It Gets Clearer Bit By Bit

Look at the first picture below. Can you tell where it was taken? How many people are in the photo? Are they men, women or children? What are they doing? Are they happy or sad? Is it winter or summer?

Now look at the next photo and try to answer the same questions.(Don't skip down to the third photo yet!) Where was it taken? How many people? Men, women or children? What are they doing? Are they happy or sad? Is it winter or summer?

Look at the third one. Don't look at the last one yet! Where was it taken? How many people? Men, women or children? What are they doing? Are they happy or sad? Is it winter or summer?

And here's the last one. What can you tell from the picture now?

As each picture gets clearer, you can get a better understanding of what is happening. Reading is like that too. Each time you read a text, you understand a little more about it. And you don't have to understand every single word to understand what's being written - just like you don't have to see every part of the photo to know what the picture is about.

Don't worry if we finish a unit and you still don't know every word used in the article. If you concentrate on getting the big picture and learning 10-15 new words each week, your reading ability will improve.

Reading Hint for K36

Here's a link to the post I mentioned in class. It Gets Clearer Bit by Bit. If you've not seen it before, I recommend reading it.

Reading the News Unit 01 Vocabulary

 Here are some vocabulary words from Unit 01 of Reading the News. You can click through them as many times as you want to learn or review them. Leave a comment if you think this is helpful.

Press the double arrow to advance to the definition.
(Or click here if it doesn't work below.)

Stone Soup

After posting the cookbook link on Twitter, I realized you might want to see where the term "Stone Soup" comes from. It's an old European folktale that has been told in many countries and in many forms. Sometimes it's called "Nail Soup" because the main character uses a nail instead of a stone. Sometimes, as the picture below shows, the whole village gets involved instead of just one woman.

Here's the story, adapted from Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts.

A beggar knocked at the farmhouse door. "I can't let you in because my husband is not at home," said the woman who answered the door. "And I don't have anything to give you." Her voice showed that she did not like the beggar and wanted him to go away.

"If you don't have any food, then I could give you some of my soup stone," said the beggar. He pulled and ordinary-looking stone from his pocket.

"Soup stone?" said she, suddenly showing interest in the stranger.

"Oh yes," he said. "If I just had a potful of water and a fire, I'd show you how it works. This stone and boiling water make the best soup you've ever eaten. Your husband would thank you for the good supper, if you'd just let me in to show you how it works."

The woman's suspicions yielded to her desire for an easy meal, and she opened the door. She boiled a pot of water, the beggar dropped in his stone and then he tasted the boiling water. "It needs salt, and a bit of rice," he said.

"I have a little salt and rice," she said. She got it out of her cupboard and he put it into the pot. He tasted it again. "Much better!" he said. "But a good soup needs a few vegetables and potatoes. Do you have any?"

"Oh yes," she said, her enthusiasm for the miracle soup growing. She quickly found some potatoes, onions, carrots, and beans.

After the soup had boiled awhile, the man tasted it again. "It's almost done. The stone is working. A few pieces of meat and it would be perfect!"

The excited woman ran out to the yard and quickly killed a chicken. She plucked the feathers, cut up the meat, and put it into the pot.

When the meat had cooked, the woman filled a bowl for the beggar and for herself. They ate until they were full and there was still enough left for her husband.

The beggar thought the husband would be home soon, so stood up to leave and said, "Thank you for letting me use your pot and your fire." He took his stone from the bottom of the pot, licked it clean, and put it back into his pocket.

"Please come again," said the happy woman.

"I will indeed," said the beggar. Then he disappeared into the woods.

Read What You Already Know

One way to improve your English reading is to read something in English that you're already familiar with in Vietnamese. For example, a news item about the Red Shirts in Thailand is easier to understand if you've read the news about Red Shirts in Vietnamese first. It makes it much easier to guess unknown words and follow the train of thought.

Another thing you can do is read English versions of Vietnamese stories. You may know this one which is on the internet at a University of Pittsburgh website that has folktales from many different cultures.

