Ontario Reader is designed to provide a language learning resource

that is flexible, stimulating and informative.

Ontario Reader can be used with a wide range of learners. The
content is generally within the high-beginner to intermediate levels,
and it is easily adaptable for beginner learners. Ontario Reader is
particularly useful for multi-level classes. With the help of a bilingual
dictionary and the answer key, it can also be used for self-study.
The reading material will appeal to the interests of many learners.
The stories and information articles provide an introduction to a
variety of topics and themes which can be explored further through
discussion or follow-up lessons. The numerous photos are useful for
discussion, vocabulary development, pre-reading and other activities.
The following explains some of the components of Ontario Reader
and presents some ideas on how to use this book effectively.

Graded articles
The stories/articles are graded at three levels of difficulty. The one-
star (*) articles are the easiest and the three-star (***) articles are
the most difficult. However, this grading system is only a guideline.
It does not mean that beginner readers should be restricted to one-
star articles. With proper preparation, even beginners can read a
three-star article or use parts of it for language learning. The section
on pre-reading gives some suggestions to assist you. As a further aid,
some of the articles are written at two different levels. A one-star
version of the article acts as a bridge to a more difficult version on
the same page.
The key criterion for using an article is its relevance and interest to
the learners. The following are some of the considerations that the
grading is based on:

Topic - Is it concrete or abstract? Would most of the readers be

familiar with this topic?

Vocabulary - Are the key words concrete or abstract? Are they

. common words?

Structure and grammar- Are the sentences short, simple? Is the

article lengthy, short? Are the grammatical structures complex? Are
they commonly used?

Visual aids- Does the accompanying photo or illustration help to

contextualize or clarify the content of the article?

Ontario Reader· 7997 nil

 Pre-reading activities
Pre-reading activities will increase the learners' cLances of reading successfully.
They will also help you use the reading material in multi-level settings and with
beginner-level learners. Pre-reading activities are important because they:
• help to establish a context for the reading material;
• raise the learner's interest;
• build confidence by making learners aware of knowledge they already have;
• give learners the opportunity for predicting and making inferences;
• help to clarify vocabulary so that learners can read more fluently with fewer
dictionary interruptions.
The following are some ideas for pre-reading activities.

Titles and captions

Discuss the titles and photo captions. What do they mean? What do you think this
article is about? What do you know about this topic?

Photos
Most of the articles are accompanied by a photo or illustration. Talk about these
with the learners. Use the photos to help learners predict what the article is about.
Encourage this by asking questions.
Start with descriptive questions: What do YOli see in the photo? What are they
doing? Where are they? etc.
Follow this with inference questions: Why do YOIi think they are doing this? Who do
YOll think these people are? etc. Try to establish the ccntext of the article, and most
importantly, try to bring in the learners' experience. ild knowledge of the topic.
Write any key vocabulary that comes out of this ac ivity on the blackboard. You
can supplement this list with other key words from t:le article. Have the learners
scan the article and circle as many of the key words ~,s they can find.

Brainstorm
Learners work in small groups with a piece of large paper and a marker. Each
group brainstorms for vocabulary they already know that is related to the topic of
the article. Later, the groups share their lists and discuss.
The "Word web" activity on page 92 is a variation of this. You can do the word
web with the learners before they read the article.

What do you know?

Learners work in small groups or as a whole class to discuss the topiC of the
article under the headings:
What do YOll know abollt ?
What do YOli want to know about ?

em Ontario Reader· 7997

Reading for general meaning
The following is one way to use an article for general reading practice.
The activities "Get ready, read, remember" and "K-W-L" on pages 90-91 provide
two alternatives for general reading practice.
First reading: After the pre-reading activities, ask the learners to read the article
silently on their own. Encourage the'm not to worry about the meaning of every
word and to read for a general sense of what the article is about. Encourage them
to get the meaning of new words from the context.
When they are finished reading, discuss the article and clarify any vocabulary
problems. If a learner asks what a word means, ask other learners to explain.
Second reading: Write a few general questions about the article on the blackboard.
Learners read the article again (silently). Discuss answers to the questions. Go to
the exercises on the practice page or do a third reading.
Third reading: Have the learners read the article again. Test comprehension with a
short quiz requiring only yes/no answers, or do the exercises on the "practice page."
Follow-up: Here are some options.
• Do the comprehension questions on the practice page, or give the learners your
own comprehension questions. They can write and/or discuss the answers in
groups.
• Pair work: Each learner writes five questions about an article. Partners take turns
asking/answering the questions.
• Students write or retell the story in their own words.
All of the above activities can be done individually, in pairs or in small groups.

