HAPPY NEW YEAR

In harmony with the rebirth of nature, the Persian New Year celebration, NoRouz, always begins on the first day of spring. This celebration and its rituals go back to at least four thousand years ago. NoRouz means the "New Day", and refers to a new beginning, a new year. The year changes at the Vernal Equinox which occurs at a different time and day each year, on March 19, 20, 21 or 22. Its arrival is the precise moment the sun crosses the Equator. Amou (Uncle) NoRooz (similar to Santa Claus) kicks out winter cold and brings new life and warmth to every household.

The last Tuesday night of the year is spent jumping over bonfires in the hope that any bad spirits that may try to follow you into the new year will fall into the fire, freeing you from their evil! This is similar to halloween. The 13th day after the new year is also celebrated, with a day-long picnic, to ward off the unlucky number 13 by spending the day out of doors. The months in the Persian calendar correspond to those seen in common astrology charts or the horoscope.

Make sure you are smiling and wearing something new at that moment because that is how you will be for the rest of the new year! To this day, a few weeks before the new year, Persians thoroughly clean and rearrange their homes. They wear new clothes, bake pastries and germinate grainseed as signs of renewal. The ceremonial place setting known as Haft-Seen is set up in each household.

Haft-Seen or The Table of Seven S's is a ritual table setting or decoration that Persians prepare and sit around. "Haft" is the number seven in Persian, and "Seen" is the letter S in the Persian alphabet. The decoration is made up of seven things whose names start with the letter "Seen" and must be present on any Haft-Seen table. The following is a list of "Haft-Seen" items and a brief description of their symbolic meaning or cultural significance

Sabzeh (sprouts, usually lentil or wheat): Representing fertility and the rebirth of nature. In ancient times, a sample of the grain to be planted in the spring was used as a test of how high the harvest would be that year.

Seeb (apple): Represents natural beauty.

Samanu (a pudding in which common wheat is transformed and given new life as a sweet, creamy pudding): Represents the reward of patience.

Somaq (sumac berry used as spice): Represents the color of sunrise; with the appearance of the sun Good conquers Evil.

Senjed (a sweet, dry fruit of the Lotus tree): Represents love and romance. It has been said that when a lotus tree is in full bloom, its fragrance and its fruit make people fall in love and become oblivious to all else!

Seer (garlic): Represents health.

Serkeh (vinegar): Represents age. In pre-islamic Iran, this item used to be wine.

Other items that you may see on Haft-Seen table 

A mirror, which represents the images and reflections of Creation that by Persian beliefs took place on the first day of Spring. On either side of the mirror are two candlesticks holding a flickering candle for each child in the family. The candles represent enlightenment and happiness

Sonbol (Hyacinth): Spring flowers with the scent of heaven.

Sekkeh (coins): Represent prosperity and wealth.

A basket of painted eggs represents fertility.

A Seville orange floating in a bowl of water represents the earth floating in space.

A goldfish in a bowl represents life.

A flask of rose water known for its magical power is also included on the tablecloth   

At NoRouz, children get fresh currency bills or coins from elderly relatives as gifts, but what it is most widely exchanged are lots of HUGs and KISSes for new friendships and renewing old one      

Homonyms are words that sound alike or almost alike but have different spelling and different meaning 

 ate – eight     [eɪt] 1.

Bruce ate carrots for lunch.

There were eight girls here for the meeting. 

2. bare – bear     [beə]

The table was bare.

Mr. Thompson shot a bear.

3. beach – beech      [biːtʃ]

We played on the beach before we went swimming.

We had our picnic under the beech tree.

4. be – bee      [biː]

Can you be home by two o’clock?

The bee stung Robert’s finger.

5. blew – blue      [bluː]

The wind blew the door open.

The color of the sky is blue.

6. buy – by      [baɪ]

Did you buy milk at the store?

We walked slowly by the bakery.

7. cent – sent – scent      [sent]

I spent my last cent for a new book.

Mom sent Jack to the store. Do you like the scent of roses?

8. dear – deer     [dɪə]

I wrote to one of my dear friends.

A baby deer is called a fawn.

9. fair – fare      [fer /feə]

It was a fair day when Jim started his trip.

Jim paid his own fare on the train.

10. grate – great      [greɪt]  

The grate in the stove is broken.

