Reading and

Writing Skills
(3rd Quarter)

LESSON 1: READING (PRE-READING STRATEGIES)

WHAT IS READING?
 It is defined as a cognitive process of decoding symbols to derive meaning from a text.
 It is always an interaction between the text and the reader.
 It is also a skill that can be improved through consistent practice.

PRE-READING STRATEGIES
Pre-reading is a general survey of the reading materials to get the gist of the texts' contents.
1. PREVIEWING
It is looking at the readily visible parts of the text like the cover, if it's a book, the pictures as in
a magazine, and the general contents presented in the introduction.

2. SKIMMING
It is a rapid survey of the keywords contained in the text by turning the pages and by the help
of the fingers, the eyes move quickly through the text.

3. SCANNING
It is looking for specific information to build ideas of the details one is to read later.

4. RECALLING BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

You make sense of the text by seeing how it fits with what you already know.

LESSON 2: SHOULDN’T THERE BE A WORD?

 Barbara Wallraff is the author of “Shouldn’t There Be A Word?”
 Imagine being the first person in the world to ever say anything.
 This pastime has possibilities.
 That is not really how languages are developed, of course.
 But in the beginning there weren’t any words, and now, obviously, there are millions of
them, in thousands of languages.
 Our own language, if we count all the terms in all the specialized jargons attached to
English, has millions of words.
 If you asked around and nobody knew what it was called, you’d have little choice but to
make up a name.
 Why hemlock and not some other word? Nobody knows anymore.
 Shakespeare is known to be a prolific word coiner.
 Shakespeare spelled air as “ayre” in The Temptest.
  Smirch was a verb before Shakespeare added the prefix be- (besmirch) to it.
 Impediment was in use for 200 years before Shakespeare came up with impede.
 Shakespeare coined many words than we know — but because he didn’t write them
down, they’ve been lost to history.
 The English language kept swallowing up, digesting, and drawing energy from other
languages’ words.
 Lists appeared in The Egerton Manuscript, from about 1450, and in The Book of St.
Albans, printed in 1486.
 In 1783, Noah Webster began publishing The American Spelling Book.
 In 1828, Webster published the two-volume American Dictionary of the English
Language, published in 1828.
 Coining words to meet real needs continues, particularly in medicine, technology,
fashion, cooking, cartooning, and online games. (All except history)
 Why do we need bling-bling when we already have flashy jewelry?

LESSON 3: TECHNIQUES FOR CRITICAL READING SKILLS

1. KEEP A READING JOURNAL.
This is writing down your ideas and reactions to your reading assignment. The notes on your
journal should be written on a diary solely dedicated to the reading impressions you garner.

2. ANNOTATE THE TEXT.

Make notes on your copy of the reading material. Highlight or underline important points and
write your comments, notes on the margin of the page.

3. OUTLINE THE TEXT.

The purpose of outlining is to clearly see the connecting of ideas of the author. Look for thesis
statement, claims, and evidences.

4. SUMMARIZE THE TEXT.

Get the main points of the essay and the important supporting details.

5. QUESTION THE TEXT.

In reading an author’s claims, you encounter statements that don’t meet your expectations and in
comparing them with your previous knowledge, you see contradictions, therefore you ask
questions to better understand what the author is getting through to his audience.

LESSON 4: READING (DURING READING STRATEGIES)

THREE (3) PURPOSES IN LIFE WHERE READING IS VALUED:
1. ACADEMIC
It is mainly for educational research and knowledge enrichment.

2. PROFESSIONAL
It is used for technological, business, and scientific advantage, especially when money
acquisition is involved.

3. PERSONAL
It is used for upkeep of knowledge, for entertainment, for further search of information or the
truth, and other personal reasons.

DURING READING STRATEGIES

A reader maximizes the time using these strategies to get a deeper understanding while reading
the text.

A. USING CONTEXT CLUES

These are words, phrases, and sentences surrounding an unfamiliar word to aid the reader in
easily gaining its meaning.

1. SYNONYMS - words with near or similar meanings

2. ANTONYMS - words with opposite meanings
3. EXAMPLES - specific details used by the author to clarify the word
4. EXPLANATIONS & DEFINITIONS - "because,” "that is,” "meaning,” "is defined as," "in
other words"
5. SITUATIONS - the context depends on how the word is utilized at that instant

B. USING DENOTATION & CONNOTATION

 Denotation is the literal meaning of the word as presented in a dictionary.
 Connotation is the meaning of the word in terms of people's bias which gives the word a
negative, positive, or neutral feel.