PDE
PROGRAMA DE DESENVOLVIMENTO
EDUCACIONAL
IES: UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL DE LONDRINA
LOURDES GONÇALVES BALAN
CONSTRUÇÃO DE SIGNIFICADOS EM LÍNGUA INGLESA –
UMA VISÃO CRÍTICA DE LEITURA.
Londrina 2008
LOURDES GONÇALVES BALAN
Leitura de Textos em Língua Inglesa.
Construção de significados em Língua Inglesa– uma visão crítica de leitura.
Produção Didática Pedagógica – apresentada à secretaria de Estado da Educação (SEED)
como material didático resultante do Programa de Desenvolvimento Educacional (PDE), EM
Língua ESTRANGEIRA Moderna – Inglês, através da Instituição de Ensino Superior
Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), sob a orientação da Professora Santa Cleidelir de
Freitas. Material elaborado por Lourdes Gonçalves Balan, professora de língua inglesa e
portuguesa do Colégio Estadual Vicente Rijo de Londrina, Paraná. Iniciou suas atividades em
1977, em Londrina. Lecionando sempre com o maior respeito e dedicação aos alunos do
Ensino Fundamental, Médio e Superior. Uma eterna apaixonada pela educação!
Acknowledgements with love to
God, my family, teachers and
classmates.
“Fartamo-nos tudo. Menos de aprender” (Virgílio)
“Não basta saber, é preciso aplicar; não basta querer, é preciso fazer”
(Goethe) .
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SUMÁRIO
RESUMO:.................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUÇÃO ............................................................................................................ 2
Lesson One – What’s a biography? ............................................................................ 3
Lesson Two – Reading step by step ........................................................................... 4
Lesson Three – Barack Obama Biography ................................................................. 5
Lesson Four – Read the text and reflect: .................................................................. 11
a) Anne Sullivan & Helen Keller: ............................................................................ 11
b) Martin Luther King, Jr. & Rosa Lee McCauley Parks: ........................................ 14
Lesson Five – Critical Reading .................................................................................. 17
Lesson Six – Evaluation using games ....................................................................... 18
Atividade 1- Dominó biográfico: ............................................................................. 18
Atividade 2 – Jogo da memória: ............................................................................ 19
Atividade 3 – Quebra – cabeça/ Construção de biografias: ................................... 19
REFERENCIAL BIBLIOGRÁFICO ............................................................................ 19
ANEXO I .................................................................................................................... 21
ANEXO III .................................................................................................................. 35
ANEXO IV ................................................................................................................. 38
1
RESUMO:
O objetivo deste trabalho, com a elaboração de material didático a ser aplicado como unidade pedagógica bimestral, é uma contribuição à questão da Leitura de textos em Inglês para os alunos do Ensino Médio que, com seu conhecimento prévio do mundo na sua língua materna, poderá construir significados ao ler um texto, uma biografia entre outros. Faz-se urgente, nesse caso, uma dinâmica da leitura. Esse é um processo complexo que exige e envolve atenção, percepção e memória, a fim de que o leitor (aluno) construa seu significado. Tendo o aluno como o principal centro de produção de conhecimento na Escola, relevando a constatação das diferentes realidades sócio-econômicas e culturais no ambiente escolar, faz-se necessário a elaboração de estratégias diversificadas de leitura que o motivem e o auxiliem nesse processo. Para que se possa expandir no discente sua visão de mundo é preciso inseri-lo, antes de tudo, em contextos sócio-culturais, partindo dele próprio, sendo desse modo, fundamental para a construção de sua cidadania, elevando também sua auto-estima. Neste contexto, a leitura, engaja-o no processo, levando-o “a aprender a aprender” e ser capaz de assumir uma parte da responsabilidade por sua aprendizagem. Como função primordial, a Leitura deve permear não só o ambiente escolar, pois aprender a ler em outra língua pode também colaborar no desempenho do aluno como leitor em língua materna, além disso, viabiliza e propicia sua integração no mundo globalizado. Palavras – chave: significados; leitura; conhecimento; aprender; auto-estima.
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MATERIAL PEDAGÓGICO
INTRODUÇÃO
Os textos e materiais didáticos dessa unidade pedagógica foram sugeridos
para dar suporte ao objetivo proposto pela SEED quanto à implementação do
Projeto Pedagógico.
Com base na observação de que os alunos têm por dificuldade maior ler e
interpretar textos, foram selecionados alguns de fácil compreensão para que as
tarefas estejam ao alcance dos alunos promovendo assim motivação à leitura crítica
reflexiva e principalmente a elevação de sua auto-estima.
Para tal propósito, o gênero textual biografia foi o escolhido que poderá ser
uma fonte de motivação e aprendizagem. Com o lema “aprender a aprender”,
através do conhecimento prévio que o educando traz do mundo no qual está
inserido, levando-o a atuar como protagonista e suas ações sejam fonte de
transformação de si e da sociedade da qual faz parte.
Assim, as lições foram elaboradas para o 3º ano do Ensino Médio e seguem a
seguinte estrutura:
Warm Up
Pre - Reading
General Reading Comprehension
Vocabulary Study
Close Reading Comprehension
Group Opinion
Grammar Review
Homework
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Lesson One – What’s a biography?
Warm up;
Did you read biographies in English or Portuguese?
Which one? Did you like them? Why?
How does a person become a hero or a model for others?
O professor depois de ouvir os alunos passará um questionário de sondagem
em português para verificar o conhecimento dos alunos e posterior comparação.
Sondagem diagnóstica:
1) Cite nomes de personalidades que engrandeceram a história da
humanidade.
2) O que você sabe sobre elas? Escreva.
3) O que é uma biografia? Explique.
4) Você já leu alguma? Qual?
5) O que você sabe sobre cada um deles? Escreva sobre eles.
6) O que é uma biografia?
7) Você já leu alguma em inglês ou em português? Relate.
Após, o professor dividirá a classe em grupos de quatro alunos cada e estes
circularão pela sala com o objetivo de tomar conhecimento das biografias em inglês
que serão fixadas nas paredes da sala de aula (Anexo I).
Na seqüência será feito um sorteio das biografias para que cada grupo fique
encarregado de uma para leitura. Depois será feito um rodízio para que todos os
grupos leiam todas as biografias selecionadas durante o bimestre.
