Intensive Reading: Comprehension
Groupwork
Activity 1
Read and act out the dialogue below in small groups.
Pamela | I had a lot of fun during the holidays. What about you? |
Paul | So did I, but tell me what you did. |
Pamela | As a family, we visited Lake Nakuru National Park in December. |
Paul | I haven’t been there myself. Did you see a lot of animals? |
Pamela | Oh yes! Our driver took us to see lions, buffaloes, rhinoceroses, giraffes, hippopotamuses, waterbucks and ostriches. By the way, he was also our tour guide. |
Paul | Did you see all these animals? |
Pamela | Yes, we did but they were not very close. I still remember one giraffe that appeared sick. My little brother begged my mother to treat it. |
Paul | Ha ha ha! But why your mother? |
Pamela | My mother is a doctor. She told him she is not a veterinarian. Now what about you? Tell me what you did. |
Paul | Well, on Christmas Day, we visited my grandparents. Most of my aunts, uncles and cousins were there. We also made friends with the neighbours’ children. We had a lovely time together. |
Pamela | I also love family gatherings. Anything interesting that you did? |
Paul | Oh, yes. My cousins and I decided to play a game called “What I will be”. |
Pamela | Mmm! Sounds interesting. What was it about? |
Paul | We were pretending to be adults in various occupations. We were imitating our parents and other people we know. |
Pamela | I see. What did you pretend to be? |
Paul | I acted as a dentist. I told my cousin Loise to open her mouth wide so that I could extract her aching tooth. |
Pamela | Was her tooth really aching? |
Paul | Of course not. Loise claimed that I had removed the wrong tooth and said that as a lawyer, she was going to take me to court. |
Pamela | She wanted to sue you? That means she was aware of her rights. Was there anyone acting as a judge? |
Paul | Indeed, there was. It was my cousin Eliud. He said that he would listen keenly to all the facts before making a decision. |
Pamela | Mmm! That sounds like a sober judge. No wonder they say as sober as a judge. So, did the game end there? |
Paul | Oh no! Just then, Alice, my sister, started making some strange roaring noises. She was wearing Dad’s cap. “Give way and hurry up! I want to land the aeroplane,” she said. |
Pamela | So she was pretending to be a captain? |
Paul | You are right. She started boasting that her job was the most important of all. |
Pamela | Did you agree with her? |
Paul | Definitely not. We told her she needed the services of a hair dresser, a garbage collector, a baby sitter, a butcher and even entertainers like magicians and musicians for her life to run smoothly. |
Groupwork
Activity 2
- Work in pairs. Read the dialogue again and pick out the words and expressions whose meanings you do not know.
- Now try to guess what they mean. Tell each other what helped you to guess the meaning from the dialogue.
- What is common between Pamela and Paul in the dialogue?
- How can we tell that Pamela’s little brother has a kind heart?
- What is the difference between the work of a doctor and that of a veterinarian?
- What should a wise judge do before making a decision?
- What noise does an aeroplane make when it is landing?
- We can describe Alice as.
- What were Pamela and Paul talking about?
- In what way were Paul and the others trying to act like adults?
Did you realise that...
- You can guess the meaning of the word “sue” from the previous line: “she was going to take me to court.”? “Sue” means taking someone to court for wrongdoing so that action can be taken against him or her.
- What about the meaning of “extract”? You can guess the meaning from a sentence that is ahead: “Loise claimed that I had removed the wrong tooth….” In this case, “extract” means remove.
Groupwork
Homework
- Go through a storybook that you are reading or have read before.
- Look for words that are new to you and try to guess their meanings from the way they have been used.
- Confirm with a dictionary. You can also use an online one.