Compare each level and select the best option for you
Level 3
Example Sentences
- I usually eat rice with fish, but today I'm eating potatoes with fish.
- Paul and Annie don't like fish very much.
- Farmers work on weekends and holidays.
- We learned how to make pizza yesterday.
- It was too dry in California last year.
- I traveled to Ecuador in 2011.
- I was working in my yard when I heard my kids calling.
- I've traveled by plane many times.
- She hasn't been to Europe yet.
Example Questions
- Where does she work?
- What are we having for breakfast?
- What are important foods that everyone in your country eats?
- Has Aziza taken a placement test yet?
Example Reading
Meet Annie Griffiths, a National Geographic photographer. Griffiths has worked for National Geographic since 1978, and has taken pictures on almost every continent in the world. In fact, Antarctica is the only continent Griffiths hasn't seen yet.
Griffiths' photographs are well know for their beauty and high quality. They also reflect very different cultures and regions of the world. Griffiths has photographed the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, as well as the green landscapes of the Lake District in England. Her pictures have also appeared in a book about natural places in North America.
Everywhere that Griffiths goes, she takes pictures of people. Griffiths has found ways to connect with people of all ages and nationalities even when she does not speak their language. "The greatest privilege of my job is being allowed into people's lives," she has said. "The camera is like a passport, and I am often overwhelmed by how quickly people welcome me."
Knowing how to break the ice has helped to make Griffiths a successful photographer, but experts say that anyone can learn to connect with new people. When people speak the same language, greetings and small talk can make strangers feel more comfortable with each other. When people don't speak the same language, a smile is very helpful.
Griffiths has some advice if you are thinking about a career in photography. You can volunteer to take pictures for someone who can't afford to hire a professional photographer, for example, Griffiths also recommends studying and learning from good photos taken by professional photographers.
Remember, the next time you look at a beautiful photograph, you might be looking at the work of Annie Griffiths. And the next time you meet a new person, don't be afraid to break the ice. The connection you make could be very rewarding.
Questions About the Reading
Are the following statements true or false?
- Griffiths has never traveled to England.
- Griffiths has never traveled to Antarctica.
- Petra is a very old city in Jordan.
- Griffiths can only connect with English-speakers.
- Most people do not want Griffiths to take their picture.
- Volunteering is one way to begin a photography career.
Level 4
Example Sentences
- Sean has moved five times in his life, and he plans to move again next year.
- I didn't buy that car because I want to save money.
- We can't eat dinner until the roast finishes cooking.
- Saying new vocabulary words is a good way to remember them.
- I'm interested in becoming a doctor.
- Often, trees are removed to make room for farming.
- New trees are being planted by local children.
Example Questions
- Why do people move to new places?
- Why do you live where you live?
- What might make you want to move to a new place?
- Why are you learning English?
- Why did you decide to take this class?
- What do you think it would be like to grow up in a very cold place?
- Do you worry about climate change?
- What kinds of natural disasters can happen where you live?
- What equipment and supplies do people need to survive natural disasters?
Example Reading from Textbook
No one is sure how they did it or even why they did it, but over 3,000 years ago people sailed into the enormous emptiness of the Pacific Ocean in simple canoes. Within a few centuries, these people – now known as the Lapita – had migrated from the volcanoes of Papua New Guinea to the island of Tonga, at least 2,000 miles to the east. They explored millions of square miles of the Pacific, and they discovered and then inhabited dozens of tropical islands never before seen by human eyes: Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa.
There is much we do not know about the Lapita. Although their voyages began in the northern islands of Papua New Guinea, their language came from Taiwan, and their style of pottery decoration probably had its roots in the northern Philippines. So who were the Lapit? Did they come from a single point in Asia or from several different places?
Now, archaeologists Matthew Spriggs and Stuart Bedford of the Australian National University are working to answer these questions. A Lapita cemetery on the island of Efate in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu has revealed information about Lapita customs, and DNA from the ancient bones may help to answer questions about the Lapita people. “This represents the best opportunity we’ve had yet,” says Spriggs, “to find out who the Lapita actually were, where they came from, and who their closest descendants are today.”
But even if the archaeologists can answer these questions, we still won’t know how the Lapita sailed so far east against the trade winds, which normally blow from east to west. Atholl Anderson, professor of prehistory at the Australian National University, suggests that El Niño, the same warming of ocean water that affects the Pacific today, may have helped. Climate data obtained from slow-growing corals around the Pacific and from lake-bed sediments in the Andes of South America indicate a series of unusually frequent El Niños around the time of the Lapita expansion. By reversing the regular east-to-west flow of the trade winds for weeks at a time, these super El Niños might have carried the Lapita sailors on long, unplanned voyages far over the horizon.
However, they arrived on the islands, the Lapita came to stay. Their descendants have inhabited the region for thousands of years, and why not? They’re living in an island paradise that many of us only dream about.
Questions About the Reading
Comprehension Questions:
- When did the Lapita migration occur?
- Where did the Lapita voyages begin?
- How far into the Pacific did the Lapita people travel?
- What aspect of Lapita culture came from the Philippines?
- In which direction do the trade winds usually blow?
- How does El Niño affect the trade winds?