a)  First, find the three synonyms in the article which mean sleep and write your answers in the table below.

  1.   Synonyms
    nap
    snooze
    siesta

b) Highlight the words you think might belong to the AWL. Check your answers by cutting and pasting the text into the ‘AWL Highlighter’ and selecting sublist 10.


Afternoon naps aid children’s learning

A nap appeared to help three-to-five-year-olds better remember pre-school lessons, US researchers said. University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers studied 40 youngsters and report their findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The benefit persisted in the afternoon after a nap and into the next day. The study authors say their results suggest naps are critical for memory consolidation and early learning. When the children were allowed a siesta after lunch they performed significantly better on visual-spatial tasks in the afternoon and the next day than when they were denied a midday snooze.

Following a nap, children recalled 10% more of the information they were being tested on than they did when they had been kept awake. Close monitoring of 14 additional youngsters who came to the researchers' sleep lab revealed the processes at work in the brain during sleep. As the children napped, they experienced increased activity in brain regions linked with learning and integrating new information.

24th September 2013 http://www.bbc.com/news/health-24202591