Фрагмент урока по чтению аутентичных текстов

Тема «Birthday»

Цель: обучение чтению аутентичных текстов.

Задачи: научить пониманию главной идеи текста; смысл текста

Научить вычленять основное, выделять главное от второстепенного.

1. You should translate a headline and think what this text is about?

2. Read the text. Tell us what the main idea of the text is, in your opinion.

Mother's birthday

Sally had been studying at an art college for a year and, like most students, she did not have much money. It was going to be her mother's birthday soon, and she wondered what she could buy her as a present that would be nice and useful but not too expensive.

Sally's college was in London, but she had been living in the country for many years, so every day she had an hour's journey by train in the morning, and the same in the evening.

At lunch time one day, a week before her mother's birthday, she decided to have a quick sandwich and a cup of coffee instead of her usual meal in the college hall, and then go shop­ping near her college to try to find her mother a nice present. When she had been looking for half an hour, she came across a shop that was selling umbrellas cheap, and decided that one of those would solve her problem, since her mother had lost hers the month before.

“Now which colour shall I choose?” she thought. “Well, I think a black one would be the most useful really. You can carry that when you are wearing clothes of any colour, can't you?” So having made up her mind, she bought a lovely black umbrella and took it back to the college with her until her classes had finished.

On her way back home in the train that evening she felt hungry because she had had such a small lunch, so she went along to the buffet car for another sandwich and cup of coffee. She had left the black umbrella above her seat in the compart­ment, but when she got back, it had gone! When she had left the compartment, there had been no other passengers in it, but now there were three.

Sally burst into tears when she saw that the umbrella was no longer there. The other passengers felt very sorry for her and asked what the matter was. When she explained that the black umbrella she had bought for her mother had disap­peared, and that she had to get out at the next station, the three other passengers asked her for her mother's address, in order to be able to send the umbrella on to her in case someone had removed it by mistake and not on purpose, and brought it back after Sally had got out of the train.

The next week, Sally heard from her mother. Her letter said, “Thank you very much for your lovely presents, but why did you send me three black umbrellas?”

II. Do the tasks:

Exercise 1

Look at these questions. Find the right answers. Then write the questions and the answers:

1. What did Sally want to buy?

a) A present for her birthday;

b) a present for her mother's birthday.

2. Why did it have to be rather cheap?

a) Because, like most students, she was not rich;

b) because then it would be nice and useful.

3. Why did she have to go to her college by train?

a) Because she lived in London; b) because she lived in the country.

4. Did she usually have a quick sandwich and a cup of coffee for her lunch?

a) No, she did not. b) Yes, she did.

5. Why did she not have her usual lunch one day?

a) Because she needed the money to buy an umbrella;

b) because she did not have time to have it.

6. Why did she choose a black umbrella?

a) Because it was cheap;

b) because it was suitable for wearing with any clothes.

7. Why did she leave the umbrella in her compartment in the train?

a) Because she wanted to have a sandwich and a cup of coffee;

b) Because there were no other passengers there.

8. Was the umbrella there when she came back?

a) No, it was not. b) Yes, it was.

9. Why did the other passengers say they wanted Sally's mother's address?

a) To send her another umbrella;

b) to send her the umbrella if it was brought back by someone.

10. Do you think that someone did bring the umbrella back to the compartment?

1. No.

2. Yes.

Exercise 2

In each of these (pairs of) sentences fill the empty space with a word that has the same root as the word in italics:

1. Sally was a student. She was . . . art.

2. She was studying art because she wanted to become an

3. Her usual lunch was a salad, but one day she did not go into the college hall as . . ., and had a sandwich and a cup of coffee instead.

4. She sometimes went to the shops at lunch time, but she also went ... on Saturday mornings.

5. She did not want to buy a brightly coloured umbrella because her mother did not wear . . . clothes.

6. A black umbrella was useful to Sally's mother, but a brightly coloured one would have been ... as she never wore bright clothes.

7. Sally had had a small lunch. Because of the ... of this lunch she was very hungry by five o'clock.

8. She burst into tears when she lost the umbrella, and answered the other passengers . . . when they asked her what the matter was.

9. She gave the other passengers her mother's address, and they . . . their parcels to her.

10. You can see from a person's date of birth when her or his . . . will be.

KEYS

Exercise 1: 1b, 2a, 3b, 4a, 5b, 6b, 7a, 8a, 9b, 10a

Exercise 2: 1) studying, 2) artist, 3) usual, 4) shopping, 5) colourful, 6) useless,

7) smallness, 8) tearfully, 9) addressed, 10) birthday.