How to use this pack: These exercises are designed to complement - not replace - the exercises already in Reading Explorer 2. The book covers gist comprehension, vocabulary matching, reference questions, main idea identification, and sentence completion. This pack extends the lesson into grammar awareness, deeper critical thinking, listening skills, and productive language use.
The Big Picture: This sequence follows a receptive-to-productive progression: Reading → Grammar → Listening → Speaking → Writing.
Learners first encounter language through input, then notice and analyse form, process the same content through another receptive channel, and finally produce language in speech and writing. This reflects a deliberate input-to-intake-to-output pathway, with clear influence from the Input Hypothesis and the Noticing Hypothesis.
These target skills the book exercises do not fully address: inference, text organisation, and evaluating the writer's purpose.
Exercise 1.1 - Writer's Purpose (Inference)
Design Commentary
This task adds a scaffold before evaluation. Learners first identify what kind of claim they are reading: fact, opinion, or reported statement.
The sequence is identify → analyse → evaluate. It aligns with Bloom's revised taxonomy and helps learners avoid superficial agreement responses. Item 4 ("It's obvious that...") is a deliberate trap to test whether students truly understand the distinction.
Read the statements below. For each one, decide: is the writer stating a fact (F), giving an opinion (O), or reporting what someone else says (R)?
#
Statement
F / O / R
1
"Many scientists believe our love of sugar may actually be an addiction."
2
"One-third of adults worldwide have high blood pressure."
3
"Sugar, we believe, is one of the culprits, if not the major culprit."
4
"It's obvious that we need to eat less sugar."
5
"The battle has not yet been lost."
Exercise 1.2 - Text Organisation
Design Commentary
Paragraph-function matching develops genre awareness and writing transfer at the same time.
At reading level, learners recognise rhetorical patterns in expository texts and predict content faster. At writing level, the same functions (introduce, explain, contrast, propose) become an internal template that supports clearer summaries and paragraph organisation later in Section 5.
e) Expert evidence linking sugar to serious illness
Exercise 1.3 - Reading Between the Lines
Design Commentary
This exercise shifts from literal comprehension to inferential comprehension.
Learners must construct implied meaning, not just locate explicit sentences. That distinction is critical for exam demands and for genuine critical reading. Question 3 is especially important because it asks students to detect implied criticism without direct negative wording.
Answer the following questions in your own words. You will not find the exact answers stated directly in the text - you need to think about what the writer implies.
In paragraph A, the writer compares sugar to a drug. Why do you think the writer chose this comparison instead of simply saying "sugar is unhealthy"?
In paragraph C, the text says: "So the very thing that once saved us may now be killing us." What "saved us" in the past, and how is the same thing "killing us" now?
In paragraph D, the writer mentions that some foods "advertised as low in fat" actually contain a lot of sugar. What is the writer suggesting about food companies?
📝 Section 2 - Grammar Focus
Four grammar points drawn directly from the reading text, with guided discovery and practice.
Design Commentary
The Discovery Approach: Learners observe examples from the text and infer patterns before seeing formal rules.
This inductive design promotes deeper processing and stronger retention than rule-first teaching. It also reframes grammar as problem-solving, which is usually more motivating for learners aged 15-24.
Practice A → Practice B: controlled practice develops form accuracy first, then freer practice develops contextual choice and fluency.
This follows a skill acquisition path: declarative knowledge → proceduralisation → automatisation. Section 5 then forces transfer by requiring students to use the same structures in their own writing.
Practice A → Practice B 的递进：先用控制性练习保证形式准确，再用半开放任务训练语境选择与表达流利度。
L1 Transfer Notes: highlighting predictable Chinese-English interference helps teachers prioritise correction and prevention.
This is practical contrastive analysis in its weak form: not all errors come from L1, but L1 influence is strong enough to guide pre-emptive examples, boardwork, and explanations.
Look at these sentences from the text. The underlined parts use the passive voice. Notice who or what performs the action - is it mentioned?
