Reading a story set in the future: details and feelings
To read a story for details, ask who, where, when and what happened, and note the numbers. To find feelings, look at what the character does or says: Lina did not smile shows that she was disappointed. A feeling word is often not written, so we infer it from actions. To find the sentence that shows an idea, first say the idea in your own words, then scan the text and copy the one sentence that proves it. Do not copy a sentence that only has the same word. The bookās story on pages 77 and 78 is named by page only. In the ThinkāPairāShare task (page 79) you sort jobs into things a machine does better, things a person does better and things for both. For our list use school and home tasks and give one reason for each.
| Idea | Sentence that shows it | Feeling |
|---|---|---|
| Lina is new and sad | for the first week she felt lonely | lonely |
| The robot is quick but not warm | its voice had no warmth | disappointed |
| Lina finds a friendly place | feeling relieved and, for the first time, at home | relieved |
In the year 2040, Lina started at a new school, and for the first week she felt lonely. At lunchtime she went to the library, where a small, advanced reading robot called Bayan rolled between the shelves. Bayan could find any book in seconds and read it aloud in a quiet voice. Lina was curious, so she asked for a story about a kite. The robot read it well, but its voice had no warmth, and Lina did not smile. Then Mr Adel, the librarian, put a pile of new books on the desk and asked what she thought. āIt is clever,ā said Lina, ābut it cannot laugh with me.ā Mr Adel laughed and told her about the Thursday book club, where students share the books they love. On Thursday eleven students came, and four of them asked to borrow Linaās book. She rode home from the bike-share stand feeling relieved and, for the first time, at home.
ThinkāPairāShare. Sort these jobs into three groups (machine, person, both) and give a reason: finding a book in seconds, comforting a friend, mending a torn page, planning a class trip, sorting books by size, reading aloud with a funny voice. Compare with a partner.