English Readers

Reading (B1+ Intermediate)

English for Life

Classroom implementation
The Reading book develops three key reading skills:
skimming, scanning and reading for detail. If you want to
provide your students with practice in one particular skill,
then use the icons to guide you directly to the relevant
exercises and concentrate on these.

the headings
the topic sentences (first sentence of each paragraph)
illustrations, graphs, charts, photographs and captions
several key words from the text (which you will have
written on the board).

Suggested implementation of the unit text:

Skim

Scan

Detail

skimming

scanning

reading for detail

Below are some ideas for how you can adapt the various
sections of each unit for use in the classroom.
Each time you see this symbol  in the explanations
below, it indicates a new section of the unit. These
sections are the same in every Reading unit, so once you
get to know the sections you will quickly be able
to create your own lesson plans.

1. Look at the text together as a class before students read

it carefully. Get them to identify any features in the text
that they could use to help them, for example:
charts or graphs
photographs or illustrations
headings
bullet points
2. Ask a number of students to read sections of the text
aloud and make note of any pronunciation issues to feed
back on later.
3. Ask students to read silently. Set a time limit and make
sure that students are aware of it.

 BEFORE YOU START

What is it?
This section presents the unit text the advert or article
or other material on which most of the units tasks will be
based. It also provides one or more activities to get students
started, for example:
questions to personalize the theme for students and get
them thinking about it.
pre-reading tasks such as predicting or guessing.
speed-reading tasks such as skimming or scanning activities.

4. Speed-reading tasks should be done individually. Set a

strict time limit and make sure that students are aware of
it. Allow them time to check their answers with a partner
before feeding back to the group.

 UNDERSTANDING
What is it?
This section directly follows the unit text and contains one
basic comprehension exercise.

Suggested implementation:
Suggested implementation (pre-reading):
1. Use the personalization activities as warmers to get
students engaged in the lesson. Divide them into pairs or
small groups to brainstorm the topic.
2. Get students to think about the text type before they
read it. Ask questions such as:
What is this text type?
Where would you normally see it?
Why would you read this text?
In that case, what sort of reading style is appropriate
skimming, scanning or reading for detail?
How often do you read this sort of text?
3. Pre-reading tasks often work well as group activities.
Get students to guess or predict in pairs and feed back
(if possible) with their most likely suggestion. If there is
no guessing or prediction task in the unit, then you could
make your own. Ask students to guess what the text
might be about by just reading one of the following:

1. Highlight that these are types of questions that students

of this level are often faced with in exams. Make sure
that students know how to answer them:
multiple choice
true/false/not given
short answer questions
2. Get students to answer the questions by themselves but
allow them time to check their answers with a partner
before feeding back to the class.

 PRACTISING YOUR READING SKILLS

What is it?
This section features two or three activities focusing on
reading skills that are particularly suited to the text type.
Some of these exercises will work better as individual
activities and some as group activities.

English Readers

English for Life

Suggested implementation:
1. The following types of exercises lend themselves well to
pair work or group work:
inferring
distinguishing between facts and opinions
paraphrasing
discussion questions
questions that ask students to consider what happens
next
2. The following types of exercises are more suited to
individual work with time allowed for students to check
answers with a partner afterwards:
inserting missing sentences into text (which mirrors
another common exam task)
summarising
finding evidence to back up claims made in text

 LANGUAGE FOCUS
What is it?

Reading (B1+ Intermediate)

Get students to write their own gap-fill activities using

the target language, then give them to a partner to
complete.

 ACTIVE READING
What is it?
These boxes come at the end of every unit and contain hints
and tips for improving reading skills.

Suggested implementation:
1. Use these as a starting point for discussion about this
reading approach get students to find other texts in the
book where the reading tip might be appropriate and use
as practice.
2. Homework activity: ask students to find a text where
this reading tip might be appropriate. Ask them to bring
the text to the next class and feed back about how the
reading tip helped them.
3. These serve well as fillers if you have a few spare minutes
during the lesson.

This section features a couple of exercises based on lexical

or grammatical items from the text. These sorts of activities
work equally well as individual and group activities.

 LANGUAGE NOTE

Suggested implementation:

What is it?

1. Model and drill pronunciation of any new language.

Provide feedback if possible.

These green boxes appear at varying points through the unit

and contain additional information about language from the
unit text.

2. Provide extra practice of the target language if you think

your students need it.
3. If you run out of time in the lesson, these exercises work
well as homework.
4. Extend the activities if you have a particularly strong
group of students:
Brainstorm around the lexical topic to find other
related vocabulary.
Get students to write their own sentences using the
target language.

