Reading Familiar Words
3.1 automatically understand most words in a
variety of reading contexts (e.g., identify clichés
and jargon in texts and suggest clearer, more
specific wordings; identify words that signal
organizational patterns in literary essays;
analyse how familiar words are used to influence
a mass audience in print and television
advertisements)
Teacher prompts: “What effect has the poet
achieved by using common words in unfamiliar
ways?” “Name some of the literary
terms that have become familiar to you since
Grade 10.”
Reading Unfamiliar Words
3.2 use decoding strategies effectively to read
and understand unfamiliar words, including
words of increasing difficulty (e.g., create a
glossary or personal dictionary of specialized
and technical language encountered in academic
texts; keep a list of prefixes and root words used
in academic and technical publications to help
decode new terms; speculate on the meaning
of new words in a difficult text in discussion
with peers, then consult a dictionary to confirm
the meaning)
Teacher prompt: “How have your deliberations
on the possible meanings of an unfamiliar word
affected your understanding of the text?”
Developing Vocabulary
3.3 regularly use a variety of strategies to explore
and expand vocabulary, discerning shades
of meaning and assessing the precision with
which words are used in the texts they are
reading (e.g., list words from an eighteenthcentury
novel that are now archaic, and provide
contemporary synonyms for each, noting differences
in connotation; compare two essays on the
same idea by different authors, focusing on differences
in word choice and resulting differences
in meaning and effect)
Teacher prompts: “Which of the words that
you learned from your reading this term
have you used most often in your own speech
or writing?” “Is there one word in this poem
that provides a key to understanding the
poet’s intent?
