Teaching English, How To.... Essential Ideas 10

A spelling fact you probably didn’t know: only one word ends in the suffix “—sede”: “supersede.” Only three words end in the suffix “—ceed”: “proceed,” “succeed” and “exceed.” All the other words ending with the sound of “—cede” are spelled “—cede”: “intercede,” “recede,” “precede,” “accede,” etc. (except, of course, for the word “seed,” the thing that you plant in the ground). Along the same lines, the suffix “—ful” is always spelled with one “l.” Only the word “full” ends in two “l’s. ” p. 289.

Gaining confidence in public speaking. Organize your material according to the “Tell them what you are going to tell them,” “Tell them,” and “Tell them what you told them” formula. Conclude your interesting opening with a thesis. Use topic sentences in the body of your message and summarize at the conclusion. Write out your opening and closing on cards so that, if you become flustered, you can at least open and close effectively. Put key words from the body of your message on an overhead projector or in “Power Point.” p. 297.

Small-group work. People play helping and hindering roles in small-group work. According to David M. Litsey, there are three major roles in small-group work: maintenance roles (encouraging, harmonizing, compromising); task roles (initiating, clarifying, summarizing);and self-serving roles (dominating, interfering, seeking recognition). To be successful in group work, avoid the self-serving roles. p. 299.

Employment interviews. Any number of Web sites, most notably Monster.com, provide the types of questions likely to be asked in an employment interview. Don’t even think of going to an employment interview without preparing yourself to answer those questions. Examples: What are the key responsibilities for _____ position? When have you been the most satisfied with your job? Give me an example of when you’ve done more than your job required. Tell me about the most difficult assignment you had in your last job. Tell me about when you had to adjust to change. What do you think are the key qualities for _____ position? Tell me about a time you had a confrontation with a co-worker. etc. p. 304.

Speed reading—is it a myth? No. The following technique will double, triple, quadruple and even quintuple the reading speed of people who have no reading problems. Read for five minutes both before the training and after the training. Brainstorm what you remember from these five minutes of reading as a comprehension check. The training: slide the hand down the page to a count of 10 for five pages. Then, 1-9, 1-8, 1-7, 1-6, 1-5, 1-4, 1-3, 1-2, and 1, each for five pages. See page 315+ to learn how to figure words per minute. Example: pre-training, 100 words per minute. post-training, 500 words per minute. The secret? Your eyes are conditioned to read well beyond your comfortable speed and, when you have finished the exercise, you can’t slow down.

Efficient reading—finding ideas fast. Chapters and articles: 1. Read first and last paragraphs. 2. Read the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph. 3. Raise questions you want to answer. 4. Read to find the answers. Nonfiction books: 1. Read the foreword. 2. Read the first and last paragraphs of each chapter. Should give you an idea of what information is in each chapter. 3. Raise questions you want to answer. 4. Read the first sentence of each paragraph in the chapters in which you are likely to find the answers. p. 322.

Reading in science, home economics, social studies, industrial arts, health and any other subject in which information is gained through reading a textbook chapter. Use the directed reading assignment to help students read difficult material, material that is more difficult than their reading level. 1. Develop background information on the topic through discussion—the more students know about the topic, the better they will comprehend. 2. Pre-teach important, unfamiliar vocabulary. Otherwise, students will not see words they do not recognize. 3. Set purpose for reading. Have students read the first paragraph, the first sentence of each paragraph and the last paragraph and then decide on questions they will read to answer—their purposes. 4. Have students apply what they have learned from their reading. p. 333.

Read aloud to secondary students and teach secondary students how to read aloud effectively. Reading aloud to secondary students helps them to appreciate the emotion conveyed by the language of literature. When reading Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” silently, students were bored and awed by the abstractness of the “big words.” When I read the story to them aloud, they were riveted to their seats. They could experience vividly the swish of the big blade. When the period came to a close before I could finish the story, they asked breathlessly, “What’s going to happen?”
Reading aloud to students gives them a model for how to read aloud effectively, a skill that any citizen of a democratic society needs to call on. Teach students how to read aloud to hold an audience by teaching them to practice before reading aloud. Do NOT use “round-robin reading” in which the teacher goes around the room having students read aloud without practicing. Wastes time. Serves no useful purpose. Embarrasses poor readers and bores the listeners.
They can begin by reading their compositions aloud--after practicing--provided they want to read them aloud.