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Pulp Friction: Timed Skimming Exercise Source: http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/570/pulp/hemp1.htm This exercise practises skimming — that means reading very fast to find only the main ideas of a text. You have a very short time to read the text and identify the main ideas. 0:01 Your score is: 59%. You have completed the exercise.

Pulp Friction Every second, one hectare of the world's rainforest is destroyed. That's equivalent to two football fields. An area the size of New York City is lost every day. In a year, that adds up to 31 million hectares -- more than the land area of Poland. This alarming rate of destruction has serious consequences for the environment; scientists estimate, for example, that 137 species of plant, insect or animal become extinct every day due to logging. In British Columbia, where, since 1990, thirteen rainforest valleys have been clearcut, 142 species of salmon have already become extinct, and the habitats of grizzly bears, wolves and many other creatures are threatened. Logging, however, provides jobs, profits, taxes for the govenment and cheap products of all kinds for consumers, so the government is reluctant to restrict or control it. Much of Canada's forestry production goes towards making pulp and paper. According to the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, Canada supplies 34% of the world's wood pulp and 49% of its newsprint paper. If these paper products could be produced in some other way, Canadian forests could be preserved. Recently, a possible alternative way of producing paper has been suggested by agriculturalists and environmentalists: a plant called hemp. Hemp has been cultivated by many cultures for thousands of years. It produces fibre which can be made into paper, fuel, oils, textiles, food, and rope. For centuries, it was essential to the economies of many countries because it was used to make the ropes and cables used on sailing ships; colonial expansion and the establishment of a worldwide trading network would not have been feasible without hemp. Nowadays, ships'

cables are usually made from wire or synthetic fibres, but scientists are now suggesting that the cultivation of hemp should be revived for the production of paper and pulp. According to its proponents, four times as much paper can be produced from land using hemp rather than trees, and many environmentalists believe that the large-scale cultivation of hemp could reduce the pressure on Canada's forests. However, there is a problem: hemp is illegal in many countries of the world. This plant, so useful for fibre, rope, oil, fuel and textiles, is a species of cannabis, related to the plant from which marijuana is produced. In the late 1930s, a movement to ban the drug marijuana began to gather force, resulting in the eventual banning of the cultivation not only of the plant used to produce the drug, but also of the commercial fibre-producing hemp plant. Although both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp in large quantities on their own land, any American growing the plant today would soon find himself in prison -- despite the fact that marijuana cannot be produced from the hemp plant, since it contains almost no THC (the active ingredient in the drug). In recent years, two major movements for legalization have been gathering strength. One group of activists believes that ALL cannabis should be legal -- both the hemp plant and the marijuana plant -- and that the use of the drug marijuana should not be an offense. They argue that marijuana is not dangerous or addictive, and that it is used by large numbers of people who are not criminals but productive members of society. They also point out that marijuana is less toxic than alcohol or tobacco. The other legalization movement is concerned only with the hemp plant used to produce fibre; this group wants to make it legal to cultivate the plant and sell the fibre for paper and pulp production. This second group has had a major triumph recently: in 1997, Canada legalized the farming of hemp for fibre. For the first time since 1938, hundreds of farmers are planting this crop, and soon we can expect to see pulp and paper produced from this new source.

1. The main idea of paragraph one is: A.

Scientists are worried about New York City.

B.

Logging is destroying the rainforests.

C.

?

Governments make money from logging.

D.

?

Salmon are an endangered species.

2. The main idea of paragraph two is: A. B.

Canadian forests are especially under threat. ?

C. D.

Hemp is a kind of plant. Canada is a major supplier of paper and pulp.

?

Canada produces a lot of hemp.

3. The main idea of paragraph three is: A. B.

Paper could be made from hemp instead of trees. ?

C. D.

Hemp is useful for fuel. Hemp has been cultivated throughout history.

?

Hemp is essential for building large ships.

4. The main idea of paragraph four is: A.

?

Hemp is used to produce drugs.

B.

?

Many famous people used to grow hemp.

C.

It is illegal to grow hemp.

D.

Hemp is useful for producing many things.

5. The main idea of paragraph five is: A.

Hemp should be illegal because it is dangerous.

B.

Recently, many people have been working to legalize hemp.

C. D.

?

Hemp was made illegal in 1938. Marijuana is not a dangerous drug.

