Reading for Understanding Analysis and Evaluation National 5

Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation National 5

What is it? • You will be given a non-fiction passage, perhaps a piece of journalism or an extract from a book. • It will be written in detailed language. • You will have 1 hour to read the passage and answer 30 marks’ worth of questions about it. • The exam tests your ability to understand the writer’s ideas, and to analyse and evaluate the language he/she uses to put those across.

Using your own words • This skill is so important that it is emphasised on the front page of the exam paper: …attempt all the questions, using your own words as far as possible. • This means: • Explain what a word or expression in the passage means. • Explain the main point the writer is making. • Give the reason for something that happens in the passage. • Show that you understand a piece of information the passage gives.

'Autism doesn't hold me back. I'm moving up the career ladder' Driven new generation of people with the condition are showing employers there is no limit to what they can do Amelia Hill, The Guardian, Friday 8 March 2013 19. 13 GMT • Jonathan Young has big plans for his career. The business analyst at Goldman Sachs is on the autistic spectrum. But this, he says, is not something he allows to hold him back. • "I'm the company's global go-to guy for all the information used in every single one of our internal and external presentations, " he says. "I'm moving up the ladder every year in terms of responsibility or promotion. My ambition is to maintain this momentum. In 10 years, I want to be someone fairly big. " • He is part of the most visible generation of young people with autism our society has ever known. Diagnosed early, this generation have been educated to expect not just a job when they leave school but a career on a par with their "neuro-typical" contemporaries.

• The confidence and determination of these graduates are forcing the pace of change in organisations previously inaccessible to those with autism. Businesses, from City law firms and banks to global healthcare companies, have begun to open their doors to young people once thought able only to do lowly jobs. • Young first went to Goldman Sachs as an intern in the National Autistic Society's specialist employment programme, Prospects. His time at the investment bank was such a success that the twomonth internship swiftly became a full-time, permanent post. • "When I arrived, this role was a part-time job but I built it up into a key, full-time post and made it my own, " he said. "Autism doesn't hold me back because I have had the correct support from a young age. It's key to have that support, both in education and in the workplace, but I don't require anything complicated: people just have to understand that I'm different. "

• For all his confidence, Young admits that he considers himself fortunate. "I never lose sight of the fact that I'm lucky to have a job that allows me to use all my intelligence and stretch my potential, " he said. • Penny Andrews got her job as a library graduate trainee at Leeds Metropolitan University in August without any help from a charity or specialist employment agency. • Having beaten 200 applicants to the job, she believes she has proved herself to be the best candidate. "Sometimes I feel people think I should be grateful that I have a job but I'm performing a useful task and doing it well, so they should be grateful to me, " she said. "After all, they wanted me badly enough to employ me a month before I had finished my degree in IT and communications with the Open University. "

• Far from feeling that her diagnosis of Asperger's is something to be "got over", Andrews maintains it gave her a lead over the other candidates. "I was completely open about my autism throughout the interview process and even asked for a few special conditions to take account of my Asperger's, such as working from 8. 30 am to 4. 30 pm, for example, so I don't have to take the rush-hour bus home, taking extra breaks in a special quiet area if I need quiet, and not having to answer telephones. " • Employers' attitudes might be changing but there is a lot of ground to make up. Just 15% of those with autism have full-time jobs, according to research by the National Autistic Society (NAS), while 9% work part-time. These figures compare unfavourably with the 31% of disabled people in full-time work in the UK. More than a quarter of graduates with autism are unemployed, the highest rate of any disability group. Nevertheless, employers are increasingly coming round to the arguments from disability advocates that employing those on the spectrum is not about charity or social responsibility – but the empirical benefit of taking on people with unique skills.