Suggested implementation:
1. Use these as a starting point for discussion about the
language point.
2. Homework activity: get students to find further examples
of this particular language point.
3. These serve well as fillers if you have a few spare minutes
during the lesson.

English Readers

English for Life

Reading (B1+ Intermediate)

Unit 1: Websites

SUMMARY
You can use this summary to guide the learning objectives
and target setting for your class.
Can-do statements
By the end of this unit, students will be able to say:
I can skim read a commercial web page to get a
general understanding of what it is selling.
I can scan a website to pick out the important details.
I can understand the key common features of
commercial websites.
Skill focus
Skimming:
Before you start
Reading for general understanding:
Understanding 1 2
Scanning:
Practising your reading skills 1 2
Reading for detail:
Language focus 1 2
Vocabulary
Websites: Log in, Register, Site Map, Jobs, FAQs,
Terms and conditions
Banking: deposit, mortgage, account, savings, credit,
investments, loan, insurance

No:

If you need to read fast, just read the title, first

and last paragraphs and first sentences of each
paragraph that may be all you need.
Keep your eyes moving forward.
Choose an article of general interest.
Read at your own pace and take as long as you
need.
Choose an article with lots of detailed information.
If you are not sure about something, look back as
you read to make sure you understand.
Look up any unknown vocabulary as you read.

4. Feed back with the whole class.

Before starting on the exercises ask students whether they
use the internet to buy things, and brainstorm ideas about
what can be bought on the internet: clothes, music (CD
and downloads), books (print and downloads), film, TV and
video games (DVD and downloads), furniture, food, cards,
flowers, gifts, etc.

Using Understanding
After these exercises:
1. Ask students to identify the content and features which
are common to many websites (company logo, menu,
tabs, search feature, sub menu, site map, legal details,
terms and conditions, jobs section, etc.).

Using Practising your reading skills

Practising your reading skills focuses on scanning.

CLASSROOM EXTENSION IDEAS

You can use some or all of these ideas to check and
enhance your students understanding as they work their
way through Unit 1 of Reading B1+ Intermediate in class.

Using Before you start

Before you start is a skim reading activity.
1. Ask the students for a definition of skimming (reading
when you have a limited amount of time and you just
want a general idea of what the text is about).
2. Ask students what kind of situations might call for this
style of reading (a quick read through a newspaper or
magazine article, a first reading of a brochure to see if
you are interested, a first reading of a notice to see if it is
relevant to you, etc.).
3. Give students a copy of the Skimming skills handout and
get them to work in pairs to decide which are good rules
for skim reading.
Yes: Set yourself a time limit.
Write a summary sentence when you have read it
once.

1. Ask the students for a definition of scanning (reading

when you have a limited amount of time and you need
some specific information from a piece of text).
2. Ask students what kind of situations might call for
this style of reading (finding train times in a timetable,
looking up a word in a dictionary, checking the contents
page of a book, etc.).
3. Give students a copy of the Scanning skills handout
and get them to work individually to fill the gaps, then
compare their answers in pairs. The correct answers are:
1. word
2. information
3. diagonally
4. particular
5. digits
6. italics
7. skip over
8. carefully
4. Feed back with the whole class.
Get students to do Exercise 1 in pairs and then compare
their answers with another pair. When they have done so,
allow them to work in pairs to think of five more queries

English Readers

English for Life

people could have about the websites and write them down
to test another pair or the whole class.

Reading (B1+ Intermediate)

magazines to provide the content and the look of the

homepage.

Using Language focus

5. Monitor and ask questions.

After the exercises in Language focus students should have

the knowledge and vocabulary they need to create their
own website.

6. For feedback, allow willing students to present their

homepages to the class, or stick them on the wall and
get students to wander around and ask each other
questions about them.

1. Bring in some magazines containing adverts with plenty

of information about products and/or services offered
by different companies (banks, supermarkets, car
companies, etc.).
2. Tell the students you want them to choose a company
and design a homepage for its website.
3. Give the students large pieces of paper (A3) on which to
put their ideas.
4. Tell students they can add text to their websites if they
need to, but that they should cut out material from the

Using Active reading

1. Get students to read the Active reading section and set
homework around a web search activity.
2. Find a website which the students will be interested in,
although might not know much about, and set some
discovery questions which will require them using the
search field.
3. Tell them you want them to scan for the information and
either give them a time limit for the search or ask them
to time themselves and record how long each search takes.

English Readers

Reading (B1+ Intermediate)

English for Life

PHOTOCOPIABLES
Skimming skills
Which of these are good rules for skimming and which are not?