Mary looked at the spire on the great church.

11. hare – hair      [her /heə]  

The hare hopped into the forest.

John stood in front of the mirror to comb his hair.

12. hear – here        [hɪr /hɪə]  

Did you  hear the canary singing?

Your book is here on the table.

13. heard – herd       [hɜrd /hɜːd]  

I heard the chatter of a squirrel.

There is a herd of buffalo in this park.

14. hole – whole         [həʊl] 

I have a hole in my pocket.

The whole family went to the fair.

15. its – it’s        [ɪts]

The snake shed its skin.

It’s raining while the sun is shining.

16. knew – new        [nuː /njuː]

I knew how to work the math problem.

Jane bought a new book yesterday.

17. knot – not       [nɑt /nɒt]   

I tied a knot in my rope.

I’m not going to the show today.

18. know – no       [nəʊ]   

Does anyone know where the pencils are?

There are no pencils in the box.

19. one – won       [wʌn]  

Jack and Sue played one game of chess.

Who won the game?

20. sea – see      [sɪː] 

Have you ever been for a sail on the sea?

I can see the snow – covered mountain.

21. some – sum      [sʌm]  

There are some visitors in our class.

The sum is found by adding numbers.

22. son – sun        [sʌn] 

Mr. Rogers bought his son a new shirt.

The sun is shining brightly today.

23. stair – stare     [ster /steə]  

A board in the stair is broken.

Don’t sit and stare into space!

24. tail – tale      [teɪl] 

Lou’s dog has a short, stubby tail.

I read a tale about American Indians.

25. their – there     [ðer /ðə /ðeə(r) ]

Their house is made of lumber.

Our house is there on the corner.

26. threw – through      [θruː /θrəʊ ]

Alice threw the basketball.

Did the ball go through the hoop?

27. to – too – two       [tuː]

Joe went to the library.

He brought home too many books.

John went to the library, too.

John brought two books home.

28. weak – week      [wɪːk]   

You often feel weak after an illness.

Betty has been sick for a week.

29. who’s – whose          [huːz]

Who’s going to the library?

Whose book is this?

30. your – you’re           [jɔr ,jʊr /jɔː ,jʊə]  

Don’t forget your book.

You’re going to the library, aren’t you?

How:

1. Make a list of pairs of names before the lesson starts or while the students are coming in, or just tell them when the time comes: "Gianni, you work with Paola; Chiara, you’re with Stefano this time."
2. If there is an odd number of students make a group of three but break them up later in the lesson and put them into pairs with someone else so they get more chance to speak.
3. You could put them in small groups to start with if the activity allows. You could even make the activity a competition in small teams if the activity allows, seeing which team gets the most answers right. Use the board or a piece of paper for keeping score.
4. Change the partners quite often so that the students don’t get bored with their partner. This is especially important if there is a student who isn’t very popular with the others.

Why:

1. It’s good for the students to speak to each other in English (see TT5 for further explanation).
2. It’s good for the students to work with another student sometimes rather than alone (see TT5 and TT13) for further explanation).

Extra Info:

I don’t put my students into groups bigger than 3 because I don’t think they get enough chance to speak in such a large group so they switch off, start fidgeting, get frustrated, let the hard-working students do all the work, fall asleep etc. In a pair, one student is speaking and one is listening and formulating a response, in a group of three, one is speaking, and usually the other two are listening and formulating responses, in a group of four (or more), one is speaking, one or two are listening and formulating responses and the other one is asleep, aware that s/he hasn’t got much chance of getting a word in edge-ways. Or of course, in a group of four, two speak to each other while the other two often either fall asleep or end up speaking to each other too, in which case you might as well have put them in pairs in the first place.

If you have an odd number of students don’t pair the extra student up with yourself - make a group of three somewhere. I used to take on the "odd" student myself when I started in EFL but I found that it didn’t work. The other students weren’t daft - they realized they were missing out on the teacher’s attention and I realized they were right - I was short-changing them by not monitoring them as I should.

If you’ve got some talkative and some quiet students, pair the quiet ones activities) to encourage them to talk more. I used to put one talkative student in a pair with a quiet one, thinking that the quiet one would speak more if his/her   partner was the chatty type. I was wrong - the talkative one monopolizes the conversation and the quiet one is happy to let this happen.

