READING TASKS

TASK 1. WHAT DO YOU READ?

Answer the following questions about your or your partner:

1. What do you read in English? Write down three possible answers.

2. What you could read in English? Write down three possible answers.

3. What you’d like to read in English? Write down three possible answers.

4. How are your reading habits?

For example: when? why? how? what’s the?

TASK 2. IMPROVING YOUR READING SKILLS

Tip 1: Anything you read in English is good practice, so, firstly, read about
subjects that interest you, then, move onto reading anything and everything.
This will improve your vocabulary and your skills for dealing with unknown
words and expressions. Also, most importantly, try to enjoy reading in
English!

Ask yourself or your partner:

1. What subjects interest you?

2. Which subjects you are not interested in?

3. What do you do when you come across words or expressions in a reading

passage which you don’t understand?
Discuss about search engines with your partner:

1. Which ones have you used?

2. Which ones do you believe are the best?

3. Which are not good at all, and why?

Practical suggestion: Find 5 words from a text you’ve read, which you don’t
know and try to:

1. Guess the meaning

2. Look up the correct meaning in a dictionary

3. Use the word in a sentence

TASK 3. READ AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS FOLLOWED THE TEXT.

Around two thirds of the world’s population drink coffee, with an estimated 500
billion cups of coffee served worldwide every year. Around 180 million of us need
a caffeine jolt to get us going in the morning. Most people enjoy their coffee and
suffer no ill-effects through drinking it. There are, however, many potential
dangers to drinking our drug of choice, particularly in terms of addiction and at
certain times of the day.

In small, occasional amounts there seem to be some advantages to drinking

coffee. A raft of studies have shown that it can improve alertness and long term
it may reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, gallstones, kidney
stones and liver cirrhosis for heavy drinkers.
Conversely, in the longer term it has been linked to an increased risk of high
cholesterol, heart disease and osteoporosis. Another serious side effect of
drinking coffee, particularly on an empty stomach, is that it stimulates
hydrochrolic acid (HCI) production, this should only be produced to digest meals.
So, if your body has to produce HCl more often in response to regular cups of
coffee, it may struggle to produce enough to cope with a large meal.

Another detrimental effect of drinking lots of coffee is that the stress hormones
cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine are released which increase your body’s
heart rate, blood pressure and tension levels.

It is often said that drinking coffee gives us energy, but, for many of us, this has
turned into a jittery kind of tension which makes it impossible for us to switch
off.

Scan the text quickly to find the gist of the passage.

1. What is the gist of the passage?

2. Now look at the underlined keywords and try to guess their meaning from the
context.

i. Jolt

____________________________________________
ii. Potential

____________________________________________
iii. Raft

____________________________________________
iv. Conversely

____________________________________________
v. Hydrochrolic acid

____________________________________________
vi. Struggle

____________________________________________
vii. Detrimental

_____________________________________________
viii. Jittery

_____________________________________________
ix. Switch-off

_____________________________________________

3. Out of the 9 words, which did you guess correctly? How did you guess?
4. When you read the text quickly you understood the gist of the passage, this
will help you when deciding on a suitable title. Now suggest a suitable title for
the text.

__________________________________________________________

TASK 4. PREDICT THE ANSWERS

You are going to read about a study on coffee drinkers and their
character traits. In the sentences below, put `latte', `cappuccino',
`black coffee', `instant coffee', and `cold and sweet coffee'. Then read
the text to check your answers.

1. People who drink __________ can sometimes be rude and impatient.

2. ___________ drinkers can be a little moody.
3. People who drink _____________ tend to be confident but sometimes
impulsive.
4. _____________ drinkers tend to be very demanding and health-conscious.
5. People who drink ____________tend to be laid-back.
TASK 5. CHARACTER TRAITS

Study the following adjectives. Find their meaning in a dictionary and

describe each person below.

confident demanding health-conscious

impatient impulsive laid-back
moody rude sensitive

1. Nicola never says things like "please", "thank you", "good morning".
2. Paul goes running every morning, and he never eats fast food.
3. Anna is not afraid to speak in public.
4. Be careful what you say in front of Michael. He doesn't like it when people
criticize him.
5. Joe is never stressed.
6. Katrina wants everything to be perfect all the time.
7. Alan often does things without thinking.
8. John doesn't like waiting. If I am 5 minutes late, he goes crazy.
9. At the moment, Kate is very friendly. But in one minute she can become
angry or depressed.
5
TASK 6. TALKING POINT

1. What is the passage talk about?

2. What do you think of the information in the article? Is it true? Which coffee
personality are you in? Explain.

TASK 7. COFFEE VOCABULARY

caffeine: a chemical, found in coffee, that stimulates the central nervous

system and body metabolism.

caffè Americano: is a style of coffee prepared by adding hot water to espresso.

caffè macchiato: Sometimes called espresso macchiato, is an espresso

coffee drink with a small amount of milk added.

In Italian, macchiato means stained or spotted so the literal translation of caffè

macchiato is stained coffee, or coffee with a spot of milk.
cappuccino: is an Italian coffee drink which is traditionally prepared with
espresso, hot milk and steamed milk foam.

coffee beans: is a seed of the coffee plant. Once ripe, coffee beans are picked,
processed, and dried.

black coffee: refers to coffee served as a drink without cream or milk added to
it.

decaffeinated coffee: a coffee that has undergone a certain process to remove

caffeine from coffee beans.

drip coffee: Also called filtered coffee. It is made by pouring water over
roasted, ground coffee beans contained in a filter.

espresso: strong, dark coffee prepared by forcing a small amount of nearly

boiling water under pressure through finely-ground coffee beans.

flat white: is a coffee beverage invented in around the 1970's-1980s in New

Zealand and perhaps in Australia. It is prepared by pouring microfoam (steamed
milk with small, fine bubbles and a glossy or velvety consistency) over a single
or double shot of espresso.

instant coffee: is dried into soluble powder or freeze-dried into granules that
can be quickly dissolved in hot water. Originally invented for the convenience of
consumers who do not want to prepare their own coffee.

latte: is a coffee drink made with espresso and steamed milk.

long black: is made by pouring a double-shot of espresso over hot water.

mocha: This may refer either to a rich pungent Arabian coffee or to a coffee
beverage flavored with milk, sugar, and cocoa.

skinny coffee: refers to coffee with skimmed milk

white coffee: In most English speaking countries white coffee refers to regular
black coffee with milk, cream, or some other "whitener" added to it.

In the US the same beverage might be called "coffee light" in the New York City
area, "light coffee", "coffee with milk," or even "regular coffee" in New England.

Questions:

1. Where is the nearest place to get a cup of coffee? How is the coffee there?

2. What type of coffee do you usually made or order? Why do you like it?