Unit 3: Reading More – Learning More Words
In unit 3 you will use your active reading skills to learn new words. You will see how reading helps you learn new ways to say things in English. This unit concludes with a WebQuest, where you'll create a vocabulary list of your own by searching for words online.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 2.5 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- practice active reading using context clues and pre-reading;
- collect vocabulary of Standard American English terms used in academic context.
- practice active reading using context clues and pre-reading;
3.1: Expanding Your Vocabulary
Building a large vocabulary of English words will help you feel confident communicating, or talking and writing, with other people in English. But how do we start learning new words? Pick up a dictionary and start reading? No! There are a number of things you can do (we call these strategies) every day to learn – and remember – new words.
When you've read the previous article, pick a strategy to try today. Give it a try and then write about it in the discussion forum. Did it work for you? What new word or words did you learn? Share the strategy you chose to build your vocabulary.
3.2: Finding New Words
In addition to context clues, we learn new words by listening to English and using it every day. If you don’t have many English speakers where you live, try watching videos or listening to music in English. As you watch and listen, pay attention to the new words you hear, then use context clues or a dictionary to find their meaning.
In this section, you will watch two videos to learn practical ways to build your vocabulary every day. Then, you will complete the activity that follows to check your understanding on expanding vocabulary.
In this section, you will embark on a WebQuest which is an activity that consists of inquiry-oriented tasks that will help you understand the meaning of a word.
To complete this activity, you'll review three links and three tasks. These tasks will help you build a stronger vocabulary, and show you how daily activities can help you learn more words. To complete this activity, you'll review three links and three tasks. These tasks will help you build a stronger vocabulary, and show you how daily activities can help you learn more words.
Unit 3 Assessment
This activity will measure your knowledge of vocabulary building strategies.