Pulp Friction: Timed Scanning Exercise This exercise practises scanning -- that means reading very fast to find specific pieces of information. You have a very short time to scan the text and locate answers to the questions.

1. How many species of salmon have become extinct in BC? A.

27

B.

31

C.

137

D.

142

2. How much of the world's newsprint paper is supplied by Canada? A.

31%

B.

49%

C.

?

34%

D.

?

19%

3. What equipment on a ship was made from hemp? A.

?

ropes

B.

waterproof cloth

C.

engine fuel

D.

life rafts

4. What drug can be obtained from a relative of hemp? A.

cocaine

B.

heroin

C.

amphetamine

D.

?

marijuana

5. Where was hemp farming recently legalized? A.

?

B. C.

USA Canada

?

Singapore

D.

?

Netherlands

This is a multiple-choice reading exercise. You have 12 minutes to read the text and answer the questions. 1. How long does it take for 100 hectares of rainforest to be destroyed? A.

less than two minutes

B.

?

about an hour

C.

?

two hours

D.

?

a day

2. Why is pulp and paper production important to Canada? A.

Canada needs to find a way to use all its spare wood.

B.

Canada publishes a lot of newspapers and books.

C.

?

Pulp and paper export is a major source of income for Canada.

3. Who is suggesting that pulp and paper could be produced without cutting down trees? A.

the logging industry

B.

the government

C.

?

the environmental lobby

4. Why was the plant hemp essential to world-wide trade in the past? A.

Ships' ropes were made from it.

B.

?

Hemp was a very profitable export.

C.

?

Hemp was used as fuel for ships.

D.

?

Hemp was used as food for sailors.

5. Why do agriculturalists think that hemp would be better for paper production than trees?

A.

It is cheaper to grow hemp than to cut down trees.

B.

More paper can be produced from the same area of land.

C.

?

Hemp produces higher quality paper.

6. When was hemp production banned in Canada? A.

?

1930

B.

1960

C.

1996

D.

1938

7. Why was hemp banned? A. B.

It is related to the marijuana plant. ?

C. D.

It can be used to produce marijuana. It was no longer a useful crop.

?

It was destructive to the land.

8. What chemical ingredient of cannabis plants is a powerful drug? A.

Fibre

B.

Marijuana

C.

?

THC

9. True or false: Some activists believe that both marijuana and hemp should be legal. A. B.

True ?

False

10. True or false: Canada has just legalized marijuana. A. B.

True ?

False

Source: http://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2015/02/04/help-ielts-5-skimmingscanning/ Skimming is used for: 1) pre-reading the text for the overall meaning, and 2) when answering questions, to quickly check if you have located the correct part of a text once you have scanned for a key word or idea. An example of how this would work is with matching tasks where you have to match a person to a theory, for example. In the test you would: – scan the text quickly for the names of the different people and underline each one in the text. (NB the names often appear several times within a text) – skim read the text before and after each of the names you found to narrow down your options. (You should be able quite quickly to rule out at least a couple at this point based on the topic that each speaker is talking about and the information in the question you are answering.) – read in detail the parts of the text you are left with to make your final choice and answer the question.

Skimming Source: http://readingstrategies.wikidot.com/skimming

Description of Skimming Skimming is used to obtain the gist (the overall sense) of a piece of text. E.g. Use skimming to get the gist of a page of a textbook to decide whether it is useful and should therefore be read more slowly and in more detail.

How to Use It

(1)

Read

the

(2)

Look

at

(3)

title, the

Read

subtitles

and

illustrations

the

first

subheading

to

give

and

you last

to

find

out

further

what

information

sentence

of

the

text

about

is

about.

the

topic.

each

paragraph.

(4) Don't read every word or every sentence. Let you eyes skim over the text, taking in key words. (5) Continue to think about the meaning of the text.

When to Use It (1)

When

one

(2)

When

there

needs are

to

large

know amounts

the of

overall

sense

reading

and

or limited

the

main

time

to

ideas review

of it

a in

text. detail.

(3) When one is seeking specific information rather than reading for comprehension or pleasure. (4) When it is necessary to find out if it is a book should be read at all or in more detail. (5) When one needs to know if a text may be of interest in one’s research.

Scanning Source: http://readingstrategies.wikidot.com/scanning

Description of Scanning Scanning is a fast reading technique. It's a way of reading to look for specific information in a text. Scanning can be used to look up a phone number, read through the small ads in a newspaper, or for browsing TV schedules, timetables, lists, catalogues or web pages for information. For these tasks you don't need to read or understand every word.

