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ENGLISH FOR BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

A reading - comprehension course

UNIT I

Unidad curricular: Idioma II Dra. Noyle Villarroel

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UNIT I: DEVELOPING READING SKILLS FOR THE

COMPREHENSION OF ENGLISH TEXTS

CONTENT

1. THE PROCESS OF READING

The readers reading styles.

Skill requirement in readings

Reading for details.

2. THE ENGLISH CONTEXT.

Understanding through the context.

The criticism in reading.

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THE READERS READING STYLES.

TASK 1. DIAGNOSING THE READERS READING STYLES.

Answer these questions:

1. How many reading styles are there?
2. Can you name them?
3. According to the material showed by your teacher, what kind of reader are you?,
why?

TASK 2. SHARING INFORMATION

Work in a small group. Read the following quotations describing self - determination.
What do you think they mean? Circle the most appropriate interpretations for quotes
1 and 2. Then write your own interpretation of quotes 3 and 4. Discuss your answer
with the group. Do you agree with any of these quotations? Why or why not?

1. "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the
opportunity in every difficulty."
Winston Churchill

a. People overcome every difficulty with a good attitude.

b. To become Successful in life it is necessary to be pessimistic.

2. "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but
the one most responsive to change."
Charles Darwin

a. It is necessary to be strong and smart to success in life.

b. A changing attitude is necessary to continue to live.

3. "We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it
within themselves."
Galileo Galilei
This means:
______________________________________________________
4. "When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two
characters. One represents danger, the other represents
John F. Kennedy
opportunity."

This means:
____________________________________________________________

Unidad curricular: Idioma II Dra. Noyle Villarroel

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TASK 3. IDENTIFYING SKILL REQUIREMENT IN READINGS -

Reading can be an arduous for some people. But the harder you read the strongest
reader you become. That is, you can improve your reading skills by practice and knowing that
there are different types of reading skills.

Skimming - reading rapidly for the main points.

Scanning - reading rapidly to find a specific piece of information.
Extensive - reading a longer text, often for pleasure with emphasis on overall
meaning.
Intensive reading - reading a short text for detailed information.

These different types of skills are used quite naturally when reading in a mother
tongue. Unfortunately, when learning a second or foreign language, people tend to employ
only "intensive" style reading skills. I have often noticed that students insist on understanding
every word and find it difficult to take my advice of reading for the general idea, or only
looking for required information. Students studying a foreign language often feel that if they
don't understand each and every word they are somehow not completing the exercise.

Identify the reading skills required in the following reading situations:

Note: There is often not a single correct answer; several choices may be possible
according to your reading purpose. If you find that there are different possibilities,
state the situation in which you would use the various skills.

The TV guide for Friday evening

An English grammar book
An article in National Geographic magazine about the Roman Empire
A good friend's homepage on the Internet
The opinion page in your local newspaper
The weather report in your local newspaper
A novel
A poem
A bus timetable
A fax at the office
An advertising email - so called "spam"
An email or letter from your best friend
A recipe
A short story by your favorite author

Taken from http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/blreadtypes.htm

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TASK 4. READING FOR DETAILS

What's Wrong?

This exercise focuses on intensive reading. Read one sentence at a time and
find the inappropriate vocabulary mistake or contradiction. All errors are in the
choice of vocabulary NOT in grammar.

1. Jack Forest is a baker who always provides his customers with tough
meat. Last Tuesday, Mrs Brown came into the shop and asked for three
filets of brown bread. Unfortunately, Jack only had two filets remaining.
He excused Mrs Brown and promised her that he would have too much
bread the next time she came. Mrs Brown, being a reliable customer,
assured Jack that she would return. Later that day, Jack was sealing the
shop when he the phone sang. It was Mrs Brown requiring if Jack had
baked another slice of brown bread. Jack said, "As a matter of truth, I
burnt some extra loaves a few hours ago. Would you like me to bring
one buy?". Mrs Brown said she would and so Jack got into his bike and
road to Mrs Brown's to deliver the third pound of brown toast.

2. My favorite reptile is the Cheetah. It is truly an amazing creature which

can trot at a top speed of 60 m.p.h.! I've always wanted to go to the cool
planes of Africa to see the Cheetah in action. I imagine it would be a
disappointing experience looking at those Cheetah run. A few weeks
ago, I was watching a National Geographic special on the radio and my
wife said, "Why don't we go to Africa next summer?". I hopped for joy!
"That's a lousy idea!", I stated. Well, next week our plain leaves for
Africa and I can hardly imagine that we are going to Africa at first.

3. Frank Sinatra was an infamous singer, known throughout the world. He

was a novice at singing in the "crooning" style. During the 50s and 60s
grunge music was very popular throughout clubs in the US. Las Vegas
was one of Frank Sinatra's favorite squares to sing. He often traveled
into Las Vegas from his hut in the woods to perform in the evening.
Audiences inevitably booed as he sang encore after encore to the
delight of international fans from around the county.

