Reading Efficiently: The Sub-Skills of

Reading

PRESENTED BY
A.VISHNUPRIYA
To become efficient readers, we
have to train ourselves to read
different texts in different ways.
Q. What has a face and two hands but no arms or
legs?
Q. What is the easiest way to double your money?
Q. What has a thumb and four fingers but is not
alive?
Q. What has to be broken before you can use it?
Q. What has a neck but no head?
Q. What gets wetter as it dries?
Q. What goes up and doesnt come back down?
Q. What belongs to you but is used more by others?
Q. Everyone has it and no one can lose it, what is it?
Q. Its been around for millions of years, but its no
more than a month old. What is it?
1.A. A clock
2. A. Put it in front of the mirror of course
3. A. A glove.
4.A. An egg
5. A. A bottle
6. A. A towel.
7. A. Your age.
8. A. Your name.
9. A. A shadow.
10. A. The moon.
Most speed reading involves a
process called chunking.
 chunks, that is, groups of
words that make a meaningful
unit, such as phrases, clauses or
even whole sentences.
 Chunking Passage
One day last week/my sister and
I/drove to the lake/. We noticed/many
people/in their boats/. Some
water/splashed us/from the boats/.
My sister and I/ decided to go
swimming/in the lake/. My parents/
joined us/by the lake/. We had a
picnic/on a blanket/. We rented/ a
boat /to take a short ride/. Many good
times/were shared/by all/.
 . Reading efficiently, is ones
reading speed and style to match
the purpose for which we read.
This involves reading for an overall
idea or gist, specific information
and detail, and to understand the
writers attitude.
Help your students understand the relation
between reading purpose and reading
efficiency;
 Help your students develop their
reading efficiency by modifying their
style of reading to suit the purpose for
which they are reading.
Give your students practice in the
sub-skills of skimming for an
overall idea and scanning for
specific information;
 Scanning
Searching quickly for a specific piece of information or
a particular word. For example, when looking up a
word in a dictionary, an address in a directory or the
flight arrival schedule of a particular flight, we do not
read entire pages or passages.
We search for the keywords or ideas because we know
what we are looking for.
Scanning involves moving our eyes quickly down the
page seeking specific words and phrases.
 Skimming:
Reading through a text quickly to get an overall
idea of the contents; that is, the gist of the
passage.
For example, before buying a book we glance
quickly at the cover page, the reviewers
comments on the back cover (also called book
jacket), the contents page, etc., to get a general
idea of its contents.
 SKIMMING&SCANNING
Activities
A play
A telephone directory, to look for someones
phone number
The sports page in the morning newspaper
The school notice board
The label on a bottle of jam, to find the price
The back cover (jacket) of a book
1.A shopping list
2.The questions on the question paper in an
exam
3.The large advertisement on the main road
4.The departure announcement board in a
train station
5.The booklet that came with the new CD
player I bought recently
5. What product is being advertised?
6. Which page covers the business news? What is
the most important piece of news there?
7. Flip through the pages of your newspaper and find
out which topics/ areas take more than one page.
8. Which page carries the editorial? Is there more
than one editorial?
9. Are there any pages especially for children?
10.What are the headlines?
Kinds of things we read Reasons for reading
Novels, short stories, fiction For specific information
Non-fiction, textbooks, travel To pass an exam
books, encyclopaedias
Newspapers, journals, magazines, To pass time
maps, directories, dictionaries
Forms, applications, questionnaires
To know details of something
Brochures, catalogues, hoardings,
advertisements, notices, labels,
posters, displays at airports, To have an overall idea
stations, etc.
Letters, reports, proposals
For having a general idea
 Book corner:
A special area in the classroom set
aside for a collection of non-
academic books for children,
preferably storybooks for that age
group.
 Points to ponder
Is it necessary to teach children how to
read different kinds of texts?
Do we use the same or different
strategies to read different texts?
Should we use other subject texts to
teach reading, or would the English
textbook be enough?
 Activity with Newspaper
1. Look at the top front half of the newspaper. List
three main types of information all newspapers must
have.
2. Which item on the front top half of your
newspaper is in bold and in the largest font size?
3. Note down at least one international headline on
the front top half of your newspaper.
4. Does the front page carry any advertisements?
Understanding text and distinguishing
text style.
An efficient reader is one who can
recognise the style of paragraphs
in a prose text and know whether
it deals with a main idea, a
supporting detail, illustrations, a
detour or digression.
Help your students understand text
structure, so that they can
distinguish between main,
subordinate ideas and illustrations,
and digression, if any
 ACTIVITY
Unlike my friend Samuel, I enjoy
coming to school. Regular school
attendance is very important for the
development of knowledge. For
example, we not only get to learn from
our teachers, we get a chance to chat
with our friends and share jokes. My
cousin has a good store of jokes.
1. Unlike my friend Samuel, I enjoy Main idea
coming to school.