Scanning is often confused with skimming, but is in fact a distinct reading strategy involving rapid but focused reading of text, in order to locate specific information, e.g. looking for particular details such as dates, names, or certain types of words. It is processing print at a high speed while looking for answers to specific questions. When you scan, you must begin with a specific question which has a specific answer. Scanning for information in this way should be both fast and accurate.

Types of materials appropriate for scanning:

  

Simple: lists, dictionaries, white pages, tables, signs, classified ads Less simple: yellow pages, reference works, tables of contents, indices (indexes), web pages Complex: continuous prose - documents, articles, books, long descriptions

How to use it 1. Start at the beginning of the passage. 2. Move your eyes quickly over the lines, looking for key words related to the information you want to find. 3. Stop scanning and begin reading as soon as you find any of the key words you're looking for.

When to use it 1. When one needs to find a particular or specific piece of information. 2. When one only needs to extract specific details from a text. 3. When studying or looking to find specific information from a book or article quickly as there is not always time to read every word. o For example:  The "What's on TV" section of your newspaper.  A train / airplane schedule  A conference guide

Tips 1. Don't try to read every word. Instead let your eyes move quickly across the page until you find what you are looking for. 2. Use clues on the page, such as headings and titles, to help you. 3. In a dictionary or phone book, use the 'header' words to help you scan. You can find these in bold type at the top of each page. 4. If you are reading for study, start by thinking up or writing down some questions that you want to answer. Doing this can focus your mind and help you find the facts or information that you need more easily. 5. Many texts use A-Z order. These include everyday materials such as the phone book and indexes to books and catalogues. 6. There are many ways to practise scanning skills. Try looking up a favourite recipe in the index of a cookbook, search for a plumber in your local Yellow Pages, or scan web pages on the Internet to find specific information.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/skimming-and-scanning/resources/l1 Timed Scanning/Skimming Practice 5 - 4 questions in 4 minutes. DIRECTIONS: THE QUESTIONS IN THIS PRACTICE SET ARE ALL FACTUAL; THEY CAN BE ANSWERED BY MERELY SCANNING THE PASSAGE BELOW LOOKING FOR CLUE-WORDS FROM THE QUESTIONS. IF IT IS YOUR STRATEGY TO READ THE QUESTIONS BEFORE READING THE PASSAGE YOU CAN DO THAT IN THIS ACTIVITY. JUST SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE AND CLICK START NOW. IF IT IS YOUR STRATEGY TO READ OR PREVIEW THE PASSAGE BEFORE LOOKING AT THE QUESTIONS, YOU MAY DO SO NOW.

Many cashew eaters may be surprised to learn about the origins of the popular nut. The nut comes from the cashew tree, a small evergreen tree in the flowering plant family Anacardiancese. Northwestern Brazil is the native home of the plant, but it is now cultivated in all regions with sufficient tropical conditions. India, Vietnam, and Brazil, in that order, are the largest producers of cashew nuts. The cashew tree produces cashew flowers that yield cashew apples. These apples, better known in Central America as "marañón", are oval to pear-shaped and ripen into a yellow and/or red structure between 5 to 11 centimeters long. These apples are the tree's false fruit and look like oversized hot peppers or pears. The real fruit of the tree are the small kidney-shaped drupes that protrude from under the pseudo fruit, the cashew apples. In botany, a drupe is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp, the pit or stone, with a seed inside. Hidden inside each drupe is the cashew flower’s single seed, a single cashew. The seed, or cashew nut, is surrounded by a double shell containing a caustic phenolic resin, urushiol, a potent skin-irritating toxin also found in poison-ivy. The urushiol must be removed from the dark green nut shells before the seed inside is processed for consumption; this is done by shelling the nuts, a somewhat hazardous process, and exceedingly painful skin rashes among processing workers who come in contact with the toxin are common.

Thank you. Your responses have been automatically graded. Here are your results. Score Summary

(Click on question number to jump to question.)

points earned

points possible

Question 1

correct

1

1

Question 2

incorrect

0

1

Question 3

correct

1

1

Question 4

incorrect

0

1

Score: (50%)

2

4

1. The author's description of cashew drupes mentions which of the following? • They are kidney-shaped. (correct answer, your response)

• They are yellow and red. • They are red. • They taste like apples. • They are large.

