Some solutions help students do reading exercises well in the examinations for good students in english

INDEX
Content
INDEX ...............................................................................................
A.Introduction................................................................................
I. The reason for choosing the topic .............................................
II. The purpose of research.............................................................
III. The objects of research..............................................................
IV. The method of research.............................................................
B. The content of the experienced initiative...................................
I. The rationale of the experienced initiative………………..
II. The real situation before applying the experienced initiative
III. The solutions of implementation………………………………
1. Equipping the reading method……………………………..
a. Skimming ……………………………………………………..
b. Scanning ………………………………………………………
2. Improving the reading skill…………………………………..
a. Broadening the vocabulary and knowledge..........................
b. Improving the ability of reasoning…………………………
3. Providing the skills to do some types of reading exercises….
a. Filling in the gap with one suitable word………………….
b. Answering the questions by choosing the best choice……...
c .Reading the passage and answering the questions………….
4. The effect of the experienced initiative.................................
C. Conclusion and suggestion:
I. Conclusion
II. Suggestion

Page
1
2
2

2
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
4
5
5
7
8
8
10
12
14
14
14
15

1


A. INTRODUCTION
I.
The reason for choosing the topic
Nobody can deny the vital role of English in the development of our society these
days. It is the effective implement to integrate into the region and the world, the mean to

approach the information technology and science, the good way to understand the culture of
the countries in the world as well as the important events… With all above reasons,
Vietnam’s education and training has given the vital target for the foreign subject: the
syllabus of English is to form and develop students’ knowledge and basic skills about
English, especially build the necessary virtue to help them study further specialized level of
education or apply to their life flexibly.
Learning English well is not easy so the teachers who are assigned a task to cultivate
good students of English meet lots of difficulties in finding the most effective methods to
impart knowledge for students well and help them get high results in the examinations. In
the process of cultivating good students in English, I recognize that Reading exercises are
still quite difficult for students and they always make mistakes and go wrong when they do
those reading exercises such as: Filling in the gaps, choose the best answer, read and answer
the questions…. While all types of reading exercises are often in the examinations and
occupy high mark in the exam paper. With my experience in the process of revising and
drilling students and reference from my colleagues, I have observed, studied and recognized
some reasons which students often meet when they do the exam as well as found out some
solutions to help them overcome those mistakes above.
With all above reasons, I choose the topic “Some solutions help advanced students in
grade 9 do Reading Exercises effectively in the examination” to research.
II.
The purpose of research
When I write the experienced initiative, I really wish my students will not only have
more useful knowledge to do reading exercises well but also give them the most effective
methods to do the exam with high result. Moreover overcoming the mistakes, difficulties
which students meet in doing Reading exercises mentioned in the topic will help them
reduce difficulties and be more confident in doing tests. Besides it is a useful document for
English teachers to refer in the process of teaching good students in English.
III. The objects of research
- Good students in grade 9 take part in revising for English’s exam at Secondary schools.
- Reading texts in the English tests for talent students.

- The method of research
- Studying reasoning: reading newspaper, books, documents, lesson plan
- Investigating the real situation
- Counting figures and result of studying
- Observing the reality: observing students when they do tests
- Experimenting the teaching methods
- Summarizing the results, learning from the colleagues’ experiences.
B. THE CONTENT OF THE EXPERIENCED INITIATIVE
I.
The rationale of the experienced initiative
English at secondary school improves students a basic, useful knowledge and it is also
the first step for them to study at advanced level at universities or colleges, even for their
jobs in the future. According to some experts, teachers of English should pay attention to the
2


factors which effect on the quality of student’s task in doing reading exercises such as: the
ability of concentration, reading the instruction, reasoning and judgment… However,
students are usually get used to reading word by word and do not notice in reading generally
the whole task. Therefore teachers need to form the basic skills to do the types of reading
exercises that will help them develop the ability of awareness and capacity of action.
II.
The real situation before applying the experienced initiative:
In fact, students at rural areas like our Thach Quang secondary school are still learning
in the difficult studying conditions so it is not easy for them to get access to reference books
or modern technology equipment. Furthermore, the students’ ability of analysis, mentality
and summarizing are limited; the skills of doing tests are confused. While students need to
have good basic knowledge, various awareness about every field combining with
summarizing thought and flexible judgment that will help them get high mark in the exams.
Before applying the experienced initiative, the result of cultivating good students in