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THE ENGLISH CONTEXT

Task 1: understanding through the context

On realizing, that a text can be understood in a general sense by using

contextual clues can go a long way towards helping students cope with
increasingly difficult texts. At the same time, the use of contextual clues can
also provide a means by which students can rapidly increase their existing
vocabulary base. It is not necessary to understand each word in the text.

LETS PRACTICE!

A) Without using the dictionary, make logical guesses about the meaning of
the unknown words in the following paragraph.

Jack quickly entered the didot and cleaned the various misturaes he had
been using to repair the wuipit. He had often thought that this job was
extremely yullning. However, he had to admit that this time things seemed to
be a bit easier. When he finished, he put on his redick and went back to the
study to relax. He took out his favourite pipe and settled into the beautiful new
pogtry. What a fantastic schnappy he had made when he had bought the
pogtry. Only 300 yagmas!

Tomado y adaptado de http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/blreadcontext.htm

B) Answer:
1. What could a 'didot' be?

2. What part of speech is 'misturaes'?

If Jack used the 'misturaes' to repair the 'wuipit' what do you think the

'mistraes' must be?

3. What could 'yulling' mean? - What part of speech is often used with an

ending '-ing '?

4. Which synonym could be used for ' yulling '?

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fun

difficult

expensive

5. What type of things do you put on?

6. Based on the above question, what kind of thing must a 'redick' be?

7. Is a 'pogtry' used inside or outside?

8. Which words let you know that the 'pogtry' was cheap?

9. What must 'yagmas' be?

Clothes

Cigarette type

Type of money

Task 2. Reading with criticism

LETS PRACTICE!

Look at the following text and answer the questions below:

Text 1.

Homework should be banned

Created by Kirsten Wendy on 9 December 2004 @ 2:06:31 AM

Homework should be banned, I hate homework, work should stay at school. Homework
should be optional, cause some people need to do homework to get good grades, and
others don't, if you know the material you shouldn't have to do extra work.

1. What is this text about?

2. How many paragraphs does it have?
3. Circle every words you consider a cognate?

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4. What is the writer's explicit purpose?

5. What hidden assumptions or prejudices are implicit in the paper?
6. What stance does the writer seem to be taking towards his audience?
7. What does the writer understand (or misunderstand) about academic
writing?

TEXT 2
An Urgent Appeal: Please Release Our Friends in Iraq

Four members of Christian Peacemaker
Teams were taken this past Saturday,
November 26, in Baghdad, Iraq. They are not
spies, nor do they work in the service of any
government. They are people who have
dedicated their lives to fighting against war
and have clearly and publicly opposed the
invasion and occupation of Iraq. They are
people of faith, but they are not missionaries.
They have deep respect for the Islamic faith
and for the right of Iraqis to self -
determination.
C.P.T. first came to Iraq in October 2002 to
oppose the US invasion, and it has remained
in the country throughout the occupation in
solidarity with the Iraqi people. The group has
been invaluable in alerting the world to many
of the horrors facing Iraqis detained in US-run
prisons and detention centers. C.P.T. was
among the first to document the torture
occurring at the Abu Ghraib prison, long
before the story broke in the mainstream
press. Its members have spent countless
hours interviewing Iraqis about abuse and
torture suffered at the hands of US forces and
has disseminated this information
internationally.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/freethecpt
Each of the four C.P.T. members being held in
Iraq has dedicated his life to resisting the
darkness and misery of war and occupation.
Convinced that it is not enough to oppose the
war from the safety of their homes, they
made the difficult decision to go to Iraq,
knowing that the climate of mistrust created
by foreign occupation meant that they could
be mistaken for spies or missionaries. They
went there with a simple purpose: to bear
witness to injustice and to embody a different
kind of relationship between cultures and
faiths. Members of C.P.T. willingly undertook
the risks of living among Iraqis, in a common
neighborhood outside of the infamous Green
Zone. They sought no protection from
weapons or armed guards, trusting in, and
benefiting from, the goodwill of the Iraqi
people. Acts of kindness and hospitality from
Iraqis were innumerable and ensured the
C.P.T. members safety and wellbeing. We
believe that spirit will prevail in the current
situation.
We appeal to those holding these activists to
release them unharmed so that they may
continue their vital work as witnesses and
peacemakers.

Circle every words you consider a cognate and answer the following
questions:

1. What is this text about?

2. How many paragraphs does it have?

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3. What is the writer's explicit purpose?

4. What hidden assumptions or prejudices are implicit in the paper?
5. Which are the authors friends?
6. What does C.P.T. mean?
7. Which are the C.P.T. goals?

TEXT 3.

How Nuclear Fission Power Plants Work

A nuclear fission power plant uses the heat generated by a nuclear fission process to drive

a steam turbine which generates usable electricity. The underlying physical process is the

same for all power plant designs, what differs is the way in which the nuclear reaction is

controlled. This is an engineering problem which must take into account factors such as:

Control -- Keeping the nuclear reaction from dying out or exploding.

