Reading Lesson 1 - Cambridge Assessment English

Reading Lesson 1

Description

This lesson has a series of activities which develop students' awareness of different ways of communicating in English in business situations. It provides practice of multiple-choice reading comprehension questions about short texts. BULATS candidates have to answer questions in this format in the `read and select' part of the test.

Teacher's Notes

Aims of the lesson

Time required Level Materials required

? to introduce students to some basic vocabulary for describing business communication in English

? to raise students' awareness of multiple-choice questions based on comprehension of very short texts and to develop a strategy for this type of task based on practising sample tasks

? to encourage students to read short, authentic texts in English

45 minutes

This lesson is suitable for A2-level students.

? Student's Worksheets 1 and 2 (one copy of each per student) ? Note: More sample questions are available on the BULATS website.

Procedure

1. Explain that the lesson will be about business communication and will prepare students for the Reading and Language Knowledge part of the BULATS test.

2. Ask students to talk to each other about different ways they communicate at work, e.g. email, letter, and to think of as many different forms of communication as possible.

3. Now give out Student's Worksheet 1, and ask them to look at the list of ways of communication in Question 1.

4. Now ask them to match the ways of communication in the list with the definitions, and then talk to another student about whether they use these in their work.

? UCLES 2016. For further information see our Terms and Conditions

1

Key to Student's Worksheet 1 Question 1

This is a short text displayed on a wall or board to Notice give information.

Companies use this to find new customers.

Advert

This is on paper and you send it by post.

Letter

This electronic communication is now the most

Email

popular way of communicating with people in other

places.

We use a telephone for this.

Phone call

You have to fill this in to complete it.

Form

5. Now ask students to work on Question 2, which checks and develops their understanding of these items of vocabulary.

Key to Student's Worksheet 1 Question 2

There are mistakes in sentences 1, 3 and 6:

In my job, I have to read a lot of phone calls every day. This should be: In my job, I have to make a lot of phone calls every day.

When you apply for a new job, you may have to fill in an application advert. This should be: When you apply for a new job, you may have to fill in an application form.

Our company placed a letter in a trade journal telling the customers about our new products. This should be: Our company placed an advert in a trade journal telling the customers about our new products.

? UCLES 2016. For further information see our Terms and Conditions

2

6. Ask students to work on Question 3, which looks at the purposes of some examples of short texts. Candidates in BULATS need to be able to quickly identify purposes of texts. Encourage the students to use any kind of information to help them identify purposes, for example: ? Layout ? forms may include letters or dotted lines to be filled in; adverts may include visuals ? Grammatical items, e.g. notices giving rules may include modals such as must or cannot ? Function words ? texts may include words such as sorry or apologise which help to show what the text is about.

Key to Student's Worksheet 1 Question 3

to apologise and explain ? 1 (letter) to ask for information ? 3 (form) to explain rules ? 4 (notice) to advertise a company ? 2 (advert)

7. Give students Student's Worksheet 2 and ask them to identify the correct answers.

8. For an extension activity for homework, ask students to collect as many short texts as possible, for example, emails or short letters. They could also take photographs of short texts on notices or signs which they see. Ask them to create multiple-choice questions similar to the ones on Student's Worksheet 2, and bring them to the next class.

Key to Student's Worksheet 2 Question 3

1. c (improve skills of staff working in communication) 2. b (in red) 3. c (fourteen days) 4. c (to explain why orders have been arriving late)

Note that text 4 has two purposes: to apologise for the delays, and explain why they happened.

? UCLES 2016. For further information see our Terms and Conditions

3

Student's Worksheet 1

Question 1

a) Look at these different ways of communication. Match them to the definitions. The first one is done for you.

This is a short text displayed on a wall or board to give information.

Advert

Companies use this to find new customers.

Phone call

This is on paper and you send it by post.

Email

This electronic communication is now the most popular way of communicating with people in other places.

Notice

We use a telephone for this.

Letter

You have to fill this in to complete it.

Form

b) Which ones do you use in your work?

Question 2

Now read these sentences about communicating at work. There are three mistakes. Can you find the mistakes?

1. In my job, I have to read a lot of phone calls every day.

2. Letters are less common these days because a lot of people send emails instead.

3. When you apply for a new job, you may have to fill in an application advert.

4. In my company, there is a board in the staffroom for important notices.

5. It's important to check your emails regularly, as people may expect a quick answer.

6. Our company placed a letter in a trade journal telling the customers about our new products.

? UCLES 2016. For further information see our Terms and Conditions

4

Question 3 a) Now look at these texts. What kind of texts are they?

b) What is the purpose of each one? Match the texts to the purposes in the box.

A to apologise and explain B to ask for information C to explain rules D to advertise a company

1.

We wish to apologise for the recent delays in delivering orders. This was due to problems during the installation of our new IT system. Our delivery service should be back to normal within the next two weeks.

2.

Global Connections can train your staff to communicate internationally. Contact us ? we will be able to help you.

3.

Please complete in blue or black. Name ___________________ Email ____________________ Phone number ____________

4.

ADVERTS ON THIS NOTICEBOARD MUST BE REMOVED AFTER TWO WEEKS

? UCLES 2016. For further information see our Terms and Conditions

5

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download