 Hi everyone, Chris here from IELTS Advantage and welcome to lesson two of our brand new reading mini course. So what we're going to do today is continue on with our reading course and if you missed lesson one, so in lesson one what we did on Monday was we looked at the real reasons why people struggle and we looked a lot at vocabulary and we gave away a vocabulary improvement plan. So if you have not watched lesson one, all you have to do is just have a look here on our Facebook page or if you're watching on YouTube and just have a look on our YouTube channel and you'll be able to see lesson one. What we're going to do today is all to do with reading skills. So a lot of people talk about reading skills, especially skimming, scanning, things like that, but not a lot of people know what they really are and more importantly how to use them on test day. So we're going to look, a lot of these, going to look at some reading skills that you might not be aware of and how to improve your reading skills and use them. On Friday, so today's Wednesday, yeah, on Friday we're going to look at a strategic approach and how you can use strategies for all of the different types of questions and that will be our third and final lesson on Friday. So today you're watching it now, but on Friday it'll be at 11am. So let's get going. Before we get into lesson two, let's have a look again at this because this is what the whole of this mini course is about. The main reason why people struggle with IELTS reading is they focus on this, they're just the top of the pyramid, which is tips. They want tips and tricks and hacks and shortcuts and they ignore all of these things which are way, way, way more important. So in lesson one we talked a little bit about mindset and how that's important, but we'll talk about that throughout this course, including today. On Monday in lesson one we looked at vocabulary and why the reading test is as much a vocabulary test as it is a reading test. And if your vocabulary isn't at a certain level, then you're really, really going to struggle. So if you haven't watched lesson one, you can go back and watch that after this one. What we're going to look at today is to do with strategy and sorry skills and then on Friday we will look at the strategy. So let's have a look here at what we'll be doing today. So just to state again, we'll be looking at skimming, scanning, we'll also be looking at close reading. This is probably the most misunderstood or the most misused of the reading skills and we'll talk about the real problem. When it's related to skimming, scanning, close reading, all of these skills, we'll talk about the real problem, the real reason why people aren't using these correctly and why you'll get into trouble if you don't understand these and you don't work on them. Also as a little giveaway today, what we're going to give you is full access to our fundamentals course. If you haven't done our free fundamentals course, we're going to give you instant access to that today for free. I'll tell you a little bit more about that at the end of the video. So to explain what, this might seem a little bit weird, but I'll show you this in a second, to explain what skimming, scanning, close reading, what these skills are, I'm going to give you a little bit of an exercise. So how many angels are there outside Rockefeller Center in New York, in Manhattan in New York? So I was here in December, we went to see all the Christmas lights and the amazing place. If you ever get to go to New York, definitely visit Rockefeller Center at Christmas time. So what I'm going to do to explain what skimming, scanning, all these things are is I'm going to try and answer this question just using Google Maps. So I'm not going to use Google search or not going to use Google images straight away or anything like that. What I want to do is just use Google Maps to try and find this. So to think, and this is to help you understand what skimming, scanning, close reading is. So here's where we are. So we're in a little place called Northern Ireland. So if I need to find out where Rockefeller Center is, what do we do? So we don't zoom out and then go to France and look everywhere we can in France and look everywhere in Germany and look everywhere in Norway and look everywhere in Algeria and Chad and all of these places. Now what we're going to do is we're going to zoom out and we're going to scan quickly for the United States because we know it's in New York and I assume that you know New York is in the United States. So we quickly go over here, we scan over here. Okay, it's not Canada, it's not Mexico, it's the United States. Now what do we do next? Do we go to every single state in America and try and find Rockefeller Center there? No, we don't go to California or Texas or Florida or anywhere. So we scan very, very quickly to find New York because that's going to help us do that. So New York's up here. So let's zoom in on the Eastern Seaboard here and we have all of these different places. We're going to go into New York to try and find Manhattan. Okay, so there are five boroughs in New York. We've got Queens, where my sister lives, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island and Manhattan. This is where Rockefeller Center is. So again, we're using scanning to find out where it is. But when we get here, there's a lot of different places and stuff to see in Manhattan, obviously. So we have to pay a little bit more attention here and try and find Rockefeller Center. So if we scan here and try and find it, boom, here it is. And let's remind ourselves of the question. How many angels are there outside Rockefeller Center? So can we quickly scan the pictures of Rockefeller Center to find out the angels? No, we need to look at it a little bit more closely. We need to look at it in a little bit more detail. So let's do that. So here's one that kind