NAPLAN 2011 TEACHING STRATEGIES Literacy Reading Interpretive Comprehension (Vocabulary) Overview teaching strategies overview

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Stages

1-2

3-4

Interpretive Comprehension Vocabulary Overview

Interpretive meaning is often hidden throughout the text and requires the use of inference and understanding the relationship between events and characters or causes and consequences. Readers need to link like information to fully understand the text. Sometimes these relationships can be stated and are often found near causal words such as because , so and therefore . Information may need to be linked from sentence to sentence, across paragraphs or chapters, and is often referred to as information that is given 'between the lines'.

Connecting Literal Information

To answer more complex questions, students may need to connect literal ideas in sentences by searching for information in text, illustrations or graphs. If no interpretation is required to locate the information, students are employing literal comprehension skills. Where students need to connect information that is directly stated in the text and there needs to be an understanding that particular information belongs together, this is classed as an interpretive question. Identifying key words, skim reading and scanning will help students to locate and connect information efficiently.

Key words
Key words are the content words that carry the most meaning in a text. Students can underline or highlight the key words.

Skimming
Skimming is reading quickly through a text to get the gist or main idea. Students can skim read by looking at headings and sub-headings, pictures, diagrams, captions, any italicised or bold words, and the first and last paragraphs of the text.

Scanning
Scanning is reading to locate particular elements or specific details in a text, such as key concepts, names, dates or certain information in answer to a question. Students can scan by looking through the text to locate key words to find the specific information quickly.

Vocabulary Interpretive
Interpreting information often requires readers to understand the vocabulary in the text. They may need to link words that have similar meaning or ideas, understand words that link ideas and synthesise ideas using word meanings to assist analysis of texts.

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NAPLAN 2011 TEACHING STRATEGIES Literacy Reading Interpretive Comprehension (Vocabulary) Pronoun referencing 1-2 teaching strategies overview

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Stages

1-2

3-4

K6 Outcome
RS 3.8 Identifies the text structure of a wider range of more complex text types and discusses how the characteristic grammatical features work to influence readers' and viewers' understanding of texts.

Supporting students with difficulties in learning

Reading - Pronoun referencing

Strategies
Students can:
identify the pronoun reference in a text.

STAGE 1-2

Item
Reading Yr 5 Q22 Yr 7 Q9

Strategy Overview:
This strategy provides a model of explicit instruction for teaching students the skills to identify the pronoun reference in a text. Students begin by learning to associate pronouns with nouns in short passages. They then learn that that a pronoun antecedent comes before the pronoun in a text. It can be used with students in year 2 and year 3 or with older students who have difficulty with pronoun referencing. Pronouns increase the difficulty of comprehension because students must identify the pronoun antecedent before they can answer the question.

Item Descriptor
Identifies the pronoun reference in a text.

Statements of Learning
p. 6

Prerequisite skills
Students can identify common and proper nouns in text. Students know the meaning of key pronouns: he, she, we, they, it, you, them, her, and him.

Activities to support strategy

Modelled
When teaching the pronoun referencing, select short texts on a familiar topic. Students read or have the passage read to them. Begin the lesson by stating the purpose; "Today we are going to learn about how pronouns can take the place of a noun in a text." "In a text an author does not always have to repeat the noun to talk about someone of something. Instead they can put a pronoun in the place of a noun. We are going to read some passages and work out the pronouns that go with the nouns to answer some questions." Extract based on the text Down by the river (NAPLAN Reading Magazine Year 3)

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Teacher or students read the passage and the questions. Daniel and Sarah went to the river with Daniels's dad. They sat on the fishing platform. He squeaked when Sarah elbowed him. She is Daniel's friend. Did Sarah go to the river? Did Daniel squeak? Who is Daniel's friend? The teacher or a student reads each sentence. The teacher asks a question after each sentence. "Jason and his friend Sarah went to the river. Who went to the river? That's right Daniel and Sarah." "They sat on the fishing platform. Did Daniel sit on the fishing platform? That's right Daniel sat on the fishing platform. Did Sarah sit on the fishing platform? That's right Sarah sat on the fishing platform." "He squeaked when Sarah elbowed him. Did Daniel squeak? Yes, that's right Daniel squeaked. Did Sarah squeak? No, Sarah didn't squeak." "She is Daniel's friend. Is Daniel Daniel's friend? No, Daniel isn't Daniel's friend. Is Sarah Daniel's friend? Yes, Sarah is Daniel's friend." If students make errors, the teacher refers to the pronoun. For example: She is Daniel's friend. She tells about a girl. Is Daniel a girl?