O professor pedirá então, de tarefa, uma pesquisa individual sobre: O que é
biografia? (com citação de fonte).
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Lesson Two – Reading step by step
Roteiro para uma boa leitura.
Cada aluno receberá o roteiro de leitura.
Warm up
Como você faz suas leituras?
Segue algum esquema? Qual?
Depois da colocação dos alunos e breve comentário breves do professor, cada
aluno receberá o roteiro de leitura.
Pre - Reading
O professor pedirá aos alunos que leiam a primeira recomendação e será
discutido como eles realizam suas leituras, assim até o final do roteiro.
(Lembrá-los que as dicas servem para qualquer leitura, tanto em inglês
quanto em português).
Ficha para se fazer uma boa leitura.
1) Observe o título, subtítulo, figuras, tabelas, gráficos, layout e fonte.
Em seguida, utilizando seu conhecimento do mundo, faça previsões sobre o
possível assunto do texto.
2) Skimming – “Corra” os olhos sobre o texto, observando os cognatos (palavras
parecidas com o português). Concentre-se nas informações que reconhece,
não se prenda a detalhes ou a vocabulário desconhecidos. Verifique após
essa leitura superficial se suas hipóteses quanto ao assunto do texto estavam
corretas.
3) Scanning – Essa técnica consiste em correr rapidamente os olhos pelo texto
até localizar a informação desejada, específica do texto ignorando outros
detalhes...
4) Após volte ao texto e releia-o. Desta vez, priorize o primeiro e o último
parágrafo, isto é, a introdução e a conclusão, bem como a primeira frase de
cada parágrafo.
5) Identifique grifando ou circulando as palavras-chaves de cada parágrafo mais
significativas aparecem na forma de substantivos ou verbos. Você encontra
as idéias principais abordadas e facilita a redação de resumos ou resenhas.
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6) Durante a leitura, relacione os pronomes empregados pelo autor às palavras
a que se referem.
7) Ao se deparar com os vocábulos desconhecidos, utilize as dicas contextuais
para identificar o significado. Lembre-se que, de modo geral, a estrutura
sintática do inglês é a mesma do português, ou seja:
Sujeito + verbo+ objeto/complemento
8) Se ainda assim a informação permanece obscura, recorra ao dicionário, mas
lembre-se que o contexto é que irá indicar a interpretação adequada do
vocábulo.
9) A habilidade de inferir/ adivinhar/ predizer é utilizada para resgatar
idéias/mensagens que não são indicadas, explicitadas no texto. Esse
processo é conhecido como “ler nas entrelinhas.”
10) Os marcadores do discurso representados por conjunções são termos para
ligar sentenças, idéias, indicando como elas se relacionam um importante
recurso de coesão textual. Enfim, que tal ler só pelo prazer que a leitura nos
traz!
Lesson Three – Barack Obama Biography
Warm up – É POSSÍVEL UM GRANDE SONHO SE TRANSFORMAR EM
REALIDADE?
O professor conduz uma breve conversa sobre o assunto. A seguir cada
aluno recebe o texto para leitura. (pedir aos alunos que utilizem o roteiro de leitura).
Pre - Reading
Você já ouviu falar de Barack Obama?
Por que seu nome está tão em evidência atualmente?
Leia o texto e encontre informações relevantes sobre:
- vida familiar;
- formação acadêmica;
- vida política.
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Barack's Biography
Barack Obama Bio
Current United States Senator (Illinois), Future
President.
Barack Obama has dedicated his life to public service
as a community organizer, civil rights attorney, and leader in
the Illinois state Senate. Obama now continues his fight for
working families following his recent election to the United States Senate.
Obama became a senator on January 4, 2005. Senator Obama is focused on
promoting economic growth and bringing good paying jobs to Illinois. Obama serves
on the important Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees
legislation and funding for the environment and public works projects throughout the
country, including the national transportation bill. He also serves on the Veterans'
Affairs Committee where he is focused on investigating the disability pay
discrepancies that have left thousands of Illinois veterans without the benefits they
earned. Senator Obama will also serve on the Foreign Relations Committee.
During Barack Obama's seven years in the Illinois state Senate, Obama
worked with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by
creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years
provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. Obama also
pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of
inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama enlisted the support of
law enforcement officials to draft legislation requiring the videotaping of interrogations
and confessions in all capital cases.
Obama is especially proud of being a husband and father of two daughters,
Malia, 7 and Sasha, 4. Obama and his wife, Michelle, married in 1992 and live on
Chicago’s South Side where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ.
Barack Obama was born on August 4th, 1961, in Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr.
and Ann Dunham. Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983, and moved
to Chicago in 1985 to work for a church-based group seeking to improve living
conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment. In
1991, Obama graduated from Harvard Law School where he was the first African
American editor of the Harvard Law Review.
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General Reading Comprehension
1) O que caracteriza uma biografia? O que deve conter um texto para ser
considerado uma biografia?
_________________________________________________________________
2) Por que e para que essa biografia foi escrita?
_________________________________________________________________
Grammar Review – Past tense.
1) Em que tempo estão os verbos destacados no texto abaixo:
________________________________________________________________
2) Explique por que e para que eles são usados neste tempo na biografia?
___________________________________________________________
Barack Obama was born on August 4th, 1961, in Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr.
and Ann Dunham. Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983, and
moved to Chicago in 1985 to work for a church-based group seeking to improve
living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high
unemployment. In 1991, Obama graduated from Harvard Law School where he
was the first African American editor of the Harvard Law Review.
_________________________________________________________________
Fonte: http://www.barackopedia.org/page/Barack’s+ Biography?t=anon;
http://www.barackobamaórg.com/about/;
Close reading comprehension
Read the information below and answer the following questions:
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Personal opinion: EXPLORING THE PICTURE & MAKING GUESSES:
1) Look at the picture above:
2) Let’s talk about it:
a) What can you see in the picture?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
b) Is this man a successful one?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
c) Why is he a very important man?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
c) “THE AUDACITY OF HOPE”, what does it mean for you?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
d) Do you admire this man or not? Why?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
e) What did you learn from the text?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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f) Is the text interesting? Is the argument here applicable to us?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
It’s important to discover how it works and always to question:
“Who gains and who loses by the publication of the text? And what was not
mentioned? (M. Scott, 98)
When you are reading do you read “between the lines? Try it.