of looks like an angel. So that might be, then if we go in here, we can't scan this very, very quickly. We can't skim it to get an idea of how many angels there are. To answer this question, we have to look at it in more detail and actually spend time and count them. So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, ten, eleven, I believe. So what's the answer? The answer is eleven. So just by doing that, we used many different skills that you will use on the IELTS test during the reading test. We used scanning to help us find things really, really quickly and locate the correct location. But we didn't use scanning to help us find the correct answer. We just used scanning to help us locate it quickly to save us time, to bring us to the place Rockefeller Center where we could find the correct answer. But then we needed to shift and we needed to change skills and use close reading or paying more close attention to count how many there were. And that's similar to what you'll be doing on the reading test. So let's take it from a more abstract example to what you do every single day. So most of you will read newspapers every day and you use skimming, scanning, and close reading every single day when you're reading newspapers. So let's try and answer another question. Let's try and think about a movie that's in the cinemas right now, Mary Poppins. My question is, is Mary Poppins good? So that's the question I want to answer. So is Mary Poppins good? Or does the newspaper think that the Mary Poppins is good? So if we look at the front page of a newspaper, can I tell if this newspaper, The Times, thinks that it is good or not? No, we've no idea because it's not on the front page. But are we going to use close reading? Are we going to look in detail at every single story to find the correct answer? No, it would be a complete waste of time. Are we going to use skimming to find the correct answer? No, we're not going to skim the front, this story and skim this story. Because again, that would be a complete waste of time. What we're going to do is we're going to go through the paper and scan and look for those keywords, which is Mary Poppins. Or we could look for keywords like movie reviews or cinema reviews or cinema or something like that. Or synonyms of that to try and help us find it. And then when we do, we could look at the title. So if we look at the title, Mary Poppins returns, review a truck full of sugar can't make this uplift go down. So does that help us? Probably not. We're not certain whether this newspaper thinks that it is good or not. So we're probably going to have to look in a little bit more detail. So let's look at the first paragraph. Hopefully you can see that. Can you see that on that? Can you zoom in? Yeah. Okay, so if we look at the first paragraph, there are two ways that we could find out whether this is good or not. Or there are three ways really that we could do this. We could skim it very quickly, which skimming just means reading quickly to find out the general point that is going on there. We could do that pretty quickly. So if we do that when you read it quickly, you kind of get an idea of whether it's a positive or negative review. But would you feel confident answering that question? Is this movie good? Probably not. You probably want to do something else. So the second thing that you could do is you could scan for positive and negative words. So if we do a quick scan here, charmless, hard smiling, memorable, good, hummable, does it really help us? No, there's some positive words and there's some negative words. What we would need to do is actually read it in detail. And if we read this in detail, we need to spend a little bit more time doing that close reading. Then we can understand that just from this first paragraph, we understand that this is not a good movie. Or in the opinion of whoever wrote it, the reporter doesn't think that it's a good movie. So again, demonstrating the different skills that you use. But these skills are very, very different. And some of them are useful in certain contexts. Like for example, let's say I want to go see Mary Poppins. Scanning is going to help me find the times. So what I would do is I would look at the times in the cinema and find the correct time for me. That's going to be really, really, really useful. But scanning to find out whether it's a positive or negative review in that context was useless. Because there was some positive words, some negative words, didn't really help us. Skimming gave us a general idea, but didn't really help us. We needed to combine that with close reading. So you see how important it is to use these different skills but understand that they are very, very different. And they're kind of like having different tools in your toolkit. It doesn't matter how good the tools are, you need to know how to use them and when to use them in order to really, really help you. So let's think about the different reading skills that we have. So when you ask most students or most teachers, like what are the skills that students need to be aware of or what are the things that will help me in the reading test, they'll normally talk about skimming and scanning. So that is true. They are two very useful skills to have, but that is just a small part of the story. Because if you go into the test and think, all I have to do is just skim and scan and then find the correct answer, you're going to be in a lot of trouble. If we go back here, could I just skim and scan this and find out the answer to the question, which is, is Mary Poppins good? No, wouldn't really help us because there are other skills that we need to be aware of. Maybe not necessarily a skill, but very, very, very important, which is why I've included it here. Number one, you need to understand the question. I would include this as a skill in itself, because if you immediately just start