You already do this every day. You skim a bus app, scan a text for a time, and slow down when money or a form is involved. Today you name those three moves: skimming, scanning and close reading.
You will practise on short everyday Irish texts modelled on real services (an appointment message, a Revenue note, a travel-card notice) and leave with a Reading Strategies Worksheet for your Communication Portfolio.
Three tools. Match the tool to the job.
| Term | Use when |
|---|---|
| Skimming | You need the gist in seconds: what is this, and do I need it? |
| Scanning | You already know the one detail you want (date, price, name, stop) |
| Close reading | A missed line could cost you money, time or a place |
Worked example (class-use BusConnects-style notice, Dublin corridor):
Route 14 diverted via O'Connell Street this Saturday 08:00-18:00 due to match day. Next bus from stop 2041 at 09:12. Check the app for live times.
Skim: bus diversion on Saturday. Scan: stop 2041, 09:12. Close read: full-day diversion; live times only on the app, so the printed time may already be wrong.
Mark the appointment message in the activity. Tag at least four useful spans (who sent it, when or where, action needed, key fact, or can skip for now), and write one short sentence on what each span tells a busy reader.
This is practice for the worksheet you will build next. Keep your marks tight: the four words you would still need if this flashed up on a packed bus.
What does this message actually need from you?
This is your Portfolio Build: one Reading Strategies Worksheet covering three everyday texts.
1. Revenue message (Text 2). Mark the spans that matter in the activity (same labels as before). Use those marks to fill Text 2 on the worksheet: strategy, key information in your own words, next action.
2. HSE appointment (Text 1). Use your marks from Mark It Up to complete the Text 1 row.
3. Leap notice (Text 3). Read the notice below, choose a strategy, extract key facts, write the next action.
TFI Leap (invented for class use, modelled on student Leap wording): Your student Leap card ending 4821 expires on 31 August. Renew online at leapcard.ie before that date or pay adult fare from 1 September. Top-up and helpdesk details are on the site.
In class: finish Texts 1 and 2 fully. If time runs short, complete Text 3 and the folder line as homework before you file.
File as m1_l3_reading_strategies_<your-initials>.docx (or a page in your folder). Complete all three rows before you file.
What does this Revenue message need from you?
Talk this through with the person beside you (or note it for your journal later):
- Which of today's three texts would be most expensive to misread, and why?
- When a long school or work email lands tonight, will you skim, scan or close-read first?
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