• Tom Madders is head of campaigns at the society and responsible for its Undiscovered Workforce campaign to get young people with autism into employment. He talks of a "vast pool of untapped talent" among those with autism. • "When someone has the intellectual ability and ends up doing a job like working in a supermarket, it's heartbreaking. It's such a waste because although everyone with autism is different, the things they bring that are additional to the rest of us include a very high concentration level, very good attention to detail and analytical skills that are key in data analysis and when looking for anomalies in complex spreadsheets, " he said. "Why would employers want to miss out on those skills? In addition, those with autism have very specialist areas of exhaustive interest which, if these can coincide with the job in hand, can be extremely useful. They're much more reliable in terms of timeliness and absenteeism and very loyal. Often, they're very happy in jobs other people find boring. "

• William Thanh is a student at the Tree. House school, a nonmaintained special school founded by Ambitious About Autism, a charity set up in 1997 by parents of children with autism. Thanh has such severe autism that he can only communicate through his i. Pad. But his work at the Paul bakery in London is of such high quality that the manager, Salina Gani, is keen to increase his hours. • "When we decided to take on three young people with autism last year, we thought there would be limits to what they could achieve, " said Gani. "But these young men have shown us that we shouldn't assume anything on the basis of their autism alone. Yes, they need work that's repetitive and structured, but much of the service industry is like that anyway. We would gladly take them on full-time and increase the numbers of people with autism working for us across all our outlets. "

Put these sentences into your own words. • You do not need to change every single word. • Some long sentences can be reworded better as two or even three shorter ones. 1. My ambition is to maintain this momentum. 2. The confidence and determination of these graduates are forcing the pace of change in organisations previously inaccessible to those with autism. 3. For all his confidence, Young admits that he considers himself fortunate. 4. Having beaten 200 applicants to the job, she believes she has proved herself to be the best candidate. 5. Far from feeling that her diagnosis of Asperger's is something to be "got over", Andrews maintains it gave her a lead over the other candidates.

Put these sentences into your own words. • You do not need to change every single word. • Some long sentences can be reworded better as two or even three shorter ones. 6. Employers' attitudes might be changing but there is a lot of ground to make up. 7. When someone has the intellectual ability and ends up doing a job like working in a supermarket, it's heartbreaking. 8. They're much more reliable in terms of timeliness and absenteeism and very loyal. 9. When we decided to take on three young people with autism last year, we thought there would be limits to what they could achieve. 10. Yes, they need work that's repetitive and structured, but much of the service industry is like that anyway.

Understanding 1. Penny Andrews ‘believes she has proved herself to be the best candidate’. In your own words, explain how paragraph 9 illustrates this idea. Having beaten 200 applicants to the job, she believes she has proved herself to be the best candidate. "Sometimes I feel people think I should be grateful that I have a job but I'm performing a useful task and doing it well, so they should be grateful to me, " she said. "After all, they wanted me badly enough to employ me a month before I had finished my degree in IT and communications with the Open University. "

Understanding 2. What are some of the advantages for companies who hire members of staff with autism? Refer to paragraph 10 in your answer, using your own words. Far from feeling that her diagnosis of Asperger's is something to be "got over", Andrews maintains it gave her a lead over the other candidates. "I was completely open about my autism throughout the interview process and even asked for a few special conditions to take account of my Asperger's, such as working from 8. 30 am to 4. 30 pm, for example, so I don't have to take the rushhour bus home, taking extra breaks in a special quiet area if I need quiet, and not having to answer telephones. "

Understanding 3. In your own words, explain in what ways ‘there is a lot of ground to make up’ for people with autism in the workplace. Give evidence from paragraph 11 in your answer. Employers' attitudes might be changing but there is a lot of ground to make up. Just 15% of those with autism have full-time jobs, according to research by the National Autistic Society (NAS), while 9% work parttime. These figures compare unfavourably with the 31% of disabled people in full-time work in the UK. More than a quarter of graduates with autism are unemployed, the highest rate of any disability group. Nevertheless, employers are increasingly coming round to the arguments from disability advocates that employing those on the spectrum is not about charity or social responsibility – but the empirical benefit of taking on people with unique skills.

Understanding 4. Read paragraph 15. Identify Salina Gani’s attitude to employing young people with autism and give evidence to support your answer. "When we decided to take on three young people with autism last year, we thought there would be limits to what they could achieve, " said Gani. "But these young men have shown us that we shouldn't assume anything on the basis of their autism alone. Yes, they need work that's repetitive and structured, but much of the service industry is like that anyway. We would gladly take them on full-time and increase the numbers of people with autism working for us across all our outlets. "

Context • You may be asked to work out from the context what a word or expression means. • The questions may be worded like this: • Explain in your own words what is meant by ‘______’ in this context. • How does the context of lines xx-xx help you to work out what is meant by ‘______’? • Work out from the context what is meant by ‘______’ in line xx.