NB: If you only have one student, simply "pair up" with your student. The worksheets are designed to be used in individual lessons as well as group ones.

PREPARED BY : M.KHODAI FAR

آيا انگليسي آمريکايي (American English) و انگليسي بريتانيايي (British English) دو زبان مجزا هستند يا دو حالت مختلف از زبان انگليسي؟ بعضي‌ها مي‌گويند آنها دو زبان مختلف هستند ولي خيلي‌ها آنها را تنها حالتهاي مختلفي از يک زبان مي‌دانند.

البته هيچ پاسخ دقيقي براي اين پرسش وجود ندارد. ما فقط مي‌توانيم بگوييم که تفاوتهايي ميان آنها وجود دارد. البته بايد بدانيد که اين تفاوتها جزئي بوده و در اثر يکپارچه شدن دنياي امروز اين تفاوتها روز به روز کمتر مي‌شوند.

در ادامه با برخي از تفاوتهاي ميان اين دو نسخه از زبان انگليسي آشنا مي‌شويد.

املاي کلمات

انگليسي بريتانيايي تمايل دارد که املاي بسياري از کلماتي که ريشه فرانسوي دارد را حفظ کند، در حاليکه آمريکايي‌ها بيشتر سعي مي‌کنند کلمات را همانطور که تلفظ مي‌کنند بنويسند. علاوه بر اين، آنها حروفي را که مورد نياز نيست حذف مي‌کنند. به مثالهاي زير دقت کنيد:

اگر چه هر دو نسخه‌ي آمريکايي و بريتانيايي زبان انگليسي صحيح هستند، اما املاي آمريکايي معمولاً ساده‌تر است. بنابراين بهتر است بطور کلي از املاي آمريکايي استفاده کنيد، مگر اينکه بخواهيد براي خوانندگان بريتانيايي چيزي بنويسيد.

تلفظ

تلفظ‌ها و لهجه‌هاي گوناگوني در انگليسي محاوره‌اي وجود دارد که پرداختن به همه آنها در يک مقاله امکانپذير نيست. بنابراين تنها به تفاوتهاي اصلي بين دو نوع اصلي زبان انگليسي،‌ يعني انگليسي آمريکايي و انگليسي بريتانيايي اشاره مي‌کنيم:

   صداي /r/ ممکن است در بعضي از کلمات انگليسي بريتانيايي رسا نباشد؛ مثلاً کلمات car، park، star و bark را در نظر بگيريد. قاعده‌ي آن اينست که حرف r تنها وقتي که يک حرف صدادار بعد از آن بيايد تلفظ مي‌شود، مانند Iran، British و bring.

   آمريکاييها تمايل دارند کلماتي که به «-duce» ختم مي‌شوند (مانند reduce، produce، induce و seduce) را بصورت /-du:s/ تلفظ کنند. در انگليسي بريتانيايي اين اغلب کمي متفاوت است:/-dju:s/

براي فراگيري سيستم تلفظ IPA اينجا را کليک کنيد.

   آمريکاييها تمايل دارند کلمات را با حذف حروف کاهش دهند. بعنوان مثال کلمه «facts» در انگليسي آمريکايي درست مثل «fax» تلفظ مي‌شود - حرف t تلفظ نمي‌شود.

   گاهي حروف صدادار در انگليسي بريتانيايي حذف مي‌شوند. بعنوان مثال در هيچيک از کلمات «secretary» و «tributary» حرف a تلفظ نمي‌شود.

   گاهي استرس کلمه در هر کدام از دو نسخه آمريکايي و بريتانيايي تفاوت دارد:

advertisement:

American English:  /'/

British English:  /'/

لغت

در جدول زير چند کلمه متداول بريتانيايي بهمراه معادل آمريکايي آن ارائه شده است:

زهره آقاخاني 

1- از چه سني يادگيري زبان دوم شروع شود؟

2- علل ضعف دانش آموزان در درس زبان انگليسي چيست؟

از آنجائيكه امروزه زبان انگليسي با توجه به پيشرفت علم در تمامي زمينه ها از جمله[1] IT ارتباط مستقيم دارد و تمامي افرادي كه در اين زمينه ها فعاليتي دارند، به نياز مبرم آن پي برده‌اند، همواره دو سؤال در جامعه ما مطرح بوده و مي‌باشد كه براي برخي افراد بالاخص  والدين هنوز پاسخ آنها مبهم مانده و آن اينكه يادگيري زبان انگليسي را براي فرزندانمان از چه سني آغاز كنيم و ديگر اينكه علل ضعف دانش آموزان در درس زبان انگليسي چيست؟