reading and you don't understand the questions, then you're going to be in a lot of trouble. If you can't understand the questions, you won't be able to answer those questions. Seems really straightforward, but you wouldn't believe the number of students that do not do that or don't take the time to do that. Also, I've included here synonyms. If you are trying to find the location or find the correct answer where it is in the text, you need to be aware of when you're reading the question that the keyword might not be in the text. It might be a synonym of that. You need to be aware of that. So skimming and scanning, but this really just gets you to the point where of location. The scanning helps you find out where it is, but it doesn't help you find the correct answer. So if we go back to, there's a reason for all of this. If we go back to our Rockefeller Center analogy, if we go back here, oops, nope. So let's go into maps again. So let's go to map of New York and YC. So if we go back here, not available. Okay, excellent. If we use this one, nope. All right, so if we use that one, it doesn't help us answer this question, it just, but it helps us find the location. All right, so that's why it is very important to understand the difference between these. But the real thing is you need to be aware of how important close reading is. It's really, really, really important that you understand in detail what is going on. And then last but not least, you need to have the confidence then to decide the answer, to come to a conclusion and to be able to confidently state, I know this answer. So for example, with true, false, not given, doesn't matter if you're really good at skimming and scanning and even close reading. If you don't have the confidence to say, based on all of this, I think it is not given or I think it is true or I think it is false, then you're going to be at a loss. So these are all of the things you really need to think about. So again, these are important, but they're not the most important. And they're just two tools in an array of tools that you need in your toolkit. So think about how most students use these skills. So most students just think skimming, scanning, find answer. So what about the question? What about understanding that? What about close reading? So when you are thinking about these skills, think about all of them being used, but not as in step one, do this, step two, do this, step three, do this, step four, do this, step five, do that. It's not a step-by-step system. They are just tools in your toolkit and you need to be good at all of them and be aware of the difference between them and how they are used for each different type of question. So let's look at why, if you just skim and scan and then do that and use them in order, why you might be in trouble. We'll look at two of the most common types of question. So we have matching headings, which a lot of people complain about and ask for help with and true, false, not given. So for matching headings, you're not going to look at the questions first, you're going to look at the text first and you're going to skim the text to get the general idea. So you're going to read it quickly. That doesn't mean read the first sentence in second sentence, means read everything pretty quickly to find out the general meaning of each paragraph. Then you will go to the questions and you'll try to understand the questions. Then you will read it quickly, or sorry, in more detail. So here's where you read it quickly. Here's where you're reading it more slowly, thinking about the answer and then you're going to decide your answer, which is in contrast to true, false, not given, where first you're looking at the questions. So here you're looking at the questions second. Here you're looking at the questions first, then you're going to scan. You're not skimming at all. So you're not scanning at all when it comes to matching headings. You're not skimming when it comes to true, false, not given, you're scanning more. Number three, then you're going to read things carefully and then decide your answer. So if you think about it in a very simplistic way, which is what most students think is just skim, scan, find the answer, you are going to be in a lot of trouble because that's applicable to some questions, but it needs to be a little bit more nuanced for all the other types of questions. So let's have a look then at how to improve these skills. So let's look at how to improve your scanning. So I'm going to give you some exercises that you can do either on your own, but it's better if you have a partner. So you can do it online with a partner or with a partner in your physical location, or if you're in an English class, you can do these during class or after depending on what your teacher wants to do. But to improve your scanning, find an article, it'll be a newspaper article, as long as it's in English or it could be like an online newspaper. Identify some important words, so not too many, like five to 10 words. Change some words to synonyms. So let's say change 50% of those words to synonyms and then swap with your partner. So give your partner your article and the words and then what you can do is you can turn it into a game, you can race to see who can match the words or who can locate the words as quickly as possible. So when you locate the word, you underline it or highlight it and the first person to identify, to scan and identify all of those words, including the synonyms, wins. And if you do that regularly, you're really going to improve your scanning ability. As most students think that this is easy and they just will be able to do it naturally, but it's a skill you do need to work on. In my experience, some students really don't, are not able to do this well. So if the more you practice it, the better it's going to become. So it's going to improve your scanning and your