Making sense of text: vocabulary knowledge.
Annotation
In this conversation, Stephen uses knowledge gained from a class discussion to make
a hypothesis about the meaning of ‘apartheid’, a word representing an abstract
concept.
He then uses illustrations and text from different points on the timeline in the text to
confirm his understanding of the word. He also works out the meaning of the
adjectival form ‘anti- apartheid’, using both his knowledge of the prefix ‘anti’ and
information from the text.
Text
“From Kick-off to Cup – a Rugby Timeline”
This article takes the form of a timeline covering 141 years of events, issues and
milestones in New Zealand’s rugby history.
Some students may be unfamiliar with the names of some of the teams; words such as
‘knickerbockers’, ‘petition’, ‘apartheid’; and the acronym for the New Zealand Rugby
Football Union (NZRFU) – although it is spelt out in the first instance.
Task
The specific social studies task is to understand how groups make and implement
rules. The student’s task, in this guided reading session, is to locate ideas in the text
that will help them explore the question: Why do you think both rugby unions said
sorry?
Student Response
Peer:
I reckon South Africa said sorry because our players got sick in South
Africa and we lost the world cup – that’s what my dad told me.
Stephen:
Could be, but they were pretty mean not letting our Māori players play
in South Africa. So they might be saying sorry for that.
(Both students scan and find information in the text to help answer the question.)
Peer:
Yeah, you’re right. It says here (referring to page 22) that South Africa
apologised for not letting the Māori players play in past tours in South
Africa.
Stephen:
Yeah, and it also says that the New Zealand Rugby Union said sorry to
the Māori players because they left them out of the All Blacks because
of apartheid.
Peer:
What does that mean?
Stephen:
I think that was the law that means the blacks and whites were not
allowed to play rugby together in South Africa. Remember we talked
about it yesterday? (Refers back to 1970 on the timeline on page 18.)
Yes, see, here it says “Under South Africa’s apartheid laws, people
from different races had to be kept apart.” So if you were not white,
you couldn’t even eat in the same restaurants or stay in the same hotels.
Peer:
Yeah. I am glad it’s not like that now.
Stephen:
That’s why the people protested. (Reads further) See (reads photo
caption on page 19) “School children at anti-apartheid protest in
Wellington” – That means the kids were protesting against apartheid.
‘Anti’ means you don’t like something. They must’ve been pretty
upset about it to protest, eh?
Reference
Young, Ashleigh. 2011. “From Kick-off to Cup – a Rugby Timeline”. School Journal,
Part 2 Number 2. Wellington: Learning Media for the Ministry of Education, page 13.
Annotation
Kiri understands that words and phrases can have figurative as well as literal
meanings and that some phrases and words, like ‘drowning in’ and ‘drought’, can
have different meanings, depending on the context in which they are used.
She demonstrates a clear understanding of where the author has used ‘drought’
literally and then figuratively as a metaphor for grief.
Text
“Drought”
“Drought” is a first-person, present-tense narrative about a girl who lives in a rural
community that is dealing with drought conditions. The girl lives alone with her
father, her mother having died some time before. The story is a metaphor for grief: the
physical drought experienced by the community echoes the emotional drought – the
loss and emptiness that is the grief felt by the girl but especially by her father.
The indirect link to the abstract ideas of grief and loss requires the reader to make
inferences and to integrate information in the text.
Task
The students’ task during a guided discussion of the text “Drought” is to explore
examples of the literal and figurative language they have located in the text and
discuss how this language impacts on the meaning of the text.
While they listen to and read the text, the students observe how the author uses
language to create particular images and emotions. The students are familiar with the
terms ‘alliteration’, ‘onomatopoeia’, ‘personification’, ‘metaphor’ and ‘simile’.
Student Response
Teacher:
As I listened to your buddy discussions, I noticed many of you have
picked up on the way the author has conveyed two images for the word
“drought”. Kiri would you like to share two of the figurative or
descriptive language features you highlighted and discussed for each of
the images you identified.
Kiri:
Well, she conveys the weather drought by using metaphors and similes,
like ‘I’m drowning in sweat’ and ‘I flop across my desk like a dead
fish’. Like, you can’t drown in sweat, but I think it’s a metaphor for
being really hot.
Teacher:
So in this context, the term ‘drowning in’ means …?
Kiri:
Covered in – or maybe dripping in – no, covered in makes more sense.
Teacher:
I agree. What about the other image?
Kiri:
To convey the dad’s drought, she compares him to the sky because he
hasn’t cried in ages. (Reads) “Like the ever-blue sky, he’s holding back
tears. From time to time, a small cloud drifts by, but he blinks it away.
Each time he does this, his sadness grows deeper.”
(Discussion continues.)
Reference
Frater, Adrienne. 2010. “Drought”. School Journal, Part 3 Number 2. Wellington:
Learning Media for the Ministry of Education, page 2.
Annotation
The definitions that Matt records indicate that he is using the sentence information in the
text to help understand some important subject-specific vocabulary (for example,
‘roamed’; ‘devastating’; ‘eradicate’).
He correctly infers the intended analogy for the metaphor ‘possums on stilts’.
His revised definition of the word ‘source’ indicates that he has amended his
understanding of this word as a result of his reading.
His second graphic organiser further demonstrates his understanding of many of these
words in the way he describes the two sides of the debate.
Text
The Wild Deer Debate
This report presents four different opinions about whether deer should be left to roam free
in New Zealand. These opinions range from giving deer complete freedom to eradicating
them.
The text follows a typical report structure, with both description and explanation. It
provides scaffolds and supports for a wide range of readers. Specific phrases, such as
‘Many New Zealanders …’ ‘Some people say …’, signal the different points of view.
There is some metaphorical language, for example, ‘war of words’, ‘possums on stilts’,
‘green wall of bush’, and many topic-specific words, such as ‘population’, ‘opinions’,
‘threaten’, ‘source’, ‘low-income’, ’whānau’, ‘stags’, ‘antlers’, ‘lean’, ‘income’, ‘food
processing plants’, ‘taxidermists’, ‘1080’, ‘protected species’, ‘eradicate’, many of which
are supported in the context of the surrounding sentence or paragraph and in the glossary.
Task
The class is investigating the impact of introduced species on the environment. The
teacher is using this text with a group of students whose progress needs accelerating.
The students are engaged in a first guided reading of the text to learn about the issues
around having deer in New Zealand. They have been introduced to the text and, with
support from their teacher, are reading the introduction to identify the two sides to the
debate, recording supporting details for each and posing questions to help guide further
reading. As part of the process, they have also been asked to use information from the
text to help them record the meaning of vocabulary or sayings that may be new to them,
including the four words in bolded type that are explained in the glossary. The students
work in pairs to complete these tasks.
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Student Response
Matt’s word definitions supported by his explanation and evidence for each side of the
debate:
Reference
Trafford, Ian. 2011. The Wild Deer Debate. School Journal Story Library, Years 7–8.
Wellington: Learning Media for the Ministry of Education.
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