English I was assigned in 2013-2014:
Orde
Class
Full name
Mark
r
1
Nguyễn Hà Thanh
9
12,0
2
Bùi Thị Thắm
9
11,5
3
Nguyễn Văn Nam
9
8,0
4
Trịnh Đức Trường
9
9,0
The result made me worried too much and I always tried my best to find out the
solution. Because students do grammar exercises and writing quite well but reading
exercises which account for one third in the paper exam, they made too many mistakes.
After observing students do these exercises I realized that they didn’t know the method of
reading, the shortage of knowledge (both vocabulary and other field), the limited reasoning
and do not have the skills to do each type of reading exercises.
III. The solutions of implementation.
1. Equipping the reading method:

a. Skimming:
• What does skimming mean?
Skimming means reading quickly the entire main contents of the reading text but do not
read the small parts of the text deeply. Students can read quickly by reading the title, topic
sentences and concluding sentences to get the content of the reading text. Because the
reading text in English is written in two ways: deductive and inductive method. Students can
skim when the passage is too long or time is limited. Skimming helps get the main content as
well as the writer’s opinion in each part of passage. When students understand the important
information, they will decide to continue reading deeply or not.
• The steps to skim:
- Read the title first then read the topic sentences to get the main content of the passage
- Read the topic sentence of each part of the passage. It is usually at the beginning of the
text or at the end.
- When students read the passage, they should pay attention to the wh-questions such as:
who, what, which, where, when, why….and the important words which are noun, figure,
bold words or capital letters
3


- They need to understand the logic of the reading text basing on the marking words such
as: because, firstly, secondly, finally, but, the, includes, etc…. Those words will help
them read quickly and recognize how the reading text is written: listing, comparisoncontrast, time-order and cause-effect. Skimming is very important to catch the content of
each paragraph.
Example: Read the passage and choose the best answers to questions below.(5 pts)
For most people, the distinction between vegetables and fruits is fairly clearly.
Scientists, however, have varied opinions in this regard. For example, horticulturists
categorize a watermelon as a vegetable despite its general acceptance as a fruit. Botanists
identify a tomato as a fruit even though it is commonly used as a vegetable.
These differences stem from the ways in which fruits and vegetables are classified. For a
botanist, a fruit is a seed – bearing portion of flowering plant or tree. According to this

definition, a tomato is a fruit. For a horticulturist, a vegetable is the edible portion of a plant
that must be replanted annually. According to this view, a tomato is a vegetable. A
horticulturist sees a fruit as coming from a plat or tree that lives at least two years. In the
case of fruits and vegetables that meet the criteria of both group of scientists, such as apples
or potatoes, there is no conflict.
1. What does this passage mainly discuss?
A. The work of botanists and horticulturists.
B. Common types of fruits and vegetables
C. Scientific differences between fruits and vegetables.
D. The seed – bearing nature of fruit.
To answer the question, students use skimming skill by reading the first sentence of the
passage to get the answer “For most people, the distinction between vegetables and fruits is
fairly clearly.” Moreover both fruits and vegetables are mentioned in the passage so the
correct answer is C.
b. Scanning:
• What does scanning mean?
Scanning means that students read very fast to get the data, necessary specific
information to answer the questions. Scanning is usually applied for some types of reading
text like: True-False-Not given, multiple choices, Complete the summary…
• When is scanning applied?
It is applied to find out the data in the text such as name, figures, date or the phrase words
not given in the text.
• The steps to scan:
- Analyze the organization of the text before scanning
- Have to orient and remember what kinds of information they are looking for. That will
help them save time while reading.
- Define the information in which part of the text after skimming then scan to locate the
exact information students need. The information may be ordered basing on the letter or
time so students should focus on these to define easily.
- Stop before the information students need and read the related sentences to answer the

question correctly. Students should notice the couple sentences in the text because it
makes them confused or wrong.
4


