"There is no frigate like a book"

Emily Dickinson, America's most famous woman poet.

Objectives:

• to present and practise vocabulary related to "books"

• to practise reading for gist and then for more detailed information

• to practise speaking and giving opinions

Warm up

Does reading play an important role in your life? How much time do you devote to it? Do you read for pleasure or for information, or both?

There are books which have been our great favourites since childhood. We grow up with them, and they stay in our memory for ever. Why do you think this happens? Give examples of books which you keep in your memory.

Introducing the Topic

Answer the questions

1. Is reading important in your life? Why? Why not?

2. How old were you when you started to read? Who taught you to read?

3. Is reading your hobby or necessity?

4. Can you live a day without reading?

5. Would you rather have a big library at home or borrow books from the lib­rary?

6. Do you ever lend books to your friend? Yes / no. Why?

7. Can you tell what books you have on your bookshelves at home? Do you have more fiction or non-fiction?

8. How often do you use dictionaries and encyclopedias?

Reading

A) Read the poem "Unfolding Bud". Answer the question: How does the au­thor show that a poem "at a first glance" is like a tiny bud?

UNFOLDING BUD

One is amazed By a water-lily bud Unfolding

With each passing day, Taking in a richer colour

And new dimensions. One is not amazed At a first glance, By a poem,

Which is as tight-closed? As a tiny bud. Yet one is surprised To see the poem Gradually unfolding, Revealing its rich inner self, As one reads it again And over again.

Naoshi Koriyama

bud — брунька, бутон dimension — вимір, розміри gradually — поступово

B) How do you understand the author's words about the poem "gradually unfolding"? What do you think makes a poem unfold? How are the bud and the poem alike after they unfold?

C) Express in your own words the idea of the poem. Vocabulary

A) Match the words in the left-hand column with their definitions in the right-hand column.

1. an article a) a book that is used to study a school subject

2. an atlas b) a publication that comes out weekly or

3. an encyclopedia monthly

4. a magazine c) a reference book with maps of the world

5. a biography d) a book of word definitions

6. a novel e) a book or set of books giving information

7. a poem about every branch of knowledge with arti-

8. a dictionary cles in ABC order

9. a paperback f) usually a cheap book in soft cover

10. a textbook g) a story about a real person

11. a bookworm h) a piece of writing in a newspaper

12. bibUography i) a list of books on one subject

13. a review j) a short piece of writing (usually rhymed) ex-

14. fiction pressing a deep feeling or thoughts

15. a cookery book k) an article that critically examines a new book

1) stories, novels and romances

m) a book with recipes of dishes

n) a story about people who are not real

o) a person who is very fond of reading

Answers: 1 h, 2 c, 3 e, 4b, 5 g, 6 n, 7 j, 8 d, 9 f, 10 a, 11 j, 121, 13 k, 141, 15 m.

B) Put each of the following words in its correct place in the passage below.

bibliography; bookworm; reviews; illustrations; borrow; published

I love books. I love to read. I'm a real_(1), and I lone to visit book

shops, just looking briefly at one book after another. I look_(2), the photos

or drawings. I sometimes look at the_(3) at the back, which is a list of

other books on the same subject. And I use the library a lot. I_(4) two or

three books a week. Friends often recommend books to me, and I also read_

_ (5) in the newspapers. I don't always agree with them, but anyway they let me know what new books are being_(6).

Answers: 1 — bookworm, 2 — illustrations, 3 — bibliography, 4 — borrow, 5 — reviews, 6 — published.

C) Match the titles of the books with the genre of fiction they represent.

Answers: 1 i, 2 d, 3 b, 4 j, 5 a, 6 k, 7 e, 8 c, 9 f, 10 g, 11 h.

Reading

Read the following text and ask 10 questions to the text.

BOOOKS AND READERS

Nowadays there are quite a fewer people who think that as more and more people have television sets in their homes, fewer and fewer people will buy books and newspapers. Why read an article in the newspaper when the TV news can bring you the information in a few minutes and with pictures? Why read a novel when a play or a film on television can tell you the same story with colour, picture and action? Why read the biographies of famous men and wo­men when an hour-long television programme can tell you all that you want to know?

However, television has not killed reading. Today newspapers and maga­zines are sold in very large numbers. And books of every kind are sold more than ever before. Books are still a rather cheap way to get necessary informa­tion for many people all over the world. Although it is true that some books with hard covers are quite expensive, many books are published today as paperbacks, which are reasonable cheap. For example, in some countries a paperback novel is always cheaper than the evening in the cinema or at the theatre, and you can keep the book as long as you wish and read it many times.

Books in the home are a wonderful source of knowledge, information and pleasure, and some types of books should be in every house. Every home library should have some good dictionaries, and a geographical atlas of the world with maps. It might be expensive, but a good encyclopedia is useful, too, because in it you can find information on any subject you are interested in. In addition it is useful to have on your bookshelves other non-fiction books such as history books, science textbooks, cookery books, books about medicine and health. It is also important to have some fiction on your shelves, too.

Then you can relax with a good story, or from time to time, you can take a book of poems off your shelf and read the thoughts and feelings of your fa­vourite poet or writer.

Speaking

Work in groups.

Reading takes too much time, doesn't it? Nowadays you can get all the necessary information from newspapers, TV, radio or Internet. Group 1.1 don't think so.

Group 2. I fully agree with this idea. Nowadays there are some other sources of getting information.

Homework

Love for reading gives those who are great readers of books an advantage over those who have not read so much. Develop this idea.