طبق آخرين پژوهشهاي انجام شده توسط اساتيد زبده زبان انگليسي، متأسفانه نمودار رشد تكلم به زبان انگليسي، بين چندين كشور آسيايي و آفريقايي و اروپايي ايران در پائين ترين سطح بوده حتي از برخي از كشورهاي آفريقايي و همجوار كه در خيلي زمينه‌هاي علمي از كشور ما در سطح پائيني قرار دارند.[2] حال با پاسخگويي به اين دو سوال به بررسي علل اين معضل مي‌پردازيم.

فراگير در يادگيري زبان نياز به تمرين مكرر دارد. يك كودك كه زبان مادري را مي آموزد، چگونه تكرار و تمرين پي در پي دارد؟ و ما نيز همين تمرين و تكرار را بايستي در خصوص يادگيري زبان دوم داشته باشيم. و بايستي پذيرفت كه يادگيري زبان صرفاً تقليدي است. تقليدي كه هميشگي و در همه چيز مي‌باشد. ابتدا تمرين و تقليد در صدا، سپس كلمه و در نهايت جمله است و اين بهترين متد يادگيري زبان است. به پيشرفت يك كودك بنگريد، چگونه ابتدا گوش مي‌كند، سپس صحبت مي كند و در مرحله بالاتر خواندن و نوشتن را مي‌آموزد. يعني همان 4 مرحله يادگيري زبان كه هميشه مطرح بوده است (Writing-Reading-Speaking-Listening)[3]

از نظر زبان شناسي، يادگيري تلفظ در دوران كودكي راحتتر صورت مي‌گيرد، بلعكس يادگيري گرامر و انبوه واژگان كه در سنين بالاتر راحتتر مي‌باشد.[4] از آنجائيكه صدها ماهيچه در تلفظ و گفتار دخالت دارند و بعضي از آنها بتدريج رشد و پيشرفت دارند و برخي ديگر در همان اوان كودكي شكل پذيرفته‌اند، بنابراين يادگيري تلفظ در كودكي خيلي راحتتر مي‌باشد. مثلاً در تلفظ حروف l و r چه در فارسي و چه در انگليسي ، كودكان تا حدود 5 سالگي قادر به تلفظ صحيح آنها نمي باشند و با اينكه تلفظ اين دو حرف خيلي براي ايشان مشكل است ولي با تمرين و تكرار و رشد ماهيچه هاي مربوطه خيلي زود اندام صوتي خود را مطابقت داده و تلفظ مي‌كنند بنابراين كودكاني كه در اين سن يا حدود 5 سالگي شروع به يادگيري زبان دوم مي‌كنند، از نظر فيزيكي توان كنترل بيشتري روي اندامهاي صوتي و ماهيچه ها جهت تلفظ دارند. در صورتيكه در بزرگسالي ديگر قادر به تطابق اندامهاي صوتي به اين راحتي نمي باشند.

بنابراين يادگيري زبان دوم پس از اتمام يادگيري زبان مادري امكان پذير است، يعني حدود سن 5-4 سالگي به بعد و چونكه انعطاف پذيري اندامهاي صوتي در خردسالي راحتتر صورت مي گيرد و فراگير براي تلفظ بعضي از اصوات و حروف كه در زبان مادري وجود ندارد، با مشكل مواجه مي شود ، بنابراين هر چه زودتر يادگيري صورت گيرد مشكل كمتر خواهد بود. و تطابق اندامهاي صوتي با اداي اصوات و حروفي كه در زبان مادري معادلي ندارد راحتتر صورت مي گيرد. چنانچه يادگيري در سنين راهنمايي حدود 12-11 سالگي آغاز شود، چونكه اندامهاي صوتي شكل پذيرفته و ديگر قابليت انعطاف پذيري خيلي كمي دارند، فراگيران براي يادگيري زبان دوم با مشكلات عديده‌اي مواجه خواهند شد. همانند تلفظ th در دو كلمه ي thin[5] و they [6] كه اكثر فراگيران حتي در سطوح دانشگاهي نيز تلفظ دقيق آنهارا نمي داند كه اين مورد در زبانشناسي[7] قابل بحث است.