YES

NO

Set yourself a time limit.

Write a summary sentence when you have read it once.
Read at your own pace and take as long as you need.
If you need to read quickly, just read the title, rst and last paragraphs and the rst
sentences of each paragraph that may be all you need.
Choose an article with lots of detailed information.
Keep your eyes moving forward.
If you are not sure about something, look back as you read to make sure you understand.
Choose an article of general interest.
Look up any unknown vocabulary as you read.

Scanning skills
Here are some rules for scanning. Fill the gaps in the text with the words in the box.

particular

carefully

word

skip over

information

italics

diagonally

digits

Do not read every ______________________(1) of the text, but train your eyes to pass over the text looking for the
______________________(2) required. Some people scan paragraphs ______________________(3) or read down the
page in the shape of a Z.
Practise looking for ______________________(4) pieces of information in the text for example, if you are looking
for numbers make your eyes stop at ______________________(5); if youre looking for names or titles, stop when
you see capital letters or ______________________(6).
Dont be distracted by information that is not relevant to you. Ignore and ______________________(7) these
sections of text.
When you nd the piece of information that you require, you may then have to read that section
______________________(8).

English Readers

English for Life

Reading (B1+ Intermediate)

Unit 2: Emails

SUMMARY
You can use this summary to guide the learning objectives
and target setting for your class.
Can-do statements
By the end of this unit, students will be able to say:
I can identify the key parts of an email communication.
I can scan emails for key information and check again
later for important facts.
I can differentiate between formal and informal styles
in emails.
I can identify and contextualize the use of idiomatic
language in emails and informal communication.
Skill focus
Pre-reading:
Before you start
Scanning:
Practising your reading skills 2 3
Reading for general understanding:
Understanding 1 2
Reading for detail:
Practising your reading skills 3
Vocabulary
Online buying: summary, invoice address, delivery
address, payment method, account, debited
Idioms: reading between the lines, sounding out, a long
shot, hard to come by, heart set on, shoot off
Appropriateness
Formal and informal language in emails

CLASSROOM EXTENSION IDEAS

You can use some or all of these ideas to check and
enhance your students understanding as they work their
way through Unit 2 of Reading B1+ Intermediate in class.

Using Before you start

This unit is about emails. Before you start using the material
from the book, you can personalize the material by starting
a discussion on the students use of emails.
1. Ask the students questions like: How many emails do
you get each day? Who sends the emails: friends, family
or businesses? Is there a lot of spam? Do you like to use
email to contact people or do you prefer to text, phone,
tweet, or write? etc.
2. Get students to write their answers down individually
and then put them in small groups to discuss and
compare their answers.

The Before you start questions also ask students to identify

which email is likely to be written in a formal style. Ask
students what kinds of written features would identify an
email as formal (formal salutation, few contractions, no
slang, very polite language, etc.) and which would identify
an email as informal (casual language, ellipses, contractions,
etc.).

Using Unit text and Understanding

1. Ask students to do Exercise 1 of Understanding on their
own to confirm the suppositions of Before you start.
Set a time limit of approximately five minutes.
2. Ask students to answer the questions in Exercise 2 on
their own and then put them in pairs to compare their
answers.
3. Get the students to look again and find the examples of
the features which make the first email formal (Dear ,
Thank you for choosing , Please note that acceptance
of your order , Yours sincerely) and the second informal
(Hi Joanna!, Hows it going? , All is good
Anyway, must shoot off. Write soon Love Sophia Xxx).
4. Divide the Unit text into parts so that it can be read aloud
by different students.
5. Put students into small groups and get them to write five
new questions about the Unit text for the other group(s)
to answer.
6. In the same groups, ask students to write some sentences
that could be from either a formal or informal letter.
Then ask them to show these to another group and get
them to identify which is which.

Using Practising your reading skills

Practising your reading skills focuses on identifying the
difference between scanning and reading for detail. You
might want to spend time helping students to understand
different reading styles using the material from Appendix 1
How should I read?
1. You could create your own handout for this matching
exercise or just write it on the board. Write four speech
bubbles with the words:
I dont have much time and just want a general idea of
what this article is about.
Im in a rush and I need some specific information from
this text.
This is interesting. Im going to read this to find out
about the subject.
Id better read this carefully there are a lot of
important facts in here I need to know.
2. Ask students to work in pairs to identify the reading
style that each speech bubble would require (respectively

English Readers

English for Life

skimming, scanning, reading for general understanding

and reading for detail).
3. Ask students to identify which reading style they would
normally use for each of these reading situations/texts:
a quick read of a newspaper story (skimming)
looking for a particular word in a dictionary (scanning)
song lyrics (reading for general understanding)
a legal contract (reading for detail)
4. Put students back into pairs or small groups and ask
them to think of a couple of different reading situations/
texts for each of the reading styles.
5. Get the pairs/groups to write the situations down without
naming the reading style. Monitor to help frame the
ideas (you can use the Appendix to assist with ideas).
6. Pairs/groups can then exchange their ideas with each other.
7. Feed back with the whole class.

