Читать книгу English for Life Learner's Book Grade 5 Home Language - Lynne Southey - Страница 4

Introduction

Did your school take a photograph of your Grade 4 class last year? You probably have many photos of yourself, your family and your friends, even of your pets. We all like to keep photos to remind us of people, places and occasions.

For some people, photography is an art, like painting or music. These people can study photography as a career and take part in exhibitions and competitions. They can also earn their living taking photos at weddings and other big events. Many photographers work for newspapers and magazines. These are full of photos, showing sport, people and advertisements.

So what is a good photograph? We will talk about this in this first module.

What makes a good photograph?

Look at these photos of a young boy.

The first one is not a good photo because the person taking it did not put the face in the centre. The second one is much better. We can see what the photographer intended us to see.

Other factors that influence photographs are the light, the colour and the angles from which they are taken. A photo can show something nearby or something in the distance. It can be looking up at something or looking down on it. Think of where the camera would be for the drawings of photos below.

You can see that it was too dark to take the picture of the mountain.

The frog from above looks small. This is called a high-angle shot. With a high-angle shot, the camera looks down on the subject and makes it seem vulnerable or powerless.

The tree taken from below shows the pattern made by the branches well, while the photo taken of the tall man from below makes him appear even taller. These are called low-angle shots. A low-angle shot makes the subject look bigger and more intimidating.

In the first activity you are going to collect some photos of your own and discuss them.

1. Find at least six photos at home that illustrate the different shots discussed above. If you do not have photos, use pictures from magazines. Bring them to class.

2. Show your photos to your partner and discuss them.

(a) Are the shots taken from near, far, above, etc.?

(b) What is the light like?

(c) Are they good photos? What makes them good or bad?

(d) Why was the photo taken?

3. When you and your partner have finished talking about the photos, arrange them on an A3 size sheet of paper.

4. Write something about each photo under it.

5. Use the following checklist to help you.

6. Stick your photo display up in the classroom for your classmates to see.

7. Spend time looking at the other displays and reading the captions.

Dialogue

We use the word ‘dialogue’ when we refer to what two people say to each other in a film, play, cartoon or story. Dialogue is the talking that happens between two characters. Here is an example of a dialogue between a journalist wanting to take a photo for his newspaper and a boy in his soccer kit.

Notice how we lay out a dialogue: The speaker is on the left with a colon after his name. The words spoken are on the right. We line them up to make them look neat. Also note that we do not use quotation marks (‘ ’).

In the next activity you are going to write your own dialogue.

1. Choose a photo of a person from your display. Imagine a conversation between the photographer and the person. Let each person speak at least three times.

2. Use the checklist below to help you.

3. Act out your dialogue with your partner in front of another pair.

Spelling

You already know the spelling rule ‘put i before e except after c’ for words such as piece, receive, deceit.

Now we are going to give you the rest of that spelling rule: ‘put i before e except after c or when it sounds like a’ as in neighbour or neigh.

In the next activity, we are going to check your understanding of this rule. Can you spell words correctly using the following combinations of letters?

1. Put ‘ie’, ‘ei’ or ‘ai’ into the following words:

(a) r..n – Strip of leather around horse’s head to control it

(b) r..n – Water that falls in small drops from clouds in the sky

(c) rec..pt – Paper showing that you have paid for something

(d) dec..ve – Make someone believe something that is not true

(e) conc..t – Attitude showing too high an opinion of oneself

(f) bel..ve – Regard as true

(g) f..rce – Doing something with energy and strong feelings, sometimes negative and violent

(h) repr..ve – A delay before something bad happens

(i) s..ve – Used in the kitchen to sift flour or other things

(j) t..r – Layer on top of another layer

2. Check your words against your partner’s. If there is a difference, decide who is right and why.

3. Change yours if necessary.

4. Look up the meanings of any words you do not know and write them into your own vocabulary and spelling book.

Punctuation revision

You already know a lot about punctuation. In the next activity we are going to make sure that you remember it all. It is very important to be able to punctuate your writing correctly if you want to be understood. Look at the example in the box below:

Can you see the difference in meaning between the two, even though the words are the same? They mean the exact opposite of each other. Look carefully at the punctuation and the difference in meanings it creates in the sentences. If you remove all the punctuation except the full stop at the end, you cannot tell which meaning is intended. It is the punctuation that gives the meanings.

1. Rewrite the following sentences, punctuating them correctly.

(a) Do you know who this is in the photo

(b) I think it is my Dads brother

(c) Look at this photo of my mom when she was 10 years old

(d) She said I don’t remember looking like that

(e) This photo is clear colourful and pretty

2. Write a sentence using each of the following punctuation marks:

(a) a full stop

(b) a question mark

(c) a comma

(d) an exclamation mark

(e) inverted commas

3. Punctuate the following paragraph. Also put in the capital letters where necessary:

4. Below are five sentences. Rewrite them in the correct order as a paragraph. Also punctuate them so that the paragraph makes sense.