It is up to us to decide and learn how to learn in a critical way.
Utilizando a estratégia scanning, volte ao texto e responda a que se
referem as seguintes informações:
a) ...plagued with crime and high unemployment
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
b) ...where he was the first American editor of the Harvard Law Review
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
What is the aim of the use of biographies:
Durante essa atividade os alunos apresentarão sua pesquisa
sobre o que é uma biografia
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1 - ( ) fun ( ) motivation for reading ( ) information
( ) entertainament ( ) investigation
Selecione até cinco palavras-chave dos três primeiros parágrafos
(aquelas que têm maior peso na construção do parágrafo),
sublinhando-as no texto.
Alguns objetivos mais comuns da leitura são:
1) Aplicação prática;
2) Aprendizagem;
3) Entretenimento.
Relacione os objetivos acima às suas descrições:
( ) Leitura motivada principalmente pelo prazer que traz ao leitor.
( ) Leitura com a finalidade de expandir nosso conhecimento de mundo.
( ) Leitura de natureza utilitária: quando buscamos informações necessárias
à nossa sobrevivência.
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Lesson Four – Read the text and reflect:
a) Anne Sullivan & Helen Keller:
Warm up
Vocês acham possível uma pessoa com sérias deficiências ultrapassar as
barreiras do preconceito e vencer?
O professor conduz os alunos a uma reflexão. (Lembrar de pedir aos alunos que
usem o roteiro de leitura).
Pre – Reading
Observe atentamente a trajetória de mulheres que ousaram e conseguiram o
impossível…
Anne Sullivan (1866 – 1936)
Helen Keller (1880 – 1968)
A child who could neither see nor hear was
taught by a patient teacher
Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When she was two, she
became sick. As a result, she lost her sense of sight and her sense of hearing.
Because Helen couldn’t hear she couldn’t speak. She lived in a dark world of her own
until she was seven years old. Then, a 20-year-old teacher, Anne Sullivan, came to
live with Helen and her family.
Anne Sullivan also had been blind as a child. But she had been operated on
and could see better, though not perfectly.
Anne thought Helen by spelling words on her hand. Once she understood what Anne
was doing, Helen learned quickly. She learned to “read” faces as they spoke. She
could understand what people said by touching their faces as they spoke. She
learned to write on a special typewriter. By the time she was 16, Helen had learned
to speak, though she was hard to understand.
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Helen Keller was tutored in high school classes and went to Radcliffe College,
then the women’s college at Harvard University. Anne Sullivan went with her. In
1904, Helen Keller graduated with honors.
For the rest of her life, Helen Keller helped others with physical disabilities.
She travelled to other countries and gave speeches. She also wrote books and wrote
about her love for books. She said, “No barrier of the senses shuts me out from …
my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.”
Helen Keller believed people should help one another. She said we would get
along better if we imagined ourselves belonging to one worldwide family.
(MARZOLLO, 1994)
General Reading Comprehension
a) How does a person become a role model for others?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
b) How did Helen Keller demonstrate perseverance?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
c) What character traits do you admire in this person?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
d) What did you learn from this person life?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
e) What kind of impact does this person have on the lives of others?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Selecione até cinco palavras-chave dos três primeiros parágrafos (aquelas
que têm maior peso na construção do parágrafo), sublinhando-as no texto.
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Na biografia de Helen Keller, localize as seguintes informações:
a) O local onde Helen Keller se graduou
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
b) As deficiências de Helen
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
c) Como que seus amigos livros falavam com ela
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
d) De que modo ela entendia o que as pessoas diziam
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
e) No que ela acreditava
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Grammar Review
Grife no texto cinco substantivos com um traço, cinco verbos no passado com dois
traços e circule cinco preposições.
Personal Opinion
1- What did you learn from the text?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
14
2- Is the text interesting? Why?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
3 - Is the argument here applicable to us?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
b) Martin Luther King, Jr. & Rosa Lee McCauley Parks:
Warm up
O que você sabe sobre Martin Luther King, Jr.? O professor conduz uma
breve conversa sobre o assunto. Logo após distribui o texto e pede aos alunos que
usem o roteiro de leitura.
Pre – Reading
Reflect and think about what happened to people years ago.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
Rosa Lee McCauley Parks
(1913 – 2005)
They challenged segregation and won.
Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., grew in states where his segregation,
or separation, of black people and white people was a way of life. Unfair laws
separated African Americans from white schools, in restaurants, and on buses.
When Rosa Parks grew up, she became a tailor’s assistant in Montgomery,
Alabama. She also worked for the local NAACP, The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP decided to challenge bus segregation,
15
and Rosa Parks offered to help. In 1955, at the age of 43, she refused to give up her
seat on a bus to a white man. She was arrested.
After her arrest, African Americans in Montgomery, led by the Reverend Martin
Luther King, Jr., began a bus strike, or boycott. For one year, black people in
Montgomery walked, rode bicycles, and drove cars to work. They refused to pay to
ride an unfair bus, and the bus company lost money. Their peaceful protest worked,
and the unfair law was changed.
Martin Luther King Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He became a minister.
Using the peaceful methods of Gandhi, King battled segregation in schools and
elsewhere. He was joined by many other brave black people, including children, and
by brave white people, too. Their struggle to get the government to enforce the rights
of black people is called the Civil Rights Movement. One of the many songs they
sang to keep their hopes up in hard times was “We Shall Overcome.”
When Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke, people listened. In 1963, he gave a
speech to half a million people in which he said, “I have a dream that my four little
children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their
skin but by the content of their character.” In 1964, he received the Nobel Peace
Prize. When Martin Luther King, Jr., was 39, he was shot and killed. He is honored
on his birthday every January with a national holiday.
