Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Welcome! Take a look at the wondrous world of advanced English, a never ending linguistic adventure. I know that it can be hard sometimes to keep up with the extremely rich English lexicon, but you can always keep getting familiar with all of the terms real English is made up from. Here I present you with a brand new Quest, a challenging one, but I know you can make it until the end. ~Let's go!~
As a warm up, the opening activity you'll have to complete is this criss-cross puzzle. It's from previous articles we have read in class, you'll find some rare words that we analyzed together.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q67MU9q_QxPEi9JZCyoH1-V-Bh_MOnel/view?usp=sharing
After completing it, move on to the next section. We are getting serious and we'll be stepping up the level, so be ready!
Task
Fine, you made it here. You are brave one, I'll give you that. Let's start then!
Here I present you with three news articles. These are from well renowned and respected media from all over the world: Expect top-notch redaction and advanced usage of vocabulary and expressions.
Your mission, or should I rather say Quest, is to read these articles keeping close attention to any unfamiliar word you might encounter.
You'll find them here:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-61725827
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/zhang-daqian-picasso-of-east/index.html
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/2034/
And before you go full throttle to read those articles, your first task is just to open the articles and take a look at the headline.
Now, I want you to share your thoughts on what the article might be about. For that you are gonna use vocaroo. Produce a 30 sec to 1 min recording with your suppositions of what the article will cover. If you have no idea about the topic of the article, don't worry, just share your first thoughts about it and if any of the words you see have a familiar ring to you.
Here's the link to Vocaroo:
Process
Now for the fun part... Brace yourself. To complete each activity use a shareable text document that you will have to upload in the virtual platform (don't forget to attach any links you might produce during the completion of these activities).
Activity 1:
Read the three articles. Identify and label words and expressions that you consider to be rare and not easily found in simple reads.
Don't forget to watch the videos to get more context on each reading topic:
For Article 1 you can find the video inside the article.
For Article 2:
For Article 3:
Activity 2:
Explain the possible meaning of those words (DON'T use the dictionary yet) based on the context in which each word or expression is used. Use vocaroo once more for this activity:
After you finish, and before you head to Activity 3, take a look at the dictionary and see how close you were to the true meaning. But don't change your answers [we'll notice =)]
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/
Activity 3:
Change those words and expressions inside the articles. Use simpler vocabulary and words with similar enough meaning to try to change the least you can the meaning expressed in the article with the original words.
If you are in a pickle and can't find the right word to replace with, try this Thesaurus, a synonyms and antonyms dictionary.
Activity 4:
Based on the answers you produced in Activity 3, now compare and contrast the original words with the ones you came up for the acitivity. Be sure to point out if you think the original words are most likely irreplecable if the intent is to conserve the original meaning of the sentence.
Activity 5:
Compose new and original sentences using the words and expressions you labeled in Activity 1, trying to paraphrase fragments from the articles you just read.
Activity 6:
Compare each sentence with the originals, and rate your own sentences on how much they are able to capture the original meaning of the content of the article by using a different set of words together with the expressions you highlighted at the beginning.
Due: July 10th 11:59pm ... and I recommend you to not leave this quest for the last minute.
Evaluation
So, let's have a looksy at your work. Here's how I will evaluate your performance during this quest.
Assessment:
Completion of Activities 1-2: 4 points
Completion of Activity 3-4: 6 points
Completion of Activity 5-6: 8 points
Language Skills: 2 point
Total: 20 points
Conclusion
Looks like you did a great job!
You should be proud of yourself to have completed this quest. Not many can say that they have faced this challenge and completed it till the end.
Credits
Your teacher, The Web Quests master: Mauricio Reyes.