Reading for beginners

Try the following with beginner readers:
• Prepare the class well with pre-reading activities.
• Start with one-star articles. In cases where two versions of the same article are on
one page, use the one-star article as a bridge to the more difficult one. Before
attempting the more difficult article, have the learners scan for key words. You can
also work with the title, photo and caption.
• Where there is no one-star article, create your own. Write the key ideas from the
two- or three-star article in short simple sentences. Use your article as a bridge to
the original one.

Scanning
Skimming: reading quickly for the general idea.
Scanning: reading quickly for specific information such as dates, names, prices, etc.
You can help learners develop their scanning skills by giving them specific
information to find in an article. You can expand this by having them scan
through the entire book or sections of the book for the answers to specific
questions.
 The practice pages
The exercises on the practice pages focus on reading comprehension, vocabulary
development, grammar and controlled writing. Because Ontario Reader is intended
for both classroom and self-study use, the exercises are designed mostly for
individual practice. However, learners can do some of the exercises with a partner
or in a small group.

The A" exercise is usually a reading comprehension exercise. Various exercise

II

types are used, including the following:

• Yes or No? - Questions requiring a simple yes or no answer.
• What's the answer? - Comprehension questions: who, what, where, when, why,
etc. These require learners to produce a phrase or sentence as an answer. For this
exercise as well as the "yes or no" exercise, the learners could work in pairs and ask
each other the questions.
• Check the facts - Learners have to read for detail and provide the correct answer.
• True or false? Learners respond to statements about the story with a simple true
or false answer. A variation of this exercise requires the learners to correct the
statement if it is false.
• Put it in order - Learners have to arrange segments of an article and put them
in their original order. This type of exercise can work well as a small group activity.
• What's missing? - Cloze exercises which require learners to fill in the blanks
with the same words that are in the original article.

The liB" exercise generally involves reinforcement of a grammar rule or

controlled writing. The grammar rule always stems from the content of the article
and is only reinforced if the article provides a clear context for it. Useful phrases
and expressions are reinforced in the same way. The controlled writing is always
related to the content of the article. Usually, students can check what they have
written with the original article. The liB" exercise types include:
• Finish the sentence - Learners complete the sentence as it is in the article.
• Fill in the blank - Learners have to provide the correct form of a verb, auxliary
or other part of speech
• Check the grammar - Sentences from the article have been rewritten to include
an underlined grammar mistake. Learners have to identify the mistake and correct it.

There are also a number of exercises to assist vocabulary development. These

include:
• Word list - Learners fill in the blanks in sentences by choosing from a list of
words from the article.
• Word families - As above, but the words in the list are grouped according to
their part of speech.
• Complete the chart - Learners choose from a list of words, or choose words
from the original article and place them in the correct category.
• Matching - Learners match words with definitions, or with synonyms.

Crossword puzzles and other exercise types are used thoughout the book.

i:!:J Ontario Reader. 1997

Additional activities
Here are some ideas for communicative activities to supplement the exercises on
the practice pages. These activities require the learners to work in pairs or small
groups and to use more than one language skill to complete the task.

Listen to a tape
• Tape an article from Ontario Reader.
• Play the tape twice, without discussion.
• Ask or dictate four or five comprehension questions.
• Learners work in small groups to check the questions and write answers based on
what they remember from listening to the tape.
• Ask the groups to open their books, read the article and confirm their answers.

Summarize
• Arrange the class into small groups.
• Each group will read the same article from Ontario Reader. (As an alternative, you
can assign a different article to each group.)
• When they are finished reading the article, the group discusses the article and
clarifies any difficult vocabulary. Then they write a summary of the article on a
large sheet of paper.
• When all the groups have finished, they circulate their summaries or post them
on the wall for all groups to read.

Write questions
• Follow the first two steps in the above "Summarize" activity.
• Instead of writing a summary, each group writes several questions about the
article.
• Each group passes their questions to the next group to answer.
• Then the groups pass their answers back to the original group. The original group
checks the answers.

Jigsaw reading
• Assign each group of three to five people a different article to read.
• Each group reads their article and discusses it .
• The class regroups so that one person from each original group is included in the
new groups .
• Taking turns, each person talks about his or her article to the new group.

Adapted from activities developed by Kathy Sima

 Get ready, read, remember!
Here are some steps to help you understand and remember what you read.
To practice the steps, turn to the story _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Step 1: Get ready to read.

Read the title of the story. Look at the photo.

What do you think the article is about? (What is the topic?)

What do you know about this topic? What words do you think of?