"Our bodies are designed to survive on very little sugar."
"...foods that are advertised as low in fat."
"...large amounts of sugar are often added."
Answer these questions:
a) In sentence 1, who designed our bodies? Is this information important here?
b) In sentence 3, who adds the sugar? Why does the writer not say who?
c) Can you find the pattern? Passive = __________ + past participle.
Practice 1A - Form
Rewrite these sentences in the passive voice. Only include "by + agent" if the doer is important.
Food companies add sugar to many breakfast cereals. → Sugar ____________________________________________
Schools are replacing sugary desserts with fruit. → Sugary desserts ____________________________________
Doctors recommend that people cut down on sugar. → It ________________________________________________
Someone built new walking tracks for the community. → New walking tracks __________________________________
Practice 1B - Choose the Better Option
For each pair, decide which version (active or passive) sounds more natural in context. Circle A or B.
A: "They design our bodies to survive on very little sugar." B: "Our bodies are designed to survive on very little sugar."
A: "Sugar enters our blood and affects our brain." B: "Our blood is entered by sugar and our brain is affected."
A: "Many schools are replacing sugary desserts with fruit." B: "Sugary desserts are being replaced with fruit by many schools."
Grammar Point 2 - Present Simple for General Facts
Discovery
These sentences from the text describe things that are generally true - not things happening right now. Notice the verb forms.
"When we eat or drink sugary foods, the sugar enters our blood."
"All tasty foods do this, but sugar has a particularly strong effect."
"One-third of adults worldwide have high blood pressure."
Answer:
a) Are these sentences about a specific moment, or about things that are always or usually true?
b) What verb tense is used?
c) Complete the rule: We use the _____________ to talk about facts, habits, and things that are generally true.
Practice 2A - Error Correction
Each sentence below contains one mistake related to the present simple. Find and correct it.
Sugar enter our blood very quickly.
Many scientist believes that sugar is addictive.
Our body are designed to store fat efficiently.
The school replace sugary desserts every year since 2020.
He don't eat sugar because his doctor recommended it.
Practice 2B - Gap Fill (from context)
Complete these sentences with the correct present simple form of the verb in brackets.
Sugar __________ (affect) the parts of our brain that __________ (make) us feel good.
It __________ (seem) like every illness __________ (lead) back to sugar.
Today, most people __________ (have) more than enough food, but their bodies still __________ (store) sugar as fat.
Some manufacturers __________ (use) sugar to replace taste in low-fat foods.
Grammar Point 3 - Relative Clauses with "that"
Discovery
Look at these noun phrases from the text. The highlighted parts give extra information about the noun.
"the parts of our brain that make us feel good"
"a drug, one that doctors recommend we all cut down on"
"foods that are advertised as low in fat"
Answer:
a) What word introduces the extra information in all three examples?
b) In sentence 1, what does "that" refer to? In sentence 3?
c) Could you remove the "that" clause and still have a complete sentence?
Practice 3A - Combine the Sentences
Join each pair of sentences into one sentence using a relative clause with "that".
Example: Sugar is a substance. It affects our brain. → Sugar is a substance that affects our brain.
Breakfast cereals are foods. They often contain hidden sugar.
Richard Johnson is a scientist. He studies the link between sugar and disease.
Walking tracks are facilities. They encourage people to exercise.
The good feeling goes away. It comes from eating sugar.
Practice 3B - Complete the Relative Clause
Add a relative clause beginning with "that" to complete each sentence in a way that makes sense.
Schools need teachers __________________________________.
Sugar is a substance __________________________________.
People need foods __________________________________.
Diabetes is a disease __________________________________.
Grammar Point 4 - Phrasal Verbs in Context
Discovery
The text contains several phrasal verbs - verbs made of two or three words that have a meaning different from the individual words. Find them in the text:
"doctors recommend we all cut down on" (paragraph A) → meaning: __________
"I find my way back to sugar" (paragraph B) → meaning: __________
"people are fighting back against sugar" (paragraph E) → meaning: __________
Practice 4A - Meaning Match
Match each phrasal verb on the left with its meaning on the right.
