18 TUESDAY

MARCH 18, 2008 COMMUNITY

Taking the work out of reading

Extensive reading makes challenging material easier
March is reading month.
Reading is clearly one of the
most important skills in learn-
ing a language, but what is the
best approach to learning or
teaching reading?
Intensive reading is the high-
Expat living is a page dedicated ly focused reading of difficult
material. This almost always re-
to the issues that affect foreigners'
quires the use of a dictionary
daily lives. It is your page,
and grammar reference book
where you can share stories about due to the high level of material
your life in Korea. Send story used. Intensive reading is done
ideas to Matthew Lamers with materials well above a
at mattlamers@heraldm.com learner’s level.
Extensive reading, on the oth-
er hand, involves students read-
ing material that is somewhat
easy. The reading material
Sean Smith
on EFL
vocabulary on the page.
The key to success with ex-
tensive reading is to read a lot.
The more students read, the
more language they will be ex-
posed to.
Extensive reading works by
exposing students to a lot of
comprehensible language.
Ideally, students should be read-
ing daily about 20-30 minutes.
Learners will repeatedly en-
counter grammar and vocabu-
lary in natural contexts, thus re-
inforcing the learning of new
study word lists or study from a
course book. Additionally, au-
thors tend to use the same set of
words.
Extensive reading can be
done with students at all ages
and all levels. All major ELT
publishers now have a series of
graded readers that enable be-
ginners up to high-intermediate
level to read extensively, with
comprehension in the 95-98 per-
cent range recommended by re-
searchers.
These readers are available
for young children, middle and
high school students, as well as
adults.
Graded readers take popular
ple progressing towards more
difficult forms.
Extensive reading is recog-
nized to have many benefits for
the language learner, including
increased intrinsic motivation
(reading without a dictionary is
fun), improved vocabulary,
grammar, reading, writing,
speaking and listening skills.
In fact, extensive reading of
easy, interesting and engaging
reading material may be the
best thing that language learn-
ers can do on their own, outside
of the classroom, to improve
their language skills.
Extensive reading is found to
be superior to intensive reading
and not enjoyable.
To learn more about extensive
reading, visit extensiveread-
ing.net/er where there are sev-
eral articles, links to other re-
sources, downloadable materi-
als, and awards for graded read-
ers.
Two well-written articles on
intensive reading include
toshuo.com/2005/what-is-inten-
sive-reading and extensive
reading toshuo.com/2005/what-
is-extensive-reading are worth
reading as well.
Here in Korea, KOTESOL
has recently launched a new ex-
tensive reading SIG where
teachers can learn more and
share ideas about how to incor-
porate extensive reading into
the classroom. Scott Miles is the

In focus: 6 tips for should be challenging but not

require the use of outside assis-
tance for comprehension.
Dictionaries and grammar
forms and words. Paul Nation
has stated that recycling vocab-
ulary is one of the key methods
to long-term acquisition of new
novels in all genres and re-write
them using only words from the
high-frequency lists. Lower-lev-
el readers will use the most fre-
in building up the key reading
skills, including clumping, sight
word development, and reading
speed.
head of the SIG and can be con-
tacted via e-mail swmiles@so-
gang.ac.kr