Using Language focus

The Language focus exercises highlight the use of idioms in
informal texts.
1. Photocopy the Idioms handout, below, and cut out each
idiom separately. You will need about four or five for
each student you can duplicate them or add some more
of your own if you need to.
2. Clarify with students that idiomatic language might be
used in a business context (it is not slang) but is normally

Reading (B1+ Intermediate)

used where the people know each other. Ask students

why that might be (because it is possible that idiomatic
language might be misunderstood, or suggest a certain
informal tone).
3. Distribute the idioms to the students randomly. Get them
to read them and find the meaning in their dictionaries,
or by asking their partner.
4. Tell the students that you want them to write an informal
email using these idioms. They will have to use all the
idioms they have been given in the email but you can
allow them to swap them with other students if they
want to. Ask the students to stand up and walk around
the room, finding out what idioms other people have
and explaining their own to see if they want to do a
swap.
5. Monitor and check the use of the idioms while students
write their emails.
6. If students finish early ask them to construct questions
for their emails along the lines of those in Understanding
Exercise 2. You can also set this task for homework.

Using Active reading

Also for homework, you can ask students to look through
the order confirmation of something they have bought over
the Internet and check if it has the things listed in Practising
your reading skills Exercise 2. (You can also set this for
homework.)

English Readers

Reading (B1+ Intermediate)

English for Life

PHOTOCOPIABLES
Idioms

a shot in the dark

get your act together

drop the ball

burn your bridges

keep your chin up

carry the can

cut someone some slack

down to earth

be in the drivers seat

see eye to eye

have the edge

put your foot in it

put your foot down

get something off your

chest

give someone the cold

shoulder

stick to your guns

hit the hay

hit the nail on the head

jump to conclusions

know the ropes

keep an eye on

lay your cards on the table

turn over a new leaf

pay lip service

push your luck

speak your mind

put your money where

your mouth is

nip something in the bud

on a roll

on the ropes

play it by ear

pass the buck

see red

rock the boat

set someone straight

sleep on it

spill the beans

suck it up

talk shop

bite your tongue

up in the air

under the weather

English Readers

English for Life

Reading (B1+ Intermediate)

Unit 3: Social networking sites

SUMMARY
You can use this summary to guide the learning objectives
and target setting for your class.
Can-do statements
By the end of this unit, students will be able to say:
I can understand opinions about the advantages and
disadvantages of aspects of the internet.
I can read and understand messages and comments
left on social networking sites.
I can understand and use the terminology of social
networking sites.
I can understand some key differences in written
British and American English.
Skill focus
Pre-reading:
Before you start 1 2
Scanning:
Practising your reading skills 2 3
Reading for general understanding:
Before you start 3
Reading for detail:
Practising your reading skills 1
Vocabulary
Social networking: home, status, profile, friends,
message, events, find friends, notifications
American and British English differences: color/colour,
center/centre
Grammar
Ellipsis: (Im) Looking at ; (I) Took this
Functions
Reading personal news: Just been to , Im going ,
Im doing
Reading opinions of advantages and disadvantages:
Im just not interested in , I worry that , I love being
able to

1. Ask the class questions 1 and 2 of Exercise 1 (What are

social networking sites? Which social networking sites do
you use?). Then allow them to discuss question 3 (Why
do you use them?) among themselves in small groups.
2. Ask one or two students to report back to the class on
their groups answers which was the most popular use
and which the least?
3. You can collate the results from feedback on the board
and have students create a pie chart or bar graph of the
data.
For Exercise 2:
1. To make this exercise more interactive, photocopy the
Advantages and disadvantages handout, below, and cut
each speech bubble out individually.
2. Give a set of advantages and disadvantages to each pair
of students and allow them to work on them together.
3. Ask them to think of two more advantages and
disadvantages each. Get them to write them out,
expressed as opinions in the same way as on the
handout.
4. Feed back with the whole class, and allow students to
share their additional ideas with the rest of the group.

