Yolanda U. Trapp
Book: “Subway Sparrow” by Leyla Torres.
Subject Areas: Language Arts, Social Studies
Approximate Time Frame: 45 min. three times a week
Grade: 3rd for Early Readers (transitional, English)
Theme: a sparrow is trapped in a New York subway train. Who will help it? There arefour people in the subway car and only two speak English.
Goal: To demonstrate how four strangers rise above the language age and cultural barriers that divide them.
Objectives: The student will;
-
Recognize language patterns and vocabulary
-
Enrich his/her knowledge about different languages people speak in the story.
-
Draw conclusions about the story
-
Extend his/her thinking in changing the end of the story
Steps
-
Using the story as a point of departure, students will discuss in groups and think deeply about the traits or qualities each character uses when dealing with the language.
-
Ask students to write a short paragraph about their own experience in school, focusing in an incident or situation which made them a deep impression
-
To encourage spoken English words. Ask students to talk about a crucial episode from the point of view of another character in the story
-
(a) Choose four children who would like to perform the characters from the story
-
(b) Pretend that each child speaks a different language and is not able to communicate with his/her peers
-
© Let students use different communication skills like gestures. Body language and a variety of other possibilities, conveying meaning rather than sounds
-
(d) The rest of the students may come aware about strong imagesand reactions that the situation generates
-
(e) As an open - ended activity the questions of differences and similarities in language could generate a lively discussion.
Assessment:
Teacher must expose their students to quality literature and higher order thinking skills. This can be done through the use of graphic organizers, modeling “thinking aloud” and stopping often in the text to questions and summarize, that permit formal and informal assessments. (standardized or criterion referenced tests).
