Close Encounters II
This task is about finding the main idea of the text.
A teacher read "Close Encounters" to her class. Then she asked, 'What's the main idea?'
Some students thought the main idea was the importance of learning about Māori culture. Here is what two of them said:
Amber: "Ramari begins on page 3 by talking mostly about her Māori culture. Since I know that the beginning part of an article often tells us something about the main idea, I think the main idea must be her Māori culture."
James: "Ramari talks about extremely important ideas in Māori culture such as whakapapa and kaitiakitanga."
Some students thought the main idea was that Ramari's cultural and scientific backgrounds both influence her work. Here is what two of them said:
Rachel: "Every time Ramari talks about studying the sea lions and whales she always adds some sort of comment about her Māori culture. Like on page 4 when she talks about counting sea lions, she then says, in the last paragraph, that the ancient skills of her ancestors help her to do it."
Tom: "At the top of page 4 Ramari says that traditional waiata and scientific observation and statistics are equally important to her understanding of the world. This is a really big clue because the rest of the article focuses on Ramari talking about her Māori culture in connection with scientific observation and statistics."
Some students thought the main idea was the conservation of sea lions and whales. Here is what two of them said:
Sam: "Almost all the article is about studying these animals and about how whaling nearly destroyed the whale population. This is what conservation is all about."
Katie: "I've learnt heaps about counting sea lions and how to find out what they've eaten. I've also learnt about building up photo databases of whales, and about the slaughter of whales for their blubber."