Now ask the questions and if students make any errors refer to the pronouns.

Guided
Go through the procedure on a number of different texts with increasing difficulty and gradually fade teacher support until students are able to accurately and independently answer questions that require pronoun referencing. To build mastery in pronoun referencing students need to be involved in daily guided practice on short texts.

Independent
Provide students with short texts that they can read or have read to them. For students who have difficulty decoding a text it could be provided on CD or MP3 or accessed via the computer using text reading software (for example, Read and Write Gold) currently used by a student to support their reading. Both methods would allow the student to reread the text when needed. As students become skilled at pronoun referencing introduce longer texts.

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Down by the river

Some children are by a river, with a parent, hoping to see a platypus. On the fth afternoon, when I think even Daniels dad was getting a little impatient, we denitely saw a platypus. It came right under where we were. Wed changed where we sat, gone downstream a bit to a kind of shing platform that old Mr Beatty had built on the river bank. And there was the arrow of water from where we had been sitting and it moved along the river bank while we held our breaths. The platform we were standing on was right near some bullrushes and we watched the ripples and bubbles and then it came in really close to the shallow water right near where we were. I know I squeaked, because Daniel elbowed me gently. We all peered down and we could just see the at tail. No white tip. And then it moved into a patch of late sunshine and we saw it more clearly nosing around and then it must have heard something and with a little ip completely disappeared into deeper, shadowed water. Well, Daniels dad said after a long silence, weve seen it, kids. Are you sure it was really a platypus? Daniel asked. If only wed had a really good look. It was a platypus, Daniels dad said rmly. Denitely a platypus. No white tip. No ears. And shy. A rat would have just come up for a second look at us. Wow, weve seen it, Daniel, weve seen it! I cant believe it, Daniel said. I just cant believe it. It all happened too fast. I know what you mean, his father said, putting an arm around him, but the more time you spend watching wild things, the more practised you get at seeing them, so eventually your eye adapts to their speed. But it was, it was truly a platypus. Youve joined an exclusive club, kids. Not many people these days have seen a platypus in the wild.

NAPLAN 2011 TEACHING STRATEGIES Literacy Reading Interpretive Comprehension (Vocabulary) Inferring word meaning from context 2 teaching strategies overview

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Stages

1-2

3-4

K6 Outcomes
RS 2.6 Draws on experience or knowledge of the topic or context to work out the meaning of unknown words RS 3.6 Uses knowledge about texts to predict the kinds of words likely to be included English 4.7.9 Students learn to make predictions, infer and interpret texts.

Skill Focus: Inferring word meaning from context

Strategy
Examining sentence structure to determine word meanings Using context clues to infer word meanings