How does the context of the second paragraph help you to work out what is meant by ‘philanthropic’? • At Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals in London, an initiative was set up two years ago to help people aged 18 to 30 with autism gain work experience. • Staynton Brown, associate director of equality and diversity at the hospital, dismisses any suggestion of the initiative being a philanthropic one. "This is not a charitable gesture, " he said. "We want to make sure we have the most talented workforce possible. It's in our interests in multiple ways. We've all benefited from the changes we've incorporated to accommodate those with autism. By clarifying the way we give information to and help introduce the interns into the hospital, we've made communication clearer for everyone, which leads to better patient care. "

Formula • The word / expression ‘______’ as used here means ______. I can work this out from the context because…

Philanthropic • Charitable and Generous: showing kindness, charitable concern, and generosity towards other people • devoted to helping other people, especially through giving charitable aid

How does the context of the second paragraph help you to work out what is meant by ‘accommodate’? • At Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals in London, an initiative was set up two years ago to help people aged 18 to 30 with autism gain work experience. • Staynton Brown, associate director of equality and diversity at the hospital, dismisses any suggestion of the initiative being a philanthropic one. "This is not a charitable gesture, " he said. "We want to make sure we have the most talented workforce possible. It's in our interests in multiple ways. We've all benefited from the changes we've incorporated to accommodate those with autism. By clarifying the way we give information to and help introduce the interns into the hospital, we've made communication clearer for everyone, which leads to better patient care. "

How does the context of the second paragraph help you to work out what is meant by ‘intern’? • At Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals in London, an initiative was set up two years ago to help people aged 18 to 30 with autism gain work experience. • Staynton Brown, associate director of equality and diversity at the hospital, dismisses any suggestion of the initiative being a philanthropic one. "This is not a charitable gesture, " he said. "We want to make sure we have the most talented workforce possible. It's in our interests in multiple ways. We've all benefited from the changes we've incorporated to accommodate those with autism. By clarifying the way we give information to and help introduce the interns into the hospital, we've made communication clearer for everyone, which leads to better patient care. "

Word Choice • Certain words are deliberately chosen to obtain particular effects or suggest particular meanings. • Words have a denotation (dictionary definition), and a connotation – the ideas or other words a particular word suggests. • Different words can create a different mood, tone, or atmosphere. • Travel brochures, for example, specialise in trying to make their resorts sound appealing:

For Example… • Hastings is not only a fabulous resort but is of course linked to the best known date in history, 1066. From the year of this most famous battle of all time, the region has been acquiring a greater wealth of history and fascination than can be found anywhere else in the country. Within comfortably short journey times you will discover magnificent castles, ancient towns steeped in over a thousand years of history and pretty villages with famous pasts. All linked by glorious rolling countryside with welcoming old world pubs and restaurants along the way. Discuss: How does this writer put over a positive impression of the place he is describing? Pick out all the words and phrases that imply this place is either unique or the best of its kind.

Word Choice - Connotations For each group of pairs or trios of words, work out the denotation that they share, and the different connotations of the individual words. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Bright Walk Form Naughty Bolted Baby Unusual Decorative Old Clever Stroll Questionnaire Bad Ran Infant Weird Fussy Senile Genius Hike Survey Evil Sprinted

Word Choice 2. How does the word choice in paragraph 3 suggest that there is a lot of rubbish? Among the mounds of refuse, however, are used oven trays and paint pots. Cast aside by the 2 million residents of the capital of Paraguay, they are nonetheless highly valued by Nicolás Gómez, who picks them out to make violins, guitars and cellos. Gómez, 48, was a carpenter and ganchero but now works for Favio Chávez, the conductor of Paraguay's one and only landfill orchestra.

Word Choice 3. What does the word choice of paragraph 4 imply about the environment of the rubbish dump? The Cateura Orchestra of Recycled Instruments is made up of 30 schoolchildren – the sons and daughters of recyclers – whose instruments are forged from the city's rubbish. And while its members learned to play amid the flies and stench of Cateura, they are now receiving worldwide acclaim, culminating earlier this month with a concert in Amsterdam.