علاوه بر اين اگر يادگيري در سنين بالاتر شروع شود، در بعضي موارد ، به علت معارضه و دخالت الگوي زبان مادري مانند قواعد دستوري با زبان دوم، يادگيري در اين موارد روند كندي خواهد داشت و فراگير به جهت انتقال منفي از زبان مادري به زبان دوم دچار مشكل خواهد شد. مثلاً فراگير جمله «علي با مريم ازدواج كرد.»را اينگونه بيان مي كند:

«Ali Married with Maryam» در صورتيكه كاربرد with در اين جمله انگليسي اشتباه مي‌باشد. ولي همانگونه كه ذكر شد يادگيري مقادير زياد دستور و واژگان به دليل رشد فكري و توان و آمادگي بيشتر ذهن فراگير، در سنين و سطوح بالاتر راحتتر و بهتر و بيشتر صورت مي‌گيرد. ولي در زمينه تلفظ به دلايل مذكور عكس اين مطلب صادق است.

در زمينه بررسي علل ضعف دانش آموزان در اين درس همانگونه كه قبلاً ذكر شد مهمترين عامل، زمان يادگيري است كه فراگيران متأسفانه در سيستم آموزشي ما هم اينك از سال اول راهنمايي يادگيري زبان را آغاز مي‌كنند كه طبق نظريه زبان شناسان خيلي دير مي‌باشد. بايد اذعان داشت كه فراگيران در تشخيص صدا ها و حروف مشترك مشكلي ندارند مثل f , r , t , p بلكه اشكال در مواردي است كه تفاوت وجود دارد، مثل تلفظ t , th, w كه در زبان فارسي معادل مشخصي ندارند. در اينجا وظيفه ي معلم مي باشد كه روي قسمتهايي تكيه داشته باشد كه با زبان مادري مغايرت دارد و دانش آموز را دچار مشكل خواهد كرد چرا كه در موارد مشابه، يادگيري خود به خود صورت مي گيرد. هم چنين ارزشيابي نيز بايستي بيشتر موارد اختلاف باشد.

از جمله علل ديگر ضعف يادگيرندگان مي توان گفت، چون زبان انگليسي بر اساس استرس يا فشار و تكيه صدا تلفظ مي‌شود[8] و در نتيجه وقت كمتر مي‌گيرد. مثلاً كلمه comfortable كه انگليسي زبان /k mft bl/ تلفظ مي كند ولي چون زبان فارسي بر اساس (سيلاب) هجا تلفظ مي شود[9] و بالطبع زمان بيشتر مي برد، انتقال منفي صورت مي‌گيرد و فراگير ابتدا آن كلمه را /kamforteibel/ تلفظ مي كند.

از علتهاي مهم ديگر ضعف فراگيران، كم بودن زمان يادگيري در طول هفته مي‌باشد كه 15/2 ساعت براي كلاسهاي اول دبيرستان و 1 ساعت و نيم براي دوم و سوم دبيرستان مي‌باشد كه در اين زمان كم نبايد انتظار معجزه داشته باشيم. البته شايان ذكر است كه با توجه به وجود آموزشگاههاي آزاد زبان، اينگونه تصور مي‌شود كه رفع اين نقصان شده است. ولي بايد گفت كه متاسفانه ثابت شده كه بيشتر آموزشگاهها به جاي توجه به كيفيت بيشتر به كميت و مسائل جانبي پرداخته‌اند. همچنين داشتن لهجه[10] نيز از جمله علل ضعف مي باشد كه دانش آموزاني كه داراي لهجه هستند بالاخص مناطق لرنشين و ترك نشين بيشتر جهت يادگيري دچار مشكل مي‌شوند و هر چه لهجه بيشتر باشد درجه سختي و تداخل در يادگيري زبان دوم بيشتر خواهد بود، كه خوشبختانه در شهرضا كمتر اين مورد وجود دارد. از جمله علل ضعف كه بصورت گذرا اشاره مي كنيم مي توان به كمبود برگزاري كلاسهاي بازآموزي و ضمن خدمت دبيران زبان انگليسي نام برد، همچنين كمبود كتابهاي آموزشي مناسب، عدم تمرين و تكرار مداوم فراگيران، عدم آگاهي برخي از والدين به زبان انگليسي، عدم كارايي وكاربرد آموخته‌ها  در خارج از كلاس زبان، ارزشيابي هاي نامناسب و عدم ثبت نمرات واقعي خود دانش آموزان در ليست ، بعلت وجود نمره مستمر و كلاسي و باز بودن دست معلم در دادن نمره و در پي آن انتظارات زياد كه تمامي اين علتها به جهت ضعف سيستم آموزشي در اين خصوص مي‌باشد.[11] البته در جهت رفع نقايص ذكر شده، در جلسات و همايش ها اين موارد مكرراً به مقامات مسئول در اين زمينه ارجاع داده شده است و اميد داريم شاهد روزي باشيم كه اين نقايص رفع شود و فرزندانمان دچار اين ضعف نباشند و از همان دوران كودكي در كنار الفباي شيرين فارسي، با زبان انگليسي آشنا شوند.