2. Points earned: 1 out of 1

2. According to the passage, cashews are cultivated in all but these areas: • regions with sufficient tropical conditions. • India. (your response) • regions with insufficient tropical conditions. (correct answer) • Brazil. • Vietnam.

3. Feedback: According to the passage, cashews are cultivated in all regions with sufficient tropical conditions; the passage specifically mentions India, Vietnam, and Brazil. Cashews are NOT cultivated in regions with insufficient tropical conditions.

Points earned: 0 out of 1

3. According to the author, what are the pseudo fruit of the cashew tree called? • Cashew flowers. • Cashew apples. (correct answer, your response) • Manzanas. • Drupes.

• Droops.

4. Points earned: 1 out of 1

4. The passage states that one of the consequences of shelling cashew nuts can be • green skin. • dark green skin. (your response) • contact with cashew worms. • acquiring painful skin rashes. (correct answer) • acquiring exceedingly painful bruises.

5. Feedback: The passage does not mention worms or if the toxin found in the cashew shell causes skin to change color. The passage states that contact with the toxin, which can occur while shelling the nuts, can cause rashes, not bruises.

Points earned: 0 out of 1

Source: https://www.quia.com/quiz/908850.html?AP_rand=1463344205 Source: http://ted-ielts.com/skimming-and-scanning-practice-ufos/ Remember that when we reading an article in an academic context, we always need to do the following: You need to have the following skills 

Skimming – this is reading an article quickly so you can get the gist or basic



meaning of the article Scanning – looking for specific information related to the questions Close reading– once you know what is important – what you need to know to



answer a question – you will focus and read carefully on that section

So pay attention to the following details from any reading source. Skimming

1. What is the title given to the article? 2. Where was this article sourced from? 3. What do you think the article could be about from the title? 4. Read quickly and don’t pay too much attention to difficult sections or vocabulary. Scanning

1. List the names of: and what is said about them in the article 2. People 3. Organisations 4. Countries/Cities or other places 5. Numbers 6. Anything else of importance that you can find. Pay attention to section topics. Close Reading

1. Once you know the main idea, the section topics, etc, you can read your questions and look for answers. 2. Look for synonyms or paraphrasing. Often the question will not use the exact same word or wording as the text. 3. Watch out for implied meanings. Just because you know something to be true, doesn’t mean it is true according to the text. Sometimes it is Not Given.

Reading Passage The history of UFOs. Unidentified Flying Object (or “UFO”) is a term commonly used to describe lights or shapes in the sky. It was first coined by the United States Air Force in 1952 to describe

sightings of mysterious objects in the sky that could not be explained even after careful investigation. Nowadays UFOs are spotted frequently, and feature in numerous movies and TV shows. Another popular name for such an object is, “Flying Saucer,” in reference to the round shape of many UFOs. The first widely publicized UFO sighting was in 1947, by a pilot called Kenneth Arnold. Following this event, public sightings of UFOs increased dramatically. Movies and TV shows began featuring visitors from outer space, arriving on earth in flying saucers. With the popularity of these images, many people claimed to have seen lights in the sky. Some experts believe that people simply think they see UFOs because of the influence of TV and movies. However, experts estimate that as little as 5% of these sightings could be called “unidentified.” Usually these lights are made by aircraft, satellites, or weather balloons. Top secret air force activities during the Cold War may have been responsible for many of the UFO sightings in America and Europe. Although not actually aliens, the secretive nature of these flying objects is definitely unidentified. Another popular idea concerning UFOs concerns the role of world governments. Specifically, people believe that the US government has discovered alien life and operates a “cover-up” to hide the truth from the public. The most widely believed coverup is that of the Roswell Incident. In July, 1947, a UFO supposedly landed in Roswell, New Mexico, and was examined and hidden by government agents. There have been many investigations into the Roswell Incident, however, these reports always claim that no such event occurred.

Questions Comprehension

(answers are at the bottom of the page) 1st Reading (Skimming) Read through the article and answer each of the following questions.

1. What is the purpose of this report? a) To describe the history of alien life. b) To describe government cover-ups. c) To describe the history of UFO sightings. d) To describe UFOs in popular movies. 2. Why are UFO sightings so controversial? a) They have never been proved. b) There are many sightings. c) The government covers up sightings. d) There are very few UFO sightings. 2nd Reading (Scanning) Read the text carefully and answer each of the following questions in the form of a sentence or a short paragraph.