(MARZOLLO, 1994)
General Reading Comprehension
Answer the questions based on the text:
a) Do you know the meaning of segregation?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
b) Why do you think Martin Luther King, Jr. was able to persuade people, so
things had to change in the United States?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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c) Did his dream come true?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Escolham alguém importante por ter contribuído para o bem da humanidade, façam
uma pesquisa e preencham o Quick Facts a seguir:
Born
Lives in
Family
Parents
Religion
Education
Career
Important actions
Sugestões de sites para pesquisa e indicação dos textos que os alunos
deverão ler, referenciando-os adequadamente (nas atividades em que a leitura seja
requisito):
www.biography.com
www.infoplease.com/people.html
scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/
nobelprize.orgnobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/King-bio.html
muse.jhu.edu/demo/biography/
www.biography-center.com/
www.imdb.com/title/tt0092322/
www.anc.org.za/people/mandela.html
www.tibet.com/DL/biography.html
Exponha seu trabalho para a classe.
Critérios de avaliação: apresentação de informações pesquisadas. O
professor avaliará o trabalho apresentado pelos grupos previamente estabelecidos.
Será a nota do bimestre, somada com sua participação nas demais atividades.
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Lesson Five – Critical Reading
Personal opinions:
You can answer these questions in English or in Portuguese;
1) How do you feel after reading the biographies?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
2) Are you able to help someone?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
3) Could you make anything to change the world?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
4) Which one of the notable person is a hero for you? Why?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
5) Do they have or did they have something in common? List.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
6) Are they different, special persons? Give comments.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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7) Are they examples to be followed? Why?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
8) Did you like reading biographies? Why?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
9) Can you remember their actions? Which ones?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
10) Do you know a person like them? Who?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Obs.: After the students have answered the questions the teacher collects the
students’ answers as a feedback to her given lessons and to the students as well.
Lesson Six – Evaluation using games
Atividade 1- Dominó biográfico:
Ler e interpretar cada peça do dominó biográfico, visando à interação e
integração dos grupos de alunos de maneira lúdica. O professor poderá trazer
o dominó pronto ou pedir aos alunos ajuda na confecção deste em sala de
aula. Estas atividades têm como objetivo primeiro a fixação das leituras e
também releitura das biografias selecionadas (Anexo II).
19
Atividade 2 – Jogo da memória:
Encontrar o par correspondente do personagem marcante, desenvolvendo a
memória e atenção através da leitura das figuras e dos feitos das pessoas
notáveis (Anexo III).
Atividade 3 – Quebra – cabeça/ Construção de biografias:
Montar biografias na seqüência correta, introdução, desenvolvimento e
conclusão. Os textos estarão recortados e os alunos farão a sua construção.
(Anexo IV). Após, o professor pedirá a releitura desses textos que serão
aqueles mesmos expostos em sala de aula (Anexo I).
Obs.: Os alunos farão essas atividades em grupos de quatro sob a supervisão
do professor. Poderá ser dada a mesma atividade para todas as equipes da sala, ou
cada equipe fará uma atividade diferente e quando uma equipe termina o professor
passa a atividade dois e assim sucessivamente, fazendo um rodízio das atividades
por equipes.
O professor vai registrando cada equipe que termina seu trabalho sendo que
no final do bimestre os alunos responderão ao mesmo questionário de entrada.
REFERENCIAL BIBLIOGRÁFICO
______. Perspectivas no estudo da leitura: texto, leitor e interação social. In: LEFFA, V. J.; PEREIRA, A. E. (Org.) O ensino da leitura e produção textual: alternativas de renovação. Pelotas: Educat, 1999. p.13-37.
FIORI-SOUZA, A. G. et al. Leitura instrumental em língua inglesa. Londrina: Planográfica, 2003, 104 p.
GEE, J. Sociocultural Approaches to Literacy (Literacies). In: Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. New York: Cambridge, 1992. v.12
LEFFA, V. J. Fatores de compreensão na leitura. Caderno do IL. Porto Alegre, UFRGS, n.15, 1996. p.143-159.
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LEFFA, Vilson J. Perspectivas no estudo da leitura; texto, leitor e interação social. In: LEFFA, Vilson J; PEREIRA, Aracy, E. (Org.). O ensino da leitura e produção textual: alternativas de renovação. Pelotas: Educat, 1999. p.13-37.
MARZOLLO, J. My first book of biographies. Scholastic Inc., 1994, 78p.
MIZUKAMI, M. G. N. Ensino: as abordagens do processo. São Paulo: EPU, 15 ed., 2006, 119 p.
MOITA, L. P. Oficina de lingüística aplicada: A Natureza social e educacional dos processos de ensino/ aprendizagem de línguas. Campinas: Mercado de Letras, 1996. p. 127-134.
NUNAN, David. Research methods in language learning. Cambridge University Press, 1992. p.17-21.
PARANÁ. Secretaria de Estado da Educação. Superintendência da Educação. Diretrizes curriculares de língua estrangeira moderna para os anos finais do ensino fundamental e para o ensino médio. Curitiba, 2008.
PARANÁ. Secretaria de Estado da Educação. Superintendência da Educação. Diretrizes curriculares de língua estrangeira moderna para educação básica em revisão. Curitiba, 2008.
SCOTT, Michael R. et al. Teaching critical reading through set theory. São Paulo: PUC/CEPRIL, 1988. (Working Papers, 20). Disponível em: <http://www.pucsp.br/pos/lael/cepril/workingpapers/>. Acesso em: ago. 2008.
SCOTT, Mike. Critical reading needn’t be left out. The ESPecialist: Projeto Ensino de Inglês Instrumental em Universidades Brasileiras, São Paulo, v.9, n.1/2, p.123-137,1988.
SWALES, J. M. Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: University Press, 1990.
21
ANEXO I
Biografias para exposição em sala de aula (Fonte: MARZOLLO, 1994)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
He was a musical genius who began to write music when he was five
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (MOTE-zart) was born in Salzburg, Austria, where
his father wrote music for the emperor. Wolfgang was very musical as a child. At age
3, he began to play the harpsichord, which is like a piano. At 4, Wolfgang learned
how to play the violin. At five, he wrote music. At 6, Mozart’s father took Wolfgang to
Austria to play for the emperor and empress. They were amazed to see a young child
play so well. At 7, Wolfgang played for people in Paris, France, London, and England
Wolfgang never went to school. His father was his teacher. By age 13,
Wolfgang was writing music for the archbishop of Salzburg. Later, he moved to
Vienna, the capital of Austria. There, he performed, gave lessons, and composed
music. He worked hard, but he was not always successful. Even though Mozart was
a musical genius, he was poor. He could not make enough money to support his
family. Mozart died at age 36. When he died, he had written over 600 musical
compositions. His music is greatly loved today.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote 22 operas. An opera is a special musical
show with a story acted out by singers. His operas, such as The Magic Flute, Don
Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutte, and the Marriage of Figaro, are often performed today.