منابع:

1- كتاب principles of language learning and Teaching H. Douglas Brown – چاپ سوم 1375

2- كتاب Julias. Falk – چاپ دوم – بخش 8- linguistics and language

3- مقاله- شروع يادگيري زبان دوم- دكتر محمدرضا باطني – ارائه در اولين كنفرانس زبان انگليسي كشور- همدان – آذر 84

4- مقاله- علل ضعف دانش آموزان در زبان انگليسي- دكتر فرهادي- ارائه در اولين كنفرانس زبان انگليسي كشور- همدان – آذر 84

5- ديكشنري آكسفورد 2006

[1] . International technology

[2] . نظريه دكتر محمدرضا باطني- 1384

[3] . نظريه H.H.Stern 1970

[4] . نظريه Walsh,Diller 1981

[5] . /    /

[6] . /      /

[7] . Linguistic

[8] . stressed-Timed language

[9] . syllable – Timed language

[10] . accent

[11] . نظريه دكتر فرهادي

William Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare and mother Mary Arden some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. There is no record of his birth, but his baptism was recorded by the church, thus his birthday is assumed to be the 23 of April. His father was a prominent and prosperous alderman in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, and was later granted a coat of arms by the College of Heralds. All that is known of Shakespeare's youth is that he presumably attended the Stratford Grammar School, and did not proceed to Oxford or Cambridge. The next record we have of him is his marriage to Anne Hathaway in 1582. The next year she bore a daughter for him, Susanna, followed by the twins Judith and Hamnet two years later.

Seven years later Shakespeare is recognized as an actor, poet and playwright, when a rival playwright, Robert Greene, refers to him as "an upstart crow" in A Groatsworth of Wit. A few years later he joined up with one of the most successful acting troupe's in London: The Lord Chamberlain's Men. When, in 1599, the troupe lost the lease of the theatre where they performed, (appropriately called The Theatre) they were wealthy enough to build their own theatre across the Thames, south of London, which they called "The Globe." The new theatre opened in July of 1599, built from the timbers of The Theatre, with the motto "Totus mundus agit histrionem" (A whole world of players) When James I came to the throne (1603) the troupe was designated by the new king as the King's Men (or King's Company). The Letters Patent of the company specifically charged Shakespeare and eight others "freely to use and exercise the art and faculty of playing Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Inerludes, Morals, Pastorals, stage plays ... as well for recreation of our loving subjects as for our solace and pleasure."

Shakespeare entertained the king and the people for another ten years until June 19, 1613, when a canon fired from the roof of the theatre for a gala performance of Henry VIII set fire to the thatch roof and burned the theatre to the ground. The audience ignored the smoke from the roof at first, being to absorbed in the play, until the flames caught the walls and the fabric of the curtains. Amazingly there were no casualties, and the next spring the company had the theatre "new builded in a far fairer manner than before." Although Shakespeare invested in the rebuilding, he retired from the stage to the Great House of New Place in Statford that he had purchased in 1597, and some considerable land holdings ,where he continued to write until his death in 1616 on the day of his 52nd birthday.