STAGE 2

Item & Stimulus

Reading Year 3 Q: 12, 20 Language Conventions Year 5 Q: 7

Activities to support the strategies

Modelled
Background knowledge
Good readers are able to use a number of strategies to infer meaning while reading. They are able to take information and clues from a text and merge it with their background knowledge and experience to figure out the meaning of words. It is important to explicitly teach students strategies they can successfully employ to determine the appropriate contextual meaning of a word that has multiple meanings or to decode words in texts that they are unfamiliar with. Provide students with some examples of sentences that use the same word, but that has different meanings in each of the sentences. For example: When everyone stopped singing, it was time for her to blow out the candles on her cake. The blow to the face gave him a black eye. Everyone moved behind the barriers as the building was about to blow . Using the think aloud strategy, define the word 'blow' as it is used in each sentence. Rely on context clues and sentence structure to inform reasoning. Say: I know the meaning of 'blow' in one of these sentences. I know that to blow out candles on a birthday cake is to strongly exhale air from your mouth. Looking at the second sentence, I have to rely on clues to figure out the meaning of the word. The 'blow' to the face gave him a black eye. In the second sentence the 'blow' is a noun and it has a different meaning here because blowing air would not cause a 'black eye' which is more likely to be the result of an action such as striking the face. The word 'blow' is used as a verb in the third sentence too. It says that the building was about to 'blow'. I can relate this to things I already know. Because people had to move a safe distance away, I think that this form of the word 'blow' means to explode. Provide students with three different definitions for the word 'plant' as it is used in the following sentences. He eagerly waited for the plant to grow. They visited the production plant on their excursion. They intended to plant many trees in the backyard. Definitions: plant (noun): a seedling or a growing slip plant (noun): the equipment, including the machinery, tools and often the buildings, necessary to carry out any industrial business plant (verb): to put or set in the ground for growth, as in seeds or young trees Using the think aloud strategy, discuss what the definitions mean and how, through looking at the sentences, students can decide which definition is most appropriate for which sentence. Complete again for the following sentences all featuring the word 'back'. He had a sore back . They had to go back home when they realised they had forgotten the present. She told her to go to the back of the hall.

Item Descriptor
Interprets the meaning of words from their context.

Statements of Learning for English

p. 17

Quality Teaching Framework

Intellectual quality: Metalanguage, deep understanding, higher-order thinking

Guided
It is important to provide students with a number of ways to examine the context of a text or sentence to help determine the meaning of a word that they do not know. Writers often tell a reader more than they say. They may include information around a word or past a word, or they will sometimes define a word for you later in the text. Different context clues include: definition: the writer directly defines a word that the reader is probably unfamiliar with restatement: the writer restates the word in a less precise form to provide clues to meaning example : the writer provides examples that unlock the meaning of an unfamiliar word comparison : the writer places unfamiliar words with familiar words so that the reader can determine meaning through noting similarities between the words contrast : particular words are used to signal a contrast between ideas in a text. The reader can work out what the unfamiliar word means if they are familiar with the word that it is being contrasted with cause and effect : the cause of an action may be stated using an unfamiliar word. If the effect is described using familiar words then the reader can infer word meaning from the words they know.

Activity one
Metalanguage/ exploring deep understanding
The teacher and students work together to create a vocabulary bank of words that can be used to indicate meaning or provide clues about how to infer meaning.

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Activity two
Provide students with a copy of the information text Amphibians from the 2008 NAPLAN Year 5 Reading magazine and get them to highlight all the words for which they do not know the meaning.

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Information texts often include words that are new to readers so sometimes a writer will directly define words that they consider to be technical or specific to the subject under discussion. For example: Some toads produce spawn in strings like necklaces, rather than the mass of eggs laid by frogs. Most amphibians lay their eggs in water. Frogs' eggs are called spawn. The writer of the text defines the word 'spawn' later in the text, but also provides clues within the sentence where the word is first introduced so that careful readers can infer what the word means. Get students to fill out the table identifying the words with which they are unfamiliar.

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Jointly fill in the table so that students become more confident in finding the clues in texts that help them to infer the meanings of unfamiliar words. When the table is completed, get students to check their inferred meaning against the dictionary meaning of the words.

Independent
Higher-order thinking
Supply pairs of students with different texts that cover a range of text types. In pairs, students identify words that they are unfamiliar with. Using the strategies provided, they are to determine what the words mean. The students must record what strategies they used and the questions they asked of the text in order to determine word meaning. Each pair reports back to the class and all students create a word bank of new words with their meanings.

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Worksheet 2

Denition and Restatement

in other words

Example and Comparison

like

Contrast
on the other hand but

Cause and Effect

because

Worksheet 1

There are 4400 living species of amphibians. Frogs, toads, newts and salamanders are all amphibians. Many live mainly on land, but most spend at least some of their lives in water. The largest amphibian, the Chinese giant salamander, is 1.8 m long. Frogs and salamanders are able to breathe through their damp skins to a certain extent, both in the water and on the land, but toads rely largely on their lungs and cannot remain underwater for long. Toads and frogs are similar in many ways, although toads usually have rougher, drier skins and may waddle rather than hop as frogs do. Some toads produce spawn in strings like necklaces, rather than the mass of eggs laid by frogs. Most amphibians lay their eggs in water. Frogs eggs are called spawn. The eggs are protected from predators by a thick layer of jelly. A tadpole develops inside each egg. When it hatches, it is able to swim using its long tail, and it breathes through gills. As a tadpole grows, rst hind legs then forelegs begin to form. Lungs develop, and the young frog is able to begin to breathe with its head above water. Gradually, the tail shortens until the young frog resembles its adult parents.
Adult frogs often return to the pond in which they are hatched. Frog spawn hatches into larvae called tadpoles after about a week.