Example: Read the text carefully, then choose the correct answer (A,B,C or D).
Britain in now a highly industrialized country and there are only 238.000 farms in the
UK. More and more farmers leave the land because they can’t earn enough money to
survive. Only large farms are economic and because of this most British farms are big. They
usually grow cereals in the east of England and raise sheep and cows in the north of England
Scotland. The small family farms often have to earn more money by offering bed and
breakfast accommodation to tourists.
Farming methods in Britain have also changed. Fields used to be quite small, divided
by hedges which were sometimes a thousand years old and full of wild flowers and birds.
Many hedges were pulled up to allow farmers to use modern machinery. Now most fields in
England are large by European standards.
1. British farmers give up working on their farm because_______
A. they are tired of the farm work
B. they can’t earn their own living by farming.
C. they are forced to leave the land
D. they want to continue to live.
To answer the question, students use scanning skill by reading the question first then
find the words “farmers give up working or their farm because” in the question and find the
similar one in the passage “farmers leave the land because they can’t earn enough money to
survive.” and it is not difficult for them to choose the correct answer is B
2. The small family farms often offer bed and breakfast accommodation to tourists______
A. to show their friendship
B. because they want to have more tourists to their farms.
C. so that the tourists will return to their farms the next time
D. in order to improve their earnings.

To answer the question students use scanning skill by reading the question first “The
small family farms often offer bed and breakfast accommodation to tourists…….” Then find
the similar one in the passage: “The small family farms often have to earn more money by
offering bed and breakfast accommodation to tourists.” and it is not difficult for them to
choose the correct answer is D
2. Improving the reading skill:
In fact, students always make the popular mistakes such as: being lack of vocabulary,
grammar and reading skill, do not know how to do reading text effectively, do not remember
the information in the text and do not know how to answer the question…while they read the
text. Therefore, to do the reading exercises well, students need to have good knowledge
about vocabulary and grammar, good ability of reasoning
a. Broadening the vocabulary and knowledge:
Students should read newspaper, magazines or books in English to broaden their
vocabulary. Because the content from newspaper, magazines or books may help them
understand the related reading text.
Example: Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word from A, B, C or D.
Most people are afraid of sharks, but they usually do not much about them. For
example, there are about 350 species of sharks that live in oceans over the world. All of
sharks are carnivores, but most of them don’t attack people. Some sharks are very small –
the smallest shark is about 6 inches long – about as long as your hand. But some sharks are
5


very large. The largest species of sharks may be 60 feet long and weigh 15 tons. Unlike
many other kinds of fish, sharks do not have bone. Their bodies are made up of a kind tough
white flexible material (called cartilage). Sharks do not have ears. However they “hear”
sounds and movements in the water. Any sounds or movement make the water vibrate.
Sharks can feel these vibrations, and they help the sharks find food. Sharks use their large
find food, too. Most sharks see best in low light. They often hunt for food at dawn, in the
evening, or in the middle of the night.

Nowadays, scientists want to learn more about sharks for several reasons. For example
cancer is common in many animals, including people. However, it is rare in sharks.
Scientists want to find out why sharks almost never get cancers. May be this information can
help people prevent cancer, too.
1. According to the passage, sharks………….
A. Are big mammals
C. are meat eaters
B. Usually live in warm water
D. always attack humans
With the students who are interested in biology and usually read the documents about the
animals and plants, it is not difficult for them to choose the correct answer for the question is
C because they can find the word having similar meaning in the text is “All of sharks are
carnivores”
Besides students ought to use dictionary regularly, it not only helps them look up the
meaning but also give them much information around such as: preposition, prefix or suffix
relate the words.
• Phrasal verbs:
Example 1: The verb “look” can be followed by some prepositions and each has different
meaning.
- Look for: find something
- Look after: care someone
- Look up to: respect
- Look forward to: wait for
- Look down on: feel superior to
- Look ahead : make a plan for future
- Look around/round: visit somewhere
- Look at: see/ check before making a decision
- Look back: remember about the past
- Look down on somebody: contempt somebody
- Look out :be care full

- Look through: read quickly
Example 2: The verb “come” can be followed by some prepositions and each has different
meaning.
- Come about: happen
- Come out: appear
- Come up: occur - usually a problem
- Come up against: meet a difficulty
- Come up to: equal - especially expectations, standard
- Come up with: think of - especially an answer, a plan, a solution
6


