Reading a feature story

The story I have chosen this week is a good example of this. It comes from a popular long-running series in Monday's Outlook, entitled Nature. I enjoyed reading the story myself and I also found it to be very good for helping you learn how to read feature stories in general. Below are some suggestions for you try when you read this week's story.

Enjoy the introduction The first few paragraphs of a feature are often quite entertaining. Writers know their readers have many other stories to choose from, so they work hard to catch our interest so we will choose their story. They have many different techniques. They may use humour, they may tell a short little story or they may try to surprise us with something unusual.

Below is an introduction from a recent Outlook feature. Notice that the writer tells us a short story with a surprising ending. What does the writer make you think the story is about at the beginning? What is the story really about?

It is an usual performance. Sweet, tuneful songs fill the cool night air as budding "dancers" make charming graceful moves.

Flowing right and left, up and down, the slender dancers perform in perfect harmony with the melodious voice. Once the last note is sung, the dance troupe (group) stays still, as if frozen in time.

"Many thanks and goodbye. Have a good sleep," the singer says before exiting the garden. Smiling, he rejoices at seeing all his young dancers quietly drift into slumber (sleep).

Every day Pradit Khampermpoon comes down to the Udon Sunshine Orchid Garden he owns in Udon Thani province to sing and dance with the Miss Udon Dancing plant - a unique type of plant which can move its leaves to rhythmic sounds and voices.

Our feature story this week has an introduction which is a little more straightforward. As you read it, consider what techniques he uses to catch our interest.

Quickly look to see how the story is organised Features are often rather long, but they usually have several different topics. If you can find them, you will often find that the story suddenly becomes MUCH easier to read and understand. That is especially true of this week's story. After you have read the introduction, quickly look through the rest of the story and try to find what topics are covered.

Make use of any pictures and picture captions which accompany the story You should find the pictures in this story to be especially useful. In fact, they will help you a lot in understanding one of the story's main topics. Which one?

Try to guess some of the unfamiliar vocabulary from context This term I have given you a lot of practice in guessing new words from context (the words and phrases which surround them) so I won't explain all the words that are likely to be unfamiliar to you.

Pay attention to the conclusion Features usually have an interesting conclusion as well as an introduction. The conclusion often returns to a point or topic covered in the introduction. Look to see if that is true of our feature.

Vocabulary

Here are some words from the story that might be difficult to understand just from reading the context.

The Nature series in Outlook usually includes a short, very attractive column entitled "Did you know?". I have given you an example below of the column which appeared on the same day as our feature story. It's very appropriate, isn't it.

Teacher’s Note

This week my main purpose is to give your students a strategy for reading the feature stories which are found in the Outlook section of the Bangkok Post. It won't work for all of them, but it will for many.

As you can see, I have given the students five suggestions. Here are some points you can stress and some additional points you can raise with your students.

I have devoted the most space to the introduction because this is what often causes the most confusion for students (and even some teachers). The reason is that in an attempt to catch the reader's interest, feature writers sometimes use clever devices that are not always easy for non-native speakers to follow. This might be humour, word play, a short story, a surprise of some type or a host of other techniques.

Unfortunately, some students become frustrated and think the rest of the story will be just as difficult to understand. In fact, the opposite is usually true. Feature stories generally become noticably easier after the introduction. So be sure to tell your students not to give up.

The introduction in this week's story is quite easy. Notice the first two paragraphs are designed to catch interest and to introduce the topic. A short story then follows to explain how the village of Ban Huak became a place to find the tao pulu.

Once past the introduction, I strongly suggest that you have your students look to see how the rest of the story is organised. Sometimes a long story which looks complicated, turns out to be quite easy.

That is certainly true of this week's story. Immediately after the introduction comes the question, "So what makes this tortoise so special?" The body of the story gives three answers to this question - its appearance, its climbing habits, and its diet. Easy, isn't it? My next suggestion concerns the pictures. In this case, the pictures will be of great assistance in understanding the first topic - the tao pulu's strange appearance. Have your students refer to the pictures often as they read through this section.

Next, I suggest that students use context to guess the meanings of unfamiliar words. There are some excellent opportunities for developing context skills in this story. Take this sentence, for example: "Unlike the domed shells of most tortoises, the shell of the tao pulu is flat…" The writer is obviously contrasting the word "domed" with "flat". Or take the sentence which says the tao pulu climbs trees so it won't have to worry about predators. Clearly a "predator" must be an enemy of some kind.

Finally, there is the conclusion. As is typical of many features, the writer returns to a theme introduced in the introduction - the concept of endangered species. The tao pulu is one such species and the village school is helping it survive in its own small way.

One more thing. If you haven't been using the "Did you know?" column which appears on Monday's, you might want to start. It is an excellent column to cut out and save for information gap activities. I am planning on giving you an example next term.

•This lesson was prepared by Acharn Terry Fredrickson, BA Stanford, MA (TESL) University of Minnesota, Manager of the Educational Services Department at the Bangkok Post and general editor of this programme.