The Holland Tunnel

The Holland Tunnel

Auto-markingPencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Further Resources
This task is about adding words to a text so that it makes sense.
 
illustration: holland tunnel
 
The following piece of writing has some spaces where words are missing.
 
First, read the whole piece of writing through to get an idea of what it is about. Then fill each space with ONE word so that the whole piece of writing makes sense. You are able to change answers as you go.
 
When you have filled in all the spaces, re-read the text to check that the whole piece of writing makes sense.

Question 1Change answer

Holland tunnel
 
Once drivers enter the Holland Tunnel under the Hudson River in New York they are under strict control. They are not allowed to 1 tyres, do repairs, smoke, move 2 of line, blow their horns, 3 thirty-five miles an hour, or 4 the engine during a halt. 5 they run out of petrol 6 have a breakdown they will 7 fined. A staff of two  8 traffic police is employed to 9 sure that these regulations are  10. They see that all cars 11 steadily forward along the twenty-foot  12 roadway. Each officer stands within 13 of the next and behind  14 of them is a fire 15 and telephone. All are also 16 motor mechanics and firefighters. The 17 sitting at the main control 18 of the tunnel building can 19 at a glance if the 20 is streaming smoothly through the 21 and if the air contains 22 levels of carbon monoxide and  23 toxic gases emitted by the 24 of the thousands of vehicles  25 the tunnel every day.
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper or online (without auto-marking).
Copyright: 
illustration: holland tunnel
Image: Wikipedia (public domain)
Level:
5
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Using language, symbols, and texts
Keywords: 
cloze, comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, text features
Description of task: 
This resource comprises a report on the control of traffic in the Holland Tunnel in New York presented as a cloze exercise. Students use comprehension skills to complete the gaps with their own vocabulary.
Curriculum Links: 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • use comprehension strategies
  • monitor their reading for accuracy and sense
as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Making sense of text: processing system, sets 6-7
Making sense of text: vocabulary knowledge, sets 7-9
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
1.     change/replace/repair/fix/check
2.     out
3.     exceed
4.     stop/cut/stall/rev
5.     If
6.     or
7.     be
8.     dozen/hundred
9.     make
10.   obeyed/met/kept/followed/enforced/upheld
11.   move/go/drive/travel
12.   wide/broad
13.   view/sight/metres
14.   each/all
15.   alarm/extinguisher/hose/hydrant
16.   trained/qualified/experienced/expert/skilled
17.   officer(s)/person(s)/people/operator(s)/controller(s)/staff/manager(s)
18.   panel/desk/system/centre/tower/room
19.   see/tell/observe/check/know
20.   traffic/flow
21.   tunnel
22.   high/dangerous/lethal/excessive/harmful
23.   other
24.   exhausts/mufflers/engines
25.   using/entering/in/utilising

Click here for more information on Interpreting Cloze Results
N.B. Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holder of the text used in this resource.