(a) we usually go to a different place in south africa every year

(b) one day I hope to go overseas on my own with my own camera

(c) when we go on holiday my father always brings his camera

(d) my parents say we should get to know our own country before we explore other countries

(e) one of his favourite things is to take photographs of us all his family and of the places we go to

Read a comic strip

Look at the comic strip below:

This comic strip has three frames, each showing a different picture. What the characters say in each frame is written in a speech bubble pointing to their mouths. The artist draws expressions and marks to show feelings and movements.

In the activity below you will be asked what you understand in this comic strip.

1. Look at the comic strip above and discuss the answers with a partner.

(a) The boy’s first answer to his mother’s question seems positive. What does it suggest is the reason why the boy is home early?

(b) Why is the boy really home early? How do you know?

(c) Describe the mother’s feelings in each of the three frames.

(d) How does the artist show these feelings?

(e) What makes this comic strip funny?

(f) What type of sentences are the five in the comic strip?

2. Write the sentences in the comic strip in reported speech, past tense.

3. You are going to draw your own cartoon or comic strip. Think of a funny situation and use speech bubbles and expressions to illustrate the words spoken. You can have one, two or three frames. Try not to copy a cartoon or comic strip you have read or seen somewhere else.

4. Swap your cartoon with your partner’s. Discuss and comment on each other’s cartoon.

5. Put all cartoons or comic strips up in the classroom for everyone to see.

More visual literacy

We have looked at and discussed photos, drawings and cartoons. Another kind of drawing we often see is a poster. Look at the examples below:

There are several things to notice about posters:

 • Their purpose is to attract attention.

 • Their purpose is usually to sell something or to give information.

 • They are clear and simple.

 • There are not too many words on them because people do not have time to read posters.

 • They are attractively laid out.

 • They use colour and different fonts and lettering sizes.

In the activity on the next page you will answer questions on the posters above and draw up your own poster.

1. Discuss the following questions with your partner:

(a) What is the purpose of each of the posters on the previous pages?

(b) Where would you expect to see these posters?

(c) Do these posters have all the elements mentioned in the box above? Explain your answer.

2. Now you are going to each make your own poster on A4 paper. Discuss ideas with your partner. You can choose to make any kind of poster. Do not simply copy a poster that you have seen before.

3. Use the checklist on the following page to help you with your poster.

4. Put up your posters in class for others to see.

Different ways of reading

We are going to remind you of the different ways you can use to read, depending on what your purpose is. These are scanning, skimming, reading to understand, reading word for word and reading to study. You will use these for the rest of your life!

Reading strategies

1. You scan when you know what you are looking for, for example a number in a telephone book.

2. You skim when you glance through at headings or first sentences of paragraphs when you want to get an idea of what the text is about.

3. You read to understand when you read for pleasure or interest.

4. You read word for word when the text is difficult and you are having trouble understanding it. This is not a good idea because you do not get the meaning of the sentences or paragraphs as a whole.

5. When you read to study you read very carefully so that you can understand, catch any meaning that is not obvious, and to remember what you have read.

There are five steps to reading to study:

 • Do a survey: Skim through to get a general idea.

 • Ask questions about what you are reading and try to find the answers in the text.

 • Read slowly and carefully.

 • Recall and from memory write down the main points.

Review your questions, answers and main points and check if they are correct.

1. Without reading the article below closely, skim it to find out what it is about.

How a camera works

The camera is an important invention. Think what life would be like without it!

With a simple camera, the photographer sees the same image that the camera does but he or she can adjust it by turning dials or pressing buttons. The way a camera works is very simple. A camera like the one in the picture has three elements: the lens (optical element), the film (chemical element) and the body of the camera (the mechanical element). To take a photo one has to combine these so that a clear image can be recorded.

A lens is a curved piece of glass or plastic. It takes the rays of light bouncing off an object and brings them together so that they form an image of whatever is being photographed. It does this by slowing down the light. The speed of light can change. It travels faster through air than through glass. When light enters the curve of the lens at an angle, one part of the light ray will reach the glass before another and so will slow down first and bend towards the centre of the lens.

The angle at which the light enters the lens changes when the photographer goes closer to or further away from the object being photographed.

As you can see the image of a closer object forms further away from the lens than does the image from an object that is further away. When you focus a camera, you turn the lens, moving it closer to or further from the film surface where the image will be captured. You can use different lenses, depending on what kind of photo you want to take.

2. Now read the article to understand it.

3.Scan the text to find the three words optical, mechanical and chemical. Work out from the context what they mean.

4. Scan the article to find answers to the following questions:

(a) What are the three elements of a camera?

(b) What is a lens?