vocabulary at the same time. Let's move on to skimming. So again, you can do this by yourself or but it's better to do it with a partner. So again, find a newspaper article, look at each paragraph in the newspaper article or it could be an academic journal or it could be anything really and create a title for each paragraph. So set yourself a time limit, it could be one minute, two minutes, five minutes, depending on the length of the article. Look at each paragraph and think about if I had to create a title for this paragraph, what would it be? Then swap your text and your titles. So it's better to cut these out so that the person has to match each title with the appropriate paragraph. So you're just creating your own and then swapping with the partner and create a time limit and whoever matches the most in the time limit, two minutes, five minutes, whatever it is, wins, really, really simple game. But by creating your own titles, it's forcing you to kind of reverse engineer the whole system. So thinking about how you would summarize what's contained in the paragraphs yourself and then helping you skim really, really quickly by matching those with your partner's article. So just a really simple, easy game. You can do it by yourself. And maybe the easiest way to do it by yourself is do this and then once you forget about it, like do it a week later and try and match them up yourself. Improve close reading. So again, you can do this by yourself or but it's better with a partner. Number one, find an article. Again, it doesn't really matter. Write one comprehension question for each paragraph. So take each paragraph and think not, so remember you're reading for detail. So think of a comprehension question that the person can only find out what the answer is if they read the paragraph in detail. So they slow down, they're not skimming, they're not scanning. They're really thinking about the detail in the paragraph and come up with a question to do that. Again, just swap with a partner. Time limit, whoever gets the most correct in the time limit wins. So you can make a little game out of it. You can do this yourself as well. So again, they are skills, like any skill, like basketball, football, any skill that you are trying to get better at, you need to do those things and those are just really easy little exercises that you can do. So to summarize everything, if you want to improve your reading skills, number one, you need to understand the difference. You need to understand the difference between skimming, scanning, close reading, understanding the question, coming to a conclusion and deciding the correct answer, understand what those are and the differences between them. Number two, practice thoughtfully and regularly. So what I mean by practicing thoughtfully is actually think about where you're going wrong. Think about your strengths, think about your weaknesses. Those little activities have been designed to really make you think about that. So if you're getting anyone's wrong, think about why you got them wrong. Think about what you need to do to improve and you need to be doing these regularly. You can't do these the night before your test. Like if reading skills are something you really need to work on, work on them every single day for weeks, four months and then you're guaranteed to improve. And number three, have a step-by-step strategy for all of the different question types. So we looked at a very simplified version for matching headings and true, false, not given. By the way, this is not a full step-by-step strategy for these ones. These are just very simplified versions of the ones we do to just help you understand the differences between them. But for, there are so many different types of questions there are true, false, not given, yes, no, not given, multiple choice, matching heading, short answer questions and they go on and on and on and on. All of those different types of questions are testing different subskills, testing different methods. So you need to understand that all of them require a unique step-by-step strategy. And if you can understand that then when you're going into the test you'll be able to just do it on autopilot because you've practiced it so many times that you know, okay, this is this question. So now I'm going to skim, scan, do this in what order you need to do it in. And they provide a framework that will help you practice in the same way over and over again, they really, really, really do help. So we'll be looking at those in lesson three. So today's Wednesday on Friday, a little bit earlier because Friday's stuff to do in the afternoon. So at 11 a.m. UK time on Friday we're going to have the third and final lesson and that is going to focus completely just on strategies and how to use them. So if you want the fundamentals course because a lot of you on Monday we're asking how can I improve my listening? How can I improve task one writing? How can I improve task two writing? How can I improve speaking? How can I improve all of these different things? All you have to do is get our free IELTS fundamentals course. It covers each of these in five videos. Each video focuses on one of these to help thousands and thousands of people get the scores they need. You can get it today absolutely for free. Just click the link. If you are on Facebook, you'll find it above the video. If you're YouTube, you'll find it below in the description. All you have to do is just click that link and follow the instructions. So I think that's going to be it for today. We don't have time for any questions but let me know what you think about that or let me know if you have any questions in the comments and I'll go back and have a look later and hopefully you enjoyed that. And if you haven't seen lesson one, you can go back and watch that and I'll see you live at 11 a.m. on Friday for lesson three. Thank you very much, bye.