At first tadpoles feed on algae and breathe through feathery gills.

By about 10 weeks the young frog has legs and lungs.

Worksheet 3 Word spawn What I know Toads produce spawn. Frogs lay eggs Clues in text The words rather than are used which indicates that spawn and eggs are comparable What I infer That spawn is another word for eggs.

NAPLAN 2011 TEACHING STRATEGIES Literacy Reading Interpretive Comprehension (Vocabulary) Interpreting complex vocabulary 3-4 teaching strategies overview

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Stages

1-2

3-4

K6 Outcomes
RS2.6: Uses word identification strategies

Skill Focus: Interpreting complex vocabulary

interpret the meaning of prodigious and conception .

STAGE 3-4

RS3.6: Draws on knowledge of word origins and word-building strategies to work out new words English 4.7.12 Students learn about the language of factual texts including compressed forms of presentation (such as nominalisations).

To answer Q41 in Year 7 students had to interpret the meaning of interactive and to answer Q42 in Year 9 students had to

Strategy
Using morphemic analysis is an instructional technique teachers can use not only to help students' understanding of specific terms, but more importantly, to teach students to actively looking for word parts to work out word meanings. Morphemes are the smallest units of language that contain meaning. The word bat makes sense in itself, but the addition of s makes bats either a plural noun, (bats have been at the mulberry tree) or a present tense verb with a singular subject (he bats lefthanded). In the word unhelpful, the prefix un changes the meaning of helpful to its opposite. In a phrase like environmental damage , students may have an idea of what environment means, and could work out that environmental means to do with the environment, so that the phrase would mean damage that comes from the environment, like flood or drought or erosion over time. Awareness of morphemes contributes to spelling as well as to vocabulary. It is easier to remember the spelling of government if students relate it to govern. The major morphemes are affixes: Prefixes often change the meaning of the base word (lock/unlock) Suffixes often change the grammar of the base word (environment/environmental) See more on morphemes in the context of spelling in Programming and Strategies Handbook (Secondary), pages 5051; and Programming and Strategies Handbook (Years 3 and 5), pages 112114. Compound words Help students to: see the words inside words use the parts to work out the meaning. For example: arm/chair; back/track; counter/balance; out/smart; wire/tap; work/man/like For a long list see: http://www.rickwalton.com/curricul/compound.htm Root words and etymology Help students to: identify root words commonly used in the Key Learning Areas, for example: tele; phono; photo; digit; aero; bio; geo; mono; hydro; bi; tri; cent; ology. Proformas to help establish the skill of deconstructing complex vocabulary can be used when introducing a variety of texts.

Item & Stimulus

Reading Year 7 Q: 12, 26, 29 and 45 Year 9 Q: 8 and 39

Item Descriptor
Interprets words and infers meaning

Statements of Learning for English

Students have the opportunity to draw on their knowledge of texts and language to clarify meaning.

Related Strategies
Connecting ideas in texts Identification of the language features that are used by writers to construct persuasive texts (modality) Locating information directly stated in texts

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Activity to support the strategy

Exploring metalanguage (QTF)
Provide copies of Pet dogs what do you think? from the Year 5 and 7 NAPLAN 2008 Reading magazines.

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Modelled
The teacher uses the 'think aloud' strategy to model how to use morphemic analysis to work out the meaning of a word. The teacher uses statements like: This word is personalised . I know that if something is personal, it belongs to me. So personalised must be something that is made to suit the individual.