Using Unit text and Understanding

1. First, get the students to read the Unit text on their
own quickly and silently before answering the general
comprehension Exercise 3. Then get feedback from the
whole class.
2. Instead of asking students to read aloud, ask them to
interpret and explain the individual entries for the class
(e.g. Debbie is in the Empire State Building in New York
and shes taken and uploaded a photo of the city. She
has a friend called Oscar Lilly who must live in New York,
and another called Lillie Pittman who wishes she did.).
3. Then get the students to answer the Understanding
questions on their own and compare their answers with
a partner, before getting feedback from the whole class.

Using Language note

CLASSROOM EXTENSION IDEAS

You can use some or all of these ideas to check and
enhance your students understanding as they work their
way through Unit 3 of Reading B1+ Intermediate in class.

Using Before you start

Before presenting the Unit text, the first two exercises can
be brought off the page and made more interactive.

After the Unit text it is worth directing the students

attention to the Language note at the end and asking them
to identify other examples of ellipses in the Linksworld social
networking site: (Im) Looking at ; (I) Took this Students
might want to use this style of writing in the next activity.

Using Practising your reading skills

Practising your reading skills gives students the opportunity
to add comments to the posts on Linksworld. After completing
all three exercises, you can extend this activity by creating a
Linksworld social networking site for the class.

English Readers

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1. Give each student a copy of the Linksworld handout,

below, and get them to add a user name and a piece of
news.
2. Students can then pass their handouts round the class
(in the same direction) and other students can comment
on their news one by one.
3. Remind students that they should read all the
comments, and can comment on the comments of
other students.
4. Encourage students to use ellipses but monitor to make
sure they maintain coherent sentences.
5. Feed back with the whole group.
6. Students can use the new social networking page to
develop a series of true and false questions to test their
partners.
Exercise 3 contains a range of vocabulary associated with
social networking:

Reading (B1+ Intermediate)

Using Language focus

Language focus highlights the differences between
American and British English. After doing both the exercises:
1. Ask students why it is important to be aware of the
differences between American and British English
(because communication is becoming more and more
international and it is useful to be sensitive to the
differences, etc. In the context of a reading class they
may also say that many of the differences are in spelling).
2. Find an article, webpage or section from a language
book that deals with the differences between American
and British English or with other differences in
international English and provides a number of good
examples. Photocopy one for each student.
3. Allow them time to read the text alone and then ask
them to write three or four questions in the style of those
in Exercise 2 of Language focus.

1. Brainstorm other terminology associated with internet

communication (e.g. upload, download, like, block,
tweet, share, etc.).

4. Monitor to ensure the questions are accurate.

2. Students can then work in pairs to write descriptions of

these in the style of Exercise 2.

For practical purposes, you may want to raise the issue of

safety on the internet and in chatrooms, or rules for good
behaviour in chatrooms. This can provide a good discussion
topic, research homework or another opportunity for
creating a wall poster, and will allow you to activate the
language should/should not or do/do not.

3. Pairs can then challenge another pair to guess what their

descriptions are of.
4. Encourage students to add any new terminology to their
vocabulary books.

5. Put students in pairs and get them to challenge their

partners with their questions.

Rules for internet safety might include not giving out

contact details or passwords. Rules for good behaviour
might include not using insulting language (eg. flaming,
trolling, etc.).

English Readers

English for Life

Reading (B1+ Intermediate)

PHOTOCOPIABLES
Linksworld

Linksworld
____________ ______________________ [your user name]
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
____________ ______________________

_ _/_ _/2013 ____ am/pm

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
____________ ______________________

_ _/_ _/2013 ____ am/pm

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
____________ ______________________

_ _/_ _/2013 ____ am/pm

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
____________ ______________________

_ _/_ _/2013 ____ am/pm

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
____________ ______________________

_ _/_ _/2013 ____ am/pm

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
____________ ______________________

_ _/_ _/2013 ____ am/pm

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
____________ ______________________

_ _/_ _/2013 ____ am/pm

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

English Readers

English for Life

Reading (B1+ Intermediate)

Advantages and disadvantages

Social networking sites are an amazing way

of keeping in touch with people who live
a long way away.

Weve banned access to social networking

sites in our ofce our employees were
wasting so much time chatting to friends and
they werent getting enough work done.

The danger of social networking sites is

that we care more about the quantity
than the quality of friendship. Its simply
impossible to be really good friends with
hundreds of people.

I worry that privacy settings might not work

and that strangers might be able to see my
personal information.

Im just not interested in reading what people

are doing at various points in the day! Im too
busy living my own life to care!

I love being able to see photographs of

friends and family. It makes the world feel
like a smaller place.

These sites are a great way to connect with

people who have similar interests to you.
I couldnt live without them now.

I love it because its allowed me to reconnect

with lots of old friends who I probably would
never have spoken to again.