Chapter 1: Key reading skills

1.3 Selecting information

Resources:
 Student’s Book: 1.3, pp. 14–15
 Workbook: 1.3, pp. 12–14 can be set as homework
 PowerPoint slides 1.3a–i

Assessment objectives:
R5 Select and use information for specific purposes

EXPLORE THE SKILLS

As a class, read through the opening section of this topic on page 14 of the Student’s Book. Ensure that
students understand how skimming and scanning lead to selecting the most relevant information for their
answers.
For Q1, use PPT 1.3a to show the two alternative answers. Either through teacher-led discussion, or through
individuals coming up to the board, highlight the less relevant information that could be removed. Make sure
that students understand why, for this question, they only really need two points from this list:
Petchey wanted people to experience walking on the beach, swimming in the sea or the view.

BUILD THE SKILLS

For Q2, read through the two sample answers. Ask students to discuss which is more effective and, using
the bullet points, why.
During feedback, use PPT 1.3b–f to highlight the different pieces of unnecessary information in the first
sample answer, and how this extra detail has been summarised to make a clearer response in the second
sample answer.
As an extension, ask students to complete the activity on PPT 1.3g, explaining what Uncle Howard is like.
They should extract that he is in his sixties, is bald, likes music, is nostalgic, is sociable and has difficulty
walking. During the activity, ask students to explain how they know what is and is not important to select;
encourage them to highlight the specific examples, descriptive detail and unnecessary additional information
that they decide to remove. Encourage them to summarise points where appropriate.

DEVELOP THE SKILLS

Introduce the purpose of the anecdote on page 15 of the Student’s Book, and discuss Q3. Students should
pick out that the writer is conveying why he hates cats. The anecdote starts with the phrase, ‘It all started...’
and ends, ‘...even louder than it had’.
Students should then complete the rewriting task in Q4 in pairs.

Extra support: Help students to select alternative words. For example: looked (seemed, appeared),
harmless (innocent, docile), cuddly (sweet, furry), kind (friendly, considerate).

APPLY THE SKILLS

Ask students to use the text on cats to answer Q5: ‘How does the writer feel about cats and why?’

Extra support: Help students by providing sentence starters, such as:

 The writer finds cats...
 The phrase, ‘I hate our furry friends’, shows...
Extra challenge: Encourage students to consider the effectiveness of the language – for example, the use
of irony in the phrase our furry friends.

© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2018

 Chapter 1: Key reading skills

Take feedback as a class, discussing the different feelings that students came up with and how these are
made clear by the writer’s language choices. Ideas should include:
 He/she hates cats.
 He/she is scared of cats.
 He/she finds cats mysterious.
 He/she was clawed across the face by a cat when he/she was a child.
After feedback, get students to share their work in pairs and assess how confident they now feel about a)
selecting the correct information to answer a question, and b) using synonyms and their own words to
achieve a concise answer.
As an extension, ask students to answer one of the following questions about the cat extract:
 What features of a cat doesn’t the writer like and why?
 What animal does the writer like and why?
This can be supported using PPT 1.3h–i. Share and mark students’ responses, using the criteria on
Student’s Book p. 15. For the question, responses should include:
 the way they look and move (slinky, panther-like frames)
 they aren’t friendly (mysterious, aloof creatures)
 their claws (swiped me across the cheek, they scare me).

TAKING IT Students need to filter out any irrelevance and select the most appropriate
FURTHER information for the question type. Encourage students to practise this skill of
summarising key ideas and selecting only the most relevant information in the
different forms of writing that they encounter. They could reread the passage
under ‘Develop the skills’ and select information that reveals that the author
regards cats as a threat.

13 © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2018