Intensive News Reading Class

1. Intensive News Reading Class Welcome!!!

2. Topics Covered • Sports • Political • Economic • Social • Cultural • Weather • Ecology • Health      • Military • Legal • Security    • Editorial • Celebrities • Foreign affairs • Education         

3. Class Layout • The first 10 minutes of class will be a quiz on your reading assignment • If you cheat, you will be asked to leave the class immediately. • If you have questions, you may ask me and only me. • No talking. That’s the rule. If you don’t respect the rule, you will have to leave.

4. New Course Website • www.deweyclass.weebly.com • Make sure to check out the website for your weekly readings. • News articles will be posted weekly • Check out the website for resources • In fact, let’s take a look!

5. Lesson 1: How to read an English newspaper

6. Read the newspaper! • A daily English newspaper improvesyour vocabulary. • News writers use a style that gives you several chances to understand key concepts. And feature stories are often accompanied by several photographs which allow you to see exactly what unfamiliar words mean. • News writers often repeat the the main ideas of the stories. This allows you to guess the meanings of many unfamiliar words just by reading the story.

7. You Get 3 Chances To Understand! 1) Headline 2)Lead paragraphs 3) Body Most news stories have a very clear style: • They give the main points at the top in the headline (标题) and the lead paragraph(s). • The body of the story then adds details, statements and comments from people involved in the story, plus any background the writer feels is necessary.

8. The Headline: The title of the news article -Headlines usually use the present tense, despite the fact that they generally describe past events. The present tense gives the subject a sense of freshness and urgency, making it more interesting to read. -Headlines try to conserve space by using short words instead of long ones.

9. Headlines • Abbreviate (缩写)words • Use a special grammar, omitting articles ("a", "and", “the") and the verb "to be" wherever possible. • Ex) Australian ex-judge sworn in to represent UK queen(An Australian ex-judge is sworn in to represent the United Kingdom queen)

10. The Lead • The "lead" refers to the first (and occasionally the second) paragraph of a news story. • The lead is usually one information-packed sentence which expands on the story's main point as introduced in the headline. • The lead will usually tell you what the "something happened" is. • That information is generally found in the subject and the main verb of the lead sentence, so a little knowledge of the grammar of the lead can be very useful.

11. The Grammar of the Lead • The problem for the reader usually begins when the subject and the main verb are either delayed or separated from each other. Notice how the following lead becomes more complicated as the writer adds information: • Dozens of SIT studentsare learning to read English newspapers. • Dozens of SIT students, most of whom attended some of the country’s best-known schools, are learning to read English newspapers. • In an innovative course created by Mr. and Mrs. Dewey, dozens of SIT students, most of whom attended some of the country's best-known schools, are learning to read English newspapers. To understand each of the above, you must be able to find the subject and main verb. The above examples illustrate three of the most common positions for these key elements. • In the first, the subject and verb are together at the beginning of the sentence. • In the second, the subject and verb are separated. • In the third, the sentence opens with an introductory phrase, delaying the appearance of the subject and verb..

12. The headline and the lead tell you the main ideas of the news story, but they do so in a very shortened form. • They give you enough information, however, to allow you to make an important decision. • They allow you to decide whether you want to read the story or to skip it and move on to another more interesting story.

13. The News Body • The body of the story is where you find detailed information. • The body will give you three kinds of information: details, comments from people involved in the story, and background information to help you understand the story more deeply.

14. Let’s look at an article • Baby Tiger Smuggled in Suitcase

15. 2 Ways to Improve Your Vocabulary • 1) Make a serious effort to learn new vocabulary by using your dictionaryto look up the large number of the unfamiliar words you run across in the newspaper. • Disadvantages:Besides being rather boring, overuse of the dictionary can actually interfere with your understanding of the stories you read. • It slows down your reading speed so much that it is difficult to see how ideas fit together. • 2) Instead, you can increase your vocabulary and your reading comprehension by usingcontext.

16. What is “Context” ? 上下文 • Context is “the words and sentences which surround an unfamiliar word." Ex) The crowd gathered at the front gate and at ten o' clock it began to move. Reaching the main exhibit hall a half hour later, the throng stopped and waited patiently for the doors to open. What do you think the word “throng” means? Guess!

17. Synonyms 同义词 • The words crowd and throng are synonyms (words with the same or very similar meanings). • Writers often use synonyms to avoid repeating words and boring their readers. • The ability to recognise synonyms is one of the most important skills involved in using context effectively. • If you know one word in a synonym pair, you also know the other without having to use a dictionary.

18. Once again, what is a Synonym? • Writers will often use a synonym (word with the same or similar meaning) to avoid sounding repetitious • Synonym: • a word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another in the language • Ex) joyful, glad, happy

19. Quiz • Please take out a piece of paper and a pencil

20. 1) What are the 3 main parts of a newspaper? • A) Headline, Lead, Body • B) Headline, Biography, Conclusion • C) Lead, Thesis, Paraphrasal • D) Head, Body, Feet

21. 2) What is a Headline? • A) The head article of a series of news articles • B) The title of a news article • C) The main message of a news article • D) The concluding remarks given by a news writer

22. 3) What is a Lead? • A) The background information concerning the news article • B) The main idea of the news article • C) The lead story of several news articles • D) The lead writer of a particular newsprint

23. 4) What is the News Body? • A) The details of the news article • B) 1 sentence description of the article • C) A summary of the qualifications of the news writer • D) The main idea of the news article

24. 5) What is a more effective way to learn new words? • A) Using a dictionary • B) Using context

25. 6) What is the meaning of “Context” ? • A) The words and sentences surrounding the unknown word • B) The main idea of a news article • C) The message the news writer wants to convey to his readership • D) Reading comprehension

26. 7) What is the meaning of “Synonym”? • A) A word that has a similar meaning to another word • B) An article that is similar to another news article • C) An author that writes regularly for a news column • D) A word that has the meaning opposite to that of another word

27. 8) What is not a reason news writers use synonyms? • A) To bring more color to the article • B) To avoid sounding repetitious • C) To avoid sounding boring • D) To avoid being clear with the reader

28. Survey • Please write on the bottom of your quiz paper

29. What news articles do you prefer? • A) Only Chinese • B) Only American • C) Only Chinese and American • D) International

30. What topics interest you the most? Pick 3 and write them down. • Sports • Political • Economic • Social • Cultural • Weather • Ecology • Health      • Military • Legal • Security    • Editorial • Celebrities • Foreign affairs • Education  • Other: Please specify

31. Homework: • Please read the following news article and be prepared to discuss it in class next time • Los Angeles Times: “China’s Housing Boom Spells Trouble For Boyfriends”