One Cow More

A stupid man went to market and bought six cows. He rode one home and drove the others before him. On the way he counted them, but could see only five. Again and again he counted them. He was certain that he had lost one and was afraid he would be scolded by his wife.

She was waiting for him at the gate of their house. As soon as he saw her he said tearfully, "I've lost one of our cows. I don't know it could've happened. I was very careful."

"How many cows did you buy?" asked his wife.

"Six, but now I can see only five," answered the stupid man.

His wife looked at him and laughed, "You foolish man, there isn't one cow less, there's one more!"

For an English version of Cam and Tam, click here.

The Road Not Taken

If you'd like to read something a little lighter than international relations this summer, here's a famous poem by Robert Frost. He was an American poet who lived most of his life in the northeastern part of the country until he died in 1963.

The poem is about a time when he came to an intersection and had to decide which road to take. He decides to take the one that most people did not use and he thinks that will make a big difference in his future. The last 3 lines of the poem are the most well-known part.

"The Road Not Taken"

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood(1),
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth(2);

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear(3);
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black(4).
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

(1) wood = forest
(2) undergrowth = the small bushes and plants that grown under the tall trees.
(3) wanted wear = he thought that path needed/wanted someone to go down it because the grass growing on the path showed that few people had been using it.
(4) these 2 lines, and the 2 before them, mean that both paths seemed to be about the same. They lay covered with leaves and no one had walked on them to make the leaves turn color. trodden = walked on.

English poetry is most often based on timing or rhythm and similar-sounding words (rhyme). If you read this aloud you'll notice an ABAAB rhyming pattern in the last word the lines. The last word of the 1st, 3rd and 4th lines rhyme (A) and the last word of  the 2nd and 5th lines rhyme (B).

Xenophobia

By now all you K34 readers know that xenophobia means (I bet some English readers are reaching for their dictionary right now). Just a few days after we covered this topic with R-4, this article appeared in a New York City newspaper. The Candidate From Xenophobia

Some of it may be hard to understand because it involves American politics at the state level so I'll include some notes below. But the article will give you a better understanding of the meaning of the word.

From time to time some American communities get on an English-only kick -- that is, they emphasize the need to use only English in schools and government. Of course, since America is an English-speaking country, it is important for immigrants to learn the language. Many don't and they end up relying on their kids to translate for them because their kids usually go to American public schools and learn English well.

However, it's a bit ridiculous to pretend that English is the only language that should be used in America -- especially since America has 35-40 million people who speak Spanish, making it the fifth-largest Spanish-speaking population in the world.

The editors of the NY Times thinks it's more than ridiculous and used the word, "xenophobic." Try reading the editorial and see what you think.

Notes:
 
primary elections: From the U.S. presidential election, you probably remember that primaries are pre-elections that political parties use to select their candidates. They do that with state governors too. Whoever wins the primary election becomes the party's candidate for governor in the general election.

bottom-feeding: This is slang for lacking dignity, disgraceful.

gubernatorial: An adjective related to state governors. You won't see this word used much outside of U. S. politics. Pronounced with a long u.

make-my-day growl: A reference to the old "Dirty Harry" movies. It means to say something is a threatening way.

A primary race...can be a fantasy universe: The writer wants to say that primary elections can be a chance for politicians to raise issues that are not important or nonsensical.

American Sign Language: This is a communication system used by deaf people -- they speak by making hand gestures which represent words. I've seen deaf people in Hanoi use sign language too.
 
spin on the Know Nothing Movement: "spin on" here means "interpretation of" or "version of" In the 1840's and 1850's in America an anti-immigrant political movement began to try to curb immigration from Europe. It began as a secret group and when members were asked about it they were supposed to reply, "I know nothing about it."

Increase Your Reading Speed

This afternoon I found this web site that says it will help increase your reading speed and prepare you for the IELTS or TOFEL. If you want to try it, be sure to click "Settings" and increase the chunk size to at least 3-4. Reading word-by word is not that helpful.

There are a couple other sites suggested here.

I've not personally checked out any of them, but you can try them and see if they help you.