Some have been made into movies. Mozart composed 41 symphonies, including the
Jupiter Symphony. A symphony is music for many instruments to play together. He
also wrote church music and musical pieces called sonatas.
You can hear Mozart’s delightful music on classical radio stations, on tapes
and CD’s, on TV, and in musical theaters. Every year in Salzburg, the town where
Mozart was born, there is a special music festival that features his music. Many
other cities have Mozart festivals, too.
22
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
He invented the electric light bulb, the record player, and many more amazing things.
Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio. The youngest of seven children,
he was called Alva. Alva was a curious child, always asking his mother why things
worked the way they did. He liked to experiment, too. Once he sat on some goose
eggs to see if he could hatch them.
When Alva was seven, his family moved to Michigan. At school, he was
whipped by the teacher for asking too many questions. When his mother found this
out, she took Alva out of school. From then on, she taught him at home. She had
been a teacher and tried to make learning fun for Alva.
As Thomas Alva Edison grew up, he began to invent things. At the age of 23,
he figured out a better way to make a telegraph machine. He sold his plan for
$40,000. With the money, he opened a workshop, or laboratory, in West Orange,
New Jersey. There, he invented a better typewriter. He then moved to Menlo Park,
New Jersey, and invented an improved telephone. Thomas Edison invented the
record player (called a phonograph) in 1877. Two years later, he invented the electric
light bulb. People called him the “Wizard of Menlo Park.”
Edison’s ears had been injured when he was a young man. As a result, his
hearing was poor. As he grew older, his hearing grew worse, but Edison said his
deafness helped him concentrate. He was happiest when he was inventing things in
his laboratory.
Scientists work in different ways. George Washington Carver mostly worked
alone. Marie and Pierre Curie worked together. Thomas Edison liked to work with a
team of people. He said that genius was “1 percent inspiration and 99 percent
perspiration.” With a team of people, the perspiration part of the work could be
shared and thus go faster. Edison received many awards for his work.
23
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
He was the greatest English playwright who ever lived.
A playwright writes plays, an actor acts in them and a poet
writes poems. William Shakespeare did all three. He was born in Stratford-on-Avon in
England. His family was neither rich nor poor; they were comfortably in-between.
William went to school and probably read the works of ancient Greek and Roman
writers. He probably also saw traveling theater companies perform in his town. When
he was 18, he married Anne Hathaway. In the next three years, they had a daughter
and a set of twins.
Sometime in the seven years, William Shakespeare went to London to
become an actor and a playwright. By the time he was 30, six of his plays had been
performed in London. The queen was Elisabeth I. When she died in1603, her cousin
James I became king. Like Elisabeth I, he enjoyed the theater and supported
Shakespeare and others actors. Shakespeare usually wrote two plays a year. He
went back and forth between London and his home in Stratford. At the age of 52, he
died on his birthday, April 23.
William Shakespeare’s plays are about all kinds of people. In A Midsummer
Night’s Dream a girl is put under a spell that makes her love a man with a donkey’s
head. In Hamlet a young prince looks at a skull and wonders about life and death.
Macbeth begins with witches predicting disaster for a king. King Lear is about an old
king who loses his throne.
People study Shakespeare’s plays to better understand his language, which is
five hundred years old and therefore a little different from the English people, speak
today. But though he wrote long ago, Shakespeare wrote in a creative and vivid way
about feelings people still have. That is why people still like his plays and often
quotes lines from them, such as “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” and “All the
world’s a stage.”
24
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)
He taught the world how to win Power without fighting.
Mohandas Gandhi was born in 1869 in Porbandar, India. When he became a
great leader, people called him Mahatma, which means “Great Soul.” As a young
man, Gandhi went to England to become a lawyer. As a young man, Gandhi went
back to India and then traveled to South America. There, he helped Indians like
himself be treated more fairly by white rulers.
Twenty-one years later, he returned to India to help the Indians there. The
rulers in both South Africa and India were English. The English were rich, and the
Indians were poor. Gandhi helped the Indians become powerful in several ways. First
he taught the Indians to spin and weave their own cotton cloth. He and his followers
wore simple clothes made from cloth. By buying from themselves instead of from the
English, the Indians gained financial power.
The English also had guns. Gandhi suggested the Indian people fight back
without guns and violence. He told them to disobey unfair laws. He also advised
them to go peacefully when arrested and taken to jail; Gandhi said it was honorable
to be arrested for a good cause. He went to jail many times.
Sometimes Gandhi fasted, or didn’t eat for days in order to call attention to an
injustice.
Gandhi also told people to go on strike, or not work for unfair bosses. He told them to
boycott, or refuse to buy things, from unfair store owners. “If people hit you,” he said,
“Don’t hit back.”
Gandhi’s plans for non-violence worked. As the harshness of the English was
seen by more and more people, the Indians grew more powerful. Slowly, they won
their freedom from England. But their troubles were not over. Indians fought for
power against other Indians. As the age of 78, Gandhi was shot and killed.
Today Gandhi is called the Father of India. His brave way of fighting inspired
people around the world. Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr., all
learned from Mahatma Gandhi.
25
Leonardo da Vinci (1452- 1519)
He was both a painter and an inventor.
Leonardo da Vinci (VIN-chee) painted two of the most famous paintings in the
world. The Mona Lisa is a portrait of a woman with a mysterious smile. Viewers
debate if she actually is smiling, and they wonder what she is thinking.
Leonardo da Vinci also painted The Last Supper, a picture of Jesus and his 12
disciples. Leonardo painted it on a wall in a church in Milan, Italy. The painting has
flaked and faded over 500 years. It is now being restored, or fixed, so that people can
still enjoy it.
In addition to being a painter, Leonardo was a scientist and an inventor. He
studied plants, animals, and the human body. He drew pictures that show how birds
fly, how muscles are attached to bones, and what different plants and trees look like.
Sometimes he wrote secret notes on his drawings in backwards writing. To read the
notes, you have to look at them in a mirror.