Word Choice 4. How does the word choice in paragraph 8 give the impression that Gomez is a skilled maker of musical instruments? Gómez travels three times a week to Cateura to dig out material. He shapes the metal oven trays with an electric saw to form the body of a violin and engineers cellos from oil barrels. The necks of his string instruments are sculpted from old strips of wood, called palé.

Word Choice 5. Show the word choice in paragraph 10 creates an unpleasant picture of the gancheros’ living conditions. But he has a goal that goes beyond music. Chávez believes the mentality required to learn an instrument can be applied more widely to lift his pupils out of poverty. Paraguay is the fastest-growing country in the Americas, but nearly a third of its population lives below the poverty line. The gancheros and their children live in slums, called bañados, which occupy the swamps between Asunción and the River Paraguay.

Imagery • Writers use images to strengthen what they say by putting all sorts of pictures in the reader’s mind. • Imagery is not the same thing as description. • A description tells us what something is like. An image shows that one thing is somehow like another. • The comparison tells us more about the thing that is being compared. Similes, metaphors and personification are all different sorts of image.

How to analyse an image. • Begin with what the image literally is like, or literally means. • Then move on to the metaphorical meaning, showing how that image applies to and adds meaning to the subject under discussion. • Just as… (explain the literal meaning), so… (explain the metaphorical meaning).

How to analyse an image. • He has a mountain of work to do. • Just as a mountain is large and challenging to climb, so too the amount of work he has to do is enormous and will be really difficult. Read your close reading example, and Answer the questions starting on p. 4.

Look at the following image. Explain what the image means and analyse its effect. 2. ‘Technology embraces our children’ Our children, like most of their friends, are accessorised with both laptop and mobile phone. As a result, the potential for constant communication with their friends is ever present. Texting begins early morning and lets up last thing at night. Friends wake them up, friends say goodnight and Facebook fills all the gaps in between. The sweet, individualised ring tones that signify when a particular friend is texting beep from 6. 30 am to 11 pm, chirruping their insistent way through supper, homework, bath time and sleep. On the bus, kids attach their headphones and carry on. Technology embraces our children, like ourselves, in a warm electronic sea, and the tide of it comes ever higher.

Just as an embrace physically completely surrounds us, so too does technology’s presence in our lives seem to be ever present and surrounding us.

Look at the following image. Explain what the image means and analyse its effect. 3. ‘A warm electronic sea’ Our children, like most of their friends, are accessorised with both laptop and mobile phone. As a result, the potential for constant communication with their friends is ever present. Texting begins early morning and lets up last thing at night. Friends wake them up, friends say goodnight and Facebook fills all the gaps in between. The sweet, individualised ring tones that signify when a particular friend is texting beep from 6. 30 am to 11 pm, chirruping their insistent way through supper, homework, bath time and sleep. On the bus, kids attach their headphones and carry on. Technology embraces our children, like ourselves, in a warm electronic sea, and the tide of it comes ever higher.

Look at the following image. Explain what the image means and analyse its effect. 5. ‘Allowing electronic strangers into a girl’s bedroom…’ Sue Palmer, in her new book, 21 st Century Girls, goes all out for total technological cold turkey. "Allowing electronic strangers into a girl's bedroom before her mid-teens is an extremely bad idea. If parents want their daughters to establish healthy sleeping habits they have to bite the bullet and insist that their bedroom remains a technology-free zone. "

Link Questions • These questions will ask you how a sentence creates an effective link between one paragraph and another. • You must: • Show one part of the sentence links back to the previous paragraph. • Show another part refers forward to the new paragraph.

Link Questions • Various ‘markers’ will link the stages of the argument. • These could be conjunctions or phrases like ‘but’, ‘yet’ or ‘on the other hand’ which mark a change in direction. • If an argument is to be added to, expressions like ‘furthermore’, ‘moreover’, ‘a further advantage’ or ‘in addition’ will point to this. • Sometimes a whole sentence will be used to mark a turning point, and you may be asked a question on this.

Look at the following example: • Following the Roman invasion in 43 AD, the south of Britain was totally subdued within thirty years; many Britons were sold as slaves and the land was covered with Roman roads and towns. Soon, south Britain was to be a complete Roman province, the townsmen speaking Latin and building for themselves those comfortable Roman houses with central heating. A Roman temple to the god Mithras has been excavated in the heart of London. But, unlike their easy victory in the south, the north of the country resisted the foreign invaders. Here the Romans were never able to do more than hold down the natives for short periods. There were no Roman towns, no country houses, no temples, only forts and camps where soldiers lived for a time.

