Guest Lectured Today...;-)

Had a good session today at UiTM, KK lecturing about MUET reading comprehension to abt 150 students.. this is actually my second time there as i'd given a similar lecture last year to a different group. anyway, how DOES one teach reading comprehension? yikes.. the first problem is that they dont read enough, therefore their vocabulary sucks and on top of that the level of english in muet is astronomically high when our students these days cant even string a single sentence flawlessly!

anyway, to help them along i've divised two approaches... Content analysis and Vocabulary analysis.. here's the general breakdown..

CONTENT ANALYSIS
Techniques:
1. Anaphoric and Cataphoric referencing. Look before or after the target word/phrase to locate the answer. (I can send u my powerpoint if u like.. just drop me a note in your email)
2. Paraphrasing.
3. Inference.
4. Predicting.
5. Summarising.

VOCABULARY ANALYSIS (more interesting!!!)
STEP BY STEP:
1. Eliminate all illogical/impossible answers.
2. Is the word Positive, Negative or Neutral?
3. Identify the root word.
4. Identify prefixes and suffixes.
5. Use anaphoric or cataphoric referencing to extract clues from context.
6. Select the best answer.


Plastic surgery involves the reconstruction of physical aspects of the
human body to make it more aesthetic or symmetrical.
The word ‘reconstruction’ refers to
A. the study of chemistry
B. building or shaping something again
C. a place where structures are being built
STEP BY STEP:
1. Eliminate impossible answers. = A: Not possible, consider options B & C only
2. Positive, Negative or Neutral word? = Positive
3. Identify the root word. Sounds like? = ‘construct’ : build
4. Identify prefixes and/or suffixes. = ‘re-’: repeat something (ie replant – plant again)
‘-tion’: a noun (ie information – noun)
5. Use Anaphoric or Cataphoric referencing = Anaphoric : refers to ‘plastic surgery’
= Cataphoric : refers to ‘phy. aspects of body’
6. Select the most likely answer. = B : to build again or reshape body parts

Of course nothing in life is as simplistic as this but for weaker students
especially it is a good place to start. The trick is to get students thinking
and analysing for themselves on a completely conscious level..
hahahahahhaha with our spoonfed ones, not many will
rise above this tall order! lol.. ah well we can die tryin right!?!?!?

Anyway, like i mentioned above.. drop me an email at queendrey@gmail.com
and i'd be happy to share my stuff with anyone who's interested. better yet,
invite me to your school to give a talk! ;-) i train both students n teachers..
lol.. muet courses (all components) or perfect grammar in 3 hrs! haha..