[0:00]Hello, and welcome to IGCSE Success. If you're new here, a big hello to you. I'm an English teacher and I post content here on YouTube to get students ready for their first language English exam.
[0:10]Firstly, I hope you are all well. I'm kind of in the middle of my holidays, so where possible I've tried to get some down time.
[0:18]However, in light of what is still happening around the world, it's been quite a strange one, I have to say.
[0:23]But I am back with a new video and I just really hope you are all keeping well. And again, thank you so much for your continued support.
[0:32]Your support really helped make my videos reach as many people as possible. And I've always said, your IGCSE years, they are a tough two years.
[0:44]And if I can use this channel to make that experience, that journey a little bit easier, then I'm doing something right with this channel.
[0:51]So without further ado, let's get on with today's video. So summarizing, why is it that students seem to inherently struggle when asked to summarize a piece of text?
[1:07]That's what I want to find out today. I do say inherently, certainly during my time teaching and delivering the first language course, it's the summary question that it's usually quite tricky for students.
[1:22]Some teachers, unfortunately, rather woefully just expect students to be able to summarize. But the reality is that summarizing, it's quite a difficult reading task.
[1:35]And there's certain steps that students need to be able to do in order to summarize successfully. So let's begin by looking at the nuts and bolts of what a summary actually is.
[1:46]Now, a summary put very simply is a shortened version of whatever text you have been presented with.
[1:53]And this shortened version that you are expected to produce includes the main ideas only.
[2:00]So as per the requirements of the first language English paper, you are expected to get around 10 points from the text in which you've been presented with.
[2:11]Then you need to reorganize or synthesize those ideas and produce a succinct summary.
[2:19]Now let's look at some of the difficulties students often face when they are presented with any summary writing task.
[2:27]I think it's important to acknowledge that when students are presented with their first summary writing task, it can often seem somewhat of a herculean task to remember all of the different steps that are required to be able to summarize effectively.
[2:44]And you know what? I can really understand why it can be quite intimidating when you are asked to summarize.
[2:53]You are presented with a large amount of information. You have to read this information. You have to understand this information.
[3:02]You then have to distill it to its most important parts. That's tricky. Of course, you then need to reorganize these important parts and then communicate them in a clear and concise way.
[3:14]And let's not forget that you are also expected to reword where appropriate the ideas which you have gathered.
[3:20]And this is certainly something which my students have struggled with in the past or under exam conditions, they often forget to do.
[3:31]I mean, lifting phrases from the text just seems to be this, this ongoing, this, this perennial problem.
[3:37]However, fear not, if you are a student watching this, you do have what it takes to be able to master how to summarize effectively.
[3:47]So that's enough of me waffling on. Let's get to the last part of the video. And in this last part, I'm going to be writing a short summary and discussing the steps that you need to be taking in order to write a successful summary. So let's get straight to it.
[4:04]Hi guys. So what you are looking at now is a completely fictitious question. Please do not go looking for it because you won't find it. I have just made it up for the purpose of today's video.
[4:17]However, we will read the question just I guess for the purpose of becoming familiar with the wording of the summary question which will be one F. So let's take a look.
[4:29]Read text B, The Rise of YouTube, in the insert and then answer question one F on this question paper. And question one reads, according to text B, what is the appeal of YouTube and what do people use the platform for?
[4:46]You must use continuous writing, not note form and use your own words as far as possible. Your summary should not be more than 120 words. And of course up to 10 marks are available for the content of your answer and up to five marks for the quality of your writing.
[5:07]So let's assume we've read the text, we've highlighted our 10 quotations. And as you can see on your screens now, I have listed these in chronological order.
[5:21]As you know, it's your job to reorganize these ideas appropriately. If you don't reorganize these ideas, you'll A, run out of words or B, you'll end up repeating yourself.
[5:35]You want to do what we call synthesize. So combining relevant ideas together and using appropriate complex sentence structures will certainly help you achieve that.
[5:50]Let's just start by reading over our 10 points quickly. So YouTube is a website that allows you to be yourself. People often strive to be able to make an income from YouTube.