What questions do you have about the story?

Step 2: Read the article.

Does the story answer your questions? Write the answers here.

What else did you learn from the story?

Step 3: Remember the article.

Put the story away. Tell someone else what the story is about.
Or write the story in your own words.

Follow steps 1 to 3 when you read other stories.

Adapted with pennissioll from English Express

1m] Ontario Reader· 1997

K-W-l
K-W-L is a way to ask and answer questions when you read. It is also a way to take
notes when you want to learn about something.
Here is how to do K-W-L. Try it with the story about _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

1. Think about what you already know about _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Do this before you start to read the article.
Write your ideas on the worksheet under What I know (K).

2. Think about what you want to know about.______________

Write your questions on the worksheet under What I want to know (W).

3. Read the story. See if it answers your questions.

4. After you read the story, think about what you learned. Write this on the
worksheet under What I learned (L).

S. Now you have notes about what you know and what you learned.
You can use your notes to write your own story about _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

K: What I know W: What I want to know L: What I learned

Reprinted with permissioll from English Express. Adapted frolll Carr, E. and Ogle, D. (April, 1987).
K- W-L PillS: A Strategy tor Comprehe11Sion and SlIlIllllarizatioll. !ollmal of Readillg. 3D, 7, pp. 626-31

Ontario Reader· 1997 m

 Word web
This is a useful activity for vocabulary development and speaking practice. It can
be done in pairs, small groups or with the whole class. Choose a theme or topic
that relates to an article in Ontario Reader. Ask the learners to discuss the topic and
write related words on the web. You can provide the sub-topics or the learners can
create them themselves. When they are finished the word web, they can share it
with the rest of the class.