1. Why is Kenneth Arnold famous among UFO believers? a) He was at Roswell in 1947. b) He found a UFO in 1952. c) He saw a UFO in 1947. d) He saw a UFO in 1952.

2. How do experts explain many UFO sightings? a) There are many alien visitors to earth. b) TV and movies make people believe they see UFOs. c) Government cover-ups make people paranoid.

d) They have no idea why there are so many sightings.

3. What do many people believe happened at Roswell? a) Famous movies were made. b) Kenneth Arnold was born. c) The first UFO sighting. d) A UFO landed there. Circle the best answer for each question about the reading passage

4. Which of the following is true? a) The first UFO was spotted in 1952. b) The word “UFO” was first used in 1952. c) The Roswell Incident occurred in 1952. d) A UFO landed in America in 1952.

5. What influence did the Cold War have upon UFO sightings? a) American pilots saw a UFO in the Cold War. b) More UFO movies were made in the Cold War. c) Lots of government cover-ups occurred. d) Top secret air force activities caused more sightings. State whether the following statements about the reading are true (T) or false (F) according to the information in the passage.

T

6. Kenneth Arnold saw the first UFO. 7. The Roswell Incident occurred in 1952.

8. Experts say many normal things account for UFO sightings. 9. Flying saucers are square-shaped.

Answers Skimming

1. C 2. A Scanning

1. C 2. B 3. A 4. B 5. D 6. F 7. F 8. T 9. F

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/21/technology/inside-amazon-go-astore-of-the-future.html

Inside Amazon Go, a Store of the Future The technology inside Amazon’s new convenience store, opening Monday in downtown Seattle, enables a shopping experience like no other — including no checkout lines.

By Nick Wingfield Jan. 21, 2018

SEATTLE — The first clue that there’s something unusual about Amazon’s store of the future hits you right at the front door. It feels as if you are entering a subway station. A row of gates guard the entrance to the store, known as Amazon Go, allowing in only people with the store’s smartphone app. Inside is an 1,800-square foot mini-market packed with shelves of food that you can find in a lot of other convenience stores — soda, potato chips, ketchup. It also has some food usually found at Whole Foods, the supermarket chain that Amazon owns. But the technology that is also inside, mostly tucked away out of sight, enables a shopping experience like no other. There are no cashiers or registers anywhere.

Shoppers leave the store through those same gates, without pausing to pull out a credit card. Their Amazon account automatically gets charged for what they take out the door. On Monday, the store will open to the public for the first time. Gianna Puerini, the executive in charge of Amazon Go, recently gave tours of the store, in downtown Seattle. This is a look at what shoppers will encounter. There are no shopping carts or baskets inside Amazon Go. Since the checkout process is automated, what would be the point of them anyway? Instead, customers put items directly into the shopping bag they’ll walk out with. Every time customers grab an item off a shelf, Amazon says the product is automatically put into the shopping cart of their online account. If customers put the item back on the shelf, Amazon removes it from their virtual basket. The only sign of the technology that makes this possible floats above the store shelves — arrays of small cameras, hundreds of them throughout the store. Amazon won’t say much about how the system works, other than to say it involves sophisticated computer vision and machine learning software. Translation: Amazon’s technology can see and identify every item in the store, without attaching a special chip to every can of soup and bag of trail mix.

There were a little over 3.5 million cashiers in the United States in 2016 — and some of their jobs may be in jeopardy if the technology behind Amazon Go eventually spreads. For now, Amazon says its technology simply changes the role of employees — the same way it describes the impact of automation on its warehouse workers. “We’ve just put associates on different kinds of tasks where we think it adds to the customer experience,” Ms. Puerini said. Those tasks include restocking shelves and helping customers troubleshoot any technical problems. Store employees mill about ready to help customers find items, and there is a kitchen next door with chefs preparing meals for sale in the store. Because there are no cashiers, an employee sits in the wine and beer section of the store, checking I.D.s before customers can take alcohol off the shelves. Most people who spend any time in a supermarket understand how vexing the checkout process can be, with clogged lines for cashiers and customers who fumble with self-checkout kiosks.

