Building comprehension of 'Mulan' through rich discussions
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can have rich discussions to infer meaning from 'Mulan'.
Key learning points
- ‘Mulan’ tells the story of a young girl who disguises herself as a boy in order to fight in the army.
- Asking questions and having rich discussions builds our understanding and allows us to hear different perspectives.
- Searching for clues within a text can help us infer greater meaning.
- We can retrieve evidence from the text to help us justify our inferences.
- A character’s actions, experiences and words can be analysed to infer greater meaning.
Keywords
Inference - to draw conclusions from clues within the text
Discussion - the process of talking about something to exchange ideas
Retrieve - to find information within the text
Common misconception
Children may develop simple questions where the answer can be retrieved from the text rather than involving inference to uncover.
Model the difference between a retrieval and an inference question. E.g. For page 15, a retrieval question would be 'What did Mulan's younger brother say when she left?' whereas an inference question could be 'Did Mulan's brother believe in her?'
Teacher tip
Model searching for clues within the relevant pages to answer the questions in cycle 2, task B. Ensure children have access to a copy of the relevant pages for the task.
Equipment
You need a copy of the 2014 Oxford University Press edition of ‘Mulan' written by Michaela Morgan for this lesson.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What does building comprehension of a text mean?
Q2.What does retrieving key information mean?
Q3.What does inference mean?
Q4.True or false? Discussing a story with others can help build comprehension of a text.
Q5.What are the intentions behind Mulan's decision to become a soldier in the war?
Q6.True or false? Everyone supports Mulan in her decision to go to war.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.How does asking questions about a text support comprehension?
Q2.Match the comprehension strategy to how we use it.
skimming and scanning to find information from the text
talking to others about the meaning of what we have read
using clues from the text to draw further conclusions
Q3.How can we infer a character's emotions or intentions?
Q4.How does Mulan show that she is feeling difficult emotions such as worry or fear at the beginning of the story?
Q5.True or false? There are clues within the story that let you know the different feelings her family have on her plan to fight in the war.
Q6.What can we infer from the end of the story about how Mulan felt once she was home and revealed her true identity?
To help you plan your 3 English lesson on: Building comprehension of 'Mulan' through rich discussions, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 3 English lesson on: Building comprehension of 'Mulan' through rich discussions, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 English lessons from the 'Mulan': reading unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.