Characters' Viewpoints and Responses
Identify and compare characters' points of view, recognise who is narrating a story, describe how characters respond to events and challenges, and compare characters' experiences across different stories or versions of the same story
What a learner can do afterwards
- Identify who is telling a story and explain using the telling as a whole, not just a word inside a character's speech
- Describe how a character responds to a problem or challenge using evidence from the text (e.g. 'When the path was blocked, she asked for help finding another way')
- Compare how two characters from different stories react to a similar situation (e.g. how two heroes show bravery in different ways)
1 · Read
The narrator tells the story. Find the words telling what happens, not only words a character says aloud. A teller may describe their own actions with 'I' or 'me.' A teller can also describe other characters with 'he,' 'she,' or names. One word alone does not prove who the narrator is.
Here is a story told by a duck: 'I saw the pond freeze. I waited beside it.' The duck tells its own actions, so it is the narrator. Another telling says, 'The duck waited beside the frozen pond.' That sentence describes the duck. Read more to find out who is telling it.
A viewpoint is how a character thinks or feels about something. Use the story's clues, not only your own feelings. Words and actions give clues, but one action can have several meanings. A smile does not always mean happy. Two children can see rain differently: one wants a picnic, while the other wants water for a garden.
A response is what a character says or does after something happens. A girl asks for a break, rests, then tries again. Compare early and later words and actions to see changes in choices or feelings. To guess what happens next, use earlier choices. A guess is possible, not certain. Risky actions do not prove bravery.
Compare responses to a similar problem. Different words can mean the same thing: 'Help, please' and 'Can you help me?' both ask for help. In one story, a girl asks for help finding a glove. In another, a boy searches for his lost cap alone. Both look for something missing. One asks for help; one searches alone.
A squirrel calls a chase a game. A robin calls the same chase frightening. Their words show different viewpoints. Compare what each teller noticed or wanted. Two tellings can describe the same event differently. Neither teller has to know everything.
Find the teller from the whole story. Use words and actions to understand viewpoints and responses. Compare the clues, and keep predictions as guesses.
Lesson, questions and flashcards written for this dataset, with original examples about narrators, viewpoints and responses.
These five short stories and reading notes were written for this dataset.
More to read
One wind, two viewpoints
A strong wind began to blow. Faye smiled and took out her kite. Omar held down the drawing on the garden table.
Faye has a reason to welcome the wind: she wants to fly her kite. Omar has a reason to dislike it: his drawing may blow away.
Make a note for each character. What happened? What did they want? Which words or actions give clues? Your own opinion of windy days does not tell you what either character thinks.
Telling and talking
The narrator is the voice telling a story. A character can also speak inside it.
Read: 'Uma found a marble. "I found it under the chair," she said.' The word I belongs to Uma's speech. That speech alone does not prove she narrates the story.
Now the story is introduced as Uma's own telling: 'I looked under the chair and found a marble.' Uma describes her own action. We know she is the teller because of that context.
A response can change
Luz could not fit the last puzzle piece. 'I want to stop,' she said. She left the table for a break. Later she returned, turned the piece, and fitted it into the gap.
At first, Luz says she wants to stop and takes a break. Later, she tries again.
Use words and actions together. Her early words matter, and so does her later choice. To describe a change, find details from both parts of the story.
Two ways to find a place
In one story, Taro cannot find the library. He asks a shopkeeper for directions. In another story, Mina cannot find the library. She studies a map with her aunt.
Both need to find a place. Taro asks for directions. Mina uses a map with another person.
Name the shared problem first. Then compare what each character says or does. The stories need not use the same words for you to find something alike or different.
A missing clue
Niko repaired a torn paper boat with tape. In another story, Esme made a new paper plane after hers tore.
Both respond to a torn paper toy. Niko repairs his toy. Esme replaces hers.
Neither story tells how long the task took. You cannot say who finished faster. A comparison needs clues from both stories. Compare the details you have. When a detail is missing, say the story does not tell you instead of turning a guess into a fact.
2 · Watch
به انگلیسیTake it off screen
Where it sits
Where this leads
24 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.