(c) What is the mechanical element of a camera?

(d) What element is the film?

5. Having read the article to understand it, see how much you have understood by answering the following questions:

(a) What forms the image on the film?

(b) Mention an interesting fact about the speed of light.

(c) Explain in your own words what happens when the photographer moves closer or further away from the object he or she is photographing.

(d) How does one bring the object one is photographing into focus?

6. Show that you have thought about the article by writing two or three sentences explaining how the invention of the camera has affected our lives.

7. Think of an example of when you yourself would use each of the following ways of reading. Do not use the examples given above. Also say why you would use that way.

(a) skimming

(b) scanning

(c) reading to understand

(d) reading word for word

(e) reading to study

Another spelling rule

English has many rules about spelling. You need to learn them all. Here is one more:

You know that when we change a word from singular to plural, we add an‘s’, for example ‘one book’ becomes ‘two books’. But what happens when a word ends in a ‘y’? ‘Country’ does not become ‘countrys’. We change the ‘y’ to ‘ie’ and then add the ‘s’. The plural of ‘country’ is ‘countries’.

But if the word ending in a ‘y’ has a vowel before the ‘y’, we can just add an ‘s’: ‘donkey’ becomes ‘donkeys’.

In the next activity you will practise this new spelling rule.

1. Copy the following table into your workbook, filling in the correct spelling of the plural into the second column.

2. Rewrite the following story, correcting the spelling:

A farmer wished to have a photograph taken of himself, his children and all his animals. He arranged a day with the photografer. The family cleaned up the yard where the photo was to be taken and then all put on their best cloths to wait for him.

When he arrived, the wive and daughter brought out some tea and sandwichs on traies, while the farmer gathered all the animals. The cats were straies, so they did not want to include them. But the two huskys were to be included. There were chickens, pigs, cows, a goat and two small ponys.

It was difficult making all the animals stand still together. The dogs tried to help. When one of the chickens ran after a grashoper, they dashed after it. One dog caught it, but bit too hard, killing the poor thing. The other leapt about in excitement, knocking over the traies, breaking all the cups and saucers and plates. The farmer’s wive and daughter drew out their hankys and burst into tears. Two tragedys in one day were two much for them.

Follow instructions

You will often be given instructions in your life. If we do not follow instructions properly, things can go wrong. Think of building a model airplane, or assembling a tent, or cooking from a recipe. If we cannot read the instructions, none of these things will turn out the way they are supposed to.

In the next activity you will be given a chance to build a pinhole camera. You will need to follow the instructions carefully if you want it to work.

1. Did you know that our eyes actually see an object upside down, but that our brains turn it around? Discuss this with your partner.

2. You are going to build a pinhole camera. It will not really take photographs, but when you look through its “lens” you will see the object you are looking at upside down. Make sure you have all the necessary materials:

 • A coffee can with a plastic lid

 • A nail

 • A hammer

 • Wax paper

 • Scissors

 • A towel

3. Now follow the steps below to make your camera:

(a) Make a hole in the middle of the bottom of the can, using the nail and hammer.

(b) Cut a circle out of the plastic lid.

(c) Cut a square piece of wax paper, big enough to stick over the edges of the open end of the can.

(d) Place the wax paper over the open end of the can and put the plastic lid on firmly.

(e) Place the towel over your head and the coffee can which you must be holding with the wax paper end towards you. The towel must cover the edges of the can which has the nail hole, but not cover the nail hole itself.

(f) With the towel still in place, look through the wax paper end of your camera at an object. The object will appear to be upside down!

Make notes while reading

As you know, it is a good idea to make notes of a text that you need to study. To do this, you write down the main ideas. In the next activity you will practise doing this.

1. Read the following article carefully. You are going to be asked to make notes of it and to answer questions on it.

The history of photography

The word ‘photography’ comes from the Greek words ‘photos’ meaning ‘light’ and ‘graphien’ meaning ‘to draw’. So photography is about drawing light.

The first photograph was taken in 1825 by the French inventor Niépce. He produced his photos on a pewter plate covered with bitumen. Bitumen hardens when it is exposed to light, and the material that has not hardened can be washed away. The pewter is then polished, showing up a negative image which is coated with ink and then pressed on to paper.

Niépce then began experimenting with silver compounds and he and his partner Daguerre refined the silver process for producing photos. After Niépce died, Daguerre continued experimenting producing a method using silver on copper plate which he called the daguerreotype. A similar process is still used today in taking Polaroid photos.

Daguerreotypes became very popular. People who could afford to used to have their portraits painted by artists to preserve a likeness of themselves. The daguerreotype was not nearly so costly and so more and more people began to have their photos taken using this method.

It was only in 1888 that the Kodak camera was developed and was sold to users. Their slogan was ‘you press the button, we do the rest’. This meant that anyone could take photos and leave the development of them to the professionals.

