Harriet J. Bauman
Achieving comprehension of written French is the third objective of this unit. The students will begin by learning to ask and answer comprehension questions before or after the reading selection. They will start by reading simple paragraphs, then more complicated ones. They will also read short stories.
The students will be taught how to read for the main idea. Two activities for teaching this skill are: 1) giving a one sentence summary of the selection; and 2) choosing a title for the reading assignment.
Being able to keep track of the sequence of events in a story is a very important skill. This skill is especially important in reading mysteries. Students should participate in activities such as retelling the story in their own words, or as a character; taking the events of a story that have been mixed up and placing them correctly in the order in which they occur in the story; making up an ending for the story.
Another necessary skill is being able to keep track of details. The students would be encouraged to enumerate details in a story which show that the conclusion is the only possible solution. They should be prepared to list the details in the order of their appearance. The students might have a selection presented to them with the main idea included but with blanks to be filled in.
The students need practice in following directions such as for reading a map, putting an object together, or following a recipe (which might be important in the mystery they are reading). Activities designed to increase the students’ ability in these areas might include a Treasure Hunt with specific directions which they must follow to attain the end. A Scavenger Hunt might include certain steps through which each group must go in order to find items on their list. Puzzles or mazes might also be designed with directions for the students to follow.
Making inferences is extremely important especially when reading mysteries. On the simplest level, the students would learn the meaning of new vocabulary words as they are used in several different sentences. The teacher would ask questions about the sentences which would help explain the various meanings or uses of the words.
Another activity which would help students in making inferences might be to present them with a description of someone through which they must guess what type of person he/she is: his/her name; profession; hobbies or interests; types of books he/she reads; family; home; where he/she lives, etc. A description of an object could be used as well. They must guess its function; what it looks like; who would use it; where; how, etc. After the students finish their preliminary investigation, they might be presented with the actual person or object and they could judge for themselves how to improve their ability to infer.
In order to reinforce the students’ ability to read for information, many exercises should be presented to them. They should be asked questions in which the answer restates the text. They could have questions presented to them before they read which would act as a guide for their reading. They could be asked to make up their own questions to a passage before finishing it. They could be asked to invent a title for a particular selection.