Task 2

You are members of Student Union. You want to promote longer sleeping hours and more sports to your schoolmates. Write a letter to the editor.

Dear Editor,

Hong Kong students face an unusual health risk. They have too much homework and workload to cope with tests and examinations. Most of them sleep only six to seven hours a day. There is very little time for them to do sport exercises after school.

I would like to suggest three things to promote longer hours of sleep and doing more exercises among students.

To increase at least one more tutorial session to our class time-table can help students finish their home work before they leave school every day. So, they have more time to do exercise and to sleep.

Another suggestion I would like to make is to reduce our study load. Teachers can cut down the number of home works and tests. So, students do not need to spend too much time finish their school works at home.

Lastly, I would like to suggest reducing the amount of TSA tests. This is quite a workload to most students. We must also use our class time to finish the tests.
I would rather spend the time studying than doing the tests.

Having longer hour of sleep and more exercises can reduce health risk students are facing. This also promotes healthy life style.

1. What problem are Hong Kong students facing? (You can choose more than one option)
   a. Sleeping
   b. Doing exercises
   c. Health risk
   d. Home work
   e. All the above answers
   


2. What is the percentage of students sleep only six to seven hours a day?
   a. 100%
   b. 20 %
   c. 50%
   d. 90%
   e. None of the above answer


3. Which of the following is not suggested in the letter?
   a. To increase one homework lesson.
   b. To decrease study load
   c. To supplement the amount of TSA tests
   d. make teacher decrease the number of home works and tests
   e. No option is correct


4. What are suggested in the letter? (You can choose more than one options)
   a. To reduce TSA practice
   b. Not to do home work and tests
   c. To do homework in the tutorial lesson
   d. To finish the homework after school
   e. None of the above
   


5. Writing Task: Summarize in 30 words the three suggestions make in the letter.
   _________________________________________________

Comprehension Task 1

Comprehension Passage

I've found my comprehension skill is weak. I read very slowly. Whenever there are new words in the passage, I slow down to guess the meaning. Most of the time I cannot get the
meaning, I feel very frustrated. So, I joined an English Summer Course. I learn to improve my reading by doing three different things.

Firstly, I learn I can read something that I can easily understand and I am interested in. Reading simple newspaper stories is a good start. I think I can spend at least five minutes a day on it.

Secondly, I learn to time myself when I read. So, it helps increase my speed of reading. One of the problems is what to do with the unknown words in reading. I should just skip the words by saying dah dah according to the number of syllables.

Lastly, I learn that I can repeat reading something that is an interest to me. I can read the passages that I learn in school or story books that I like.

To conclude, I must learn to understand and remember what I read. This helps improve my comprehension skill and learn new words. To make sure I can remember what I read and I can read faster, I should re-read as much as I can.

Answer the questions below.

1.Why does the author think his comprehension skill is weak?

2.What does he think he can do to improve his reading skill?

3. Why does the author help himself to remember what he reads?

To Do list

Planning how to spend your time wisely can help live a successful live. You may start your day by planning things you would like to finish in the morning.

Write a to-do-list. It can help you better use your time.

Try to fill in the list to help you organise your day.

See the sample list below.

Date: ______________

1. to read-aloud my blog message twice a day
2. to write down and spell the words I don't really know
3. to watch TV news in both Chinese and English
4. to finish 2 pieces of summer homework everyday.

Check the list at the end of the day. See how many items you have finished working on them.

Six Tips for Fast Reading - by Terri

Here are six tips for fast reading.

1. Read and never lose your wonder in seeking meaning.

1. 2. Read with a purpose, follow the argument/s or story plot/s not the details.
3. 3. Have fun in reading, time your reading if you have a clock around. By reading faster, one can make the reading process more challenging. Reading fast can also keep you awake because you must concentrate more.

4. Use a pencil tip to help your eyes scan the text in phrases, and always move forward as fast as as possible.

5. Speed up your reading by practise reading, reading, and reading. Progressively learn to see and comprehend more and more words ( i.e. from 3 to 10 words) at a time.

6. Target yourself to read at an average speed of 200 words per minute to a more advanced speed of 800 wpm.

My Lesson Today

To better learn English, I was told to learn English by taking the following steps:
1. to engage in learning tasks
2. to explore the newly learnt words, information, or ideas
3. to express or talk with others about the topic
4. to evaluate how much I have learnt.I will try to make these steps of learning a habit in my daily life.

I also learnt new words to talk about the bad news in China.

There has been a lot of bad news in China since the beginning of the year. The bad news includes:

1. a severe snowstorm in January and February,

2. a breakout of Tibet riots in March,

3. a horrible earthquake in Sichuan in May.

E-M-I-L-Y

Emily is the name all my friends call me.
Maybe you can call me Emily, too.
I love singing and shopping with my best friends.
Long hair is my favourite style for girls.
You will enjoy talking with me ......