Guided
Following teacher modelling, treat another word, preferably a parallel one, using contributions from students, for example, a parallel word might be expectation. Provide different examples of the morphemic element (a prefix that changes the meaning of the word, for example), and get students to think of and look for other examples. Move on to paired work until the students are confident with the process. Teach morphemic analysis as a strategy for students to use and practise it in many contexts. Ask students: How can you use morphemes to help you work out the meaning of a word? Practise the word by using it, saying it, spelling it. Exploring deep knowledge and higher-order thinking (QTF) Teacher asks probing questions like: What is morphemic analysis and how can it help us to work out what words mean? How would the process be helpful to use in other texts? The teacher reminds students that morphemes are the smallest part of a word that carries meaning. Unlock has two morphemes. The base word lock and the prefix un which changes the meaning of lock into its opposite, like undo or unhappy . Ended has two morphemes. The base word end , and the suffix ed which indicates past tense. Gladly : the root word is glad, and the suffix ly turns glad into an adverb, which could be used in a sentence like He gladly took the fish to his grandmother. The teacher models by thinking aloud. For example, Word: supposedly I can see this word in the second paragraph of the text. I want to work out what supposedly means so I can understand what it means in context. I can think about how it makes sense in the story. Why are these supposedly wonderful friends left alone to pine? I can see there is the root word suppose in there. I already know what suppose means; I suppose you will help me do this means I think, but I'm not sure, that you will help me.

Supposedly also has two other morphemes; the d and the ly. I know that the d, or an ed, makes this word past tense. And I know that the ly makes words into adverbs. So supposedly in supposedly wonderful friends means we think, but we are not sure, that the friends are wonderful, and we actually doubt that the owners are treating their dogs like friends.

Guided
The teacher assists students to complete the scaffold using key complex vocabulary from the passage.

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Students work in pairs to complete the remaining words in the list. Students work in collaborative groups to compare their answers. Word analysis is carried out as part of analysing texts in all KLAs using the scaffold provided.

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Using morphemic analysis to work out what words mean

Topic: ___________________________ Student:____________________ Word Parts of the word and their meaning

Meaning

Pet dogs what do you think?

May 21 Dear Editor, Dogs are working animals, not pets. They belong out on the farm, rounding up sheep and cattle. In the city they are just a smelly, noisy nuisance. They leave their mess all over the streets, and some of them never stop barking. Where are their owners? Why are these supposedly wonderful friends left alone to pine and whine and dig up the garden, or to bark at anyone who dares to walk past their house? If we must have dogs in the city, they need to be trained properly. Aside from the street-poopers and the barkers, there are the chasers and the bounders. These dreadful creatures rush up and almost knock you f lat before you have time to decide if they are greeting you or attacking you. Farm dogs earn their keep, but these city slickers consume far more than their fair share of the worlds resources. And of course, its not just scraps. Its gourmet cuisine, individually tinned or freeze-dried, which the pampered darlings can eat at their leisure from personalised doggy bowls, before having a home-visit haircut and shampoo or retiring to their fur-lined baskets. Sarah Williston May 28 Dear Editor, Yes, Sarah Williston (May 21), we do give dogs a good life, but they pay us back generously, with affection and intelligence and good humour. Dogs are wonderful companions, loyal and trustworthy. They will play safely with the kids, or keep a house-bound person company all day long. Dogs are increasingly being used in nursing homes and hospitals as a welcoming and calming presence, and in some places, teachers even have a pet dog in the classroom. It is true that training a dog takes considerable time and effort, but it is time well-spent. Taking responsibility for a canine pet builds character, as well as offering a lot of pleasure. Sincerely, John Bonavista

Using morphemic analysis to work out what words mean

Text: Pet dogs what do you think? Student:____________________ Word Parts of the word and their meaning Meaning

street-poopers barkers bounders dreadful freeze-dried personalised trustworthy house-bound

NAPLAN 2011 TEACHING STRATEGIES Literacy Reading Interpretive Comprehension (Vocabulary) Vocabulary 4 teaching strategies overview

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Stages

1-2

3-4

KLA Outcomes
English 4.8 the ways in which specific language forms and features and structures of text are used to shape meaning including: in written texts: medium, organisation, sentence structures, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and spelling, the use of formal or colloquial language and figurative language English 4.9 the ways tense, active and passive voice, sequencing, semantic links, synonyms, antonyms and affixes shape meaning History 4.9 uses historical terms and concepts in appropriate contexts

