Component 4A.2 Reading the Narrative Text
Time: 5 minutes
The teacher displays the Narrative, The Hare, and the Tortoise. Has anyone read this story before?
If so, the teacher tells students to listen to the reading and see if this version is the same as the one they have heard.
The teacher reads the text and tells the class before reading to look out for the answer to the question: “Who won the race and how did he win it?”
Students mark on their copy of the narrative where they got clues for their answers.
Students write answers on the Worksheet (LC4A) giving reasons.
The Hare and the Tortoise
There was once a hare who was a friend with a tortoise.
One day, he challenged the tortoise to a race.
Seeing how slow the tortoise was going, the hare thought he would win this easily. So, he took a nap while the tortoise kept on going.
When the hare woke up, he saw that the tortoise was already at the finish line.
Much to his chagrin, the tortoise won the race while the hare was busy sleeping.
[Adapted from The Hare and the Tortoise by Aesop (c. 620 BCE-564 BCE].
Teacher Input: We are going to look at the different parts of a Narrative. A narrative usually has 3 parts: a beginning, middle, and end – but they are not always the same length.
In the beginning, we get the answers to the questions, “Who (characters), where and when (setting).”
The middle part is where a problem occurs or something happens to disrupt or confuse the situation (a ‘crisis’) and leads to a sequence of events that lead to a ‘climax’, a big event – like the final battle scene in a war movie.
The end is where the problem is solved, or the action comes to an end as when someone wins the final battle in a war movie – a resolution.
We talked about how narratives start, what starts the action, and how the action ends at the start of this lesson. Now you know what happens in each part.
Component 4B Questions
Time: 10 minutes
The teacher provides 3 questions in the worksheet and asks students to identify answers and to mark on the text where they got their answers from as the teacher re-reads the text.
Questions:
Q1. Name the main characters.
Q2. What event and /or character sets the action going/ causes the problem?
Q3. Who won the race and how did he win it?
Students individually write the answers to each question and their reasons for their answers on their Worksheets.
Sample answers:
Q1. The Hare and the Tortoise
Q2. The Hare challenged the Tortoise to a race.
Q3. The Tortoise. The Hare was over-confident and took a nap in the middle of the race which allowed the Tortoise to pass him.
The teacher leads the discussion of answers with a focus on matching each question with the relevant stage of a narrative (Q1 = Stage 1 Setting; Q2 = Stage 2 Crisis; Q3 = Resolution) and evidence from the text.
[Teacher Notes: Check on student understanding of the type of narrative this one is (Fables are imaginary narratives with simple events leading to a moral - before reading the narrative.) Questions in this part involve only literal comprehension. Link Questions to stages of a narrative and terms: ‘crisis’, ‘climax’, and resolution.]
Component 4C Questions
Time: 10 minutes
The teacher displays questions on the worksheet.
Teacher: Sometimes you will get questions which mean you have to find clues in several different places in the text. Sometimes you will have to work out how you feel or what you think about what has happened in the story. Sometimes you will have to ‘read between the lines’ or to work out what the author means when it is not obviously stated. The main thing here is to have a reason/justification for your answers – that is, something or things that are present in the text that gave you the clues you need for your answer.
Questions:
Q4. What is the moral or lesson of the story?
Q5. “The Hare is the villain or bad character in the story” – do you agree? Give reasons.
Q6. A parent said, “This story is silly – we don’t want our children growing up to be like the Tortoise – he’s too slow for the times we live in.” Do you agree? Give reasons.
Students in pairs or singly write answers in their worksheets.
The teacher leads the discussion of student responses with a focus on evidence from the text.
Suggested answers:
Q4. “Slow and steady wins the race.” “Don’t be overconfident.”
Q5. “The Hare is the villain because he gets overconfident. He only challenges the Tortoise because he thinks he can beat him easily.” “The Hare is more a fool than a villain. He gets humiliated through his own fault.” “The Hare is not a villain and the Tortoise is no hero – it is not that sort of story.”
Q6. Be prepared for a variety of answers here as below:
“I agree. It is important to be able to do things quickly. You don’t get all the time you want to answer questions at school.”
“I disagree. It’s important to make sure you get things right and that takes time, and you have to be careful.”
“Neither character is a good role model for life in the 21st century in the Philippines. One is too slow and the other too careless.” [Teacher Notes - for differentiation of learning: An alternative for Question 5 would be to give the students the 3 answers and ask which one they agree with and why. Same for Question 6 too. Another way of asking Question 6 is – “Who would you rather be – the Hare or the Tortoise – fast and good-looking or ugly and boring?” Give reasons.]
Component 5: Lesson Conclusion
Time: 5 minutes
The teacher displays the following questions:
Q1. The focus of the lesson was on learning about how narratives work. How has the lesson helped you to understand this?
Q2. Which questions were easy to answer? Why?
Q3. What strategies did you use to answer the harder questions?
[Teacher Notes: It would be worthwhile to do this by getting students to write on the Worksheet, so you have some feedback on the effectiveness of the lesson and how they feel about their learning experience.
However, if pressed for time, you may want to do this section as a class discussion].
Segue to the next lesson: In the next lesson we will look at another narrative to give you more practice with reading and interpreting them.
REMINDER: Collect student worksheets to review and analyze students’ learning; focus on answers to Question 6 for quality and clarity of writing and understanding of the content.
