A2+ · Strong elementaryReading 30 minutes

Reading: blog posts

Oxu: bloq yazıları

After this lesson you can

Can understand the main idea of a personal blog post about travel or daily life.
Can find specific details and the writer's opinion in an informal text.
Can recognise typical informal blog language (So, Anyway, To be honest).

Explanation

Reading blog posts

Blogs are informal personal texts. Look for: first person (I, we), contractions, chatty words (So, Anyway, To be honest) and questions to the reader.

Strategy:

Gist – read the title and the first and last paragraphs. What is it about? Is the writer positive or negative?
Detail – read the questions first, then find key words: names, numbers, days, places.
Opinion – notice words like amazing, disappointing, the best part was.

Watch the tenses: Present Perfect for experience, Past Simple for the story, going to for plans.

Guess new words from context before using a dictionary. The main idea of a paragraph is often in its first sentence.

Azərbaycan dilində ətraflı izah

Bloq yazısı nədir?

Bloq – adamın öz təcrübəsi və fikirləri haqqında internetdə yazdığı qeyri-rəsmi mətndir. Bloqlarda adətən:

birinci şəxs (I, we) işlənir;
danışıq dili var: So, Anyway, To be honest, Guess what?
qısaltmalar: I've, didn't, it's;
müəllif oxucuya müraciət edir: Have you ever...? Let me know in the comments!

Oxu strategiyası

1. Əsas fikir (gist): Əvvəlcə başlığa və birinci-sonuncu abzasa baxın. Özünüzdən soruşun: Bu yazı nə haqqındadır? Müəllif razıdır, ya narazı? İlk oxuda hər sözü başa düşməyə çalışmayın.

2. Detal: Sonra suallara baxın və mətndə açar sözləri axtarın: adlar, rəqəmlər, günlər, yerlər.

3. Müəllifin fikri: Fikir bildirən sözlərə diqqət edin: amazing, disappointing, I loved, I wasn't sure, the best part was, to be honest.

Zamanlara diqqət

Bloqlarda zamanlar tez-tez dəyişir:

Present Perfect – ümumi təcrübə: I've never been to the mountains before.
Past Simple – hekayənin özü: We arrived on Friday.
going to / will – gələcək planlar: Next time I'm going to stay longer.

Bağlayıcılar

First, Then, After that, In the end – hadisələrin ardıcıllığını göstərir. But, However – ziddiyyət. because, so – səbəb və nəticə.

Tanımadığınız sözlər

Sözü kontekstdən təxmin etməyə çalışın. Məsələn, We were exhausted after the six-hour walk – altı saatlıq gəzintidən sonra necə olarsınız? Çox yorğun. Lüğətə yalnız sonra baxın.

Azərbaycanlı oxucular üçün

İngilis mətnində əsas fikir çox vaxt abzasın birinci cümləsində olur. Bu, oxunu sürətləndirir.

Examples

To be honest, I wasn't sure about this trip at first.
Düzünü desəm, əvvəlcə bu səfərə əmin deyildim.
Guess what? The hotel gave us a free upgrade!
Təsəvvür edin! Otel bizə pulsuz daha yaxşı otaq verdi!
The best part of the day was the view from the top.
Günün ən gözəl anı zirvədən görünən mənzərə idi.
Anyway, let's get back to the story.
Hər halda, gəlin hekayəyə qayıdaq.
Have you ever been somewhere without internet? Let me know in the comments!
Heç internetsiz bir yerdə olmusunuz? Şərhlərdə yazın!
In the end, it was one of the best weekends of my life.
Sonda bu, həyatımın ən yaxşı həftə sonlarından biri oldu.

Reading text: Two Days Without Wi-Fi in Xınalıq

Hi everyone! It's been a busy month, so sorry for the late post. Today I want to tell you about my weekend in Xınalıq, a tiny village high in the mountains of northern Azerbaijan. To be honest, I wasn't sure about this trip at first. My friend Nigar planned everything, and she told me there was almost no phone signal in the village. I'm a person who checks her phone every five minutes, so I was a bit worried! We left Baku early on Saturday morning and drove to Quba. The road after Quba was narrow and full of turns, and the trip took almost two more hours. When we finally arrived, the air was cold and fresh, and the view was amazing. Grey stone houses stood on the hill, one above the other. We stayed in a small guesthouse with a local family. The owner, Aunt Gülnarə, cooked for us every evening. Her soup with fresh herbs was the best part of the trip for me. On Sunday we followed a mountain path for about four hours. We were exhausted when we came back, but very happy. And the phone? I didn't use it for two whole days, and guess what? I didn't miss it at all. I read a book, talked to people, and slept like a baby. The only disappointing thing was the weather on the last morning: thick fog, so we couldn't see the mountains. Anyway, I highly recommend Xınalıq. Next time I'm going to stay longer. Have you ever had a holiday without the internet? Let me know in the comments!

Common mistakes

Reading every word slowly and translating each sentence the first time.
Reading quickly first for the main idea, then reading again for details.
İlk oxuda ümumi fikri tutun; hər sözü tərcümə etmək vaxt aparır və əsas fikri itirməyə səbəb olur.
Choosing an answer because the same word appears in the text.
Checking that the meaning of the sentence matches the answer.
Testlərdə eyni söz tələ ola bilər. Cümlənin mənasını yoxlayın.
Thinking 'I wasn't sure about it' means the writer didn't like it.
Reading on to see if the writer changed their opinion.
Bloqlarda müəlliflər tez-tez əvvəlki fikirlərini dəyişir; sonuncu abzası diqqətlə oxuyun.

Vocabulary

disappointing adjective: not as good as you hopedməyusedici“The food was a bit disappointing.”
exhausted adjective: extremely tiredəldən düşmüş, çox yorğun“We were exhausted because we had been hiking since dawn.”
guesthouse noun: a small hotel, often in a private houseqonaq evi“We stayed in a small guesthouse in the village.”
path noun: a narrow way for walkingcığır, yol“We followed a path through the forest.”
post noun: a piece of writing on a blog or social mediayazı, paylaşım“I wrote a new post about my trip.”
recommend verb: to suggest that something is goodtövsiyə etmək“The restaurant that you recommended was excellent.”
signal noun: the connection a phone needs to worksiqnal (telefon)“There was no phone signal in the mountains.”
view noun: what you can see from a placemənzərə“The view from our room was amazing.”