Hello. I'm Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.
Have you ever wished you knew more words when you were reading or listening? Well, today
we're going to show you how you can - just by guessing!
It will take a little bit of effort, but you can learn strategies to help you guess the
meaning of words you may not know.
One of the strategies is using context to guess unknown words.
But what is context? Well, context includes the words, phrases or sentences before and
after the unknown word, which helps make the meaning clear.
Let's consider an example. Today's story is about helping children learn to read.
Here, Chris Brooks is using the phonics method. If you don't know what the phonics method
is, can you work it out from the other words used by the reporter? Listen carefully.
Chris Brooks is teaching Ashley with what's called the phonics method, which was used
by most teachers til the '50s. It breaks words down into their individual sounds.
Well, as you've seen, Sonya, what we've done is we've worked with some letters that have
a variety of sounds, so the letter 'c' had two sounds, the 'k' sound and the 'ss' sound,
and you can see with our colour-coding, one's purple and one's black, and the same with
the letter 's', it has a 'ss' sound and 'zz' sound, so they're their common sounds.
The reporter uses the following words and phrases:
teaching
phonics method
used by teachers and
breaks words down into their individual sounds
So we can guess that phonics is a method used by teachers that breaks words down into their
individual sounds.
So using the context, the words surrounding the word phonics, we have some understanding
of it.
Let's now listen to Chris Brooks again. What other words or phrases help us with the meaning
of phonics?
Well, as you've seen, Sonya, what we've done is we've worked with some letters that have
a variety of sounds, so the letter 'c' had two sounds, the 'k' sound and the 'ss' sound,
and you can see with our colour-coding, one's purple and one's black, and the same with
the letter 's', it has a 'ss' sound and 'zz' sound, so they're their common sounds.
Chris uses the phrases:
some letters that have a variety of sounds
the letter c had two sounds
the k sound and the ss sound
colour-coding
the letter s
a ss sound and zz sound
So we can guess that the method focuses on letters that have a variety of sounds, for
example letter c, which has two sounds - k and s.
We also know that colour coding is used to help recognise common sounds, and that the
letter s has an ss sound and zz sound.
So, we have quite a bit of information about phonics now. From the various contexts we've
listened to, can you guess the meaning of the word phonics? How would you define it?
Here's a possible guess:
Phonics is a method that teaches people to read by learning to recognise the sounds that
letters represent.
Remember, you don't always need a dictionary to find the meaning of a word. Using the strategy
of guessing the meaning of a word from the context helps with your ability to understand,
partly because you stay focussed on what you're listening to.
It also helps build your vocabulary because you're more likely to remember the word. This
skill is very helpful in the IELTS Listening test because you won't have a dictionary to
assist you.
Here's a quick test to try out your skills.
Can you guess the meaning of the highlighted words from the context?
Statistics show that over one-eighth of the adult population in developing countries is
illiterate. Governments have set up educational centres to teach this group to read and write.
What does illiterate mean?
We know that it's an educational matter related to teaching people to read and write, and
that it's a large problem in developing countries.
Illiterate would mean not able to read or write.
Here's another one.
John loved singing, so he auditioned for all the musicals. The directors liked the way
he sang.
What does auditioned mean?
We know that John loves to sing, and he sang for directors, the people directing the musicals.
So from this we can guess that auditioned means performed a song for directors to judge
whether someone is good enough to be in their show.
OK, now we're going to have a look at the verb to be. To be usually functions as an
auxiliary verb.
But sometimes the verb to be can function as the main verb. That's when it links the
subject and an expression that describes the subject. For example, look at the sentence:
Chris is a phonics teacher.
Is here is the main verb because it links the expression phonics teacher to the subject
Chris.
OK. The reporter quotes children's author Mem Fox on literacy. What does she say about
Australia's literacy rate?
Internationally acclaimed children's author Mem Fox says the crisis is a myth and Australia's
literacy rate is second only to Finland.
Mem Fox says: The crisis is a myth.
When the verb to be is used as the main verb in a sentence, what follows is called the
complement. This complement defines the subject.
The structure of these linking verb clauses or sentences is:
subject + to be + the complement
So we have the subject, the crisis, the linking verb, is, and the complement, a myth.
The crisis is a myth.
Listen to the clip again.
Internationally acclaimed children's author Mem Fox says the crisis is a myth and Australia's
literacy rate is second only to Finland.
Australia's literacy rate is second only to Finland.
Let's look at the structure of the sentence.
The subject is Australias literacy rate.
We have a form of the verb to be - is
and then the complement - second only to Finland.
Second only to is an interesting expression that means, in this sentence, Australia has
the second best literacy rate in the world. Finland is number one.
Let's look at another clip. Can you find another example where a complement is used?
She says we've achieved that by using a range of reading techniques, including phonics,
but phonics alone isn't a magical cure for reading problems.
She says: Phonics isn't a magical cure.
The subject is phonics.
The verb to be -isn't, short for is not
and the complement - a magical cure.
And that's all for today's study English.
Let's review what we've looked at.
We talked about looking at context to guess the meaning of words.
And then we looked at using the verb to be to link subjects and their complements.
Don't forget to visit our Study English website to find out more - it's at abcasiapacific.com/studyenglish.
That's all for today. I'll see you next time for more IELTS preparation. Bye bye.