Units 1-4: Language Skills

Pathways 3: Reading, Writing, and Critical Thinking – Units 1-4

In order to avoid rushing through the textbook and to allow us to spend two weeks on each unit (one week for reading and one week for writing), we will be skipping Units 1-4 and beginning the class in Unit 5. However, there are some important skills covered in Units 1-4, which we will briefly discuss during Week 2. This outline provides an overview of the skills covered in the first four units.

Unit 1 – Social Relationships

Reading and Critical Thinking Skills

       Evaluating supporting arguments (p. 8)

       Identifying main and supporting ideas (p. 9)

Writing Skills

       Making comparisons (pp. 17-18 and 22)

       Reviewing paragraph writing (p. 19)

Unit 2 – Science and Detection

Reading and Critical Thinking Skills

       Distinguishing fact from speculation (p. 30)

       Identifying a sequence of events (p. 31)

Writing Skills
       Review of modals of obligation and possibly (pp. 41-42 and 46)

       Writing an opinion paragraph (p. 42)

Unit 3 – City Solutions

Reading and Critical Thinking Skills

        Evaluating sources (p. 55)

        Identifying reasons (p. 56)

Writing Skills

        Using the simple past and used to (pp. 64 and 68)

        Writing a thesis statement (p. 65)

Unit 4 – Danger Zones

Reading and Critical Thinking Skills

        Analyzing and evaluating evidence (p. 76)

        Organizing your notes (p. 77)

Writing Skills

        Using parallel structure (pp. 87-88 and 92)

        Writing an introductory paragraph (p. 88)