This is a story about Maria who has had some bad experiences because she cannot understand English. She soon learns English and makes her dream come true!

1. Before you read

Look at the image on the cover and discuss the title of the book. Open up the pages and get learners to talk about what they think is happening in the story. On pages 6 and 7, ask learners to say why they think everyone in the picture is laughing except for the little girl Maria. Who are the other characters? What is their relationship to Maria? Turn to pages 2 and 3 and re-read – who is the boy on the left? It is Maria’s son; he is watching his mother on TV.

2. Let’s read

Read through the book, stopping regularly to ask learners questions about the events. Check their understanding, not only
by their answers, but also by their questions. Discuss any challenging vocabulary contained in the text; model how to decode a challenging word by using phonetics or the context of the word.

3. After you read

After reading get learners to recount the events in the story in their own words. Assess whether they order the events in the correct sequence and don’t omit anything. Act it out – divide learners into small groups and get them to act out the events in the story before the class. If they choose to, they can change the focus of the story, for example, Maria could want to be a ballerina or a famous racing car driver. They should list the difficulties she faces and how she overcame them.

4. Curriculum connections

Timeline
Get learners to complete a timeline of Maria’s life. They can use the dates in the download to guide the process. Some of the information is not in the reader, so learners need to work out the time sequences and fill in the gaps. For each block learners can draw a corresponding picture from the story. This will develop learners’ ability to use time as a way of sequencing events and to see that a story can move backwards and forwards in time.

As an extension, get learners to create a timeline for their own lives.

5. Assessment

Is the learner able to:

• Answer higher-order questions based on the passage read.
• Read the book as a whole class with the teacher (shared reading) and discuss cause-and-effect relations.

Use the Assessment Tasks above as asuggestion for an activity or task.