“Why are indians so smelly?”

A shocking question?

How about this: “Why are black people so loud?”

These questions are, according to Google, the most common searches that begin with “why”:

The top searches beginning with "why " on Google Singapore.

Try it yourself: type in “why”, followed by a space, into the search box on Google Singapore, and see what common searches turn up in the prompts.

But Singaporeans aren’t at all unique in their racism – try this on the Google pages of other countries. Apparently, the world is united by racism.

Advertising at its finest?

All I wanted was the standard, dictionary.com webpage. Instead, I was greeted with this beauty:

Questions:

Choice is an illusion. Discuss.

The mass media, not us, decides what we view. Is this a fair comment?

There is no escape from the reach of advertisements. To what extent is this true in society today?

Academic reading and comprehension support online

http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/AS/300INDEX.HTM

1. a guide on how to improve reading comprehension

http://www.majortests.com/sat/reading-comprehension.php

1. A series of free comprehension tests which you can practise on line and the site is also linked to academic wordlists for vocab development

http://www.usingenglish.com/comprehension/25.html

1. a cloze exercise on Gender and Poverty – marked online

http://www.usingenglish.com/comprehension/27.html

1. a cloze exercise on HIV – marked online

http://www.usingenglish.com/comprehension/24.html

1. a multi-choice test on Mark Rothko, an American painter

http://www.usingenglish.com/comprehension/23.html

1. a multi-choice test on the Great Wall of China

http://www.usingenglish.com/comprehension/5.html

1. a multi-choice reading test on the topic of language learning

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success/reading.html

1. academic skills support (including reading skills)

http://www.ehow.com/how_4472103_improve-college-reading-skills-10.html

1. Ideas to support students when they reader longer articles

http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/reading.html#Strategies

1. A very comprehensive site on interactive reading techniques and vocabulary development

http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/reading.html#Rate

1. Advice on improving reading rate (speed) and linked to site 10 and other sites on reading comprehension in many subject areas
2. http://college.cengage.com/devenglish/resources/reading_ace/students/

A series of advanced level comprehension tests, online multi-choice questions

http://www.ets.org/gre/general/prepare/sample_questions/verbal/reading_comprehension/index.html

1. Reading comprehension strategies or GRE (American Uni Entrance test) but comparable to GP questions in skills (multi-choice answers). Very good advice on tackling unseen passages

 

http://www.greguide.com/gre-reading-comprehension-passage-5.html

http://articles.directorym.com/Reading_Comprehension_Sample_For_GRE-a1045843.html

1.  GRE websites  with  a range of sample passages and answers, explaining which is correct  answer and why

http://www.prepfortests.com/gmat/tutorials/readingcomprehension

1. A general comprehension practice site (includes understanding inferential questions (and the odd spelling mistake!)

http://www.spjc.cc.fl.us/webcentral/admit/Placement/reading.htm

1. Specific reading skills practice (e.g. main idea identification)

http://scf.angellearning.com/section/content/Default.asp?WCI=pgDisplay&WCU=CRSCNT&ENTRY_ID=0CE2234794EF4E2187A6C10770642BDD

http://scf.angellearning.com/section/content/Default.asp?WCI=pgDisplay&WCU=CRSCNT&ENTRY_ID=048DAC42D16A46EE8E24A6EA799B6AEF

 (Two sites) Specific reading skills practice – relationships between ideas

Many thanks to Helen for compiling this helpful list!

“I need help with grammar!” (Part 2)

Not sure how to use a semicolon? Want some straightforward definitions of nouns and verbs? Need some no-nonsense advice on how to avoid sexist and/or potentionally offensive language? Spent your life not knowing where to put that possessive apostrophe?

Now you can put all that behind you. Just [ask Wordwatch], and you’ll get an answer you can understand. Or your money back. Not that you have to give me any. Whatever – ask away!

– Wordwatch

A gullible generation?

In The Dumbest Generation, one of the points raised by Mark Bauerlein concerns the inability of digital natives to be critical and discerning in what they read on the internet.

In 2008, the Straits Times highlighted how teens were duped by a website that called for saving the endangered tree octopus.

THINK:
Do you agree that digital natives are less capable of critically evaluating internet content? Why?

Question:
“We have access to more information, but we aren’t more knowledgeable.” Is this a fair assessment of society today?