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B. Foundations of Language · Foundations: Speaking, Listening, Words and Fluency

Foundations: Speaking, Listening, Words and Fluency: Unit Review

A1.1 A1.2 A3.1 A3.2 B1.1 B1.2 B1.3 B1.4 B1.5 B2.1 B2.2 B2.3About 40 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can listen with open-ended questions and reflecting, and evaluate my listening.
  • I can identify claims and relevant evidence and seek clarification.
  • I can analyze purpose, audience and context, and adapt my speaking and delivery.
  • I can speak with domain-specific words in cohesive, coherent sentences.
  • I can use Grade 8 prefixes, word families and roots to read and spell complex words.
  • I can learn subject vocabulary, pin down meanings, and read complex texts fluently and aloud with purpose.

Words to know

open-ended question
A question that invites explanation, not a one-word answer.
relevant evidence
Evidence that directly supports the claim.
ethos, logos, pathos
Appeals to credibility, logic and feelings.
congruent
Words, voice and body sending the same message.
cohesive
Sentences linked smoothly to each other.
morpheme
A meaningful word part: a base, root, prefix or suffix.
contronym
A word that can mean two opposite things.
gear-shifting
Changing reading pace within one text.
intonation
The rise and fall of your voice.

Let's review!

In this unit you grew as a listener, speaker and word expert. You asked open-ended questions, reflected ideas and feelings, and evaluated your own listening; listened for claims and relevant evidence; analyzed purpose, audience and context and used ethos, logos and pathos; evaluated and compared delivery across cultures; and spoke with domain-specific words in cohesive, coherent sentences. Then you read complex words with Grade 8 prefixes, word families that shift in sound and spelling, and Grade 8 Greek and Latin roots; learned high school academic words and collocations; chose the right dictionary sense and noticed loaded words and euphemisms; gear-shifted through complex texts; and read aloud with purposeful intonation and expression.

This review has a few questions from every lesson. Try each one, then press Show answer to check.

Listeneropen-ended questionsreflect ideas + feelingsclaim and evidenceseek clarificationSpeakerpurpose, audience, contextethos, logos, pathoscongruent deliverydomain-specific wordsWord expert + readerprefixes and rootsword families that shiftthe right dictionary sensegear-shifting, intonation
The whole unit on one page: you grew as a listener, a speaker and a word expert and reader.

Listening That Goes Deeper: Open-Ended Questions, Reflecting and Evaluating Your Skills

1

Rewrite as an open-ended question: "Did you like the trip?"

2

Reflect the idea and feeling: "I practised all week and still didn't make the team."

3

Name two criteria for evaluating your own listening.

Listening for Evidence: Claims, Support, Non-Verbal Clues and Clarification

1

What is the difference between a claim and evidence?

2

Why is one anecdote weak evidence for a general claim?

3

Write a clarifying question for a podcast you can't ask directly. How could you find the answer?

Speaking for Real Audiences: Analyze, Select and Adapt Your Strategies

1

Name the three things to analyze before speaking.

2

Ethos, logos or pathos? "I've coached this team for five years."

3

Your audience looks confused. Give one way to adapt.

Evaluating Delivery: Comparing Oral and Non-Verbal Strategies Across Cultures

1

What does congruent delivery mean?

2

Name the four criteria for evaluating delivery.

3

Why should you avoid assuming what a gesture means because of someone's background?

Speaking Like an Expert: Domain-Specific Words and Cohesive, Coherent Sentences

1

What should you do the first time you use a technical word with a general audience?

2

Link with given-to-new: The plant adds chemicals. Clumps form.

3

Cohesive or coherent: the whole talk has one main idea in a logical order?

Prefixes for Grade 8: Without, Away, Both, Through, Upon, Below, Change, Beside and Around

1

What does peri- mean? Give a math word.

2

Explain amphibian with its parts.

3

Is parachute a para- (beside) word?

Word Families That Shift: How Suffixes Change Sound, Stress and Spelling

1

Mark the stress: athlete, athletic.

2

Spell the noun of pronounce.

3

Which related word helps you spell the silent letter in autumn?

1. The stress movesATH-lete → ath-LET-ic2. A vowel sound changesnation → national3. A consonant sound changeselectric (k) → electricity (s)4. The spelling changesdecide → decision
The four ways a word family can shift when you add a suffix. Spot the family first, then adjust the sound or spelling.

