English is too hard to read for children

Level 1
1

Elementary

Key words

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text. tricky reform literacy problematic dyslexia unique awful complicated simplify fluently

1. ______________________ is the ability to read and write. 2. If you ______________________ a system, you change it to make it better. 3. If something is ______________________, it is very, very bad. 4. If something is ______________________, it is very difficult to understand or use. 5. A ______________________ problem is one that is very difficult to solve. 6. If you speak a language ______________________, you speak easily and accurately. 7. ______________________ is a difficulty some people have with reading and spelling. 8. If something is ______________________, it is the only one that exists. 9. If you ______________________ something, you make it easier. 10. If something is ______________________, it causes problems.

Find the information

Look in the text and find the answers to these questions as quickly as possible. 1. How many difficult words do British children meet by the age of 11? 2. How long does it take for British children to reach a basic reading level? 3. When did the Portuguese make changes to their spelling system? 4. When did the Turks change their alphabet from Arabic to Latin? 5. When did the Germans reform their spelling system? 6. How many basic words would be easier to spell if extra letters were removed?

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008 NEWS LESSONS / English is too hard to read for children / Elementary

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English is too hard to read for children

Level 1 Elementary
causing most trouble. The words in this category include eight and height, break and dreamt, move and post. The letters ough can also be pronounced in a number of different ways. 6 Simplifying the system would improve literacy, according to Bell, but she said people didnt want to change. People dont want to look at it, she said. But other countries have made changes. Last month the parliament in Portugal, where the spelling system is also complicated, voted to reform and simplify it. 7 In 1928 the Turks changed their whole alphabet from Arabic to Latin, said John Wells, professor of phonetics at University College London and president of the Spelling Society. It happened in the Soviet Union. In Germany they made changes in the 1990s to make the writing system more regular. English has also developed words like olde and worlde dropped the e. 8 Wells wants things to change again and says there are two possible ways to do this. The first would be to simplify the way we spell words then allow people to choose whether to use the new or old system, while the second way would be to change the spelling completely. The Spelling Society thinks we should do it the first way, he said. 9 Chris Davis, spokesman for the National Primary Headteachers Association, says the spelling system has a big effect on childrens literacy progress: It definitely slows English children down. Languages with regular phonetics always come top when you compare reading in different countries. But he says that teachers do not want to see things change. It would be such a big change that people will not even think about it, he said. 10 There are already problems because of the different spelling system in America, but people here dont want to use American spelling. They think that it is our language and it should be different. Davis says that people believe spelling is linked to the origin of words.
Guardian News & Media 2008 First published in The Observer, 08/06/08
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English is too hard to read for children

Complicated spelling system is blamed for low levels of literacy in Britain Anushka Asthana, education correspondent June 8, 2008 1 New research says that the English spelling system is absolutely awful. The research has found that by the age of 11 British children meet 800 words with difficult spelling that slows down their reading. 2 Among these 800 words are monkey, spinach, banana, handkerchief, soldiers, stomach and telescope. They confuse children because they contain letter combinations that people usually pronounce in a different way. 3 These words are all problematic for reading because of the relationship between their spelling and their pronunciation. Masha Bell, who did the research, said that there were 200 words on the list that would be easier to spell if extra letters like the i in friend or the u in shoulder were removed. English is the worst of all the languages that use alphabets, she said. It is unique because there are not just spelling problems but reading problems. They do not exist anywhere else. 4 Bell says that the spelling system costs schools money and is the reason for poor literacy results in the UK compared with the rest of Europe. In Finland, where words are usually pronounced as they look, children learn to read fluently within three months, she said. In the UK it takes three years for a child to reach a basic reading level. The tricky spellings make English particularly difficult for children with dyslexia and children from poorer families, whose parents may not read to them very often. 5 In the research Bell gives examples of words that have the same pronunciation but different letter combinations. Examples include to and two; clean and gene; same and aim; day and grey; kite and light; and stole and coal. Then there are those that look similar but sound different with the combinations of ea, ee and the letter o
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008 NEWS LESSONS / English is too hard to read for children / Elementary

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English is too hard to read for children

Level 1 Elementary
3 Comprehension check
Match the beginnings and endings to make sentences about the text. 1. Reading is difficult for British children because... 2. Children get confused because... 3. People dont want to use American spelling because... 4. The English spelling system... 5. Turkey changed... 6. Many teachers...

a. ... they think English spelling should be different. b. ... slows childrens reading down. c. ... its whole alphabet. d. ... English spelling is complicated. e. ... do want the English spelling system to change. f. ... people pronounce some letter combinations in a different way.

4 Chunks
Rearrange these words to make phrases from the text. Check your answers in the text. 1. the eleven by of age 2. rest the with Europe compared of 3. three months within 4. a ways in number different of 5. do possible ways to this two 6. whether use choose new system old or to the
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Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008 NEWS LESSONS / English is too hard to read for children / Elementary

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English is too hard to read for children

Level 1 Elementary

5 Word building
Complete the table using words from the text.

verb
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 spell research pronounce combine

noun
confusion simplification development improvement

6 Word stress
Put these words from the text into two groups according to their stress. awful reason contain language stomach reform pronounce system remove confuse unique children

0o

o0

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008 NEWS LESSONS / English is too hard to read for children / Elementary

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English is too hard to read for children

Level 1 KEY
1 Key words
1. literacy 2. reform 3. awful 4. complicated 5. tricky 6. fluently 7. dyslexia 8. unique 9. simplify 10. problematic

Elementary

4 Chunks
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. by the age of eleven compared with the rest of Europe within three months in a number of different ways two possible ways to do this choose whether to use the new or old system

5 Word building
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. combination confuse pronunciation simplify research develop improve spelling

2 Find the information

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 800 three years last month 1928 in the 1990s 200

6 Word stress
0o
awful stomach reason language system children

3 Comprehension check
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. d f a b c e

o0
contain pronounce remove unique reform confuse

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2008 NEWS LESSONS / English is too hard to read for children / Elementary

CA O N T O FR BE C O DO O M W P W N IA EB LO B SI A L TE DE E D