Leonardo da Vinci invented weapons, an alarm clock that worked by water, a
parachute, and a flying machine. He made a model of the flying machine with wood,
cloth, and feathers. This machine had wings that flapped like a bird’s. It is said that
one of his students tried the machine and broke his leg when it crashed.
Leonardo da Vinci lived at a time now called the Italian Renaissance (REN-uh-
sanz). The Renaissance took place between 1300 and 1500. Wealthy people and
church leaders in Italy hired artists to make statues and paint pictures for them.
Some of Italy’s greatest painters of all time, such as Botticelli (Bot-uh-CHEL-lee),
Michelangelo (My-Kell-AN-jel-lo), Raphael (Raff-ay-YELL), and Leonardo all painted
during the great Italian Renaissance.
26
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
Rosa Lee McCauley Parks (1913-2005)
They challenged segregation and won.
Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., grew in states where his segregation,
or separation, of black people and white people was a way of life. Unfair laws
separated African Americans from white schools, in restaurants, and on buses.
When Rosa Parks grew up, she became a tailor’s assistant in Montgomery,
Alabama. She also worked for the local NAACP, The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP decided to challenge bus segregation,
and Rosa Parks offered to help. In 1955, at the age of 43, she refused to give up her
seat on a bus to a white man. She was arrested.
After her arrest, African Americans in Montgomery, led by the Reverend Martin
Luther King, Jr., began a bus strike, or boycott. For one year, black people in
Montgomery walked, rode bicycles, and drove cars to work. They refused to pay to
ride an unfair bus, and the bus company lost money. Their peaceful protest worked,
and the unfair law was changed.
Martin Luther King Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He became a minister.
Using the peaceful methods of Gandhi, King battled segregation in schools and
elsewhere. He was joined by many other brave black people, including children, and
by brave white people, too. Their struggle to get the government to enforce the rights
of black people is called the Civil Rights Movement. One of the many songs they
sang to keep their hopes up in hard times was “We Shall Overcome.”
When Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke, people listened. In 1963, he gave a
speech to half a million people in which he said, “I have a dream that my four little
children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their
skin but by the content of their character.” In 1964, he received the Nobel Peace
Prize. When Martin Luther King, Jr., was 39, he was shot and killed. He is honored
on his birthday every January with a national holiday.
27
Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957)
She won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1945.
Gabriela Mistral was born in Vicuña, Chile, a country in South America. As a
child, Gabriela’s name was Lucila Godoy Alcayaga. Young Lucila loved to read,
write, and sing. At the age of fifteen, she became a teacher. Each day she walked or
rode a horse through the beautiful Chilean countryside to a small, rural schoolhouse.
She was an excellent teacher who made education delightful for her students. She
liked to take her children outside “en un corro bajo el sol” (together under the sun) to
enjoy and study nature.
But teaching was not her only skill. Lucila also wrote poetry about nature and
poor people. She wanted to send her poems to newspapers and magazines, but she
was afraid that school officials would not like them.
One day Lucila thought of a solution to this problem. She created a new name
for her poet self. When writers change their names this way, their writing names are
called pen names. For the first part of her pen name, Lucila chose Gabriela after the
Angel Gabriel, the bearer of good news in the Bible. For the last part, she chose
mistral, the Spanish word for wind.
Lucila entered her poems in a poetry contest for all the writers in Chile. She
won as Gabriela Mistral.
Gabriela Mistral became famous both for her teaching and her writing. She
helped to improve schools in Chile and México, and was honored for these
achievements. But the most important honor she ever received was for her poetry.
In 1945, Gabriela Mistral was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. She was
the first Latin American writer ever to win this splendid award.
(Latin Americans live in countries south of the United States. They are called Latin
Americans because they speak Spanish or Portuguese, languages that developed
from an older language called Latin).
28
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) He changed our ideas about time and space.
Albert Einstein was born in Germany, but when he grew up, he moved to
Switzerland. He said it was a more peaceful country. Albert wanted peace so he
could think about math and science.
When Albert was 26, he developed the “theory of relativity” to explain energy.
The mathematical theory is complicated. Einstein said that probably only twelve
people in the world would be able to understand it.
In 1905, Einstein became a physics professor at the University of Zurich in
Switzerland. He later returned to Germany to teach and develop more ideas about
energy, light, and time. In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize in physics. In addition to
being a brilliant scientist, Einstein was an excellent violinist.
In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis ruled Germany. They took Albert Einstein’s
job and home away from him because he was Jewish. The Nazis hated Jews.
Fortunately, when his home was seized, Einstein was on a trip to England and the
United States. He did not go back to Germany. Instead, he chose to live in the United
States. From then on, Einstein worked and studied at the Institute for Advanced
Study in Princeton, New Jersey.
In 1939, Einstein warned United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt that
Hitler’s the scientists might try to make a powerful new atomic bomb in order to win
World War II. Roosevelt asked American scientists to invent the bomb first. By the
time the American bomb was ready. Germany had surrendered, or given up.
However, the United States, England, and other allied countries were still fighting
Japan.
The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. The bombs killed
many people, and the Japan surrendered. The bomb helped America and the Allies
win World War II, but Einstein was horrified by the bomb’s power to kill. He became a
tireless worker for peace and hoped that people’s fear of atomic bombs would
prevent future wars.
29
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
He was a writer, printer, scientist, inventor, and leader.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin was the
fifteenth child in a family of 17 children. He went to school for only two years, but he
read enough books at home to educate himself. When he was 12, Bem went to work
in his brother’s print shop. At 17, he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he
found another job as a printer.
In time, Ben Franklin owned his own print shop in Philadelphia and became a
publisher. A publisher is someone who prints and sells books, magazines and
newspapers. Franklin published a newspaper and a yearly book called Poor
Richard’s Almanac. In the Almanac he gave advice, such as “God helps them that
help themselves,” and “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and
wise.”
Franklin helped Philadelphia by starting a library, a fire department, and a
school that became the University of Pennsylvania. Though he owned a few slaves,
he became an abolitionist and wanted to abolish slavery. He helped Thomas
Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence, which explained why Americans felt
they had to fight the English for independence. Franklin helped America win the
Revolutionary War by getting the French to fight against the English, too.
