. This actually happens to many students who make mistakes because they don't know how to apply the rules that they have learned.

I studied at SPCS when I was in HK, and my teacher taught tenses in the same way that Azar wrote, so I guess it's still relevant to students in HK, except that we may need to offer them more explanations and examples for a better understanding of the materials.