Paul Nation / Casey Malarcher Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2023 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/timedreadingforfO0O00unse ned Reading for Fluency 2 Timed Reading for Fluency 1 Paul Nation / Casey Malarcher © 2017 Seed Learning, Inc. 7212 Canary Lane, Sachse, TX, USA All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Acquisitions Editor: Kelly Daniels Content Editor: David Charlton Copy Editor: Andrea Janzen Design: Highline Studio The authors would like to acknowledge Kelly Lee, Randy Lewis, and Joy Yongo for contributing material to this book.com ISBN: 978-1-9464-5267-2 10987654 Jip 72\\ 7X0) iN) Photo Credits All photos are © Shutterstock, Inc.
Introduction /6 xer Ko“ oA Nature Reading 1 Dolphins Talk / 11 Reading 2 Levels in Nature / 13 Reading 3 A Dangerous Wind / 15 Reading 4 A Hard-Working Plant / 17 Reading 5 Lost Forever? / 19 ED, Music Nhe Reading 6 Fun and Games and Music / 23 Reading 7 That Can Make Music? / 25 Reading 8 Healthy to Hear / 27 Reading 9 Music That Stays in Your Head / 29 Reading 10 Only Voices / 31 er SS ° 3) Health WES Reading 11 Sleep—You Need It! / 35 Reading 12 Doctor Trees / 37 Reading 13 Blood Work / 39 Reading 14 Are You Under Stress? / 41 Reading 15 Getting Vitamin D / 43 er <é Sy = 4. Education /45 Reading 16 Artin the Classroom / 47 Reading 17 Does Homework Help? / 49 Reading 18 How to Take Notes /51 Reading 19 A Part of Learning / 53 Reading 20 Private vs. Public Schools / 55 er oe S 5 ad Business Reading 21 A Job for Everyone? /59 Reading 22 The Work Week / 61 Reading 23 Desks at the Office / 63 Reading 24 Brands and Colors /65 Reading 25 Who Ownsa Song? /67 /69 Reading 26 Insects Are Good /71 Reading 27 GreenTea / 73 Reading 28 Waste Not /75 Reading 29 Marmite /77 Reading 30 The Hotter, the Better / 79 Reading 31 Start Your Engines! / 83 Reading 32 Cup Stacking /85 Reading 33 Kicking for Fun / 87 Reading 34 Believe lt or Not /89 Reading 35 The No-Sweat Sport /91 er ot “8 People / 93 Reading 36 Go, Marta! /95 Reading 37 William’s Windmills / 97 Reading 38 Making Beautiful Music / 99 Reading 39 AnInternet Star / 101 Reading 40 Bornto Bethe Same? / 103 Reading Speed Chart " WAtS Introduction A well-organized language course provides opportunities for learning through communicative activities involving listening, speaking, reading and writing, deliberate study, and fluency development. The fluency development part of a course should take about one-quarter of the course time, and there should be fluency development activities for each ofthe four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
This series of books focuses on fluency in reading. Fluency involves making the best use of what you already know. That comes from working with familiar vocabulary and grammar, and from practicing using them in a comfortable way without having to struggle. Four Requirements of Fluency Development: 1.
Familiar Material Material for fluency development must be known and familiar. It should not involve unfamiliar language items or content too far removed from what learners already know. This is because to become fluent, learners need to focus on using material they already know well, not on learning new vocabulary or grammar. This is why the texts in these books are grouped into topic areas so that learners can read several texts about very similar information.
Their familiarity with the topic will help them increase their reading speed. Learners do not get fluent in reading by 2. Quantity of Practice struggling through difficult texts with lots of unknown words. The books in this series Another key requirement of a are carefully written within a controlled fluency development course vocabulary so that there is a minimum is quantity of practice.
Fluency of unknown words. Words that might be develops by doing plenty of unfamiliar to some learners are dealt with practice with easy material. That before the reading texts. is why each book in this series contains a lot of reading texts.
When learners have finished working through one book in the series, it is a good idea if they go back over the texts they have already read, trying to read them faster than they did the first time. Pressure to Go Faster A fluency development course will work well if there is some pressure to go faster when using the language. This series of books uses timed readings. When the learners read, they measure how long it takes them to do the reading, and they keep a record oftheir reading speed.
Their aim is to increase their speed until it gets close to 250 words per minute. The upper limit of reading speed is 300 words per minute. Reading faster than that requires skipping words on the page and relying on background knowledge to fill the gaps. While this is a useful reading skill, it does not help develop reading fluency in a second language.
A Focus on Comprehension Fluency in reading not only involves speed of word recognition, but also involves comprehension. This is why the texts in these books are followed by questions. There is no value in reading faster if there is a big drop in comprehension. At the back of each book there is a graph where learners should enter their reading BBE speed for each text and their comprehension ~ score.