Phrasal Verb
Meaning
1. cut down on
a) to resist or oppose something
2. fight back against
b) to return to something (often unintentionally)
3. find one's way back to
c) to reduce the amount of something
4. end up with
d) to have as a final result (not planned)
5. give up
e) to stop doing or having something completely
Practice 4B - Gap Fill
Complete each sentence with the correct form of a phrasal verb from the box.
cut down on · fight back against · find one's way back to · give up · end up with
I tried to stop eating chocolate, but I always __________________ it.
Many people want to __________________ sugar, but they find it very hard to stop completely.
If you do not __________________ sugary drinks, you might __________________ serious health problems.
Communities are __________________ unhealthy food by demanding better options in schools.
🎧 Section 3 - Listening Skills
These exercises are designed to be used with a TTS (text-to-speech) audio version of the reading passage. Play the audio at natural speed.
Audio Preparation: Generate a TTS recording of paragraphs A-E at natural reading speed. Recommended voice: a clear, neutral British or American English accent. Suggested tools: Edge TTS, Google TTS, or similar.
Exercise 3.1 - Listen for Numbers and Data
Listen to the full passage once. Write down every number or piece of data you hear.
What I heard
What it refers to
Check: You should have found at least 3 data points.
Exercise 3.2 - Listen and Sequence
Listen again. Number these events in the order the speaker describes them (1-6).
Order
Event
Some schools are building walking tracks.
Early humans had very little food.
Sugar enters our blood and affects our brain.
One-third of adults have high blood pressure.
Food companies add sugar to "low-fat" foods.
The good feeling from sugar goes away.
Exercise 3.3 - Dictation Gap Fill
Design Commentary
Dictation gap-fill is used here as an integrative listening task, not as old-style mechanical transcription.
It simultaneously trains decoding, grammar processing, spelling, and short-term memory. For learners who read well but struggle to recognise known words in connected speech, this task directly targets that bottleneck.
Listen to paragraph C carefully. Fill in the missing words.
"Our bodies are designed to survive on very __________ sugar. Early humans often had very little __________, so our bodies learned to be very __________ in storing sugar as __________. In this way, we had __________ stored for when there was no food. But today, most people have __________ than enough. So the very thing that once __________ us may now be __________ us."
🗣️ Section 4 - Speaking Activities
Exercise 4.1 - Think-Pair-Share: The Sugar Debate
Design Commentary
The three-stage flow (think → pair → share) is deliberate. It gives processing time, lowers speaking anxiety, and ensures accountable interaction.
The final reporting step asks learners to present their partner's opinion, which checks listening quality and naturally practices reporting language instead of isolated speaking turns.
Stage 1 (Think - 2 minutes): Read this statement silently:
"Schools should ban all sugary food and drinks completely."
Do you agree or disagree? Write 2-3 reasons for your position.
Stage 2 (Pair - 4 minutes): Work with a partner. Share your reasons. Your partner must listen and ask at least one follow-up question.
Stage 3 (Share - 5 minutes): Tell the class your partner's opinion (not your own). Use these sentence starters:
"My partner believes that... because..."
"One interesting point they made was..."
"I agree or disagree with them on... because..."
Language Support: If learners struggle, write these prompts on the board: "I think... because..." / "On the other hand..." / "The text says that..., which supports the idea that..."
Exercise 4.2 - Information Gap: Sugar Content Challenge
Design Commentary
Information-gap design creates genuine communicative need. Student A and Student B must ask and answer to complete the task.
Unlike open discussion prompts, this task requires real questions, real listening, and real information transfer. Comparative structures also appear naturally as incidental grammar practice.
Preparation: Teacher prepares two cards (A and B) with different food items and their sugar content. Each student has information the other lacks.