Question: How does the sentence underlined form a link in the argument? • The accepted method for doing this is to pick out the parts of the sentence that sum up the two ideas to be linked. • You must quote these, and then explain in your own words the ideas they are referring to, making clear which idea comes before the linking sentence and which follows. • In the above example the two parts of the sentence which provide the link are ‘easy victory in the south’ and ‘the north of the country resisted’.

What should my answer look like? • The answer should read: • The words ‘easy victory in the south’ refer to the romans’ quick transformation of Southern Britain which is discussed in the first part of the paragraph. The words ‘the north of the country resisted’ link to the next idea which describes how little the Romans were able to achieve in the north.

Formula • The word/expression ‘______’ links back to ______, which was discussed in paragraph ___. • The word/expression ‘______’ introduces the idea of ______, which is going to be discussed in paragraph ___.

How does the sentence ‘Needless to say, my efforts to explain this to my daughter were pretty hapless. ’ form a link between paragraphs 8 and 9? • Especially for girls, with their intimate, gossipy, social natures, the drive to remain as connected as possible with friends is overwhelming. Yet perversely, floating in an electronic sea has the deeper effect of depriving them of the habit of being alone, developing their own thoughts. • Needless to say, my efforts to explain this to my daughter were pretty hapless. I dredged up the example of the hostage Terry Waite who got through years chained to a radiator in Beirut by the sheer strength of his interior life. My daughter listened politely, but her expression was incredulous. When was she ever going to be chained to a radiator in Beirut?

Has Liz Truss tried looking after six toddlers? I have. I scored myself six kids to test-drive the minister's theory that adults should be allowed to look after more children. Zoe Williams, The Guardian, Friday 1 February 2013 16. 58 GMT • The Conservative MP Liz Truss, like so many in public policy, has noticed that childcare is unaffordable – families in the UK spend nearly a third of their income on it; more than anyone else in the world. • Truss is unique, I think, in identifying the problem as over-regulation – specifically, she thinks the current adult-to-child ratios are too stringent. In her plan, one adult would be able to care for six two-year-olds (at the moment it's four).

• Did anybody test-drive her theory for her, even in its planning stage? I do not think they did. • So in the interests of public policy research, I scored myself six toddlers between 9. 30 am and 1 pm. These are not standard nursery hours, so I cannot vouch for the poor humans who would have to do this professionally. I should note here that I don't have any childcare qualifications, though I do have maths and English GCSEs, and am educated to degree level. That didn't help.

• Sid and Sam are twins, Lucas and Ryan are good pals, Harper is my daughter and is actually three, and Gus rounded it up. • Ryan was the godsend of the group: fascinated by the taxonomy of the Pixar Cars franchise, he made precisely no demands, apart from "where's the red one? ", "where's the blue one? ", "where's Sally? " and "batteries". He was also potty trained, along with Lucas, who is a charmer. The twins were in nappies; Gus was not in a good mood.

• Basically, the Ryan of a gang this size will get precisely no attention at all. He will just occasionally be handed a car. That might be fine. He might be a mini-version of those adults who like to read poetry at parties. But I think the authorities would expect him to have some interaction. • On the subject of regulations, they require a carer to take the kids out at least once a day. I want to make a complicated analogy about a horde of ferrets and a motorway, but actually, anybody who thinks an adult could take out six two-year-old children has simply never met a pre-verbal child. It would be the apex of irresponsibility. People would stop you in the street. I couldn't even get them all into the same room at the same time.

• Gus's mood was not bad, he just wasn't feeling very vivacious and wanted to be in someone's arms the whole time. It's incredibly cute, like having a marmoset, but now I have no arms to look after the other five. They didn't fight with each other; I think they knew on some instinctive level that I wouldn't be able to intervene. • The twins are in that call-and-response phase, where they show you something and tell you what it is, but they won't really rest until you show them something else, tell them what that is, and then you swap. It's not time-consuming so much as concentration-breaking, so you can never follow through on what you're doing, and what you're normally doing is looking for the child you can't immediately see. Quite often, that child will show up in the time it takes you to remember that you were looking for him, but not always, so there is a hell of a lot of running up and down stairs and blind panic. I wasn't going to admit that, because I thought their mothers would freak out. But now I've given them all back alive, I figure it's OK. And because she's three and won't choke, I didn't take any notice of my daughter at all. For all I know, she took off and spent the time in Caffè Nero.

