Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with Jennifer. Are you ready to work on
oral reading fluency? The text I wrote for you is short enough to read a few times.
Follow my lead, and I'll help you read clearly, naturally, and with expression.
Recent events in the news have once again made me think about why we pay so much
attention to famous people. They certainly pay a price for their fame. Is it worth it?
Only they can answer that question. By the way, I have another reading on this topic. If you'd like,
you can go back to practice text #4. That reading is shorter and easier.
All of my practice texts use high frequency words -- the words that are most commonly
used in English. But in this lesson, I increased the level of difficulty.
Before we read, let's study some vocabulary. When you learn a word,
it's helpful to become familiar with the whole word family. For example, if you learn a noun,
is there also a verb and an adjective? Let's see if you can recall different word forms.
If you're popular, what do you enjoy? What's the noun? It ends in -ity.
popularity - popularity - popularity
If you're rich, what do you enjoy? What's the plural noun?
riches
If you want a report to be full of details, what kind of report do you want? What's the adjective?
It ends in -ed.
Detailed. You want a detailed report.
When you play a game, you want the game to be fair. You want everyone to play by the rules,
so how do you want to play?
What's the adverb?
A lot of adverbs end in -ly.
fairly
If you have sympathy, you understand people's pain, so what kind of person are you?
What's the adjective?
A common adjective ending is -ic.
sympathetic - sympathetic - sympathetic
If you're a private person, you don't like to share a lot about yourself
with others, so what do you value?
What's the noun?
It ends in -cy.
privacy - privacy - privacy
If something is made of gold, it's very valuable.
Right? We can make an adjective from this word by adding -en. So, what's the new word? Golden.
"Golden" can mean "valuable" or "special," like a golden opportunity. In the reading,
I talk about a golden club. I'm referring to a special group of highly popular people.
Sometimes you may know one word, and it can help you recognize another.
Do you know the word "variety?" Variety.
It's a noun. Does it mean a lot of the same things or a lot of different things?
Different. So, now guess what I mean when I talk about various performers.
Different kinds of performers. "Various" is the adjective. When you see or hear a new word,
pay attention to how it's used. Often you can learn common phrases, set phrases.
We call them collocations. In the reading, you'll see these:
gain fame, in exchange for, pay a price,
front row seats,
a detailed account,
thick skin. If you have thick skin, then you don't let things,
especially other people's words, hurt you easily. The opposite of thick skin is thin skin.
Ups and downs. This can refer to success and failure. Fall short. If someone falls
short of something, then they almost reach their goal, but then they fail.
I have just three more words to show you. The first:
applaud. At the end of a good performance, we applaud. What do we do?
We all clap.
So-called. A so-called friend who lies isn't really a friend.
Right? We use "so-called" before another word when that really isn't the right word to use.
And the last one: severe. Severe weather like a tornado causes damage. So, what are severe words?
Are they kind or harsh?
Harsh.
If there are other words or expressions in the reading that are unfamiliar,
do your best to guess from context. We've covered enough vocabulary that
I think you'll understand the text quite well. Let's read.
First reading. Listen and read along silently.
"The Fame Game" Do you know about the fame game? We all do. A person can gain fame,
but they usually pay a price. They lose privacy in exchange for popularity and riches.
Few people make it into the golden club -- singers, actors, and various other performers.
Once they're in, they're sort of like gods. We admire them, follow them,
and learn all we can about them. But we're more than curious. We demand front row seats to watch
their so-called private lives. We welcome detailed accounts of their ups and downs.
Do we treat the famous fairly? We applaud their wins,
yet we're always ready to make severe remarks when they fall short of our moral standards.
What is it really like to be famous? One probably needs a lot of charm and very thick
skin to handle fame. Should we be more sympathetic or not?
Second reading. Listen and repeat. Follow my stress and intonation.
Do you know about the fame game?
We all do.
A person can gain fame,
but they usually pay a price.
They lose privacy in exchange for popularity and riches.
Few people make it into the golden club --
singers, actors, and various other performers.
Once they're in, they're sort of like gods.
We admire them, follow them, and learn all we can about
them. But we're more than curious.
We demand front row seats to watch their so-called private lives.
We welcome detailed accounts of their ups and downs.
Do we treat the famous fairly?
We applaud their wins,
yet we're always ready to make severe remarks
when they fall short of our moral standards.
What is it really like to be famous?
One probably needs a lot of charm and very thick skin to handle fame.
Should we be more sympathetic or not?
Third reading. Let's read together. We'll aim to read slowly and smoothly by linking our words.
Do you know about the fame game? We all do. A person can gain fame,
but they usually pay a price. They lose privacy in exchange for popularity and riches. Few people
make it into the golden club -- singers, actors, and various other performers. Once they're in,
they're sort of like gods. We admire them, follow them, and learn all we can about them.
But we're more than curious. We demand front row seats to watch their so-called private lives.
We welcome detailed accounts of their ups and downs. Do we treat the famous
fairly? We applaud their wins, yet we're always ready to make severe remarks
when they fall short of our moral standards. What is it really like to be famous? One probably needs
a lot of charm and very thick skin to handle fame. Should we be more sympathetic or not?
Fourth and final reading. Let's read together again.
We'll read at a natural pace. Aim to read with expression.
"The Fame Game" Do you know about the fame game? We all do. A person can gain fame,
but they usually pay a price. They lose privacy in exchange for popularity and riches. Few people
make it into the golden club -- singers, actors, and various other performers. Once they're in,
they're sort of like gods. We admire them, follow them, and learn all we can about them,
but we're more than curious. We demand front row seats to watch
their so-called private lives. We welcome detailed accounts of their ups and downs.
Do we treat the famous fairly? We applaud their wins,
yet we're always ready to make severe remarks when they fall short of our moral standards.
What is it really like to be famous? One probably needs a lot of charm
and very thick skin to handle fame. Should we be more sympathetic or not?
So, what do you think? Are we too severe when we form our opinions about famous people?
Should we be more sympathetic? You can let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Remember to practice. Continue listening and reading aloud. Follow my model. Record
yourself on Day One. Practice for a week, and then record yourself again on Day Seven.
Do you hear progress? Do you feel more confident? I hope so. That's all for now.
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