• Phrasal words:
In the Reading exercises, especially the type: filling in the gaps, students need to have
good knowledge about phrasal words that will help them do it better.
Example:
- To be in danger of: be dangerous
- To be shortage of = to be lack of
- To run out of
- All over the world
- A large number of
- To be out of fashion
- To look forward to
- Out of order
- Keep out of touch
- To keep in touch
- Get out of hand = get out of control
b. Improving the ability of reasoning.
• Reasoning:
Firstly, Students have to understand the disposition of the reading text clearly. A reading

text usually has three parts: introduction, body and conclusion. The first sentence often gives
the main content of the text and then it will be developed in the body and conclusion.
Likewise, students need to know how the reading text is organized: following the time,
space, events, or logic of function….
Example: Read the passage and answer the questions.
The ancient town of Hoi An lies on the Thu Bon River, 30 km south of Da Nang. It
was formerly a major trading center in Southeast Asia between the 16 th and 17th centuries.
Hoi An is famous for its old temples, pagodas, small tile-roofed houses and narrow streets.
All the houses were made of wood and their pillar were carved with ornamental design.
All visitors to Hoi An is commended a visit to the Assembly Hall of Cantonese
Chinese Congregation. This house was built in 1855 and still keeps many precious objects
that belonged to the Chinese community of Hoi an. Another attractive address to tourists is
Tan Ky House, which was conducted nearly two centuries ago as house of a Vietnamese
merchant. The house now looks almost exactly as it did in the early 19th century.
In recent years, Hoi An has become a popular tourists destination in Viet Nam. In
1999, it was certified by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site.
Questions:
1. How old is the Assembly Hall of Cantonese Chinese Congregation?
To answer the question correctly, student have to read the question first, it is not difficult
for them to understand the question “how old” which is about age. They find the sentence
“This house was built in 1855” and they reason that to find out the age of this house they
have to give the year at present eliminate the year 1855 so the correct answer is “It is 161 or
the short answer is: about 161”
2. Was Hoi An declared by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site twenty years ago?
To answer the question correctly, student have to read the question first and focus on the
phrasal words “twenty years ago” then find the information in the passage “In 1999, it was
7


certified by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site.” Then they will find the correct

answer is “ No, it was not/ wasn’t” Because from 1999 to 2016 is seventeen years not twenty
years
• Guessing:
Students try their best to guess what the writer imply and then make the questions and
answer themselves to understand the reading text better. Students should notice suggested
details around the reading text. For example: pictures, photos, or title, the first sentence or
the last sentence of the text. Because they are the important factors which help students
understand the content of the text easily.
Example: Read the passage, and then choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.
A recent investigation by scientists at the US Geological Survey shows that strange
animal behavior may help predict future earthquakes. Investigators found such occurrences
about ten kilometers from where a fairly recent earthquake took place. Some birds made
strange sounds and flew about widely, dogs barked and ran around uncontrollably.
Scientists believe that animals can sense these environmental changes as early as
several days before disaster.
In 1976 after observing animal behavior, the Chinese scientists were able to predict a
terrifying earthquake. Although hundreds of thousands of people were killed, the
government was able to evacuate millions of other people and thus keep the death toll at a
lower level.
1. Which of the following is not true according to the passage?
A. Some animals may be able to sense a coming earthquake.
B. By observing animal behavior, scientists can predict an earthquake.
C. The Chinese scientists have successfully predicted an earthquake and saved many lives.
D. All birds and dogs in surrounding areas went wild before the earthquake.
To answer the question correctly, students have to guess by using the elimination
method. The sentence: “strange animal behavior may help predict future earthquakes.
Investigators found such occurrences about ten kilometers from where a fairly recent
earthquake took place” proves that the choice A,B is true for passage. The sentence: “In
1976 after observing animal behavior, the Chinese scientists were able to predict a terrifying
earthquake” proves that the choice C is true for passage. So the choice D is the correct

answer for the question.
3. Providing the skills to do some types of reading exercises.
a. Filling in the gap with one suitable word.
To do the type of reading exercises well, students have to define which kind of word is
used to fill in the gap. Therefore, students should understand clearly the function and
preposition of each word basing on the following rules:
- Noun often stands at the first of the sentence, plays as a role of the subject or stands after
the verb with the role of objective.
- Adjective is used to modify noun and stands before the noun. Otherwise, it also gives
information about quality, size, age… Especially students should notice some structures
which is are related to adjectives such as: comparative, superlative, equal,….
- Adverb usually stands before or after verb and modify verb.
8