Greek and Latin Roots for Grade 8: Believe, True, Carry, Put, Step, Bend, Join, Move, Flow and More

1

Which root means believe? Give a word.

2

Emigrate or immigrate: moving into a new country?

3

Peel inflexible.

Words for Every Subject: High School Academic Words, Shifting Meanings and Words That Go Together

1

What does synthesize ask you to do?

2

Give the science and geography meanings of density.

3

Complete the collocation: ___ an experiment.

Pinning Down Meaning: Context, Word Parts, the Dictionary and Shades of Meaning

1

What is a contronym? Give one.

2

Give a neutral word for the euphemism pre-owned.

3

How do you choose the right dictionary sense?

Reading Complex Texts Fluently: Gear-Shifting, Accuracy and Fix-Up Strategies

1

What is gear-shifting?

2

Read aloud in words: 4.2 × 10⁵.

3

You can't retell what you just read. What's your first fix-up strategy?

Reading Aloud with Purpose: Intonation, Expression, Speeches, Poems and Scenes

1

Rise or fall at the end: Where is the arena?

2

How do you read the last item in a list?

3

How should a poem with enjambment be read?

Just for fun

**Why did the prefix anti- skip the unit party?**

Because it's against everything.

How to use this review

Try every question before you look at the answer. Put a check mark beside the ones you got right and a star beside the ones you missed. For each star, go back to that lesson (its title is on the question group) and reread the explanation and worked example. Then take the quiz. If you miss a quiz question, the parent notes show which lesson to revisit.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which is an open-ended question?

2.

Which is the most relevant evidence that a park needs more benches?

3.

"Imagine a child shivering at a bus stop with no shelter." This mostly uses...

4.

A speaker smiles while describing a sad event. This fails which criterion?

5.

Which transition shows cause and effect?

6.

Diameter means a line...

7.

Which word is in the root family meaning flow?

8.

In science, pressure means...

9.

The council sanctioned the new skate park, so construction began. Sanctioned means...

10.

Which reading choice fits presenting research findings?

For parents and teachers

Which lesson to revisit:

  • Closed questions, weak reflecting or off-topic responses (quiz 1) → Listening That Goes Deeper: Open-Ended Questions, Reflecting and Evaluating Your Skills.
  • Trouble telling strong from weak evidence (quiz 2) → Listening for Evidence: Claims, Support, Non-Verbal Clues and Clarification.
  • Mixing up ethos, logos and pathos, or one talk for every audience (quiz 3) → Speaking for Real Audiences: Analyze, Select and Adapt Your Strategies.
  • Vague evaluations of delivery or stereotyping (quiz 4) → Evaluating Delivery: Comparing Oral and Non-Verbal Strategies Across Cultures.
  • Missing transitions, unclear references or undefined technical words (quiz 5) → Speaking Like an Expert: Domain-Specific Words and Cohesive, Coherent Sentences.
  • Errors with a-/an-, ab-, ambi-/amphi-, dia-, epi-, infra-, meta-, para-, peri- (quiz 6) → Prefixes for Grade 8: Without, Away, Both, Through, Upon, Below, Change, Beside and Around.
  • Mispronouncing or misspelling long family words (photography, pronunciation) → Word Families That Shift: How Suffixes Change Sound, Stress and Spelling.
  • Errors with cred, ver, fer, mort, pon/pos, gress, flect, junct, migr, flu, lingu, psych, corp, fin (quiz 7) → Greek and Latin Roots for Grade 8: Believe, True, Carry, Put, Step, Bend, Join, Move, Flow and More.
  • Using an everyday meaning in a subject context, or misreading assignment verbs (quiz 8) → Words for Every Subject: High School Academic Words, Shifting Meanings and Words That Go Together.
  • Choosing the wrong dictionary sense or missing loaded words (quiz 9) → Pinning Down Meaning: Context, Word Parts, the Dictionary and Shades of Meaning.
  • Reading everything at one speed or misreading numbers → Reading Complex Texts Fluently: Gear-Shifting, Accuracy and Fix-Up Strategies.
  • Flat or mismatched expression when reading aloud (quiz 10) → Reading Aloud with Purpose: Intonation, Expression, Speeches, Poems and Scenes.

Keep the review relaxed: celebrate what your child knows, and revisit only one or two lessons at a time. Grammar, sentence structure, punctuation and handwriting/keyboarding are reviewed in the companion unit Foundations of Writing.