Teaching writing - Guided Writing

8/13/2019 Teaching writing - Guided Writing

1/9

Unit 3: Comprehension: a quest formeaning

Task Sheets


2/9

Sheet 3.1

Read the following passage.

The plick squeen olligog jibbled camrully down to the savee. In it were vayclobfloes, perdigs and miniscatel. They criggled and stoed oumfullymaficatingin the humate kinshane. Suddenly a higantaic uglonerus came agristlingtowards them. ithin a tumper, clobfloes, perdigs and miniscatel were nomore. Slurpinated in one goblicate, they were mortrifipped for ever.!glonerus himself then jibbled pomfully off, but his tumpertill would soon

come. !glonerus major was bidlen behind a higanteic cornupog, his ownsuper goblicator at the ready.

"nce you have made what sense you can of it, look at the questions onSheet #.$.


3/9

Sheet 3.2

%nswer the following questions on the passage you have just read onSheet #.&.

&. hat jibbled down to the savee'

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((........(......(..

$. hat three fish were in the olligog'

i) ((((((.......( ii) ((((.(......(( iii) ((((((...(........

#. hat si*e was the uglonerus'

(((((((((((((((((..............................................(((.

+. escribe what the clobfloes, perdigs and miniscatel were doing'

(((((((((((((((((..............................................(((.(((((((((((((((((..............................................(((.(((((((((((((((((..............................................(((.

-. here was the cornupog growing'

(((((((((((((((((..............................................(((.

. /ake a list of all the living things mentioned in the passage.


4/9

(((((((((((((((((..............................................(((.

0. hat do you think the following words mean'

bidlen ((((((...(((( tumper ........................................................

1. 2ind single words in the passage which mean the same as the phrasesbelow3

a) chewed up into piecesb) totally dead

c) meandered happilyd) a large mouthful.

4. Suggest what agristling might mean. o you think the word soundseffective'

(((((((((((((((((..............................................(((.

&5. as the kinshane humate or iclificle'

(((((((((((((((((..............................................(((.

&&. Suggest a title for the passage.

(((((((((((((((((..............................................(((.

&$. hat do you think happens ne6t'

(((((((((((((((((..............................................(((.


5/9

Sheet 3.3

A guide to question setting

% comprehension e6ercise, oral or written, which will really probeunderstanding should include questions from most or all of these five7levels83

&. Literal comprehension , which requires a learner to locate facts, ideas,particular information, a sequence of events, similarities or differences,characteristics of a person, etc., that are e6plicitly stated in the passage.2or

e6ample3


6/9

hat is the boy8s name' ho was the taller, Susan or 9ohn' hat are mammals' hich is the tallest animal' hat is the capital city of ales'

$. Reorganisation , which requires a learner to analyse, synthesise and:ororganise the ideas or information that is e6plicitly stated in the passage;i.e. to do something with it). 2or e6ample3

classifying < placing people, things, places and:or events into categories summarising < condensing the content of the passage, using direct

quotation or paraphrased statements synthesising < bringing together ideas or information from more than one

source:section of the passage making a graphic representation of the facts, e.g. a map, a flow chart, a

graph.

#. Inferential comprehension , which requires a learner to use the ideas andinformation in the passage, intuition and personal e6perience as the basis

formaking conjectures or hypotheses= to read between and beyond the lines.2or e6ample3

hat else might the writer have included to make the passage moreinteresting to boys' hat kind of a place is St >ucia' hat do you think will happen ne6t' hat is the writer8s point of view' hat is the writer8s purpose' ?ow would the boy behave if he were in a different place:time:situation' hy does the writer use the word ...' hat does the writer mean by the phrase 7fo6y eyes8 or any other

figurative e6pression'

Sheet 3.3 (continued)


7/9

+. E aluation , which requires a learner to make a judgement based eitheron

the passage alone and:or on the learner8s prior knowledge and e6perience.2or e6ample3

oes this make sense' Is the information accurate' oes it agree with what you have found out

from other sources' @ould this really happen' oes the boy behave in an appropriate way' Is the character right or wrong to act as she:he does in view of the

situation described' Is the behaviour described right or wrong according to your beliefs'

-. Appreciation , which requires an emotional and:or analytical and:oraesthetic response from the learner to the content and style of thepassage. 2or e6ample3

?ow did the passage make you feel'

Is the argument clearly stated' Is the sequence of ideas logical and coherent' hich words were most effective' hy did the writer choose those words' hich description did you find most lifelike:frightening:effective'

%dapted from Aarrett8s Ta6onomy in Reading: Today and Tomorrow ,/elnik /erritt ;!niversity of >ondon:"pen !niversity, &40$).


8/9

Sheet 3.!

I was a not unhappy child, and had no idea that through nobody8s fault Iwasbeing starved of something as necessary to my nature as breath to thelungs3Romance. I was an e6ile from a country to which I could have given noname. It was early to be starved, I was not yet eight, but not only did I notknow of the theatre, I had never heard a note of music < I discount thewhee*y chapel organ < and no child or adult had ever said anything tome3 it was with a shock of pleasure that I turned the pages of my first realbook. It was like hearing a vast wind, then looking up and seeing, beyondthe Blanrafon woods, a curtain of cloud sweep up and away in gigantic

folds, revealing the world. 2or the rest of the holidays, there was not a freewaking minute, free from washing or cleaning boots or seeing if therewere any real eggs ne6t to the pot one, when I was not immersed in AWelsh Singer . "ne morning I was so engrossed that when my mother puther head in and asked me to bring her the pepper, quick, I rose from mybook, crossed to the cupboard, walked out of doors, and stalked downthe back yard and into the petty= there I came to, gaping stupidly intodistasteful depths and clutching a pepperCpot. I hurried out, red in the

face, to meet ad holding his sides.

DI8ve heard of other pots, Eoll, but pepperFDDIt8s that reading,G said /am, pursing her lips, Dfirst his eyes will go andthenhis brain will turn to water.DDAut Eoll, pepper in the pettyFD

7%llen Raine8 had done this, a lady novelist who could have been dubbedthe


9/9

/arie @orrelli of below stairs= but she wrote with sincerity and I am gladtherewas nobody to disillusion me. The story would appear unlikely to enslave achild whose one need was the escapeChatch of the imagination < a tale setin ales and dealing with 7humble folk8, even quoting the elshlanguage, what was the escape' Romance. The initial familiarity was justenough to act as aspringCboard, and I was off. I did not find the book easy to read, but it waswritten simply enough to encourage me to battle with the difficult parts.%nyway, after the first page, I grasped all manner of things with abemusede6tra sense. The word 7enigmatic8 came twice < 7her enigmatic eyes8 ...8his

enigmatic tone8 < and this time Hng. ic. did not fail me3 7full of mystery8.% rigmarole of words had become a treasure. Suspicious3 mistrusting,;pronounced suspickuss). @ynical3 unbelieving, ;pronounced kinnical).%gitate3 disturb, ;pronounced aggieCtate).

@opyright &4 & by Hmlyn illiams. H6tract from @hapter + ofGeorge: An Early Autobiography , first published in &4 & by ?amish

?amiltonand reproduced by permission of the author8s estate c:o The /aggieJoach>iterary %gency.

Documents

Teaching writing - Guided Writing