• Long-term, or rather, for any period longer than three hours, you would basically have to pen them into a smaller space, otherwise you would go mad. That's fine, it's not dangerous, but again, it's not very Ofsted. You can't keep kids in a single room for a whole day with no fresh air. Those are battery conditions. • Twins poo at the same time, who knew? But you have to prioritise the toddlers who are using a loo, as they seem to have some autosuggestion and need to go as soon as they smell anything that reminds them of a loo. Building in some time to lose track of what you were doing, I'd put this job at an hour, from poo-alert to the second twin getting a fresh nappy. I don't even know where Ofsted stands on this, but I don't think they would give me a medal. • I want to put you through this in real time, but I've got to pick peas out of the weave of my carpet. This is, on mature consideration, and with no offence meant, the worst idea a person in government has ever had.

How does the sentence, ‘So in the interests of public policy research, I scored myself six toddlers between 9. 30 am and 1 pm’ (paragraph 4) form a link at this stage in the article? • Did anybody test-drive her theory for her, even in its planning stage? I do not think they did. • So in the interests of public policy research, I scored myself six toddlers between 9. 30 am and 1 pm. These are not standard nursery hours, so I cannot vouch for the poor humans who would have to do this professionally. I should note here that I don't have any childcare qualifications, though I do have maths and English GCSEs, and am educated to degree level. That didn't help.

How does the sentence, ‘On the subject of regulations, these require a carer to take the kids out at least once a day ’ (paragraph 8) form a link at this stage in the article? • Basically, the Ryan of a gang this size will get precisely no attention at all. He will just occasionally be handed a car. That might be fine. He might be a mini-version of those adults who like to read poetry at parties. But I think the authorities would expect him to have some interaction. • On the subject of regulations, they require a carer to take the kids out at least once a day. I want to make a complicated analogy about a horde of ferrets and a motorway, but actually, anybody who thinks an adult could take out six two-year-old children has simply never met a pre-verbal child. It would be the apex of irresponsibility. People would stop you in the street. I couldn't even get them all into the same room at the same time.

Tone • You will have to: 1. Identify a tone. 2. Quote words which create the tone. 3. Explain how the words that you have quoted create the tone.

How does the writer establish a tone of surprise in the second paragraph? • Long-term, or rather, for any period longer than three hours, you would basically have to pen them into a smaller space, otherwise you would go mad. That's fine, it's not dangerous, but again, it's not very Ofsted. You can't keep kids in a single room for a whole day with no fresh air. Those are battery conditions. • Twins poo at the same time, who knew? But you have to prioritise the toddlers who are using a loo, as they seem to have some autosuggestion and need to go as soon as they smell anything that reminds them of a loo. Building in some time to lose track of what you were doing, I'd put this job at an hour, from poo-alert to the second twin getting a fresh nappy. I don't even know where Ofsted stands on this, but I don't think they would give me a medal. • I want to put you through this in real time, but I've got to pick peas out of the weave of my carpet. This is, on mature consideration, and with no offence meant, the worst idea a person in government has ever had.

What is the tone of the final sentence and how is it made clear? • Long-term, or rather, for any period longer than three hours, you would basically have to pen them into a smaller space, otherwise you would go mad. That's fine, it's not dangerous, but again, it's not very Ofsted. You can't keep kids in a single room for a whole day with no fresh air. Those are battery conditions. • Twins poo at the same time, who knew? But you have to prioritise the toddlers who are using a loo, as they seem to have some autosuggestion and need to go as soon as they smell anything that reminds them of a loo. Building in some time to lose track of what you were doing, I'd put this job at an hour, from poo-alert to the second twin getting a fresh nappy. I don't even know where Ofsted stands on this, but I don't think they would give me a medal. • I want to put you through this in real time, but I've got to pick peas out of the weave of my carpet. This is, on mature consideration, and with no offence meant, the worst idea a person in government has ever had.