Two continents: a travel blog and inference
Read the travel blog on page 73 of your book (about two countries on two continents). Then read our own blog. A continent is a very large land area: Africa and Asia are continents, and Egypt is in Africa. A capital is the city where the government of a country is: Cairo is the capital of Egypt. A landmark is a place that is easy to recognise. Population is the number of people who live in a place. A tradition is a custom that people follow for a long time. Two reading skills: telling a fact from an opinion, and making an inference. A fact can be checked: The streets are narrow. An opinion is what someone thinks: The sea is the most beautiful place I know. Opinion signals are I think, in my opinion, beautiful, best. An inference is a smart guess from clues in the text: if a writer’s eyes were full of tears at the bus, we can infer she was sad to leave.
| Fact | Opinion | |
|---|---|---|
| Can it be checked? | Yes | No |
| Example | The streets are narrow. | The sea is the most beautiful place. |
| Signals | numbers, names, places | I think, in my opinion, best, beautiful |
Last summer I visited my aunt in Marsa Hadi, a small harbour town. It is quieter than my city, and its streets are narrow. Every morning the fishermen bring their fish to the market, and the whole town smells of salt. In my opinion, the sea there is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. One tradition is the Friday meal on the beach, when families bring food to share. The capital is far away, so the bus trip took five hours. On the last day, my aunt gave me a small shell as a souvenir. When I got on the bus, my eyes were full of tears and I did not want to go. I hope I will return next summer.
Fact detectives. Choose a short paragraph from a book or a magazine. Write three sentences: two facts and one opinion. Ask a grown-up to guess which one is the opinion, and to say what signals it.