Benjamin Franklin also liked to experiment. Once, he flew a kite during a
thunderstorm to see what would happen. A flash of lightning struck the kite and went
down the wet string to the key at the end. Anyone who touched the key felt an
electrical shock. From this experiment (which is dangerous---don’t try it!), Franklin
invented the lightning rod. He also invented bifocal glasses and the Franklin stove.
In 1787, at the age of 81, Benjamin Franklin helped others write the
Constitution of the United States. The Constitution begins with the famous words,
“We the people...” and describes the U.S. government and its basic laws.
30
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
He became president and helped to free the slaves.
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky on February 12, 1809.
When he was seven, Abe’s family moved to the Indiana frontier, where new settlers
were moving. Only a few schools had been built, so young Abe read books at home,
often by firelight. He wrote with charcoal on a shovel or board because he had no
pencils and paper.
When he was 22, Abraham Lincoln moved to New Salem, Illinois. People liked
to hear him speak. They elected him to the Illinois legislature, the group of leaders
who make laws for the state. Abe taught himself to be a lawyer. He ran against
Stephen A. Douglas for election to the United States Senate, a group that makes
laws for the country.
Lincoln lost, but in the process he became known for his speeches against
slavery. In Southern states, white farm owners owned black slaves. In the North,
white factory owners did not own their workers, but they paid them very low wages.
Most Northerners were against slavery; most Southerners were for it because they
felt they needed it. In 1860, Northerners helped elect Lincoln president of the United
States.
A Civil War broke out between the North and the South. The South wanted to
become a separate country. President Lincoln and the North wanted the United
States to remain whole. During the war, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation, which led to the end of slavery. In the same year, 1863, he gave a
speech after the Battle of Gettysburg. In his address, he referred back to 1776, the
year the United States was born. Lincoln now asked for a “new birth of freedom” so
that the “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish
from the earth.” Under Lincoln’s leadership, the United States remained one country.
Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed at the age of 56. His picture is on the five
dollar bill. Turn them over to see his beautiful memorial in Washington, D.C. We
celebrate Lincoln’s birthday along with George Washington’s on Presidents Day in
February.
31
Helen Keller (1880-1968)
Anne Sullivan (1866-1936)
A child who could neither see nor hear was taught by a patient teacher
Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When she was two, she
became sick. As a result, she lost her sense of sight and her sense of hearing.
Because Helen couldn’t hear she couldn’t speak. She lived in a dark world of her own
until she was seven years old. Then, a 20-year-old teacher, Anne Sullivan, came to
live with Helen and her family.
Anne Sullivan also had been blind as a child. But she had been operated on
and could see better, though not perfectly.
Anne thought Helen by spelling words on her hand. Once she understood what Anne
was doing, Helen learned quickly. She learned to “read” faces as they spoke. She
could understand what people said by touching their faces as they spoke. She
learned to write on a special typewriter. By the time she was 16, Helen had learned
to speak, though she was hard to understand.
Helen Keller was tutored in high school classes and went to Radcliffe College,
then the women’s college at Harvard University. Anne Sullivan went with her. In
1904, Helen Keller graduated with honors.
For the rest of her life, Helen Keller helped others with physical disabilities.
She travelled to other countries and gave speeches. She also wrote books and wrote
about her love for books. She said, “No barrier of the senses shuts me out from …
my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.”
Helen Keller believed people should help one another. She said we would get along
better if we imagined ourselves belonging to one worldwide family.
32
Barack's Biography
Barack Obama Bio
Current United States Senator (Illinois), Future President.
Barack Obama has dedicated his life to public service as a
community organizer, civil rights attorney, and leader in the Illinois state Senate.
Obama now continues his fight for working families following his recent election to
the United States Senate.
Obama became a senator on January 4, 2005. Senator Obama is focused on
promoting economic growth and bringing good paying jobs to Illinois. Obama serves
on the important Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees
legislation and funding for the environment and public works projects throughout the
country, including the national transportation bill. He also serves on the Veterans'
Affairs Committee where he is focused on investigating the disability pay
discrepancies that have left thousands of Illinois veterans without the benefits they
earned. Senator Obama will also serve on the Foreign Relations Committee.
During Barack Obama's seven years in the Illinois state Senate, Obama
worked with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by
creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years
provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. Obama also
pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of
inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama enlisted the support of
law enforcement officials to draft legislation requiring the videotaping of interrogations
and confessions in all capital cases.
Obama is especially proud of being a husband and father of two daughters,
Malia, 7 and Sasha, 4. Obama and his wife, Michelle, married in 1992 and live on
Chicago’s South Side where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ.
Barack Obama was born on August 4th, 1961, in Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr.
and Ann Dunham. Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983, and moved
to Chicago in 1985 to work for a church-based group seeking to improve living
conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment. In
1991, Obama graduated from Harvard Law School where he was the first African
American editor of the Harvard Law Review.
(FONTE: http://www.barackopedia.org/page/Barack’s+ Biography?t=anon;
http://www.barackobamaórg.com/about/)
34
CULTURAL GAME
NOTABLE PERSONS (Balan, 2008)
William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
“He was the greatest
English playwright who
ever lived”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756 – 1791)
“He was a musical genius
who began to write music
when he was five”
Thomas Alva Edison (1847 – 1931)
“He invented the electric
light bulb, the record
player and many more
amazing things”
Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
“He changed our idea
about time and space”
Mohandas Gandhi (1869 – 1948)
“He taught the world how
to win power without
fighting”
Helen Keller (1880 – 1968)
Anne Sullivan (1866 – 1936)
“A child who could
neither see nor hear was
taught by a patient
teacher”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
(1929 – 1968)
“They challenged
segregation and won”
Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519)
“He was both a painter
and an inventor”
Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865)
“He became president
and helped to free the
slaves”
36
CULTURAL GAME
NOTABLE PERSONS (Balan, 2008)
William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
“He was the greatest
English playwright who
ever lived”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756 – 1791)
“He was a musical genius
who began to write music
when he was five”
Thomas Alva Edison (1847 – 1931)
“He invented the electric
light bulb, the record
player and many more
amazing things”
Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
“He changed our idea
about time and space”
Mohandas Gandhi (1869 – 1948)
“He taught the world how
to win power without
fighting”
Helen Keller (1880 – 1968)
Anne Sullivan (1866 – 1936)
“A child who could
neither see nor hear was
taught by a patient
teacher”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 – 1968)
“They challenged
segregation and won”
Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519)
“He was both a painter
and an inventor”
Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865)
“He became president
and helped to free the
slaves”
39
Helen Keller (1880-1968)
Anne Sullivan (1866-1936)
A child who could neither see nor hear was taught by a patient teacher
Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When she was two, she
became sick. As a result, she lost her sense of sight and her sense of hearing.
