The Diving Competition

The Diving Competition

Pencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Further Resources
This task is about reading to find information and make inferences from a text.
Read the story The Diving Competition by Bob McConnell (School Journal, Part 4, No 2, 1996) and answer the following questions.

Question

a)  The children's father went diving

    • whenever he had others to go with.

    • when the family had no food left.

    • whenever Uncle Hilton told him to.

    • whenever the tide was right.

    • every weekend.

Question 1Change answer

b)  Who put the crayfish into the sack?
     

Question 1Change answer

c)  What happened to the crayfish if they were not quickly put into the sack?

Question 1Change answer

d)  What do the words "empty handed" mean, as they are used in this story?

Question 1Change answer

e)  In what two ways did the children usually travel to the place when they were going to gather seafood?

Question 1Change answer

f)  Why would Harry's face be "redder than ever", when he came up from a dive?

Question 1Change answer

g)  What group of words does the writer use to show the children realised how their father and Tommy were tricking Harry?

Question 1Change answer

h)  What group of words does the storyteller use to let the reader know that Harry was surprised Tommy was still under the water?

Question

i)  What did the children think about Tommy's cheating?

    • They saw nothing wrong with it.

    • They thought it was all right because their father was part of the trick.

    • They thought it unfair.

    • The writer does not say.

Question

j)  Harry didn't speak at all on the way home because he

    • had not enjoyed the diving trip.

    • was exhausted by his long dive.

    • had lost the competition.

    • suspected that he had been cheated.

    • had not caught many crayfish.

Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper or online.
Copyright: 
The Diving Competition - Text was first published by Learning Media Limited on behalf of the Ministry of Education © Bob McConnell 1996. Reproduced with permission.
 
Source: School Journal, Part 4, No 2, Learning Media, 1996
 
Level:
4
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Thinking, Using language, symbols, and texts
Keywords: 
narrative, comprehension, School Journal, locate information, inference, SJ-4-2-1996
Description of task: 
Students read the humorous narrative 'The Diving Competition' to answer retrieval and inferential questions. SJ-4-2-1996. Text provided.
Curriculum Links: 
 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • 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, set 5
Reading for literary experience, set 5
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
  Y9 (04/1999)
a) D - whenever the tide was right. very easy
b) One of the children. easy
c) Crayfish escaped/they flipped themselves back into channel. very easy
d) Caught nothing. easy
e) •   Walked.
•   Rode horses.		 easy
f) He had been holding his breath. very easy
g) "it dawned on us." difficult
h) "His eyes nearly popped out of his head." moderate
i) D - The writer does not say. easy
j) C - had lost the competition. easy