Skill Focus: Vocabulary

Strategies

STAGE 4

One of the oldest findings in educational research is the strong relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Word knowledge is crucial to reading comprehension and determines how well students will be able to comprehend the texts they read in middle and high school. Comprehension is far more than recognizing words and remembering their meanings. However, if a student does not know the meanings of a sufficient proportion of the words in the text, comprehension is impossible. Vocabulary experts agree that adequate reading comprehension depends on a person already knowing between 90 and 95 percent of the words in a text (Hirsch, 2003). Knowing at least 90 percent of the words enables the reader to get the main idea from the reading and guess correctly what many of the unfamiliar words mean, which will help them learn new words. What words should the teacher choose for direct instruction? Teachers should focus on words that are important to the text, useful to know in many situations, and that are uncommon in everyday language but recurrent in books (Juel & Deffes, 2004).

Item & Stimulus

Reading

Item Descriptor
Interprets words and infers meaning

Selecting Vocabulary Words

Before instruction, preview the text, even when using text that has pre-selected vocabulary words. Read the passage and identify vocabulary words you think students will find unfamiliar. Ask yourself: "How difficult is this passage to understand?" Select words that are important to understanding the text. List words you predict will be challenging for your students. You may not be able to teach all of these words. Research supports teaching only a few words before reading. Determine which words are adequately defined in the text. Some may be defined by direct definition and others through context. Expand on these words after reading, rather than directly teaching them before reading. Identify words students may know based on their prefixes, suffixes and base or root words. If structural elements help students determine words' meanings, don't teach them directly. Consider students' prior knowledge. Words can be discussed as you activate and build prior knowledge. Words can also be extended. Determine the importance of the word. Ask yourself: "Does the word appear again and again? Is the word important to comprehending the passage? Will knowledge of the word help in other content areas?" Remember, words taught before students read include: Words that will be frequently encountered in other texts and content areas. Words that are important to understanding the main ideas. Words that are not a part of your student' prior knowledge. Words unlikely to be learned independently through the use of context and/or structural analysis.
Adapted from Cooper, J.D. (1997). Literacy: Helping children construct meaning (3rd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Statements of Learning for English

p. 14

Quality Teaching Framework

Baclground knowledge/ deep understanding/ substantive communication

Activities to support the strategy

Guided
Analysing word structure: Teaching word parts
BREAK IT When students encounter unknown words they can use knowledge of word parts (root words, suffixes and prefixes) to help determine the meaning. This is especially true when reading content textbooks because these texts often contain many words that are derived from the same word parts. For example, the Greek root "bio" (meaning "life, living organisms") reappears again and again in a typical middle school life science textbook (e.g., biology, biologist, biosphere, biodegradable, biochemical, biofuel, biohazard). Another example is the prefix "mono" (meaning "one, alone, single").

Use of context to determine word meaning

INSERT IT Good readers often use context clues to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words, if they are available in the text. They can locate other words and phrases in a passage that give clues about what an unknown word means. Struggling readers who do not do this should be given direct instruction in how to effectively look for clues or definitions. For example, part of the "Click and Clunk" strategy (Vaughn et al, 2001) teaches students to follow these steps when they come across a word they do not know (described as a "clunk"): 1. Reread the sentence with the clunk. Look for key words. 2. Reread the sentence without the clunk. What word makes sense? 3. Reread the sentence before and after the clunk. Look for clues. The clues may be any of the following types of information embedded in the text: definition, restatement, example, comparison or contrast, description, synonym or antonym

Teach how to effectively use a dictionary

CHECK IT Students need explicit instruction in how to use what they find in a dictionary entry so they are able to transfer that information into something useful. Students may be confused by different meanings for the same word, or the wording in a dictionary entry may be too difficult to read or understand. To choose the right definition, the student must: 1. Use background knowledge about the content in the text 2. Have a sense of the grammatical use in the text 3. Read and understand each definition As noted earlier, to remember the meaning of a new word, it is better for students to reword the definition in their own words, to identify synonyms and antonyms for the word, to use the word in their own meaningful sentence, and to recognize that the word may be used differently in other contexts.

