Page 24 - English OLC Literacy Course 12 (2003)

22 THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM: ENGLISH
– use appropriate strategies to locate infor- mation in different types of texts, including:
• Informational texts (e.g., search for key
words from a question about the selec-
tion to locate specific information);
• Narrative texts (e.g., reread the first
sentence of successive paragraphs to identify the sequence of events and/or transitions in scene or changes in speaker);
• Graphic texts (e.g., use a ruler to read along lines in a table; read up from the horizontal axis and across from the ver- tical axis to find a point on a graph);
– use appropriate strategies to make infer- ences about and interpret different types of texts, including:
• Informational texts (e.g., while reading,
predict a writer’s intentions, conclu- sions, or biases based on his/her presen- tation of the facts);
• Narrative texts (e.g., pose questions about the explanations for people’s actions given in a workplace incident report: “Are the explanations convinc- ing?”,“Do they account for all the facts?”,“How could the incident be resolved?”);
• Graphic texts (e.g., compare the sizes of different visual features to identify the elements that are most/least important in an advertisement);
– make connections between personal experiences and the content of texts to consolidate and extend understanding of different types of texts, including:
• Informational texts (e.g., explain why they agree or disagree with an author’s point of view; explain how they would use the information provided in an informa- tion paragraph in their own lives);
• Narrative texts (e.g., compare a decision made by a person in a narrative with the choice they would have made in the same situation);
• Graphic texts (e.g., relate information from graphic texts to their own pur- poses for reading and/or to information from other sources – for example, by using a road map to help plan a trip);
– demonstrate understanding of a variety of informational, narrative, and graphic texts commonly read in daily life (e.g., recipes, manuals, instructions, invoices, e-mails, encyclopedia entries, pamphlets, news reports, short stories, train schedules, bar graphs) by using and/or responding to them appropriately.
Using Strategies to Understand New Words and Expressions and to Build Vocabulary By the end of this course, students will:
– use appropriate strategies to discover the meaning of unfamiliar and technical words encountered in their reading (e.g., use print, online, and bilingual dictionaries; use context to determine the meaning of new words; create concept maps using new words; build a bank of sight words to increase reading fluency);
– use appropriate strategies to discover the meaning of unfamiliar idiomatic expressions encountered in their reading (e.g.,“read past” an unfamiliar expression to gain a sense of the sentence, then make a guess as to its meaning; use or create dictionaries of phrases and expressions);
– use appropriate strategies to expand their vocabulary through reading (e.g., use knowledge of roots, prefixes, and suffixes to create new words; contribute to class word walls; create personal dictionaries of new words encountered in their reading).