Because Helen couldn’t hear she couldn’t speak. She lived in a dark world of her own
until she was seven years old. Then, a 20-year-old teacher, Anne Sullivan, came to
live with Helen and her family.
Anne Sullivan also had been blind as a child. But she had been operated on
and could see better, though not perfectly.
Anne thought Helen by spelling words on her hand. Once she understood
what Anne was doing, Helen learned quickly. She learned to “read” faces as they
spoke. She could understand what people said by touching their faces as they spoke.
She learned to write on a special typewriter. By the time she was 16, Helen had
learned to speak, though she was hard to understand.
Helen Keller was tutored in high school classes and went to Radcliffe College,
then the women’s college at Harvard University. Anne Sullivan went with her. In
1904, Helen Keller graduated with honors.
For the rest of her life, Helen Keller helped others with physical disabilities.
She travelled to other countries and gave speeches. She also wrote books and wrote
about her love for books. She said, “No barrier of the senses shuts me out from …
my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.”
Helen Keller believed people should help one another. She said we would get
along better if we imagined ourselves belonging to one worldwide family.
40
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
He changed our ideas about time and space.
Albert Einstein was born in Germany, but when he grew up, he moved to
Switzerland. He said it was a more peaceful country. Albert wanted peace so he
could think about math and science.
When Albert was 26, he developed the “theory of relativity” to explain energy.
The mathematical theory is complicated. Einstein said that probably only twelve
people in the world would be able to understand it.
In 1905, Einstein became a physics professor at the University of Zurich in
Switzerland. He later returned to Germany to teach and develop more ideas about
energy, light, and time. In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize in physics. In addition to
being a brilliant scientist, Einstein was an excellent violinist.
In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis ruled Germany. They took Albert Einstein’s
job and home away from him because he was Jewish. The Nazis hated Jews.
Fortunately, when his home was seized, Einstein was on a trip to England and the
United States. He did not go back to Germany. Instead, he chose to live in the United
States. From then on, Einstein worked and studied at the Institute for Advanced
Study in Princeton, New Jersey.
In 1939, Einstein warned United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt that
Hitler’s the scientists might try to make a powerful new atomic bomb in order to win
World War II. Roosevelt asked American scientists to invent the bomb first. By the
time the American bomb was ready. Germany had surrendered, or given up.
However, the United States, England, and other allied countries were still fighting
Japan.
The United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. The bombs killed
many people, and the Japan surrendered. The bomb helped America and the Allies
win World War II, but Einstein was horrified by the bomb’s power to kill. He became a
tireless worker for peace and hoped that people’s fear of atomic bombs would
prevent future wars.
41
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
Rosa Lee McCauley Parks (1913-2005)
They challenged segregation and won.
Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., grew in states where his segregation,
or separation, of black people and white people was a way of life. Unfair laws
separated African Americans from white schools, in restaurants, and on buses.
When Rosa Parks grew up, she became a tailor’s assistant in Montgomery,
Alabama. She also worked for the local NAACP, The National Americans for the
Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP decided to challenge bus segregation,
and Rosa Parks offered to help. In 1955, at the age of 43, she refused to give up her
seat on a bus to a white man. She was arrested.
After her arrest, African Americans in American in Montgomery, led by the
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., began a bus strike, or boycott. For one year, black
people in Montgomery walked, rode bicycles, and drove cars to work. They refused
to pay to ride an unfair bus, and the bus company lost money. Their peaceful protest
worked, and the unfair Law was changed.
Martin Luther King Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He became a minister.
Using the peaceful methods of Gandhi, King battled segregation in schools and
elsewhere. He was joined by many other brave black people including children, and
by brave white people, too. Their struggle to get the government to enforce the rights
of black people is called the Civil Rights Movement. One of the many songs they
sang to keep their hopes up in hard times was “We Shall Overcome.”
When Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke, people listened. In 1963, he gave a
speech to half a million people in which he said, “I have a dream that my four little
children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color f their
skin but by the content of their character.” In 1964, he received the Nobel Peace
Prize. When Martin Luther King, Jr., was 39, he was shot and killed. He is honored
on his birthday every January with a national holiday.
42
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)
He taught the world how to win Power without fighting.
Mohandas Gandhi was born in 1869 in Porbandar, India. When he became a
great leader, people called him Mahatma, which means “Great Soul.” As a young
man, Gandhi went to England to become a lawyer. As a young man, Gandhi went
back to India and then traveled to South America. There, he helped Indians like
himself be treated more fairly by white rulers.
Twenty-one years later, he returned to India to help the Indians there. The
rulers in both South Africa and India were English. The English were rich, and the
Indians were poor. Gandhi helped the Indians become powerful in several ways. First
he taught the Indians to spin and weave their own cotton cloth. He and his followers
wore simple clothes made from cloth. By buying from themselves instead of from the
English, the Indians gained financial power.
The English also had guns. Gandhi suggested the Indian people fight back
without guns and violence. He told them to disobey unfair laws. He also advised
them to go peacefully when arrested and taken to jail; Gandhi said it was honorable
to be arrested for a good cause. He went to jail many times.
Sometimes Gandhi fasted, or didn’t eat for days in order to call attention to an
injustice.
Gandhi also told people to go on strike, or not work for unfair bosses. He told them to
boycott, or refuse to buy things, from unfair store owners. “If people hit you,” he said,
“don’t hit back.”
Gandhi’s plans for non-violence worked. As the harshness of the English was
seen by more and more people, the Indians grew more powerful. Slowly, they won
their freedom from England. But their troubles were not over. Indians fought for
power against other Indians. As the age of 78, Gandhi was shot and killed.
Today Gandhi is called the Father of India. His brave way of fighting inspired
people around the world. Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr., all
learned from Mahatma Gandhi.
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