Table of Contents

Unit 1: Your Personality
READING 1
Right Brain, Left Brain
WRITING 1
SKILLS The Paragraph | Capitalization Rules | The Title
PRACTICE Writing about yourself
READING 2
Let’s Face It
WRITING 2
SKILLS Joining Compound Sentences with and, but, or or
PRACTICE Writing about another person

Unit 2: Food
READING 1
Live a Little: Eat Potatoes!
WRITING 1
SKILLS The Topic Sentence
PRACTICE Writing about food or drink
READING 2
Bugs, Rats, and Other Tasty Dishes
WRITING 2
SKILLS Supporting Sentences |Concluding Sentences
PRACTICE Writing about a special food

Unit 3: Celebrations and Special Days
READING 1
Tihar: Festival of Lights
WRITING 1
SKILLS Describing a Process |Punctuation: Comma (,) with Items in a Series
PRACTICE Writing about a special event
READING 2
Celebrating a Fifteenth Birthday
WRITING 2
SKILLS Main and Dependent Clauses |Writing a Dependent Clause with before or after
PRACTICE Writing about a celebration

Unit 4: Amazing People
READING 1
Barrington Irving’s Dream to Fly
WRITING 1
SKILLS Unity | Irrelevant Sentences
PRACTICE Writing about the qualities of a person or a pet
READING 2
The Fearless Fiennes
WRITING 2
SKILLS Introducing Examples
PRACTICE Writing about a person


Unit 5: Nature Attacks!
READING 1
Lightning
WRITING 1
SKILLS Writing a Narrative Paragraph with Time Words | The Comma (,) with Time and Place Expressions
PRACTICE Writing about a frightening experience
READING 2
Chasing Storms
WRITING 2
SKILLS Introducing Reasons with because
PRACTICE Writing about dangerous weather

Unit 6: Inventions
READING 1
The GoPro Camera
WRITING 1
SKILLS Introducing Effects with so and therefore
PRACTICE Writing about an invention
READING 2
Changing Living Things?
WRITING 2
SKILLS Giving an Opinion | Transitions Showing Addition
PRACTICE Writing about biotechnology

Unit 7: Customs and Traditions
READING 1
Flowers, Dishes, and Dresses
WRITING 1
SKILLS Comparing and Contrasting |Showing Contrast with however | Showing Similarity with similarly and likewise
PRACTICE Writing about wedding Customs
READING 2
What’s in a Name?
WRITING 2
SKILLS Writing Business Letters
PRACTICE Writing a business letter

Unit 8: Readings from Literature
READING 1
Months
WRITING 1
SKILLS Using Adjectives in Poems
PRACTICE Writing a poem
READING 2
Fate
WRITING 2
SKILLS Using Adjectives and Adverbs in Stories
PRACTICE Writing a folktale

About the Author

Milada Broukal has taught English for over thirty years in North America and Europe. She has worked in all areas of the field, including syllabus design, teacher training, classroom teaching, and has been Director of Study of her own school. She is the author of over 30 successful textbooks including the series Weaving it Together, The Thomson Heinle Test Preparation Assistant series, and the recently published Check it Out! series. Milada holds two Master's degrees.