TIUA Academic Speaking and Listening
Spring 2006 ** J. E. Seibert
Assignment due: _____________________

Last name _________________ First name ________________

• Read one interesting and current newspaper article in News for You OR another newspaper. (Do not use the articles or letters in the "yellow boxes" in News for You.) Cut out the article or copy it and staple it to this worksheet.
• Prepare an oral (spoken) summary of the article in your own words. Your summary should be no more than 2 or 3 minutes long. A summary is the most important ideas in the article in your own words.
• Write two good discussion questions related to the article.
• Do not read the same article as all of your classmates! Students should read different articles.

In the next class:

• You will teach a small group of students new vocabulary they need to understand your summary and questions.
• You will summarize the article for the group.
• The group will then discuss your article and questions together.

Purpose:

• To practice summarizing and discussing a topic in an academic situation.
• Listening and speaking practice.

The title of the article you read: _________________________________________________________ (Attach a copy of the article if it is not from News for You.)

Unfamiliar vocabulary (and the definitions in English and Japanese) you will teach other students so they can understand the article: (use your own paper if you need to)

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Answer these questions with notes (as a guideline for summarizing).

What happened?

Who is involved? "Who" can be people, countries, organizations, etc.

When did it happen?

Where did it happen?

Why did it happen?

How did it happen?

Notes for your oral summary (use your own paper if you need to)

I read an articled titled [title of article] in [name of paper] of [date of paper]. .......

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Your two discussion questions related to the topic of the article you read. (The questions should create a discussion.)

Example:

• Good: "In your opinion, should Japan send military help to Iraq? In what role? Why or why not?"
• Poor: "What do you think about Iraq?" [to general; too broad (big); too hard to answer; unclear]

Example:

• Good: "How many hours of homework do you think elementary school children in Japan should have every night? Explain your answer."
• Poor: "What about homework?" [to general; too broad (big); too hard to answer; unclear]
• Poor: "Does homework help you?" [yes/no questions are NOT good for creating a conversation or discussion]

 

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