- Verb usually stands after subject or adverbs of frequency. Students should pay attention
about the forms of verb. It may be verb which is in past participle form, -ing form
- Preposition always goes with verb or adjective as phrasal words. However, preposition is
too various and complicated, students often worry too much and make mistakes. To
define the exact preposition, students should pay attention to the word before the gap if it
is verb or adjective and the scene of the sentence to understand its meaning then choose
the correct preposition. Otherwise, students sometimes do the test badly when they meet
the preposition of time so they should base on the words of time before the gap to choose
the correct one to fill in.
- Wh-questions also appear in the gaps in the reading passage so that students ought to read
the sentence deeply to understand the meaning of the question and find out the correct
Wh-question.
This type of Reading exercises often has two types: Filling in the gap with one suitable
word or filling in the gap with one suitable word by choosing the best choice.
Example 1: Fill in each of the blanks with one suitable word. (10 pts)

.....Now many people are (1)…………the farms and moving into the cities. They are
looking for better jobs. The cities are growing very quickly. Most cities are very crowded.
People are driving more cars, burning (2)…………..fuel, using more water, eating more
food, making more garbage, and producing more things in factories than ever before. Life is
becoming difficult.
Some governments are trying to plan for the future. They are building new roads,
putting up new houses, looking (3)……………more water, and limiting growth in certain
areas. Still, city planners are getting worse. People are crowding into the cities (4)
…………….than cities can take them. The cities are running out (5) …………… room.
What is the answer to this problem?
- The first blank needs a verb with “ing”, and students should notice “moving” after and
then they can guess the correct V-ing in the gap is “leaving”
- To find the correct word for the second blank, students should notice the following
sentence , especially the word phrases that are underlined: “People are driving more
cars, burning (2)…………..fuel, using more water, eating more food, making more
garbage, and producing more things in factories than ever before.” Then they will find
out the correct word is “more”
- The third gap is quite easy if the students know the meaning of the sentence because
students meet the verb phrase “look for” so the answer is “for”
- The fourth gap needs an adjective in the comparison because following is than so
students should read the full sentence to understand the meaning and the find the correct
word is “faster”
- The fifth gap is also easy for students because they meet the verb phrase “ run out of” so
the correct word is “of”
Example 2: Read the passage and then choose the best answer.
The Internet is celebrating its 30th birthday this year. Its universal accessibility has
(1) ..................it the most powerful and cost -effective tool in business and personal
communication. It currently has 60 million users and has a growth (2)...........of 200,000
users per month. Not surprisingly, it has also created a great (3)..............of millionaires under
the age of thirty. The Internet was developed by scientists, originally as a way for the

9


American government to withstand nuclear attacks, so it was mainly used in the field of
military. Who would have thought 30 years ago that its applications would have (4).............
so many areas of our present-day life? And in the years to come, the Internet is getting the
key factor not only in communication, but also in the (6)................of knowledge on the
planet Earth.
1.A. taken
B. made
C. changed
D. set
2.A. number
B. speed
C. rate
D. development
3.A. deal
B. amount
C. lots
D. number
4.A. done
B. effected
C. affected
D. had
5.A.riches
B. richness
C. enrichment
D. rich
- The first blank needs a verb in the past participle, and students can recognize the structure
in the sentence “ make + O + adj” and then they can choose the correct V-pp in the gap is

“B. made”
- To find the correct word for the second blank, students should notice the following word
phrase “200,000 users per month” in the passage so the correct answer is “C. rate”
- The third gap is quite easy if the students know the word phrase “ a great number of” so
the answer is “D. number”
- The fourth gap needs a verb in the past participle form and students should read the full
sentence to understand the meaning and the find the correct word is “D. had”
- The fifth gap is also easy for students because after “the” they have to fill a noun so the
correct answer is “B. richness”
b.Answering the questions by choose the best choice
Read the question first to define the type of question if it is the main idea question,
detail question, inference question.
+ The main idea question:
It is often the first or the last question in the reading exercise. When students the type
of question, they should use skimming to find out the answer. They can read quickly by
reading the title, topic sentences and concluding sentences to get the content of the reading
text. Moreover they need to understand the logic of the reading text basing on the marking
words such as: because, firstly, secondly, finally, but, the, includes, etc…. Those words will
help them read quickly and recognize how the reading text is written: listing, comparisoncontrast, time-order and cause-effect.
Example: Read the passage, and then choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.
Basketball was invented in 1891 by a physical education instructor in Springfield,
Massachusetts, by the name of James Naismith. Because of terrible weather in winter, his
physical education students were indoors rather than outdoors. They really did not like the
idea of boring, repetitive exercises and preferred the excitement and challenge of a game.
Naismith figured out a team sport that could be played indoors on a gymnasium floor, that
involved a lot of running, that kept all team members involved, and that did not allow the
tackling and physical contact of American style football.
1. What is the topic of this passage?
A. The life of James Naismith
C. Physical education and exercise