The learners’ goal should be to make BLES Eee their reading speed graph keep going up. Ee*VElsje/slels|* ARAB ie WV Nature Look at the pictures. Write the right words. Aloe vera // careful v Dolphins 7 health a scientist smart / suddenly, Tornadoes 1 hit trees 3.
Some people use Aloe | plants for 4. The < writes _ falas their Weal notes about an animal he sees. Chapter 1: Nature 9 |B Match the meaning with the right word. re very quickly; without warning a.
2 __ knowing alot; intelligent b. 4 abig white thing in the sky c. © howgood or bad your body is d.) to make air go into and out of the body e. smart Work with a classmate.
Think about things in nature. Write two ideas for plants or animals that.can be used for one’s health.are able to breathe in water.are dangerous, so you must be careful near them. won't be hurt when a tornado hits. LD Read about different plants and animals.
Write the right word in each blank. Raintrees Aloe Vera Bluebirds River Dolphins 1. (van DA PMIWS 3, Li eb A. | * are green * are not common * look for food * grow in South ¢ can be eaten around the world during the day America ¢ have a chemical ¢ breathe air * can sing * close their leaves at that is good for our * swim in lakes and * lay blue eggs night skin rivers * have nice wood for furniture 10 Chapter 1: Nature Scientists put a mother in one place.
They put her two-year-old child in another place. There was a telephone line between them. Soon, the mother and child were talking to each other. The mother and child were dolphins.
In this test, one of the two dolphins would make _a sound. Then the other dolphin would make the same sound. Also, the scientists believed that the two animals knew who they were talking to. Scientists have known for a long time that animals can “talk” with each other.
But dolphins have a special way of talking. And they are very smart. When they are in a group, they “talk” to each other. They do this using different sounds.
Scientists have listened to the dolphins’ sounds, and they have watched the dolphins. They now believe that the dolphins really are talking. They just don’t know what the dolphins are saying. Dolphins not only use sounds.
They use body language, too. They “tell” something to another dolphin by moving their body in a special way. They also do it by opening and closing their mouths quickly. Scientists hope to understand dolphin language.
They want to learn more about these very interesting animais. Word Count 200 words Reading 1: Dolphins Talk 11 Comprehension Questions Circle the right answer. This reading is about a. dolphins that talk to people.
b) dolphins that talk to each other. dolphins that talk to fish. Scientists believe that the mother dolphin and her baby a. were just making noise.
were talking about other dolphins. ‘c,/ knew who they were talking to. Which of these is NOT a way dolphins talk? a. By using their bodies (b.
By using other fish c. By using sounds 4. Dolphins are special animals because a. they can “talk” to other animals.
“b, they have a special language. they understand human speech. Besides using sounds to “talk,” dolphins tell things to each other by a. pushing water quickly or slowly.
playing with rocks and sand in the sea. c,/opening and closing their mouths. Ge» Extra Practice Circle True or False for each sentence. A dolphin can swim.
Only people use language. Scientists have studied dolphins. Body language uses words. Some animals are smart.
True’ False 12 Chapter 1: Nature Animals get energy from the things that they eat. Some animals eat plants. Some eat other animals. Some eat plants and other animals.
By looking at what eats what, we can learn how energy moves from one living thing to another. One way to look at how energy moves from animal to animal is to imagine three levels in nature. At the first level, plants and trees make their own food. Animals and insects are usually in the second level.
These are living things that eat things from the first level. Sometimes, they eat things from the second level, too. Some animals eat plants, and then another big animal eats them. Very small animals that you can’t even see are part of the third level.
After a living thing dies, these very small animals break down its body. We can imagine something like a these three levels in the ocean, too. Some kinds of small sea life use the kind of small sea life eats them. A fish then eats the small sea life, and something larger eats the small fish.
So energy moves between animals in the ocean just like it moves on land. Word Count 200 words Wa) wn (=) Reading 2: Levels in Nature 13 Comprehension Questions Circle the right answer. This reading is about a. things to eat in the ocean.) how energy moves in nature.
which animals eat plants. Which of the following is true of the first level? a. The animals there have very little energy. All animals there are very small.) Things there make their own food.
The writer says that animals and insects a. are found in the first level. ‘b) are found in the second level. are found in the third level.
In the third level, very small animals a. eat only one kind of small sea animal. need sunlight to make the food they eat. ‘c} break down the bodies of animals that die.
The writer says that in the ocean, energy moves a. more slowly than it does on land. (b) in the same way as it does on land. from large animals to small animals.
Gen Extra Practice Circle the right word. We can study how 1. Gee! ife) moves in nature by looking at what eats what. An easy way to look at this is to 2.
( ine / learn) three levels in nature. The first level has things that make their own aa in it. The second level has 3.