STAGE
1
Pocahontas
Retold by Tim Vicary
Introduction
This ungraded summary is for the teacher’s use only
and should not be given to students.
The story
In 1607 a group of English colonists arrive in Virginia,
where they meet the Algonquin Indians and build a
town which they call Jamestown. Most of the Indians
co-operate with the colonists, trading with them. In
particular the colonists need food, which they get from
the Indians in exchange for things they have brought
of the better known – probably because John Smith
from England.
himself was able to write it down several years after
John Smith leads a party of men who want to buy
it happened.
food. There is a fight with a group of Indians and Smith
is taken prisoner and brought before the Algonquin
Before Reading
king, Powhatan. Some of the Indians want to kill Smith,
Here are some ways to help your students approach
but Powhatan’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Pocahontas,
the story:
manages to save his life. Smith stays in the Algonquin
1
village for some time, learning their language, before
Give students the title of the book and show them
the picture on the cover. Ask them to try and guess
being allowed to return to Jamestown.
what kind of the story it is.
Later, Pocahontas comes to Jamestown, where she
2
Give students a copy of the text on the back
spends a lot of time with John Smith, learning about
cover of the book, and of the story introduction
England and the English. She wants to marry Smith,
on the first page. When they have read the texts,
but, partly because she is so young, Smith refuses.
ask them a few questions about the story, or use
She returns to her village, and relations between the
the Before Reading Activities in the back of each
colonists and the Indians begin to deteriorate.
Bookworm.
Several years later, when Pocahontas is nineteen,
3
a group of Englishmen take her prisoner. They want
4
to use her to put pressure on her father. John
Use the pre-reading activity in this worksheet.
If there is a recording of this title, play the first few
pages and stop at an interesting point.
Smith has left Jamestown, and, thinking that he is
dead, Pocahontas becomes friendly with, and marries,
another man, John Rolfe.
In 1616, Rolfe, Pocahontas and their son make the
voyage to England. They visit London, and Pocahontas
even meets the King and Queen of England – who tell
her that John Smith is still alive. Pocahontas meets
John Smith again – but it is too late. She is married and
she has a son. Six months later, she fell ill, and died
in England before she could return to Virginia. John
Smith never married.
Background to the story
This true story looks at the problems that occur
when two cultures meet. Similar stories must have
taken place, at different times in history, in different
parts of the world, but the Pocahontas story is one
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STAGE
1
Pocahontas
Pre-reading activities
People and places
1 Read these sentences about the story. Do you think they are true or not?
YES/NO
a
Pocahontas was a young Algonquin Indian girl.
b
Pocahontas was born in England.
c
Pocahontas lived in a village called
Werewocomoco.
d
Pocahontas married an English man called
John Smith.
e
The Algonquin Indians are happy when the
English come to live in America.
f
Pocahontas went to London.
g
Pocahontas had three children and lived until
she was seventy-two.
h
The Alonquin Indians killed John Smith.
2 Match the chapter titles with the sentences.
1 The English in Virginia
2 John Smith and Pocahontas
3 A friend for the English
4 A wife for John Smith
5 Where is John Smith?
6 A husband for Pocahontas
7 England
a ‘I like you very much, but I’m not the right
husband for you.’
b Every day she visited big houses and talked to rich
and important people.
c He opened his eyes and saw the face of the young
girl, with her beautiful dark eyes.
d ‘He was very ill. So he went home to England.’
e They wanted to find a new world in the west.
f ‘We want to be your friends, and friends are better
than guns.’
g ‘I love you, Pocahontas, and I want to marry you.’
To the teacher
Aim: To familiarize students with some of the
the book if they have no ideas about the story.
characters and the setting
Next ask the students to match each chapter title
Time: 10–20 minutes
with some words from that chapter.
Organization: This activity can be done as one
Use this background information to encourage
activity or as two separate pre-reading activities. First
students to predict what may happen in the story.
ask the students to look at the eight statements at
Key 1: a Yes, b No, c Yes, d No, e No, f Yes, g No,
the top of the page and decide whether they think
h No.
these things are going to happen in the story. It
Key 2: 1e, 2c, 3f, 4a, 5d, 6g, 7b.
might be helpful for them to read the back cover of
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STAGE
1
Pocahontas
While reading activity
What happens next?
Which of these happens in the story, do you think?
THE ENGLISH
YES/NO
POCAHONTAS
give guns to Powhatan – and
Powhatan becomes friends with
them.
YES/NO
runs away from her father and
goes to live with the English.
stays with her father and is not
a friend to the English.
give guns to Powhatan – and
Powhatan fights them.
takes guns from the English
and gives them to her father.
do not give guns to Powhatan,
so Powhatan tries to take them.
takes food from her father and
gives it to the English.
do not give guns to Powhatan,
so Powhatan fights them.
Something else . . .
Something else . . .
THE ALGONQUINS
YES/NO
JOHN SMITH
kill all the English.
YES/NO
goes back to England because
he does not want to fight the
Indians.
fight the English and the
English return to England.
fights the Indians and dies.
learn to live with the English.
goes to live with the Indians.
give food to the English for one
more year.
Something else . . .
Something else . . .
To the teacher
Where: At the end of Chapter 3
3, what will happen to each of these people. Correct
Aim: To encourage students to predict the
predictions are not important, and students should
development of the story
also be encouraged to write their own ideas in the
Time: 15–20 minutes
Something else space. It may also be interesting
Organization: Give each student, or group of
for students to keep their worksheets and see, as
students, a copy of the worksheet. Ask them to
they read on, whether or not their predictions were
decide, without looking beyond the end of Chapter
correct.
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STAGE
1
Pocahontas
After reading activity
Places and people
LONDON
S`YO]PO^ZQSZ`^P^
]TNS[PZ[WP
POCAhONTAS
MTRSZ`^P^
PcNT_TYR
OT]_d
MLObL_P]
YZT^d
_SZ`^LYO^ZQ[PZ[WP
VIRGINIA
JOhN SMITh
To the teacher
Aim: To focus students’ attention back on the places
of London as a model, they should fill the spaces
and characters in the story
around the other pictures with appropriate words or
Time: 20 minutes
phrases to describe the places or people.
Organization: Give each student, or group of
students, a copy of the worksheet. Using the poster
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