Oral Reading Fluency 29: "The Fame Game" - Build vocabulary and fluency!

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English  with Jennifer. Are you ready to work on  

oral reading fluency? The text I wrote for  you is short enough to read a few times.  

Follow my lead, and I'll help you read  clearly, naturally, and with expression.

Recent events in the news have once again  made me think about why we pay so much  

attention to famous people. They certainly  pay a price for their fame. Is it worth it?  

Only they can answer that question. By the way, I  have another reading on this topic. If you'd like,  

you can go back to practice text #4.  That reading is shorter and easier.  

All of my practice texts use high frequency  words -- the words that are most commonly  

used in English. But in this lesson,  I increased the level of difficulty.

Before we read, let's study some  vocabulary. When you learn a word,  

it's helpful to become familiar with the whole  word family. For example, if you learn a noun,  

is there also a verb and an adjective? Let's  see if you can recall different word forms.  

If you're popular, what do you enjoy?  What's the noun? It ends in -ity.

popularity - popularity - popularity

If you're rich, what do you  enjoy? What's the plural noun?

riches

If you want a report to be full of details, what  kind of report do you want? What's the adjective?  

It ends in -ed.

Detailed. You want a detailed report.

When you play a game, you want the game to be  fair. You want everyone to play by the rules,  

so how do you want to play?

What's the adverb?

A lot of adverbs end in -ly.

fairly

If you have sympathy, you understand people's  pain, so what kind of person are you?  

What's the adjective?

A common adjective ending is -ic.

sympathetic - sympathetic - sympathetic

If you're a private person, you don't  like to share a lot about yourself  

with others, so what do you value?

What's the noun?

It ends in -cy.

privacy - privacy - privacy

If something is made of gold, it's very valuable.  

Right? We can make an adjective from this word  by adding -en. So, what's the new word? Golden.

"Golden" can mean "valuable" or "special,"  like a golden opportunity. In the reading,  

I talk about a golden club. I'm referring  to a special group of highly popular people.

Sometimes you may know one word, and  it can help you recognize another.  

Do you know the word "variety?" Variety.  

It's a noun. Does it mean a lot of the  same things or a lot of different things?

Different. So, now guess what I mean  when I talk about various performers.

Different kinds of performers. "Various" is  the adjective. When you see or hear a new word,  

pay attention to how it's used. Often you  can learn common phrases, set phrases.  

We call them collocations. In  the reading, you'll see these:

gain fame, in exchange for, pay a price,

front row seats,

a detailed account,

thick skin. If you have thick  skin, then you don't let things,  

especially other people's words, hurt you  easily. The opposite of thick skin is thin skin.

Ups and downs. This can refer to success  and failure. Fall short. If someone falls  

short of something, then they almost  reach their goal, but then they fail.

I have just three more words  to show you. The first:  

applaud. At the end of a good  performance, we applaud. What do we do?

We all clap.

So-called. A so-called friend  who lies isn't really a friend.  

Right? We use "so-called" before another word  when that really isn't the right word to use.

And the last one: severe. Severe weather like a  tornado causes damage. So, what are severe words?  

Are they kind or harsh?

Harsh.

If there are other words or expressions  in the reading that are unfamiliar,  

do your best to guess from context.  We've covered enough vocabulary that  

I think you'll understand the  text quite well. Let's read.

First reading. Listen and read along silently.

"The Fame Game" Do you know about the fame  game? We all do. A person can gain fame,  

but they usually pay a price. They lose  privacy in exchange for popularity and riches.

Few people make it into the golden club --  singers, actors, and various other performers.  

Once they're in, they're sort of like  gods. We admire them, follow them,  

and learn all we can about them. But we're more  than curious. We demand front row seats to watch  

their so-called private lives. We welcome  detailed accounts of their ups and downs.

Do we treat the famous  fairly? We applaud their wins,  

yet we're always ready to make severe remarks  when they fall short of our moral standards.  

What is it really like to be famous? One  probably needs a lot of charm and very thick  

skin to handle fame. Should  we be more sympathetic or not?

Second reading. Listen and repeat.  Follow my stress and intonation.

Do you know about the fame game?

We all do.

A person can gain fame,

but they usually pay a price.

They lose privacy in exchange  for popularity and riches.

Few people make it into the golden club --

singers, actors, and various other performers.

Once they're in, they're sort of like gods.

We admire them, follow them,  and learn all we can about

them. But we're more than curious.

We demand front row seats to watch  their so-called private lives.

We welcome detailed accounts  of their ups and downs.

Do we treat the famous fairly?

We applaud their wins,

yet we're always ready to make severe remarks

when they fall short of our moral standards.

What is it really like to be famous?

One probably needs a lot of charm  and very thick skin to handle fame.

Should we be more sympathetic or not?

Third reading. Let's read together. We'll aim to  read slowly and smoothly by linking our words.

Do you know about the fame game?  We all do. A person can gain fame,  

but they usually pay a price. They lose privacy  in exchange for popularity and riches. Few people  

make it into the golden club -- singers, actors,  and various other performers. Once they're in,  

they're sort of like gods. We admire them,  follow them, and learn all we can about them.  

But we're more than curious. We demand front row  seats to watch their so-called private lives.  

We welcome detailed accounts of their  ups and downs. Do we treat the famous  

fairly? We applaud their wins, yet we're  always ready to make severe remarks  

when they fall short of our moral standards. What  is it really like to be famous? One probably needs  

a lot of charm and very thick skin to handle  fame. Should we be more sympathetic or not?

Fourth and final reading.  Let's read together again.  

We'll read at a natural pace.  Aim to read with expression.

"The Fame Game" Do you know about the fame  game? We all do. A person can gain fame,  

but they usually pay a price. They lose privacy  in exchange for popularity and riches. Few people  

make it into the golden club -- singers, actors,  and various other performers. Once they're in,  

they're sort of like gods. We admire them,  follow them, and learn all we can about them,  

but we're more than curious. We  demand front row seats to watch  

their so-called private lives. We welcome  detailed accounts of their ups and downs.  

Do we treat the famous  fairly? We applaud their wins,  

yet we're always ready to make severe remarks  when they fall short of our moral standards.  

What is it really like to be famous?  One probably needs a lot of charm  

and very thick skin to handle fame.  Should we be more sympathetic or not?

So, what do you think? Are we too severe when  we form our opinions about famous people?  

Should we be more sympathetic? You can  let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Remember to practice. Continue listening  and reading aloud. Follow my model. Record  

yourself on Day One. Practice for a week,  and then record yourself again on Day Seven.  

Do you hear progress? Do you feel more  confident? I hope so. That's all for now.  

Please remember to like and share the  video if you found the lesson useful.  

As always, thanks for watching and happy  studies! Follow me on Facebook, Twitter  

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