As any TEFL theory book will tell you. We need to help the students develop the many different reading skills and strategies such as gist reading, reading to confirm expectations, reading for communicative tasks etc. This is an example of scan reading or reading to extract specific information. In the real world you would do this to find a number in a telephone book or find out how deep the swimming pool is in a holiday brochure, what is on at the cinema etc. This text will hopefully give some practice in this type of reading.

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Suggested Procedure:

1. Spend 5 minutes pre-teaching some of the difficult vocabulary. eg Summit, Coastline,Geographer, Surveyor, Colloquially, Phonetic, Phonology, Broadcasting, Retractable, dragon, etc.

2. Hand out a photocopy of the text to all the students. Let them read it for 3 or 4 minutes or if you really want to develop scan reading don't let them read it at all.

3. It is best to use the cheap trick of having a competition to add some motivation. Divide the class into two teams. You ask questions on the text and the team who answer your questions correctly first get a point. Ask the questions from various parts of the text don't start at the top and go down.

Here are some ready made questions

1.       How many letters are there in the Welsh language? (28)

2.       What is the name of the largest island in Wales? (Anglsey or Ynys Mon)

3.       What is the name of the Welsh language television channel? (S4C)

4.       To hold which specific sporting event was the Millennium Stadium built in 1999? (1999 Rugby World Cup)

5.       Which two countries apart from Wales have a dragon on their national flag? (Bhutan & Malta)

6.       What is the name of the smallest city in the United Kingdom, that is located in Wales? (St Davids or Tyddewi)

7.       What is the name of the fictional language devised by J.R.R. Tolkein that includes some Welsh phonology? (Sindarin)

8.       Which Welsh sports stadium is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches? (Wrexham´s Racecourse Ground)

9.       The Welsh colony called ‘Y Wladfa’ was established in 1865 in which South American country? (Argentina)

10.   What is the Welsh name for the tallest mountain in Wales, known in English as Snowdon? (Yr Wyddfa)

11.   Snowdon is the highest summit in the United Kingdom outside which other country? (Scotland)

12.   If a person from South Wales is colloquially known as a ‘Hwntw’, what name is given to a person from North Wales? (Gog)

13.   What is the capital city of Wales? (Cardiff or Caerdydd)

14.   In what century was the Welsh language established? (6th Century)

15.   In 2011, approximately how many sheep and lambs were there in Wales? (8.9 million)

16.   To the nearest hundred, approximately how many castles are there in Wales? (600)

17.   If a leek is considered the national vegetable of Wales, what is the national flower? (Daffodil)

18.   Which mountain in the Himalayas was named after a Welsh geographer?

19.   The Royal Mint is situated in which South Wales town? (Llantrisant)

20.   What is the Welsh translation of ‘Wales’? (Cymru)

Text and questions by Penri Jones from Bangor Wales

That should be enough.

More suggestions:

If this activity was a success there are other ways you can practice reading for specific information.
It is a good idea to find texts that the students might really have to read.

e.g.. Photocopy the accommodation flats for rent section from a newspaper and ask questions like how much is the bedsit in Acacia Avenue. Other sources could be :- Job adverts, brochures, TV and entertainment etc.

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