Extensive Reading Presentation

EAP Reading Presentation

A brief history of my free time reading in Japanese

A. What kind of things do I read?
I am reading “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” by Joanne K. Rowling, and “Na Margem Do Rio Piedra Eu Sentei E Chorei (I cried beside the Piedra river.)” by Paulo Coelho. It is a philosophical book.

B. How much do you read?
It depends on my situation, such as how much I have home work or how my body condition is. However, I am trying to read almost every day. I don’t read many pages in one time. Every night, before I go to bed, I read about 10 pages. So it takes about 3 to 5 minutes.

C. What do you like or dislike about reading? Why?
I really like both of them. As for “Harry Potter”, it is very fun to read. I like fictions. I like fantasies. So, I can enjoy those books even though those are very thick and 2 volumes. As for Paulo Coelho’s book, it is very interesting. There is a lot of knowledge about the world based on a philosophical way of thinking. By the way, I have read his another book “Alchemist” before, It was also very interesting but deep. His books are really difficult so I have to read at least 3 times to understand what he really wants to say. However, I enjoy reading them.

A brief history of my free time reading in English.

A. What kind of things do I read?
I have read very easy short stories for high school students, such as “Christmas Carols” , ”Hamlet ( in easy English)”, “King Lear ( in easy English)”.

B. How much do you read?
Actually, I don’t often read English book just for fun these days except my extensive reading. However, I am going to read “Howl’s Moving Castle” by Diana Wynne Jones because I like its movie.

C. What do you like or dislike about reading? Why?
I liked those short stories. Because it was written in really easy English, I didn’t have to stop and looked up so many words in the dictionary so often. And I could concentrate on my readings and finish them without giving up in half of the book because they were short.

Title of my Extensive Reading * The girls

Author * Amy Goldman Koss

Summary of key aspects of reading

Maya, Renee, Brianna, Darcy, and Candace are classmates in their school. They usually hang around together. However, one day, only Maya is excluded from the girls group. One Saturday night, the girls except Maya gather at Darcy’s house and have a pajama party. At that night, Darcy makes a very mean phone call to Maya in front of other girls. Renee and Brianna aren’t sure the reason why only Maya is excluded suddenly. Darcy is also not sure the reason but she just did the call for Candace. Yet, Candace is satisfied with Darcy’s behavior against Maya.

Candace is the most popular girl in school so she had a big power in the group. Nobody can disagree with her. Because Candace decided to except Maya’s name from her girls group, other girls have to obey her decision even though they don’t know the reason and they don’t hate Maya. Renee likes Maya but she can’t say anything because she is scared. On Sunday, Brianna goes to Candace’s home and asks her how she should act in front of Maya, and finally she told her true feeling. That is, she doesn’t hate Maya. Then Candace suddenly acts coldly. From then on, it is Brianna’s turn to be excluded.

Maya feels so bad, but her mother makes her go to school o Monday. She doesn’t hide anywhere and attend every class. But, Brianna isn’t put up with her situation and goes to nurse’s room, and stay there for a long time. She feels very sorry for Maya. She understands that is the way Maya felt. Renee also felt guilty so when she meets Maya, she talks with her friendly as usual. Brianna and Renee stand Maya’s side.

Candace gets board her friends and decided to welcome another member into her group, Nichol. And she said how Darcy is weird to Nichol. Darcy doesn’t notice that Candace gets board her too. Nichol is not like other girls. She thinks their relationships and Darcy’s attitude toward Candace and also Candace’s attitude toward Darcy are crazy. She decided to teach them especially Candace and Darcy what the real friendship is like.

Response

I think that it is a common problem for teenager girls. I have ever experienced same kind of situation before so many times. I have been like Maya and also like Renee. So, I can understand their feeling well.

For teenagers, friends are the most important thing in their lives. They spend time together not only at school but also in private. Friends are important than parents for them. So, if a girl had a trouble with her friends and she was excluded from her group, she would feel that it’s the end of the world.
The story finished Nichol’s participation and there are no descriptions what happened after that. The reason why the author finished the story at that point that she wanted readers to think about what the real friendship is like, and find readers’ own answer through the story.

I think all of the 5 girls went a wrong way. Their friendship wasn’t real. They were always trying to make themselves nice to Candace. They never said disagreements to her. I think friends should talk their true feeling more and consider about their relationship to make it better.

Evaluate the Difficulty

It was appropriate for me. It was not so difficult but not so easy. That is because there were some slang and metaphors which I couldn’t understand in this reading.

Key Passage

“Well, I told myself, I was going to change all that. I’d help Candace flick that Darcy off her shoe and show her what real friendship is like. Candace, of al people, deserved it.”

This is a Nichole’s phrase. She criticizes the 5 girls’ relationship. I think that this phrase imply that she is going to make some good change from then on.

Most interesting thing

The most interesting thing of this story is that the girls often use simile or metaphor. For example, at the end of the story Brianna said to Maya and Renee,
“We’re frogs kissed by a princess.”
And also,
“We’re sleeping beauties kissed by the prince! Ding-dong, the witch is dead! We’re free!”
That is, they meant that they don’t have to always worry about Candace’s feeling anymore. These phrases are based on very famous fairly tale stories. So, it was easy to understand their feelings.

Suggestion for improving reading to the students

I think that reading a lot of English books which you are interested in is good way to improve your reading. I am very bad at reading but my extensive reading was great and interesting, so I could enjoy reading it very much this time. Once I got used to read in English, I could focus on my reading.
Besides, I know that vocabulary is important but I try to guess some new words first, and then use the dictionary. I think it is also good way to improve your reading skill.