[6:03]Vlogging allows users to document their everyday lives in a fun way. If you want a break from the stresses of life, YouTube can provide the best entertainment.
[6:13]There is also the educational aspect to YouTube, which makes it appealing. You can learn just about anything. Gaming channels are particularly popular channels.
[6:25]Many channels provide entertaining walkthroughs. Vlogging can allow you to express your creativity. A successful channel can be monetized.
[6:36]YouTube can particularly help young people with their studies. And the last one is, building relationships is one thing that draws people to YouTube.
[6:47]Now, just from me reading those 10 points out, hopefully you can see that we can certainly, um, group similar ideas together or synthesize ideas together.
[7:01]So guys, I want you to imagine you've got your paper in front of you. You've got 10 things highlighted. What you need to get into the habit of doing is numbering those 10 things.
[7:14]And that is the order that you are going to include those things in your summary and that's what I'm going to do now.
[7:20]So just looking at all 10, I think actually I am going to start with the first one, YouTube is a website that allows you to be yourself.
[7:33]And I think the idea of being able to be yourself can link quite nicely to vlogging and why people vlog.
[7:41]So I'm going to put that as number two, vlogging allows users to document their everyday lives in a fun way.
[7:50]And there is also another quotation which I've written about vlogging, and that is going to be number three. And I might also be inclined to include the aspect of building relationships as number four.
[8:10]That seems to be kind of, I guess, the odd one out. So for now, I'm going to put building relationships is one thing that draws people to YouTube as my fourth point.
[8:21]Now, I think for, well, the fifth thing I'm going to mention is the fact that YouTube can provide the best entertainment.
[8:35]Which I think will lead me nicely onto looking at gaming channels and how they can also be quite entertaining.
[8:47]We've got a couple of things about gaming. So we've got one here. So I'm going to put that as number six.
[8:55]I tell a lie, there's only one thing about gaming, but that's absolutely fine. I'm then going to look at the educational aspect.
[9:08]So let's put this quote as number seven. There is also the educational aspect to YouTube, which makes it appealing. You can learn just about anything.
[9:19]And there is also another quotation, YouTube can particularly help young people with their studies. So we can group those two together or combine them using a complex sentence. That's absolutely fine.
[9:32]And of course, our last two ideas, we can explore the appeal of potentially making money from YouTube.
[9:43]So that is the second quotation. People often strive to be able to make an income from YouTube. So that's going to be the ninth thing that I mentioned.
[9:55]And a successful channel can be monetized. So that's going to be the last thing that I mentioned in my summary.
[10:02]So what we've done there, guys, is group and I guess reorganize ideas appropriately. And this is what you want to do whenever you are doing the summary question.
[10:15]Whenever you are doing one F, you want to highlight your ideas and you want to number them in the order they are going to come in your summary.
[10:26]Now, just to speed things up a little bit, I'm going to type a summary now and then I'll show you guys and then I'll discuss, um, how I've managed to get to that point.
[10:38]So let's take a read of the summary I've just written. 119 words, guys. Gosh, that took a bit of work.
[10:46]One appeal of YouTube is that it provides a creative outlet for people to express themselves. Vlogging channels, in particular, allow people to share a piece of their lives with other users.
[10:57]Quite often, these videos are presented humorously, allowing one to show their creative side. In doing so, many users can form genuine relationships from the platform.
[11:11]YouTube is also used as a source of entertainment, with many users turning to gaming channels. These often provide amusing walkthroughs with commentary.
[11:22]Furthermore, YouTube can be used as an educational tool and can help students with their studies.
[11:29]Lastly, many users of YouTube aim to get their channel monetized, allowing them to make money from people watching their content.
[11:39]So what is important to note is that I've written my ideas in the order I previously numbered them.
[11:47]I've used complex sentences to group ideas together. Of course, I've synthesized ideas. I've used suitable discourse markers.
[11:56]And lastly, I presented my ideas in a clear and concise way. And that's all for me today, guys. Don't forget to like and subscribe, put your questions below, and I will see you very soon. Bye bye.
