Imagine the issues (and the YouTube videos) we discussed in our first lesson are being read from texts. Do you think that it would be more challenging to understand such issues from texts rather than from videos?
Let’s try to understand the issues of Banning Oil Palm from reading about experts opinions.
Click on the reading assignment – Student Preparation Before Class: What do you think is the purpose of the writer (Part 1)? and Student Preparation Before Class: What do you think is the purpose of the writer (Part 2)?
Before reading, you must understand the importance of topic, purpose and main idea.
The topic of a text is what the text is about.
The purpose of the text is the reason for writing.
The main idea is the most important thing that the author wants to communicate.
When you work on your reading assignment, read the text quickly and identify (a) the topic, and (b) the purpose.
Read the text again, this time carefully and infer the main idea of the whole text.
We will discuss the answers in class.
Last week you are exposed to the parts of an argument. This week you will be learning about the different types of structures found in texts. Knowing the parts of an argument and the different types of text structures leads to meaning-making and also understanding.
Download the powerpoint below and look through it before coming to class.