Modelled
Background knowledge/ deep understanding/ substantive communication

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The text should be displayed on IWB/OHT and each student should have access to their own copy of the text. There's no argument that, as a showcase for the immersive potential of 3D visual effects technology, James Cameron's long-awaited $300 million sci-fi epic Avatar is an unqualified triumph. In paragraph 1, for example, the teacher would have identified the words immersive potential, unqualified . Break : The word unqualified may be broken down into its component parts (morphemes)

Insert: The definition does not fit in context. Check: We may use a dictionary (dictionary.com) unqualified

Show Spelled[uhn-kwol-uh-fahyd] Show IPA adjective 1. not qualified; not fit; lacking requisite qualifications: unqualified for the job. 2. not modified, limited, or restricted in any way; without reservations: unqualified praise. 3. absolute; complete; out-and-out: an unqualified liar .

Encourage students to insert the definition in context and decide if it makes sense. In this case definition 3 makes the most sense in context. So Avatar is an ABSOLUTE triumph

Guided
Students can be guided through working out the meaning of the word 'IMMERSIVE' using the three-pronged approach: break it, insert it, check it! BREAK: Immersive immerse + ive Can we work out what immerse is? Put into water as in 'immerse in water' INSERT: Does it make sense in context? ...the 'put in' potential of 3D...' No CHECK: dictionary.com immersive

 adj providing information or stimulation for a number of senses, not only sight and sound: immersive television sets Does this definition fit? Summarise and insert (context) ...the 'providing stimulation for many senses' potential of 3D... Yes it makes sense.

Independent
Students can be instructed to read each paragraph and work out unfamiliar words as demonstrated.

Online Resources
Teacher Resources
Curriculum Support Learning English: grammar and vocabulary http://www.tale.edu.au/tale/components/includes/trap.html?uid=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5iYmMuY28udWsvd29ybGRzZXJ2aW NlL2xlYXJuaW5nZW5nbGlzaC9ncmFtbWFyL2luZGV4LnNodG1sQFRhTEVfMjAwNV9ERVRMUk1fUHVibGljX1Yy

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Avatar
Below are two reviews of the science-ction lm, Avatar, written and directed by James Cameron and starring Sam Worthington.

Review 1
Theres no argument that, as a showcase for the immersive potential of 3D visual effects technology, James Camerons long-awaited $300 million sci- epic Avatar is an unqualied triumph. But as a story designed to engage, enthral and entertain adult audiences for almost three hours, it is a major disappointment, strewn with weak characters, environmental platitudes and anti-progress clichs. Set on the distant, forest-covered moon of Pandora, the story tells of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic former marine recruited by the heavily-militarised security division of an interplanetary mining corporation that is having trouble with the natives, an aggressive blue-skinned race known as the Navi, who look like they have spent too long at the gym. The lush alien world Cameron creates is a magnicent, photo-realistic landscape of multicoloured dinosaurs, waterfalls and oating mountains. But with its patronising, predictable images of noble savages, evil technology and gigantic bulldozers crunching their way through precious rainforests, the lm often feels like a megalithic piece of green propaganda. A compulsive envelope-pusher, Cameron invented ground-breaking visual processing techniques for the lm, but perhaps he should have spent a little less time obsessing over the technology and a tad more developing the story beyond the compendium of clichs it regrettably is.

Review 2
The good news is that the most costly lm ever made is one of the best lms of the year; not because the plotting is original, but because of the sheer lm-making skills, soaring imagination and technical expertise that James Cameron brings to a timeless story of good and evil. Much in the lm may not be very new (though the lm is spectacularly three-dimensional, the plotting constantly threatens to lapse into two dimensions), but somehow it all works wonderfully well, thanks mainly to Camerons storytelling skills and to the movies fantastically detailed vision, including six-legged horses and futuristic war machines. Sam Worthington acquits himself extremely well as the hero, even though hes transformed and unrecognisable as the avatar Jake for much of the time. Stephen Lang and Giovanni Ribisi are wonderfully hissable villains. However, Avatar succeeds not so much because of its cast and narrative, but for the amazing world created by Cameron and his designers and special effects wizards.