shooting portraits references should not be neces-

By David Smeaton
I’m really keen on portrait
photography. What can I do to
improve the quality of my por-
traiture? Katie, Daejon.
Here are six useful tips for
improving your portraits:
1. Use a longer lens. It
sounds crazy, but for portraits,
you shouldn’t shoot at 18-
55mm. The ideal length is 80-
100mm or longer. This is be-
cause lenses are more distorted
at wider angles. To get natural
face shapes, longer lenses are
much better.
2. Fill the frame. One thing I
hate about portrait photogra-
phy is when the subject takes
up less than half the frame. So
much of the shot is wasted on
backgrounds, clothing and un-
wanted features. Don’t be
afraid to zoom in on your sub-
ject and let the face fill the
frame.
3. Keep the eyes at the top.
Usually, the photograph will
look much better if the sub-
ject’s eyes are kept towards the
top of the frame. The main rea-
son is so that the portrait looks
natural. This rule can be bro-
ken if you’re trying to be cre-
ative, by putting the person in
the bottom half of the shot, and
using sky or other elements in
the top.
4. Head room. Too much
space above the head is usual-
ly bad. Most people are conser-
vative when they shoot, and
leave space above the subject.
In fact, many photographers
suggest even cutting off the top
of the head, slightly, to ensure
that the frame is filled with im-
portant facial details.
5. Backgrounds. Consider
your background before you
press the shutter. Where pos-
sible, you don’t want much
background visible. However,
when you can see back-
grounds, it’s preferable to
have a nice bright color or in-
teresting background. Don’t
be afraid to ask your subject to
stand somewhere more inter-
esting.
6. Use a different angle. Be
creative and photograph from
a different angle. Tilt the cam-
era slightly, or shoot below eye
level. You could even try point-
ing your subject’s face slightly
away from the camera, but
have their eyes turned toward
the camera.
It’s a good skill as a photog-
rapher to work with your sub-
ject to make him or her calm,
happy and trusting. So try
talking to your subject and
make him or her feel at ease.
Then he or she will be more
comfortable and the resulting
photographs will look great.
Happy shooting.
Send David a message at
davidsmeaton@gmail.com or
visit his website at david-
smeaton.com. If you want to be
a part of the weekly Photo
Challenge, join the “Seoul
Photo Club” group at flickr
(flickr.com/groups/seoulpho-
toclub). — Ed.
sary when engaging in exten-
sive reading. It is in fact recom-
mended that readers under-
stand at least 95 percent of the
words.
When reading a novel, it is
more likely that students will
repeatedly encounter new vo-
cabulary than if they merely
quent words and higher-level
readers will gradually move up
to less frequent words.
In the same manner, gram-
mar is also introduced from sim-
These skills can only truly be
developed when students are
reading at the sentence or para-
graph level rather than a word-
by-word approach, which is slow
Sean Smith teaches English
at Hanyang University and may
be contacted via his website
eflgeek.com — Ed.
Dropping
the ‘you’
James Devereaux
on Studying Korean
In my last column, I touched
briefly on some of the aspects of
Korean that can create difficulties
for those beginning to study the
language — like myself.
While the previously dis-
cussed differences were very ap-
parent aspects of the language,
such as the vocabulary and
grammar, there are more hid-
den differences with Korean.
The style of communication
makes studying it an interest-
ing, and at times astonishing,
experience.
One of the first things the stu-
dent of Korean will encounter is
speech levels. This happens
when words need to be altered
to fit the situation and to pay
appropriate respect to the per-
son the student is addressing.
What students may not know,
however, is that this is just one
part of a whole set of differences
in the language which stem from
the influence of Confucianism on
Korean culture.
Although a summary of
Confucian ideals is well beyond
the scope of this column, the
most important thing to know is
that there can be five possible