Today, photography is known worldwide. It is a field that has many different areas of use.

2. The article has six paragraphs. Make a brief note of what each is about.

3. When were ordinary people able to take their own photos without having to go to a professional?

4. Make two lists of words that you know, one using ‘photo’ and the other using ‘graph’.

5. Make a list of all the areas in life today that use photography.

6. Look the following words up in a dictionary and then write them and their meanings into your personal spelling and vocabulary book: daguerreotype, pewter, bitumen, compound, refine, portrait.

7. What kind of text is this article? We can see right away that it is not a story, so what is it? Give reasons for your answer.

8. Look at your list in your answer to Question 5. Take one of the areas and use different sources to find out something about it. This could be what it is exactly, or who does it, or what its purpose is, or its history. Make notes about what you find.

9. Bring your notes to class and write up an article about your topic. Think of who you are writing for and of the purpose of your information.

10. Remember to make a note of your sources and to list them under your article in the following way:

Sources

 • Internet (give the site)

 • Magazine (give its title and date)

 • Book (give its title and author)

11. Make a pamphlet of your article. You can use anything from this activity.

A pamphlet is a leaflet containing information. It usually advertises something or informs the public about something. It often has pictures and photos.

Borrowed words

Languages develop by borrowing words from each other. You saw in the previous activity how two words were borrowed from the Greek to make many English words.

In the next activity you will look up words borrowed from other languages and say what they mean and which language they come from.

1. Look up the following words in your dictionary. Write down their meaning and their language of origin:

(a) trek

(b) samoosa

(c) geography

(d) versus

(e) koeksister

(f) ballet

(g) bobotie

(h) à la carte

(i) aquaduct

(j) crochet

2. Make a sentence with each of the words above, showing that you know what they mean. Use the checklist below to make sure your sentences are good.

A group discussion

You already know how to have a group discussion. You have to participate, be polite, listen to and encourage others, and keep to the topic. The purpose of a discussion is usually to share ideas and to come to a general conclusion that you all agree on. In the next activity you will have a chance to practise your skills at group discussion.

1. Your group is going to hold a photographic exhibition. There are several things that you have to decide. You will probably find it necessary to appoint one of the group as a chairperson. Someone should also make notes of decisions reached.

(a) What will the topic be? People, places, events? Or anything else?

(b) Where will it be held? And when?

(c) How will you put up the photos? On a wall, a board, a chart?

(d) Will you only use real photos that you have or will you be allowed to cut out photos from other sources?

(e) Must they all be in colour, or in black and white, or mixed?

(f) Will there be a written explanation under each photo? If so, who will draw these up and who will write them out?

(g) How many photos will your exhibition consist of?

(h) How long do you need to prepare?

2. Now carry out the decisions made. When you put up your display, think of what it looks like to a viewer. Make it attractive and easy to read.

3. Each individual in the class can vote for the display they think is the best.

4. Your teacher will then lead a discussion on what makes this particular one the best.

Language revision

The only way to get something right and to learn it is to practise, practise, practise! In the activity below you are going to go over all the language you have learnt in this module. Be sure to get it all right! If you do not, go through the section in the module which explains it. Do corrections.

1. Write your own sentences using the following words. Look them up in a dictionary if necessary.

(a) lens

(b) photographic

(c) influence

(d) illustrate

(e) dialogue

(f) neigh

(g) element

(h) practise

(i) optical

(j) mechanical

2. Correct the following spelling:

donkies, monkies, lilys, neice, decieve, naghbour, frieght train, abilitys, fasilitys

3. Write a dialogue between the farmer and his wife from the story on p. 15 after the two tragedies. Let each speak three times.

4. Punctuate the following paragraph:

why would a farmer want to have photographs taken of himself and his animals most farmers sell their animals for meat and so breed them for the market perhaps some breed prize animals imagine slaughtering your prize bull to eat do some farmers love their animals in the same way they love their dogs cats and other pets perhaps some just want a record of their lives

5. Make a list of ten words borrowed from other languages.

6. Below are eleven sentences that make up a paragraph. They are not in the correct order. Rewrite them in the correct order. Underline the main idea of the paragraph.

(a) Andrew grabbed the cell phone and took several photos of the man.

(b) They crept closer and saw a man with his hand over a girl’s mouth.

(c) The boys felt like heroes.

(d) He was trying to wrestle her to the ground.

(e) They had decided to go and fish at the stream near their school.

(f) They arrived immediately, but the man ran away when he saw them.

(g) As they arrived, they heard a girl screaming softly.

(h) John and Andrew had a very exciting Saturday.

(i) Then he called the police on it.

(j) However, because of the photos, he was later arrested and charged with assault.

(k) Andrew’s mother gave them her cellphone so that she could call them if she wanted to.