For example, we not only get to learn Related idea

from our teachers, we get a chance to
chat with our friends and share jokes.
My cousin has a good store of jokes. Example
Regular school attendance is very Unrelated idea
important for the development of
knowledge.

(Answers: Sentence 1 Related idea, Sentence 2 Example,

Sentence 3 Unrelated idea and Sentence 4 Main idea)
Look at the picture: What fish is it? What do you
know about this fish? Have you ever seen such a fish?
Rearrange the sentence
Are you afraid of sharks?
My uncle says that sharks have a bad reputation just because
people think that all sharks are killers.
I havent taken a seaside holiday for the last three years.
The largest sharks like the whale shark and the basking shark
are not killers.
There are, of course, several other types of sharks that use their
rows of sharp teeth to tear apart everything, including human
beings!
But the next time you see a shark, try not to be scared. Even if
you fall into the water, it may not attack you.
Correct sequence: 1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6) Main idea (1): 2 Subordinate idea (2): 1, 5, 6 Illustration (3): 4 Digression (4) :3
Correct sequence: 1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6)
Main idea (1): 2
Subordinate idea (2): 1, 5, 6
Illustration (3): 4
Digression (4) :3
Comprehension passage
Mr Doogly lived in Gaggly village nere Changly
mangly hills he was a tea chair.He had onil one wifi
and to daughters is daughters studied n tenth .One
die they went to see a senima were they happened
two see their family frnd.
Who is the head of the family?
Where can you see the Changly mangly hill?
What are the noun forms of lived and studied?
When did they happen to meet their family friend?
What where his daughters doing?
Punctuations
Were going to learn to cut and paste kids! versus Were going
to learn to cut and paste, kids! Commas certainly do make a
difference
Lets eat, grandpa versus Lets eat grandpa. Punctuation can
potentially save lives
A woman without her man is nothing on the chalkboard and
asked his students to punctuate it correctly. All of the males in the
class wrote: A woman, without her man, is nothing. All the
females in the class wrote: A woman: without her, man is nothing.
Punctuation is powerful. You can definitely say that again!
Discourse markers
Discourse markers are words and phrases used
in speaking and writing to 'signpost' discourse.
Discourse markers do this by showing turns,
joining ideas together, showing attitude, and
generally controlling communication.
Some people regard discourse markers as a
feature of spoken language only.
We use different discourse markers in speaking and writing.
. In speaking, the following discourse markers are very
common:

anyway like right you

know

fine now so I
mean

good oh well as I
say

great okay mind for a

you start
In writing, the following discourse
markers are common:

on the
firstly in addition Moreover other
hand

secondly in on the to begin

conclusion one hand with

thirdly in sum
Ordering what we say
We also use discourse markers to order or sequence what we say.
Some of the common words and phrases which we use for this are:
firstly and secondly are more formal than first and second.
A:

and in second to sum up

general

and then in the end *secondly whats

more
first (of last of all so well
all)
*firstly next lastly ab

for a start on top of

that third(ly)