Touch rugby season relationships between subjects,

springs into action
By Jeremy Burks
Touch rugby sprang to life
this weekend as the Seoul
Spring Tournament attracted
eight teams from around Korea
eager to compete in the new
Spire Touch Championship.
In Saturday’s competition,
after a tepid start against
Hangang Exiles, Seoul
Survivor’s high-pressure game
saw them ease through the
opening rounds and see off a
tiring Baa-baas team in the fi-
nal. Meanwhile, in the Plate
competition, Exiles redeemed
themselves with a comprehen-
sive win over the Seoul Sisters.
“We are really happy to
have won the Plate” said
Paul Schenk, Exiles captain.
“But we fielded our strongest
possible squad so we are dis-
appointed not to have held
onto the title we won last
year.”
Baa-baas skipper Aaron
Small won the champagne
moment for a piece of indi-
vidual brilliance to round off
a team try in the semi-final.
“Our side has not even
held it’s first practice of the
season,” he explained. “So we
should be happy to be run-
ners-up and we’ll take that
forward to the next tourna-
ment in April.”
This tournament is the
start of the season in Korea
and the rest of the year will
see other tournaments
staged around the Penin-
sula, with teams gathering
points at each stage.
The 2008 champions will
be decided on the sides that
have the best overall perfor-
mance through the sea-
son.
“We’ve adjusted the com-
petition this year,” said
Barny Hampson, tourna-
ment director.
“The new format allows us
to accommodate teams from
around Korea as well as giving
us the chance to take the show
on the road. So we are inter-
ested to see if other cities are
willing to stage tournaments.”
He also mentioned im-
provements made to the
standard of refereeing and
said that it was a “continual
quest for reliable and safe
playing facilities in Seoul.”
Players, clubs and referees
are encouraged to contact
seoultouch@gmail.com
they are interested in getting
involved in touch rugby, no
matter where they are in
Korea.
A Waegook
Cook player
is on the at-
tack.
Jeremy Burks
PHOTO CHALLENGE — Open to all entries — Taken in Cheonggyecheon, downtown Seoul. In 21st century Korea, young people enjoy the
benefits of a technologically advanced society; they have more disposable time and income than ever before. But behind them stands the
sacrifice and industry of their parents and grandparents, whose blood and sweat managed to successfully put a broken country back to-
gether.
Dictating language to so and so
I take delight in reporting a most pas-
sionate response to my recent column,
“Mucking up the English language.”
Fellow Milton scholar professor C. Cox
has troubled himself to quote me briefly
and comment upon my words:
“Horace Jeffery Hodges (in his column)
wrote: ‘ ... Licentiousness, regrettably, is
if not liberty,’ which as Lincoln Steffens
magnificently argued, is not just not true,
it is viciously untrue. This false contrast of
Licentiousness and Liberty, and not (as
Milton argued) necessity. [and liberty] is
the true plea of the Tyrant.”
Thank you, Professor Cox. I take heart
in having attentive readers and appreci-
ate the gallant corrective, but you have
neglected the context, which begins: “Lest
pedants once again correct me on a point
that I know full well ... “
I myself would hardly be earning my
own keep as official pundit pedant if I
failed to draw attention to the unorthodox
capitalization of “Licentiousness,”
“Liberty,” and “Tyrant.” Professor Cox is
either reverting to seventeenth-century
orthographic conventions, as perchance
befits a Milton scholar, or he is committing
the fallacy of misplaced abstraction, per-
haps reading my frivolous remark as some
Grand Pronouncement.
Or possibly, in hastening to correct me, the
good man has simply erred in capitalizing
these three common nouns. Well, hasten slow-
ly, sir, so as not to sow the wind, for a stitch in
time saves nine, else your white canvas dou-
blet will sully! But not too slowly, either, for in-
dolence begets indigence. Let me word it so:
Jeffrey Hodges
on Language
So ...
I s’pose you know
It’s best to sow
Than be a lazy so and so!
Though even the lazy sow and sow
If forced to, though.
I s’pose that’s so.
When I say “sow,”
I don’t mean “sew”!
If I meant so,
I’d tell you “sew”!
It’s just, you know,
We’d better sow
To be in dough — don’t you think so?
Although, of those who sew and sew,
I s’pose also
It’s also so.
I trust that I have made myself as ve-
hemently clear as professor Cox has made
himself. Vehement, that is; not clear.
For instance, I am not quite certain
what the professor means by referring to
the “false contrast of Licentiousness and
Liberty.” By “false contrast,” does he
mean that licentiousness and liberty are
not altogether opposite in meaning? If
so, I agree, for licentiousness even de-
rives from a Latin word for freedom: li-
Aaron Raisey
centia. Or does he mean, instead, that li-
centiousness and liberty are identical in
meaning, having no contrast at all? I
would find that problematic, for licen-
tiousness entails the flaunting of rules,
whereas liberty covers rather a broader
range of meanings, including the free-
dom that one gains through following
rules.
Similarly puzzling in its manner of ex-
pression is the professor’s larger assertion
that the “false contrast of Licentiousness
and Liberty ... is the true plea of the
Tyrant.” In identifying a “false contrast”
as a “true plea,” professor Cox might ap-
pear to be asserting a contradiction, but I
think that I understand his meaning. The
expression “true plea of the Tyrant”
should be read as “true Tyrant’s plea.” The
professor means that I expressed myself
with the voice of a genuine tyrant when I
wrote these words:
“Licentiousness, regrettably, is not lib-
erty, and trapped in this prison house of
language, I reflect upon my own linguistic
crime of passion and perceive that I stand
guilty of the very thing for which I have
accused Larkin.”
Professor Cox is right. I have been
tyrannical in judging myself so harshly. I
deserve amnesty, and as tyrant, I hereby
declare myself pardoned.
Jeffery is a professor at Kyung Hee
University and can be reached through his
blog Gypsy Scholar at gypsyscholar-
ship.blogspot.com — Ed.
determined by age and status.
We begin with the concept of
“jeong,” which is the idea that peo-
ple need to have knowledge of their
position in the hierarchy in order
for relationships to be established,
and for it to blossom from there.
From the language student’s
perspective, these differences can
be somewhat invisible unless they
are educated in Korean culture or,
better yet, living in the culture.
It is not obvious, for example,
that the innocent-sounding ques-
tion “What’s your name?” can be
considered unnecessary and
even rude, due to the preference
for calling people by their famil-
ial titles (except in close relation-
ships or between elders and infe-
riors.)
What this means is that the
question “How old are you?” is
the more valid one, as it helps
the subjects work out the nature
of their relationship. That then
acts as a basis for them to know
which questions to ask next.
While this difference in the lan-
guage has now become familiar to
me, there is another I am finding
more difficult. Pronouns are less
common in Korean, yet even
among these, the second-person
“you” occupies a special place. It is
generally acceptable to use “you”
only in close relationships.
I found this out first-hand
when my dictionary-translated
“tang-shin” made listeners either
uncomfortable or it send them
into fits of laughter. I’ve since
learned that this “you” pronoun
is usually reserved for formal use
or between married couples.
While adapting your style of
questioning to fit Confucian teach-
ings is one thing, the dropping of
the “you” pronoun altogether is
much harder for the student who
has grown up knowing the world
in terms of “you” and “I.”
James can be reached through
his blog shootingwords.word-
press.com — Ed.