\ /
\ /
\ /
/
\ /
\ /
\ /
\ /

Winter
/ ------~
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
/
/ \

m Ontario Reader· 7997

PAGE 2: B. 1. is 2. is 3. was 4. were 5. will be 6. are
7. will be 8. were 9. was
C. 1. fastest 2. best 3. first 4. new 5. happy
6. successful 7. start 8. won 9. after
PAGE 4: A. 1. F 2. T 3. T 4. F 5. T 6. F 7. T 8. T 9. F
E. 1. thanked 2. picked 3. moved 4. donated
PAGE 6:
A. 1. no 2. yes 3. yes 4. no 5. no 6. yes 7. yes 8. no 9.yes
C. ACROSS: 5. end 7. eggs 9. to 10. OK 11. sunny
12. we 13. early 15. yes 18. spring 19. fast 20. seed
DOWN: 1. wet 2. cloudy 3. beans 4. ago 6. normal
8. skies 14. last 16. pigs 17. off
PAGE 10: A. 1. F 2. T 3. T 4. F 5. F 6. T 7. F 8. T 9. F
B. 1. Metropolitan Toronto 2. Governor General 3. Member
of Parliament 4. House of Commons 5. Romeo LeBlanc
6. Liberal Party 7. Premier Harris 8. Queen's Park 9. city
hall 10. municipal government 11. telephone book
12. garbage collection
C. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: Romeo LeBlanc, House of
Commons, Governor General, MP, Prime Minister,
Jean Chretien, Parliament
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT: Lieutenant-Governor, Hilary
Weston, legislature, Mike Harris, Queen's Park, Premier, MPP
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT: councillor, cities and towns, city
hall, Metro Toronto, mayor, local government, fire department
PAGE 14: A. 1. Did, yes 2. Did, no 3. Did, yes 4. Does, yes
5. Do, yes 6. Does, no 7. Did, yes 8. Did, yes 9. Do, yes
D. retail: 4, wholesale: 3, majority: 10, annual: 2,
entrepreneur: 1, dynamic: 8, create: 6, likely: 5,
full-time job: 7, self-employed: 9
PAGE 16: B. 1. me 2. read 3. employees, work 4. eat 5. you
C. 1. couldn't 2. can 3. couldn't 4. can 5. can't 6. could
7. could 8. can
PAGE 20:
A. 1. no 2. yes 3. no 4. yes 5. no 6. yes 7. yes 8. no 9.yes
B. 1. How much did the old penny cost to produce?
2. How much does the penny cost to produce now?
3. What was the old penny made of?
4. How many pennies did the Mint produce in 1994?
5. When will the Mint change the twoonie?
6. Where was William Lyon Mackenzie King born?
7. Who was Canada's first Prime Minister?
8. When did Canada become a country?
C. Bluenose schooner: 3, Polar bear: 6, Maple leaf: 1,
Loon: 5, Beaver: 2, Caribou: 4
PAGE 20: D. inexpensive: cheap, make: produce,
began: started, assisted: helped, nearly: almost,
nation: country, one-cent coin: penny
PAGE 22:
B. 1. more 2. less 3. lowest 4. highest 5. harder 6. same
C. 1. his 2. her 3. my 4. your 5. their 6. our
D. I've got to: 4, cut back: 5, no one: 8, a raise: 6,
makes: 9, permit: 2, assembles: 1, dropped: 7, increased: 3
PAGE 24: A. 1. 44 2. time and a half 3. 30 4. equal, equal
5. one 6. 4% 7. notice 8. 14 9. 17
PAGE 28: B. 1. how 2. what 3. help 4. where 5. drive
6. buy 7. wear 8. when
PAGE 30: D. 1. medical 2. ambulance 3. medicine 4. allergies
5. allergic 6. pulse 7. pressure 8. treatment 9. patients
PAGE 32: B. 1. How old is Lenna Bradburn? 2. When did she
start police work? 3. How much does she make a year?
4. What is the population of Guelph? 5. How many
languages does George Chen speak? 6. Why did Chen
become a police officer? 7. Where was Sue Borg born?
8. Where is Lenworth Vaz from? 9. What would Eric
Goldsmith like to be?
PAGE 34: C. 1. Crime 2. lawyer 3. law 4. protect 5. criminal
6. permit 7. permission 8. protection 9. identify, identification
PAGE 36: A. 1. public, tax 2. private 3. education
4. trustees, elected 5. elementary 6. half 7. Secondary,
postsecondary 8. community, university 9. Continuing
PAGE 38:
B. Atwood, Dickens, Eliot, Freud, Hemingway, Marques, Marx,
Montgomery, Munro, Oates, Ondaatje, Shakespeare
D. 1. car 2. buy 3. move 4. Can
E. 1. like 2. read 3. watch 4. use 5. listen 6. look
PAGE 40: A. 1. Is, yes 2. Is, no 3. Is, yes 4. Does, no
5. Does, yes 6. Does, yes 7. Do, yes 8. Do, yes 9. Does, no
PAGE 40: C. ACROSS: 1. spice 3. up 6. dog 8. apples
9. taste 10. sell 11. tonic 15. cook 16. healthy
DOWN: 1. spot 2. expert 4. past 5. all 7. garlic 8. at
10. smell 12. night 13. curry 14. love
PAGE 42: A. GRAIN PRODUCTS: rice, whole wheat bread,
corn flakes, bran muffins, pasta
VEGETABLES & FRUIT: broccoli, asparagus, grapes, apples,
carrots
MILK PRODUCTS: cheese, butter, cream, yogurt, skim milk
MEAT & ALTERNATIVES: turkey, pork, lamb, salmon, lentils
Continued on page 94
Ontario Reader· 1997 PI)
 ANSWER KEY - continued
PAGE 44: A. 1.45 2. Thursday 3. Sunday 4.82% 5. $51
6. three or more