Safety -- If something goes wrong it can be contained.
Refueling -- Adding more nuclear fuel without stopping the reactor.
Waste production -- The byproducts of the reaction must be manageable.
Efficiency -- Capture as much of the heat as possible.

Control is the most important aspect to a design. When an atom of nuclear fuel
(uranium) absorbs a neutron, the uranium will fission into two smaller atoms (waste)
and release one to three neutrons. The kinetic energy of the waste is used to heat the
water for the steam turbine. The neutrons are used to fission the next lot of uranium
atoms and the process continues. If none of these neutrons are absorbed by another
uranium atom then the reaction dies out. If too many neutrons are absorbed then the
reaction grows extremely quickly and could explode. Current reactor designs are
most usefully classified by how they ensure this nuclear reaction is kept at a level w
hich produces power without getting out of hand.

Circle the cognates and answer the following questions:

1. Which is the communication function of the text?

2. What is this text about?
3. How many paragraphs does it have?

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4. What is the writer's explicit purpose?

5. What hidden assumptions or prejudices are implicit in the paper?
6. What stance does the writer seem to be taking towards his audience?

TEXT 4

Taken from http://www.washingtontimes.com/cartoons/obama-presidency/

Circle the cognates and answer the following questions:

1. What is this text about?

2. What is the writer's explicit purpose?
3. What hidden assumptions or prejudices are implicit in the paper?
4. Is there any similarity with Venezuela? Explain

Text 5

Taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/cartoon/2008/jun/23/boris.johnson

Copyright Steve Bell 2008

Circle the cognates and answer the following questions:

Unidad curricular: Idioma II Dra. Noyle Villarroel

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1. What is this text about?

2. What is the writer's explicit purpose?
3. What hidden assumptions or prejudices are implicit in the paper?
4. What stance does the writer seem to be taking towards his audience?
5. What does it mean tory?

TEXT 6

Packaging - MORE IS BEST

Percy Parcel, from the Packaging Association presents his point of view on packaging.
From the packagers point of view, how much is enough when it comes to wrapping things up? Packaging is
essential. It is necessary for the protection of goods. Consumers want to be confident that whatever they buy,
whether it be a packet of chocolate biscuits or a new DVD TV, that the goods in the shop have been packaged
properly so that they will not be damaged or broken when they get them home.
Packaging is also necessary to protect customers against illness. Food must be packaged so that it will not go off
and so that it cannot be tampered with.

Circle the cognates and answer the following questions:

1. What is this text about?

2. What is the writer's explicit purpose?
3. What hidden assumptions or prejudices are implicit in the paper?
4. Do you think that packaging in the Clap system is okay? Explain

TEXT 7

Bhutto Assassination Sparks Chaos

By Griff Witte
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, December 28, 2007; Page A01
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Dec. 27 -- Benazir Bhutto, for decades the central figure in a tortured struggle to bring democratic rule to Pakistan, was
assassinated Thursday afternoon as she waved to supporters after a political rally, plunging the country into new turmoil just days before
scheduled elections.
The death of the former prime minister creates a massive political void in this nuclear-armed nation of 165 million people and opens the door to
potentially greater violence in a year of almost nonstop tumult here. It leaves in tatters Washington's strategy of fighting extremism by pairing
Bhutto with President Pervez Musharraf, a close U.S. ally who has been under siege in the streets for months.
Around the world Thursday, government leaders pleaded with Bhutto's countrymen to remain calm. In Texas, President Bush urged the Pakistani
people "to honor Benazir Bhutto's memory by continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life."
There was no immediate assertion of responsibility for the killing. Musharraf, who addressed the nation on television, condemned the
assassination and blamed Islamic extremists. He declared three days of national mourning. But Bhutto's supporters pinned responsibility on allies
of Musharraf, the former chief of the army.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2007/12/27/AR2007122700122.html?hpid=topnews&p=
1&ac=1&cmp=22&wpsrc=AG0000447&KEYWORD=benazir%20bhutto%20biography&cre=929871006&st=c

Unidad curricular: Idioma II Dra. Noyle Villarroel

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Circle the cognates and answer the following questions:

1. What is this text about?

2. What is the writer's explicit purpose?
3. What hidden assumptions or prejudices are implicit in the paper?
4. Make a summary of the text.

TEXT 8
Clean Hands/Dirty Hands Technique

Taken from:
http://www.deq.utah.gov/Issues/GSL_WQSC/docs/instructions/Total_&_Dissolved_Water_Samples_v2.pdf

Circle the cognates and answer the following questions:

1. Which is the communication function of the text?

2. What is this text about?
3. What is the writer's explicit purpose?
4. What hidden assumptions or prejudices are implicit in the paper?
5. What stance does the writer seem to be taking towards his audience?

Unidad curricular: Idioma II Dra. Noyle Villarroel