Tangiwai

Tangiwai

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about using evidence from texts to make inferences about characters.

Read pages 8-10, 10-12, and 15-17 from the book 'Journey to Tangiwai: the Diary of Peter Cotterill, Napier, 1953' by David Hill. After reading each extract, complete the following comprehension tasks.

Extract 1

Read from Thursday, January 1st, 1953 to the end of Tuesday, January 13th (pages 8-10).

a) What facts do we know about Uncle Hugh? List four.

i)
 
 
ii)
 
 
iii)
 
 
iv)
 

b) The text suggests that Uncle Hugh has bad memories of the war. Identify two pieces of evidence from the text that suggest this.

i)
 
 
ii)
 
 

Extract 2

Read from Wednesday, January 14th to the end of Monday, January 19th (pages 10-12).

c) List four beliefs of Uncle Hugh's

i)
 
 
ii)
 
 
iii)
 
 
iv)
 
 
 
d) Why might a war hero like Uncle Hugh be so much against war?
 
 

Extract 3

Read all of Saturday, January 31st, (pages 15-17), to check your prediction.

e) Why do you think a war hero like Uncle Hugh is so much against war?

 
 

f) Describe two ways Uncle Hugh has changed as a result of his experiences in the war.

i)
 
 
ii)
 
 

g) Identify two pieces of evidence from the text that suggest this.

i)
 
 
ii)
 
 
Task administration: 

This task can be completed with pencil and paper.

This assessment resource uses extracts from the book 'Journey to Tangiwai: the Diary of Peter Cotterill, Napier, 1953'.

The book is by David Hill, published by Scholastic. Although it is not necessary for students to have read this book to complete this assessment, the assessment could be used, prior to reading this novel, as a whole-class or small-group evaluation. Having copies of the book available for students could allow you to use this assessment during the course of students' reading of the book.

Copyright: 
Permission granted to reproduce extract of the text.
Level:
5
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Thinking
Keywords: 
comprehension, inference, character, analysis, progressive disclosure, think critically
Description of task: 
The assessment focus is on student ability to make inferences about character and justify these with evidence from text.
Curriculum Links: 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • reflect critically about character
  • infer ideas and information that are not directly stated in the text
as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Making sense of text: processing system, sets 6-7
Reading for literary experience, sets 6-8
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
    Y8/10 (10/2005)
a) Student identifies any 4 facts about Uncle Hugh, e.g.,

  • He has a farm (10 miles from Napier).
  • He's the youngest of the storyteller's mother's brothers.
  • He was in World War 2.
  • He did something heroic on Crete.
  • He doesn't talk about the war.
  • He has a farm truck (Morris Cowley).
  • He smokes (roll-yer-owns).
 Gives 4 facts, very easy
b) Student identifies any 2 pieces of evidence that suggest Uncle Hugh has bad memories of the war, e.g.,

  • "but he won't talk about it."
  • "Dad says Hugh needs to get over the war, settle down..."
  • "Hugh started smoking during the war..."
  • "Mum reckons he smokes too much..."
  • "some days he just sits and reads."
 Identifies: 2 pieces of evidence, easy; 1 piece of evidence, very easy
c) Student suggests any 4 beliefs of Uncle Hugh's, e.g.,

  • Having royal families wastes money.
  • War wastes money and lives.
  • War makes profits for factory owners.
  • Money should go to people who need better housing.
  • Communists aren't the enemy/He supports communism.
  • The Korean war is making American millionaires richer.
 Suggests: 4 beliefs, moderate; 2-3 beliefs, easy; 1 belief, very easy
d) Student predicts why Uncle Hugh is against war, e.g., He thinks:

  • it is a waste of money.
  • it is a waste of lives/too many people are killed.
  • money should go to people in need.
  • it makes rich people richer.
 very easy
e) Student suggestions could include:

  • He was disillusioned/he thought it would be an adventure, but the reality was different.
  • He had to shoot at the enemy and he could hear them screaming which unnerved him.
  • He realised the enemy were really men like himself (because he took part in a bayonet charge, i.e., face to face combat).
  • He didn't think being singled out as a hero in a bayonet charge was something to be proud of/to remember positively.
  • He now thinks war is evil/Governments sacrifice men like himself in war.
 very easy
f) Student describes any 2 changes in Uncle Hugh, e.g.,

  • He has become a (heavy) smoker.
  • He is more socially aware (of issues of justice).
  • He has grown up.
  • He has aged.
  • He has become unsettled, maybe withdrawn and inconsistent, fragile, and emotional.
 Describes: 2 changes, easy; 1 change, very easy
g) Student links descriptions in f) with corresponding 2 pieces of evidence, e.g.,

  • "Mum reckons he smokes too much..."/"Hugh started smoking during the war..."/"the first two fingers on his right hand are stained yellow with nicotine"/"Hugh started coughing...".
  • 'If countries stopped wasting money and lives on war and royal families, there'd be good homes for everyone'/'make money for his war-loving factory owners'/'Adam could die so American millionaires get richer!'/how Hugh responds to and challenges the beliefs of the storyteller's father, arguing with him.
  • "he thought it [the army] would be a big adventure", but the reality/horrors of it made him realise it wasn't an adventure.
  • "Mum said that when he got back to NZ, she saw this skinny guy who looked about 20 years older than her little brother."
  • "Dad says Hugh needs to get over the war, settle down..."/"some days he just sits and reads. But other days...I'd wake up at 6a.m. and he'd already be out working"/where his hands started to shake when he was remembering shooting down Germans and hearing them screaming.
 Makes links to: 2 pieces of evidence, easy; 1 piece of evidence, very easy
Results based on a trial sample of 230 Year 8 and 10 students
Teaching and learning: 

This book could be read in conjunction with a Social Studies topic of either our national identity, or how past events impacted on people and are interpreted, in the past, present, and future. For other sources of information about the disaster at Tangiwai, click on "Further resources". These could be used to compare and evaluate how different text types present one event.

For resources about Tangiwai, see: School Journal Part 4, Number 3, 2000: "On the Train to Tangiwai" (poem), "Tragedy at Tangiwai" (report); Te Tautoko 56: "Ruapehu", "Te Hinganga i Tangiwai". The following are the extracts used in this resource, from 'Journey to Tangiwai: the Diary of Peter Cotterill, Napier, 1953', by David Hill, published by Scholastic.