Staying in the Loop

English 9: Grateful

Our next exploration is with the short story “Grateful”.  Prior to reading the story, we wrote about our own hopes and concerns and then, once we listened to the story, we wrote down Jenny’s hopes and worries. Using a venn diagram, we were able to identify any similarities we have with Jenny, knowing full well that, in the story, she is older and no longer alive (depressing really).

Next we talked about the messages in the story – there are no right answers though arguably there are some stronger messages communicated by the author than others.

We worked on our paragraph communicating the most important message, focussing on sentence variety, transitions and EVIDENCE for the point being made.

 

English 9: Diving into inference

To infer is to read between the lines. It involves taking what you experience (see, read, hear), add in your background knowledge and thinking, and draw conclusions about what is happening or has happened. It might not be right. We make sense of the world by inferring. In reading, authors often give clues that lead us to make assumptions or guesses about what is going on in the story… and sometimes we are wrong.

Good readers infer. Let’s dive into inference by looking at short conversations and answering “where are these people?”, what are they talking about?” and “what do you think will happen next?”. Then, let’s dive into inference by looking at pictures, paying close attention to details and inferences. Finally, let’s look at Blueberry Muffins and consider the inferences we make to help make the story make sense.

Missed class?  Please look at this photo and create a two column chart identifying details (on the left side) and inferences (on the right side). Then write a paragraph explaining the inferences you made. Ensure you use transition words and because clauses and think PEE.

English 9: Blueberry Muffins

Oh la la. You can do a lot with a short short story.

Using this story, we are exploring character traits, how to determine who the protagonist is, what figurative and literal mean, the power of inference, our own bias when we read, and more.

We’ve read the story and done a few class activities and today we are going to be writing a paragraph to a prompt.

English 9: Topic + Controlling idea

After reading your work in the packet that you submitted for assessment yesterday, it appears we need a greater understanding of Controlling Idea.

Here is my effort to help you…. a Youtube video and a handout for your collection of “things to keep and refer to for the rest of my life”.

Controlling ideas help to narrow a topic and guide the writer to stay focused on their writing. The finished piece is a clearer and tighter piece of writing.

English 9: Reading for Information and Summarizing

The following text was shared in chunks with students (groups of 4-6 had the same section of text to read).

Forced Labor

Forced labor is sometimes also called labor trafficking. It involves finding and transporting people to force them to work. This happens through threats, force and abuse of laws that protect workers’ rights.

A person can still be a victim of forced labor even if he or she willingly worked for an employer before.

People who come into one country from another to work are particularly at risk. However, individuals also may be forced into labor in their own countries.

Bonded Labor Or Debt Bondage

One way to force victims of both sex trafficking and forced labor to work is making them believe they have a debt to pay. 

Some workers inherit debt. For example, in South Asia it is estimated that there are millions of trafficking victims working to pay off their family members’ debts. 

Others fall victim to traffickers who take advantage of an initial debt as a condition of employment. 

When people want to immigrate to another country, someone may offer to help transport them in exchange for work. This is a form of human trafficking, too. Many victims do not realize they are being trafficked in this way. 

Traffickers and employers may charge workers recruitment fees and incredibly high interest rates. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to pay off the debt. 

Such circumstances may occur within temporary work programs in which a worker’s permission to be in the country legally is tied to the employer. This may make workers afraid to challenge their employers.

Domestic Servitude

Involuntary domestic work is a form of human trafficking in people’s homes. A household worker is not free to leave his or her employment and may be abused, underpaid or not paid at all.

Labor officials generally do not have the authority to inspect employment conditions in private homes. Domestic workers, especially women, confront various forms of abuse, harassment or being taken advantage of, including sexual abuse.

Forced Child Labor

Although children may legally work under certain circumstances, they may not be forced to do so. Forcing children to work is illegal. 

One example is when a child is in the care of a non-family member who requires the child to do work that benefits someone outside the child’s family. The child also does not have the option of leaving.

Unlawful Recruitment And Use Of Child Soldiers

Child soldiering is also a form of human trafficking when it involves forcing children to fight or work, which is often done through force. 

Organizers of child soldiers may be governments, militaries or rebel groups. Many children are abducted to be used as soldiers. Others are made to work as servants, messengers or spies. Young girls may be forced to marry commanders and soldiers. Both male and female child soldiers are often subject to the same types of devastating physical and psychological consequences associated with child sex trafficking.

source: https://newsela.com/read/lib-overview-human-trafficking/id/38343/

If you missed today’s class, you need to read all sections of the text and summarize each section into one sentence that encapsulates the key information for the section. 

Then, you need to complete the paragraph assignment and submit it via email (angela.stott@sd6.bc.ca) or in class. This is a required assignment. 

Paragraph Assignment: 

Write a paragraph that begins with the topic sentence: “There are several means of human trafficking practiced illegally in the world.”

In addition to communicating information concisely and clearly, I will be looking specifically for effective use of transition words as well as a solid concluding sentence.

English 9: 5 Ws on Girls’ Rights in India

Ms. Bains was here today and, instead of continuing with the learning we have been doing on Human Trafficking, she presented a reading and activity on a topic that is of great interest to her.

India Rules Sex with a Child Bride is Always Rape

Key vocabulary: exemption, exploitation, burden, non-consensual

 

English 9: Inquiry – Focus on Human Trafficking

Vocabulary – these are important words to fully understand prior to watching this film.

1. exploitation
2. recruit

With a pencil in hand (to take notes) and the pause button easily accessible, watch this film to gather information that helps to answer your questions.

Remember that having a clear definition of the topic is essential and must be communicated to your audience when sharing your learning.

English 9: Child Rights

While reading a humanium.org article titled “Girls Rights”, we highlighted all numbers. Although there were some repeated figures, we all highlighted about 20 facts that included numbers (eg. 50% of sexual assaults worldwide happen to girls under the age of 16).

We then fact checked one numerical piece of information first by seeing what we could find by narrowing our search to Unicef sites and, then, more broadly. Some of us found it really challenging to find information that substantiated the claim in the article. For some it was simple.

We then made a poster that visually represented our finding. We used bar charts or pie graphs, depending on what we thought would communicate our finding the most clearly.

Finally, we need to complete the self-reflection:

1. Why did I choose to create the poster I did (paragraph response)? Remember to begin with a topic sentence, provide supporting details and finish up with a clear concluding sentence.
2. How simple or difficult was it to fact check your numerical evidence and why (short answer)?
3. Why else do you need to know to fully understand the child human right violation you chose to visually represent?  Ask yourself: what else do I need to know about this topic to be more of an expert?

English 9: Citing Sources in and out of text

English 9: using databases

To access our databases at school, you need to follow this pathway:

1. goldensecondarylearninghub.com
2. clink on ERAC on the right side of the screen
3. scroll down and find the databases that will best suit our needs for this project
   • World Book
   • Explora
   • EBSCOhost
4. using the ADVANCED SEARCH option, you can narrow your search including things like full text and reading level.
5. once you find an article, click on the file folder to save it.
6. from the file folder, you can email the article to yourself or save it to your google drive account for future reference.

Note: use KEYWORDS when searching in these databases. This is NOT Google or any other search engine on the internet so asking a question (for instance “what are the causes of fear) does not work well.