B. The history of sports
D. The origin of basketball
To answer the question, students should skim the first sentence “Basketball was
invented…” and they may guess that the main content of the passage may relate to the basket
10


ball. Students look at the answer A and realize that James Naismith was focused as the
inventor of basketball but do not have any information about his life and work so the answer
A is not correct. The passage only refers to basketball and does not have information about
other sports so the answer B is not correct, too. The answer C is not right, too because there
is not any information to support for it. Of course, the correct one is D.
+ The detail question:
Student should use scanning to find out the answer with the types of question. They
need to notice the data in the text such as name, figures, date or the phrase words not given
in the text. The information may be ordered basing on the letter or time so students should
focus on these to define easily.
Example: Read the paragraph. Then choose the best answer for each question.
Two popular traditions at Christmas are: decorating the home and singing the
Christmas carols. The home is the center of the Christmas celebration. Insides, an evergreen
tree are usually placed in the corner of the Living room. Children and their parents wrap
string of colorful lights around the tree; they hang ornaments on the branches. A star or angle
often crowns the top. Careful – wrapped gifts are placed beneath. Outside, families often
string lights around the windows and wind light around trees and shrubs in the front yard. As
the families decorate their homes, they often put on Christmas record. Almost every family
has at least one favorite album or compact discs. School children of all ages perform
Christmas concerts for their parents and communities. On Christmas ‘Eve, family members
gather around Christmas Tree to sing traditional songs such as Jingle bells and Silent night
and then give presents to each other.
1. What are the popular traditions at Christmas?

A. Decorating the home.
C. Eating Christmas pudding
B. Singing Christmas songs
D. A and B are correct
Students easily find out the correct answer by reading the question and then quickly
scanning the similar phrase words in the passage “Two popular traditions at Christmas are:
decorating the home and singing the Christmas carols.” Then they can choose the correct
one is D
+ The inference question:
The information for the question do not appear in the reading passage, it often talk
about the writer’s opinion (regretful, disapproving, impatient …) so students should answer
this question in the end. They must use the understanding of the main content and combine
detail content to reason the answer.
Guess if students cannot find out the answer through the elimination method. There
are four choices for each question. They have one correct, one nearly correct and two
incorrect so that they should reason after scan the details of the answer above.
Example: Read the following passage then choose the best answer.
The thing I liked most when I was small was the change of the seasons. Spring,
summer, autumn, and winter. I could see them come and go and each one was completely
different. Now in the city, you can buy summer flowers in winter and eat the same
vegetables all the year round. Whereas in the country, I could only eat things at certain times
of the year, for example, strawberries in June and turnips in winter. I lived my childhood
with the seasons.
11


We also made most of our food and would never eat frozen or tinned food. Everything
was fresh, so it must be better than the type of I am taking now in the city. City people may
think people in the country miss a lot of things about modern life. In fact, in my opinion they
miss a lot more than people in the country, they miss real life.

1. What does the word “them” in line 2 refer to?
A. Four seasons
C. country people
B. Winter and autumn
D. plants
Students can infer the word which “them” refers to by reading the sentences before and
realize that the answer C,D is not mentioned and the answer B is not full so the correct one is
A
2. In the countryside which season can buy strawberries?
A. Spring
B. summer
C. autumn
D. winter
Students find out the key word in the question “countryside and buy strawberries” the
look for them in the passage “strawberries in June”. It is easy for them to infer that June is
in summer so the right answer is B
c. Reading the passage and answering the questions
• Steps to answer the question
It is very important for students to understand the question so that they should remember
the following steps:
- Do not translate into Vietnamese and skim to combine the related details
- Do not worry about the vocabulary.
- Look for the key words and highlight them.
- Define the type of question (what, where, when, why, yes/no-question…) to give the full
or short answer.
- Note students that they should not write the answer too long, they only need to write the
main idea, focusing content that will help them avoid making mistakes such as: dictation,
wrong subject, incorrect tense of verb….
• Understand the meaning of the Wh-question
Students ought to read the sentence deeply to understand the meaning of the question and

find out the correct answer.
Wh-question
Meaning
Example
What
Ask about things, matter,…
What are you doing at the moment?
Which do you want, orange or
Which
Ask about selection
banana?
Ask about person as a role of a
Who gave you the red dress last
Who
subject or an objective in the
night?
sentence.
Ask about person as a role of an
Whom
objective followed by preposition Whom is she walking with?
in the sentence
Ask about
the possession of
Whose + N
Whose pens are these?
nouns
12


Where

Ask about the place

When

Ask about time

Why

Ask about the reason

Do you know where my hat is?
When do you finish your
homework?
Why are you talking too much like
that?

