Focus on Academic Skills Reading Module A THE FEEL-GOOD FACTOR Focus on reading General strategies; True/False/Not Given; summary FORMING A GENERAL PICTURE Focus on IELTS page 13 1 Before you look at the questions for each part of the IELTS Reading Module, you should spend a couple of minutes getting a general idea of what the text is about. This will help you to tackle the tasks. Read the title and the first two or three sentences of Texts 1 and 2 to identify the topic. Spend no more than 20 seconds on this. Which text is about eating habits? Text _____ Which is about a physical problem? Text _____ Before you read the rest of each text, think about these questions to prepare yourself. How are people’s eating habits changing in your country? What are the results of these changes on a) people’s health b) social relationships? Look through both texts quickly and compare the information given with your ideas in b. DEALING WITH UNKNOWN VACABULARY 2 IELTS Reading texts may contain specialist words and expressions, but you will not need to understand all of these to answer the questions. Specialist words which are important for the meaning are often explained for you in the text. Look at the three underlined words and phrases in Texts 1 and 2. Decide which two of them are important in each text. Find and underline a phrase in the same sentence or the following sentence which helps you understand their meanings. One of the three underlined words in each text is less important. You don’t need to know this word to understand the general message. In each text, what general things can you guess about the meaning of this word from the context? Childhood obesity goes global A Childhood obesity is rapidly becoming a global epidemic. B Why do children become obese? One important factor if insulin, a hormone which enables the body to store extra calories as fat. The US continues to lead the way, with as many as 37% of its children an