B. 1. less 2. more 3. less 4. more 5. less 6. less 7. more
C. 1. Baked 2. beverages 3. Poultry 4. Dairy
5. ingredients 6. artificial 7. previously 8. brands 9. fresh
PAGE 46: B. 1. has, been, since 2. has, been, for
3. has, been, since 4. has, been, since 5. have, been, for
6. have, been, for
C. 1. specializes 2. specialty 3. owns 4. owner 5. products
6. produces 7. decided 8. decision 9. combination
10. combines
PAGE 48: A. 1. F, provincial government 2. F, once a year
3. T 4. F, will not change 5. T 6. T 7. F, vacant apartments
8. T 9. F, less housing 10. F, will not remove
11. F, cannot tell you 12. T
B. 1. renters 2. rental 3. rent 4. rents 5. vacancy
6. vacant 7. evict 8. eviction 9. protection 10. protect
PAGE 50: A. (i) 1. Yes, he is. 2. Yes, he does. 3. Yes, it was.
4. No, he wasn't. 5. Yes, he does. 6. No, he didn't.
A. (ii) 1. When did Quinonez come to Canada? 2. Where did
he settle in Canada? 3. How many children does he have?
3. What is his wife's name? 4. When did Quinonez become a
police officer?
B. 1. watch 2. listening 3. driving 4. go 5. cook
6. running 7. play 8. study 9. reading
C. 1. determined 2. give up 3. hope 4. typical 5. degree
6. experience 7. start 8. variety 9. applied 10. interview
11. successful 12. tolerant
PAGE 52: B. 1. employer 2. hire 3. appointment
4. employment 5. skills 6. resume 7. employ
8. employees 9. apply, application
PAGE 54: B. (i) When the wheels ain't turn in': 3, You get
used to it: 2, take time to smell the roses: 4, take turns: 1
B. (ii) 1. destination 2. spend 3. especially 4. homesick
5. dangers 6. accident 7. shift 8. record 9. inspection
PAGE 56: B. extra: 8, maintenance: 6, depreciation: 9,
cost estimate: 3, finance expense: 2, vehicle: 4, annual: 5,
loan: 1, purchase: 7
C. 1. $1,350 a year (9% of $15,000 equals $1,350), $112.50 a
month 2. $11,452 (28,000 times 40.9 cents equals $11,452)
PAGE 58: C. expense: 5, exceptional: 9, get along: 7,
hardship: 1, ideal: 6, in bulk: 2, trade: 8, used: 3,
wonderful: 4
PAGE 60: A. 1. F, ten times 2. F, half of Canada's population
3. T 4. T 5. F, 77 million seniors 6. T 7. F, Oshawa 8. T
9. F, less than in 1959
m Ontario Reader· 7997
PAGE 62: C. adjust: 2, donated: 8, enrolled: 4,
established: 6, fortunate: 3, helps: 9, struggles: 1,
supplies: 7, unwed: 5
PAGE 66: C. 1. game 2. players 3. puck 4. goalie 5. skate
6. score 7. season 8. playoffs 9. winner 10. professional
PAGE 68: A. 1. Is - Yes, it is. 2. Is - No, it isn't
3. Do - Yes, they do. 4. Do - Yes, they do. 5. Are - Yes,
they are. 6. Are - Yes, they are. 7. Does - No, it doesn't.
8. Does - No, it doesn't. 9. Does - Yes, it does.
B. 1. coldest 2. snowiest 3. earliest 4. latest 5. shortest
6. hottest 7. rainiest 8. longest
D. ice, gloves, scarf, blizzard, snowmobile, freezing, cold,
skate, ski, shiver
E. skating, curling, skiing, ice fishing, tobogganing, hockey
PAGE 70: A: 1. F, United Nations 2. F, education and life
expectancy 3. F, does not rank first, OR, ranks first overall
4. T 5. T 6. F, is not in the top ten 7. F, more per year
8. T 9. T 10. F, largest gaps 11. F, less energy per person
12. F, do not ha., ,In easy time OR, have a difficult time
PAGE 75: CANA, \ QUIZ: 1. july 1, 1867 2. Sir john A.
Macdonald 3. jeln Chretien 4. 10 5. British Columbia
6. Saskatchewan 7.4,400 kilometres 8.30 million
9. 195,000 to 220,000 10. Toronto 11. Ottawa
12. 0.9 cents 1 3. caribou 14. Sir Wilfred Laurier
15. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) 16. 36
17.45 minutes 1? 7 19.22 20. number one, first
PAGE 76: CANADA CROSSWORD
ACROSS: 2. B.C. 4. Prime 5. july 6. Regina 8. leaf
10. hockey 13. sea 14. old 15. beaver
DOWN: 1. King 2. been 3. Sunday 6. red 7, Alberta
9. gold 11. bear 12. top
PAGE 77: ONTARIO QUIZ: 1. a. Mike Harris 2. c. Queen's
Park, Toronto 3. c. MPPs 4. c. Hilary Weston 5. b. Toronto
6. a. 800 7. b. 68,000 8. c. soybeans 9. c. $60 10. b. 8%
11. c. $6.85 12. a. 2.8% 13. b. Moosonee 14. b. Midland
15. c. Oshawa
PAGE 78: ONTARIO CROSSWORD
ACROSS: 3. O.P.P. 5. seats 7. an 8. blue 9. cities
11. Huron 15. Kenora 16. billion
DOWN: 1. health 2. is 4. place 6. rent 9. Code 10. in
12.com 13.Park 14.job
PAGE 80: WHICH PHOTO IS IT? 1. p67, 2. p3, 3. p1,
4. p67, 5. p57, 6. p53, 7. p73, 8. p63, 9. p9, 10. pll,
1l.p15, 12.p19, 13.p21, 14.p27, 15.p43, 16.p45,
17. p21, 18. p33, 19. p37, 20. p49
PAGE 81: IRREGULAR VERBS: 1. came 2. fell 3. gave
4. went 5. built 6. became 7. thought 8. won 9. began
10. grew 11. made 12. knew 13. told 14. paid 15. said
16. took 17. sold 18. spent 19. saw 20, did