Unit 4:
SPECIAL EDUCATION
A. READING B. SPEAKING C. LISTENING D. WRITING E. LANGUAGE FOCUS
A. READING
Read the passage and then do the tasks that follow.
Task 1: Match the words in A with their definition in B
1. disabled
2. mentally retarded

3. time-consuming

4. demonstration

5. gradually
taking a lot of time
an act of showing how to do something
unable to use a part of the body
slowly, over a period of time
less mentally developed than normal
Task 2: Complete the following sentences by circling A, B, C, or D.
Thuy’s class is different from other classes because the children ________.
are from large families
are less mentally developed
love Maths very much
are disabled
2. At first the parents were _______ the idea of sending their children to the special class.

Interested in
satisfied with
opposed to
worried about
3. It can be inferred from the second paragraph of the passage that has been ________.
a change in the parents’ attitude towards the class.
a lot of protests from the parents against the class.
a feeling of doubt in the teacher’s ability.
a belief in the parents’ opposition
4. The writer describes how Thuy teaches the children to add and subtract in order to prove that ________ .
the children like Maths
the teacher is proud of her work
the teaching work takes time
adding and subtracting are important
5. The writer’s attitude towards Thuy’s work in the passage can be described as _______.

humorous
angry
suspicious
admiring
Fill each of the blanks below with a suitable word from the reading passage.
Twenty-five(1) ________ children have the chance of learning how to (2) ________ and (3) _______ thanks to the (4) _______ of a young teacher, Pham Thu Thuy.
Although her idea, at first, met with (5) _______ from the parents of the disabled children, more children attended her class later. The teaching work in the special class is (6)_______ . For example, in a (7) ________ lesson, the teacher has to use her(8) ________ and (9) _________ to teach the children how to add and subtract. The children are now (10) _______ and happy.
disabled
read
write
efforts
opposition
time-consuming
maths
arms
fingers
proud