Student A knows: the sugar content of Coca-Cola, yoghurt, and ketchup. Student B knows: the sugar content of orange juice, breakfast cereal, and a granola bar.
Task: Ask your partner questions to complete your card.
"How much sugar is there in...?"
"Does ... contain more sugar than...?"
"Which one has the most or least sugar?"
Follow-up: Together, rank all six items from most to least sugar. Were you surprised?
✍️ Section 5 - Writing Tasks
Design Commentary
The two writing tasks intentionally use different scaffolding levels.
Task 5.1 supports learners who need structure to organise ideas, while Task 5.2 gives higher-proficiency learners room for independent composition. Both tasks still require recycled grammar, so differentiation does not break curricular alignment.
Write a summary of the text "Sweet Love" in 60-80 words. Use the structure below to help you.
Sentence 1 (Main topic): The text is about... Sentence 2 (Problem): According to scientists, sugar... Sentence 3 (Cause): This is because our bodies... Sentence 4 (Difficulty): However, it is difficult to avoid sugar because... Sentence 5 (Solution): Some schools are trying to...
Exercise 5.2 - Paragraph Writing: Your Own "Sweet Love"
Write a paragraph (80-100 words) answering this question:
"What is one food or drink that you know is unhealthy but you cannot stop having? Why do you think it is so hard to give up?"
Use at least THREE of these language items from today's lesson:
One passive voice sentence
One relative clause with "that"
One phrasal verb (cut down on / give up / fight back against)
Model opening (if needed): "One thing I find very hard to give up is ___. Even though I know it is not good for my health, I keep coming back to it because..."
💡 The Recurring Thread
Design Commentary
This pack uses recycling (spiral learning) across sections. Key language appears in reading, grammar, listening, speaking, and writing instead of staying in one isolated activity.
Repeated retrieval across skills and modalities improves retention and transfer. Each section links forward and backward, so the pack functions as a coherent learning system rather than a set of disconnected tasks.
"Many scientists believe..." - the writer reports others' views.
2
F (Fact)
A specific statistic with no hedging language.
3
R (Reporting)
Direct quote from Richard Johnson.
4
O (Opinion)
"It's obvious" is a judgment, and not everyone may agree.
5
O (Opinion)
"The battle" is a metaphor reflecting the writer's optimistic stance.
Exercise 1.2 - Text Organisation
Paragraph
Function
A
b
B
e
C
d
D
c
E
a
Exercise 1.3 - Reading Between the Lines (Suggested Answers)
By comparing sugar to a drug, the writer emphasises that sugar is not just "a bit unhealthy". It is genuinely addictive and changes the way our brain works, just like a drug does. This makes the problem sound more serious and urgent.
In the past, storing sugar as fat helped early humans survive periods without food. Today, because food is abundant, the same fat-storing mechanism causes obesity and related diseases.
The writer implies that food companies are dishonest. They make products seem healthy by labelling them "low in fat," but they add large amounts of sugar to maintain taste.
Section 2
Practice 1A
Sugar is added to many breakfast cereals (by food companies).
Sugary desserts are being replaced with fruit (by schools).
It is recommended that people cut down on sugar.
New walking tracks were built for the community.
Practice 1B
1-B, 2-A, 3-A
Practice 2A
enter → enters
scientist → scientists; believes → believe
body → bodies; are → is (or: "Our bodies are designed...")
replace → replaces; "since 2020" requires present perfect: has replaced
don't → doesn't
Practice 2B
affects, make
seems, leads
have, store
use
Practice 3A
Breakfast cereals are foods that often contain hidden sugar.
Richard Johnson is a scientist that studies the link between sugar and disease.
Walking tracks are facilities that encourage people to exercise.
The good feeling that comes from eating sugar goes away.
Practice 4A
1-c, 2-a, 3-b, 4-d, 5-e
Practice 4B
find my way back to
give up
cut down on... end up with
fighting back against
Section 3
Exercise 3.1
one-third / 347 million / (implied: zero or very little - "very little sugar")