At Amazon Go, checking out feels like — there’s no other way to put it — shoplifting. It is only a few minutes after walking out of the store, when Amazon sends an electronic receipt for purchases, that the feeling goes away. ADVERTISEMENT Actual shoplifting is not easy at Amazon Go. With permission from Amazon, I tried to trick the store’s camera system by wrapping a shopping bag around a $4.35 four-pack of vanilla soda while it was still on a shelf, tucking it under my arm and walking out of the store. Amazon charged me for it. A big unanswered question is where Amazon plans to take the technology. It won’t say whether it plans to open more Amazon Go stores, or leave this as a oneof-a-kind novelty. A more intriguing possibility is that it could use the technology inside Whole Foods stores, though Ms. Puerini said Amazon has “no plans” to do so. There’s even speculation that Amazon could sell the system to other retailers, much as it sells its cloud computing services to other companies. For now, visitors to Amazon Go may want to watch their purchases: Without a register staring them in the face at checkout, it’s easy to overspend. Nick Wingfield is a technology correspondent based in Seattle. He covers Amazon, Microsoft and emerging technologies and has written on technology's impact on economies in the Pacific Northwest. He was previously a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. @nickwingfield Before reading the article Can you imagine the grocery store of the future? What do you think it will be like? How will it differ from the grocery store of today, and why? Now, read the article “Inside Amazon Go, a Store of the Future” and answer the following questions: 1. What type of convenience store opened in Seattle on Jan. 22? 2. What details make the Amazon Go store different from a traditional grocery store? 3. What is noticeable about the photos in the article? What do they show about the new store? 4. How are items paid for in the Amazon Go store, and what is eliminated in the process? 5. What does Amazon say about the role of cashiers and potential loss of jobs with the new system?

6. Why does the author say the experience feels like shoplifting, and what happened when he attempted to shoplift a four-pack of vanilla soda? Finally, tell us more about what you think. 



Do you think the Amazon Go store is a model of what all grocery stores will eventually look like? Why or why not? If you could change anything about food shopping, what would you change? What would your ideal food shopping experience be like, and why?

Firework Safety - Intermediate ESL Reading Activity Source: https://www.esolcourses.com/content/topics/health-andsafety/firework-safety/firework-safety-reading-quiz.html This English lesson about firework safety will help you to learn some new vocabulary and practise your reading skills. You will also learn some useful tips to help you stay safe when using fireworks. Task 1 - Dictionary Skills Exercise Here are some of the English words and phrases used in this lesson. How many of these English words and expressions do you know? Check the meaning of any words and phrases that you don't know in the dictionary. unlicensed torchlight naked flame support auncher rocket bucket protection arms length taper

sparklers spent flammability Task 2 - Reading Activity Read this text about firework safety, and then scroll down the page to do a quiz and test how much you have understood. Firework safety checklist

Figures have shown that more children than adults get hurt by fireworks. If you are thinking of using fireworks as part of your celebrations, you should follow the steps listed below.

Before your firework display

Preparation is key to enjoying fireworks safely, so:

• don’t buy fireworks from anywhere you’re not sure about, like a van or a temporary, unlicensed market stall
• only buy fireworks marked BS 7114 – this is the British Standard that all fireworks should meet (a reputable shop will know this)
• follow the instructions on each firework – read them in daylight or by torchlight, never by a naked flame
• make suitable supports and launchers if you’re setting off catherine wheels or rockets

Things you will need on the night

It’s easy to get a few household things together, these are:

• a closed metal box to store the fireworks – take them out one at a time
• a bucket of water – to cool sparklers and put out any small fires
• eye protection and gloves
• a bucket of earth to stick fireworks in

Lighting fireworks

Follow these simple guidelines to stay safe:

• only one person should be responsible for letting off fireworks
• don’t drink alcohol if you are setting off fireworks
• light fireworks at arm’s length, using a taper
• make sure everyone stands well back
• never go back to a firework that has been lit – even if it hasn’t gone off it could still explode

Sparklers

Sparklers are fun, but always:

• supervise children with sparklers and never give them to a child under five
• light sparklers one at a time and wear gloves
• put used sparklers hot end down into a bucket of sand or water

Other tips on the night

Finally, follow these other rules for a safe night:

• keep pets indoors – most animals get very scared by the lights and noise from fireworks
• never put fireworks in your pocket or throw them
• never throw spent fireworks on a bonfire
• take care around bonfires – all clothes, even those labelled ‘low flammability’, can catch fire