The Crossroads Brief · Issue 3: What Is a Library For?
B1–B2 · 25 questions · about 35 minutes · Try First · Read · Check Your Understanding · Discuss and Decide · Use It Again
How it works. Each set is one meeting of the Crossroads team: four students in four countries who write a short brief on a global issue for the online forum that links their schools. You try a few questions first, read one article with the team, check your understanding, help the team decide what to recommend, and then use the new words and the reading skill on a fresh text. Press the Check button at the end of each part to see why every choice is right or wrong.
What do you already know?
These five words are important in today’s article. Choose the best meaning for each word in bold. It is fine to guess. You will meet the words again after you read.
This week’s question
Jonas (Hamburg): My town council wants to cut the library’s opening hours to save money. They say everyone has a phone now.
Mei Ling (Penang): My library is where I study. My apartment is too noisy.
Amara (Lagos): Is a library still worth the money, though? That is a fair question.
Lucas (Recife): Then that is Issue 3: “Should a town keep paying for its public library?” I’ll share the article.
Reading move: read the signal words.
Signal words tell you how the next idea connects to the last one. Adding: also, in addition. Contrast: however, but, although, yet. Cause and result: because, so, therefore, as a result. Example: for example, such as. When you see one, predict what kind of idea is coming before you read it.
Tap or click a word with a dotted line to see its meaning below the article.
More Than Books
1For most of their history, public libraries had one main job: lending books. Today anyone with a phone can find a fact in seconds, so some people argue that libraries are no longer needed. In many places, book lending has in fact declined. However, the people who run libraries say that this argument misunderstands what a library is for.
2A modern public library offers far more than shelves. Many provide free computers and internet access, which matter greatly to people who cannot afford a connection at home. Because job applications and government forms are now mostly online, a person without access can be shut out of work and services. In addition, libraries often host language classes, homework help, and story hours for small children. For example, a newcomer to a country may learn the local language there, while a retired person learns to use a tablet at the next table.
3A library is also one of the few indoor places where a person may stay for hours without buying anything. Sociologists sometimes call such places “social infrastructure”: the shared spaces where neighbors meet and learn to trust one another. Although a café is pleasant, it expects its visitors to pay. A library asks for nothing, and therefore it welcomes people of every age and income. During heat waves and cold weather, some cities even use libraries as safe places to rest.
4Yet libraries cost money, and public budgets are limited. A town that funds longer library hours may have less to spend on roads or clinics. Critics add that some services could move online and that a quiet building used by few people is hard to defend. These are reasonable points. A library that has not changed in thirty years may indeed serve only a small group.
5As a result, many communities now ask a different question. Instead of “Do we still need a library?” they ask “What does our community need, and can the library provide it?” Where librarians have asked residents directly, the answers have included study rooms, tools to borrow, and help with finding work. A library that listens in this way becomes an essential resource rather than an expensive memory. Whether it survives may depend less on its books than on its ability to change.
Read closely
Look back at the article as often as you like. Each question shows the reading skill it practices.
Step 1 · Find the evidence (3 questions)
The team wants every point in the brief to come from the article. Which paragraph supports each point?
Step 2 · Write the team’s recommendation
Jonas: So what do I tell my town council?
Amara: Not just “keep it open.” Say what the library should do to earn the money.
Mei Ling: Go ahead. Three to five sentences.
Useful frames: We recommend that … because … · The article explains that … · However, … · To make it work, …
Try to use at least two of these words: access, resource, fund, essential, decline.
Then say your recommendation aloud in about 45 seconds, as if you were speaking at the forum.
One possible answer. We recommend that the town keep funding the library’s opening hours, on one condition. The article explains that libraries give free internet access to people who have none at home and offer a place where anyone can stay without paying. However, budgets are limited, and a library that never changes may serve only a small group. To make it work, the library should ask residents what they need and add those services, so that it stays an essential resource.
Check your own answer. Give yourself 0 to 3 for each line (0 = not yet, 3 = clearly yes).
My recommendation is clear.
I used at least one idea from the article correctly.
I gave a reason and also a limit or risk (for example with however).
I used at least two of the five target words correctly.
My self-check: 0 / 12. A different recommendation can be just as good as the model if it is clear and supported by the article.
New sentences, same words
Choose the word that completes each sentence.
New text, same reading move
Mei Ling found this short text for a later issue. Use the reading move from Part 2.
Many cities now close one street to cars every Sunday. Families walk, children ride bicycles, and musicians play where traffic usually runs. Because the street is free and open to all, neighbors who never speak during the week meet there. However, shop owners were worried at first. They expected fewer customers, since drivers could not park. In several cities the opposite happened: people on foot stopped more often, so many shops reported more sales.
| Part | Correct | Percent |
|---|
| Reading skill | Correct | What it means |
|---|
Discover more from EDUCATION FOR PEACE FOUNDATION
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