Ask about feeling of adjectives,
How
manner of verbs or mean of How does she feel?
transport
How often do your children go to the
How often
Ask about the frequency
park?
How many people are there in the
How much/ many Ask about the quantity
meeting room?
How far is it from your house to the
How far

Ask about the distance
school?
Example: Read the passage and answer the following questions.
Indians in North and South America ate popcorn thousands of years. Scientists found
some ears of popcorn in New Mexico, a state in the United States. They were 5.600 years
old. Farmers probably learned to raise popcorn first before they planted other kind of corn.
Farmers now raise popcorn in the United States, Australia, Argentina, South Africa and
South Europe
1. How old were the ears of popcorn found in New Mexico?
Students read the question and focus on the key words “how old, ears of popcorn, New
Mexico”. Then they can easily find out the information related in the passage “Scientists
found some ears of popcorn in New Mexico, a state in the United States. They were 5.600
years old.” So they can write down the full sentence “They were 5.600 years old” or short
answer “5.600 years”
2. Where do farmers raise popcorn now?
Meeting the question “where”, students need to look for the phrase words of places
and combine with the key words “raise popcorn” then they can find the information from
the passage: “Farmers now raise popcorn in the United States, Australia, Argentina, South
Africa and South Europe” so they can write the answer by writing the full sentence
“Farmers now raise popcorn in the United States, Australia, Argentina, South Africa and
South Europe” or short answer “in the United States, Australia, Argentina, South Africa and
South Europe”.
Doing English reading exercises well is not easy. Students need to have good general
knowledge about grammar, vocabulary, reading skills…. All the solutions I mention above
are the initiatives I have had when I have taught good students in grade 9 for a long time. I
can sum up in the mind diagrams which makes readers feel easier to carry out.
Equipping the reading
method

How to skim well

How to scan well
13


SOLUTIONS
DO READING
EXERCISES
EFFECTIVELY

Improving the reading skill

Broaden the vocabulary
and knowledge
Good ability of
reasoning and guessing
Filling in the gap

Skills do some types of
reading exercises

Answering the questions
by choosing the best
Answering the question

IV.

The effect of the experienced initiative:
After applying the experienced initiative, the result of cultivating good students in
English which I was assigned in 2014-2015:
Class Mark

Order Full name
1
Nguyễn Thị Vân
9
14,0
2
Đào Lê Linh
9
12,0
3
Cao Ngọc Thùy
9
10,0
4
Hà Ngọc Nam
9
13,5
It is easy to see that the result increase clearly. Applying the experienced initiative in
fact has brought satisfactory results. Students save more time in doing test, choose the
suitable method to do reading exercises reasonably and especially, they do not feel worried
anymore .
C. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
I.
Conclusion:
I write the experienced initiative for good students in English at secondary school and
I realize that it helps promote students’ activeness and creation. Moreover they feel more
confident to do the advanced test and more interested in learning English. However, teacher
should guide students to apply the reading skills reasonably and flexibly to achieve the
highest result in cultivating good students in English.
Those are my thoughts and the practical work which I have done to improve the

quality of cultivating good students in English. It is difficult to avoid the shortcoming; I hope
I will be given the suggestions from the colleagues to make my initiative completely and
applied widely.
Suggestion:
14


Each teacher has their own experience in teaching so combing all the experiences will
have perfect teaching methods. Therefore, I suggest Education and Training Department
should popularize the experienced initiatives which were awarded A, B prizes in province
for us to have more experience in teaching and improve the quality of students in learning
English.
Thank you for the attention!
CONFIRMING OF THE
HEADMASTER

Thach Thanh, April 15th 2016
I assure that this is my experienced initiative, do
not copy the content of the other person.
(Sign and write the full name)

Trần Thị Nhung

15