1.1 To understand title, setting and plot

English first additional language

Grade 6

Module 2

To understand title, setting and plot

Activity 1:

[lo 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 5.2.1]

Do you remember the day you learnt to ride a bike? Perhaps your experience was similar to Randy's! Read the story below carefully. You will then be asked to answer some questions about the story. In this exercise we want to determine whether you are able to understand what you are reading, as you read. Your teacher may ask you to read the story out loud – read through the assessment rubric at the end of the exercise to see what he/she will be listening for.

Randy fell off twice, once when a squirrel ran across the road and once when she came to the stone gate, but as soon as she was out on the concrete highway she was able to manage better. The road under her wheels felt smooth as satin. She was flying, skimming like a swallow near the earth. She kept her eyes fixed sternly on the road and stayed close to the right side. Mona and Rush grew small in the distance ahead of her.

"Hey, wait for me!" called Randy, but the words were blown away from her. Half elated, half afraid, she spun along the highway by herself. She didn't dare look at the cars that passed her: whist, whist, they went in a speedy gap, leaving a gust of wind behind them. Fences flew by her, and houses and cows and trees, but she didn't see any of them. The road, the bicycle, the wind were drawing her along faster and faster, and she had the feeling that she would never be able to stop. Ahead of her Mona and Rush swerved to the right and after a little while, when Randy got there, she swerved too.

And then her heart seemed to freeze in her chest: hard and cold as a snowball.

The long main street of Carthage sloped steeply away below her. She saw the houses and stores on each side, and the people and the cars, and the steeple on the church at the foot of the hill. Where, oh, where were Rush and Mona? Save me, save me, prayed Randy as the bicycle gathered speed. She couldn't remember how to stop or put on the brake: she just held on. In a sort of dreadful calm she rocketed down the hill, expecting to die. Clear and sharp she saw an old lady and some chickens run across the street to get out of her way; she saw the Carthage traffic cop staring at her with his mouth open. He went by in a flash. She saw the broad blue back of a parked bus in front of her growing larger and larger, and more and more convincing like a close-up in the movies.

Now see if you can answer the following questions in full sentences.

1. Who was Randy riding with? (Paragraph 1) (1)
2. How did she feel spinning along the highway? (Paragraph 2) (1)
3. What did she see moving across the street as she came into Carthage? (Paragraph 4) (1)
4. What made her fall off first? (Paragraph 1) (1)
5. Do you think Randy had been trained to ride a bicycle? Give a reason for your answer. (2)
6. Can you find a simile in the first paragraph of the story? Write it down. (1)
7. Why did the traffic cop have his mouth open? (1)
8. Write down three words that make you realise that this story comes from America. (3)
9. Find the words in the extract which have the following meanings:

excited; strictly, to "pick up" speed.(3)

1. What do you think happened next in the story? (2)
2. Write down an example of alliteration from the story.(1)
3. Find one example of onomatopoeia in the story.(1)
4. Explain why the line “And then her heart seemed to freeze in her chest: hard and cold as a snowball.” is in a paragraph of its own. (2)

TOTAL: (20)

Educator Assessment Chart:

Assessment