• 1556 - Anne Hathaway is born.
• 1564 - William Shakespeare is born in April (probably the 23rd) in Stratford-On-Avon (94 miles from London.)
• 1582 - Marries Anne Hathaway on November 27.
• 1583 - Susanna Shakespeare is born.
• 1585 - The twins Judith and Hamnet Shakespeare are born.
• 1592 - After leaving Stratford for London, William was recognized as a successful actor, as well as a leading poet. He was a member of 'The Chamberlain's Men'.
• 1596 - Hamnet dies at the age of eleven. Shakespeare becomes a "gentleman" when the College of Heralds grants his father a coat of arms.
• 1597- He bought a large house called "The Great House of New Place".
• 1599 - The 'Globe Theater' is built from the pieces of 'The Theater' in July.
• 1603 - 'The Lord Chamberlain's Men' became 'The King's Men' on May 19.
• 1613 - The 'Globe Theatre' burns during a performance of Henry VII when a canon fired on the roof sets fire to the straw thatch. The theatre is rebuilt, but Shakespeare retires.
• 1616 - April 23, in Stratford, on his 52nd birthday he died.

 As ESL/EFL teachers, we are aware that the primary objective of reading is comprehension--being able to find meaning in what is read. Thus, we give our students reading assessments in order to test their reading abilities. When we are preparing these assessments, we may go through some of the following

• We ensure that we select an appropriate text.
• We make sure that the language used in the text is suitably pitched to our students' proficiency.
• We carefully scrutinise the text to ensure that the information in each paragraph is tested.

However, some teachers may not be aware that the comprehension questions they formulate only test students' ability to understand and recall ideas and information directly stated in the given text. It is indeed unfortunate if comprehension assessments do not go beyond this level of comprehension. The purpose of this article is to provide ESL/EFL teachers with some guidelines when preparing reading assessments.

Teachers need to be aware that there are actually three main levels or strands of comprehension--literal, interpretive and critical comprehension.

• The first level, literal comprehension, is the most obvious. Comprehension at this level involves surface meanings. At this level, teachers can ask students to find information and ideas that are explicitly stated in the text. In addition, it is also appropriate to test vocabulary. According to Karlin(1971), "being able to read for literal meanings ie stated ideas is influenced by one's mastery of word meanings in context'.
• The second level or strand is interpretive or referential comprehension. At this level, students go beyond what is said and read for deeper meanings. They must be able to read critically and analyse carefully what they have read. Students need to be able to see relationships among ideas, for exmple how ideas go together and also see the implied meanings of these ideas. It is also obvious that before our students can do this, they have to first understand the ideas that are stated (literal comprehension). Interpretive or referential comprehension includes thinking processes such as drawing conclusions, making generalizations and predicting outcomes. At this level, teachers can ask more challenging questions such as asking students to do the following:
  • Re-arrange the ideas or topics discussed in the text.
  • Explain the author's purpose of writing the text.
  • Summarize the main idea when this is not explicitly stated in the text.
  • Select conclusions which can be deduced from the text t!hey have read.
• Finally, the third level of comprehension is critical reading whereby ideas and information are evaluated. Critical evaluation occurs only after our students have understood the ideas and information that the writer has presented. At this level, students can be tested on the following skills:
  • The ability to differentiate between facts and opinions.
  • The ability to recognize persuasive statements .
  • The ability to judge the accuracy of the information given in the text.

Conclusion

Although comprehension takes place at several levels, mastery at any one level is not a prerequisite to comprehension at another level. Furthermore, the reading skills for each level or strand cut across ages; they are relevant to young readers in primary schools, secondary school students right up to students at tertiary level. EFL/ESL teachers also need to keep in mind that the three levels are not distinct . Dividing comprehension into literal, referential and critical strands is only intended as a guide for teachers when preparing reading assessments. Studies have shown that teachers tend to ask their students mainly literal comprehension questions. They need to be aware that there is more to reading than just the basic skills of reading and recalling information.

References

• Karlin, Robert. (1971) Teaching Elementary Reading:Principles and Strategies. Harcourt Brace and Jovanovich, Inc.
• Potts, John. (1976) Beyond Initial Reading. London:George Allen and Unwin Ltd.
• Quandt, Ivan J. (1977) Teaching Reading: a Human Process . Rand McNally College Publishing Co.