Item 2 Svisch Sabina gr 31 (E/G)

The presented topic for developing reading skills and teaching vocabulary in
a communicative context is “Fast food”. It satisfies the criteria of correspondence
to school curriculum requirements as this topic is included into the school
curriculum for 8th form. This topic is appropriate for covering all learners’ needs
such as cognitive (learners are able to ask questions and get answers), affective
(learners have time for reflection and self-assessment) and social (learners can
communicate with peers while doing the tasks). The learners’ age is about 13-14
years so they can understand the purpose of developing reading skills and
vocabulary learning. The level of English is B1 because learners can read with
adequate level of understanding simple authentic texts that contain facts related to
the sphere of their interests. I have selected this text because I think it would be
interesting for learners of 8th form, it corresponds to their intellectual level and
contains information from everyday life sphere. The level of language in the text is
intermediate, which corresponds to the principles of the zone of proximal
development. While working with this text, learners may encounter some
difficulties, since the text contains complex sentences and terms that are
characteristic of the narrow area of "Health and Medicine".

Fast food

We all love hamburgers, fried fries, and various sauces. But everyone knows
that fast food is bad for health. At the same time, people do not want to give up
such tasty, but very harmful food. Probably the only advantage of such meal is that
it is quickly prepared and inexpensive.
The life of modern people proceeds at a fast pace, and often there is not
enough free time to eat. For such people, this is the only solution in such situations.
Therefore, fast food is very popular and such cafes are opened in different places.
Usually the menu consists of simple dishes: fried potatoes, salads, hamburgers,
cheeseburgers, milkshakes and various sauces. This food is dangerous to health. It
does not contain vitamins and nutrients. It includes dye and flavors. It has a lot of
fat and calories. The person is disturbed by the metabolism, which leads to obesity.
If you cannot completely refuse fast food, you should be more particular
about products when choosing the menu. It is advisable to stop preference on
dietary dishes, vegetable salads with olive oil. Do not use spices, mayonnaise and
fatty sauces. It is very important to chew food thoroughly and never to drink
carbonated water. All these rules will help to fans of fast food to reduce the risk of
disease. 
This is a sequence of activities to develop reading skills and to practice the
vocabulary based on the text “Fast food”:
1) You are going to read the text. Read the key-words below,
translate them into your native language and try to predict the topic of the
text.
Word in English: Word in your native language:
harmful
advantage
solution
nutrients
dye
metabolism
obesity
dietary

Purpose: to introduce the target vocabulary; to predict what might be in the

text; to create motivation and interest; to prepare learners for the while- and post-
reading tasks and familiarize them with the topic of the reading exercises.
Instruction: read the key-words, translate them into your native language
and try to predict the topic of the text.
Description: the teacher gives the handouts and explains to the learners
what they should do, then gives learners 3-5 minutes to read the words and
translate them, after that s/he asks learners to check the task.
2) Read the text quickly and highlight the main ideas of it. Then read
the questions and ask your partner.
 What is the text about?
What fast food dishes do you know?
Why is fast food harmful?
Are you trying to follow a diet and lead a healthy lifestyle?
What advice can you give to those who depend on junk food?

Purpose: to motivate and interest learners; to facilitate while-reading

activities; to enable learners to achieve the lesson aims by handling the text; to
practice skimming.
Instruction: read the text quickly and highlight the main ideas of it. Then
read the questions and ask your partner.
Description: learners read the text quickly, then the teacher gives learners 3-
5 minutes to ask each other and after that the teacher checks the task.
3) Read the statements and mark which ones are true and which are
false.
 Fast food contains some vitamins and nutrients.
 Probably the only advantage of such meal is that it is quickly prepared and
inexpensive.
 Fast food is low in fat and calories.
 Fast food includes dye and flavors.

Purpose: to assess a student's ability to determine whether a statement is

correct; to stimulate learners’ thinking; to quickly poll the class as a determination
of learners’ understanding of the text; to practice scanning.
Instruction: read the statements and mark which ones are true and which
are false.
Description: learners read the text to find the given statements and decide
whether statements are related to the content of the text or not and after that the
teacher asks learners to check the task.

4) The sentences are given in random order. Put them in the right
order.
  Usually the menu consists of simple dishes: fried potatoes, salads,
hamburgers, cheeseburgers, milkshakes and various sauces.
 If you cannot completely refuse fast food, you should be more
particular about products when choosing the menu.
 It is advisable to stop preference on dietary dishes, vegetable salads
with olive oil.
 Probably the only advantage of such meal is that it is quickly prepared
and inexpensive.
 We all love hamburgers, fried fries, and various sauces.
 All these rules will help to fans of fast food to reduce the risk of
disease. 
 It is very important to chew food thoroughly and never to drink
carbonated water.
Purpose: to make the learners to think logically to determine the sentences
correctly; to enrich the vocabulary; to help them to understand the text better.
Instruction: the sentences are given in random order. Put them in the right
order.
Description: the teacher explains to the learners what they should do, they
look through the text to arrange sentences in the correct order and then the teacher
asks learners to check the task.
5) Summarize the story in a form of e-mail to your friend. Imagine a
situation that you received a letter from your friend in which s/he shares his
impressions of the opening of the first McDonald's in his/her city. Try to
convince him of the harmfulness of fast food using the vocabulary from the
text.

Purpose: to improve pupils’ creativity, to provide the students with

opportunities to relate what they have read to what they already know or what they
feel.
Instruction: summarize the story in a form of e-mail to your friend.
Imagine a situation that you received a letter from your friend in which s/he shares
his impressions of the opening of the first McDonald's in his city. Try to convince
him of the harmfulness of fast food using the vocabulary from the text.
 Description: the teacher explains to the learners what they should do, then
gives learners 7-10 minutes to do the task and after that he asks learners to check
the task.
During the developing a sequence of activities I tried to integrate reading
skills with both speaking and writing. Reading is an excellent way for students to
make progress in language learning and implementing different pre-, while, post
reading activities not only practical to integrate the other skills, but also very
beneficial and effective way of developing students reading and understanding
comprehension.