Lesson No.

Definition of Reading

Jabberwocky
by Lewiss Caroll

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
He chortled in his joy.
Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Unfamiliar
Word from
the Poem

Part of
Speech

Similar
sounding
word in
English

Possible
Meaning

Humpty Dumpty's Explanation

"You seem very clever at explaining words, Sir", said Alice.
"Would you kindly tell me the meaning of the poem
'Jabberwocky'?"
"Let's hear it", said Humpty Dumpty. "I can explain all the
poems that ever were invented--and a good many that
haven't been invented just yet."
This sounded very hopeful, so Alice repeated the first verse:
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"That's enough to begin with", Humpty Dumpty interrupted:

"there are plenty of hard words there. 'Brillig' means four
o'clock in the afternoon--the time when you
beginbroilingthings for dinner."
"That'll do very well", said Alice: "and 'slithy'?"
"Well, 'slithy' means 'lithe and slimy'. 'Lithe' is the same as
'active'. You see it's like a portmanteau--there are two
meanings packed up into one word."
I see it now", Alice remarked thoughfully: "and what are
'toves'?"
"Well, 'toves' are something like badgers--they're something
like lizards--and they're something like corkscrews."
"They must be very curious creatures."
"They are that", said Humpty Dumpty: "also they make their
nests under sun-dials--also they live on cheese."

"And what's to 'gyre' and to 'gimble'?"

"To 'gyre' is to go round and round like a gyroscope.
To 'gimble' is to make holes like a gimlet."
"And 'the wabe' is the grass plot round a sun-dial, I
suppose?" said Alice, surprised at her own ingenuity.
"Of course it is. It's called 'wabe', you know, because
it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind
it--"
"And a long way beyond it on each side", Alice
added.

"Exactly so. Well then, 'mimsy' is 'flimsy and miserable' (there's another
portmanteau for you). And a 'borogove' is a thin shabby-looking bird with its
feathers sticking out all round--something like a live mop."
"And then 'mome raths'?" said Alice. "If I'm not giving you too much trouble."
"Well a 'rath' is a sort of green pig, but 'mome' I'm not certain about. I think
it's sort for 'from home'--meaning that they'd lost their way, you know."
"And what does 'outgrabe' mean?"
"Well, 'outgribing' is something between bellowing an whistling, with a kind
of sneeze in the middle: however, you'll hear it done, maybe--down in the
wood yonder--and when you've once heard it, you'll bequitecontent. Who's
been repeating all that hard stuff to you?"
"I read it in a book", said Alice.
--Through The Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll

Questions:
1.

Did you understand the poem? Why or why not?

2.

What do you think happened in the poem? What is

the poem about

3.

How did you make sense of the poem?

4.

Who is talking to a boy?

5.

What is a Jabberwock?

6.

What weapon is used to kill the Jabberwock?

7.

What were your impressions of the poem before

reading? After reading?

Definitions of Reading
Among the many definitions of reading that have arisen in
recent decades, three prominent ideas emerge as most
critical for understanding what "learning to read" means:
Reading

is a process undertaken to reduce uncertainty

about meanings a text conveys.

The

process results from a negotiation of meaning

between the text and its reader.

The

knowledge, expectations, and strategies a reader

uses to uncover textual meaning all play decisive roles
way the reader negotiates with the text's meaning.

Lesson No. 2

Genre and
Genre Forms

Genre
Has

been ordinarily
regarded as a literary or
artistic category

Genre
Prose

Poetry Drama

PROSE
is

writing that is similar to

everyday speech and language
Its forms is based on sentences
and paragraphs

PROSE FORMS
FICTION
A prose narrative in which
situations and characters are
invented by the writer
The events are imagined by
the author
Examples:
Novels, novellas, short
stories, folktales

NONFICTION
Deals with real people,
places, things and events
Writers of nonfiction keep the
following in mind:
A topic or idea to present
An objective or purpose for
presenting the idea
Readers or audience
Examples: biographies,
autobiographies and essays

POETRY
Consists

of language with a strong

musical quality in which the words are
highly charged with meaning
Use structural elements such as line
length and stanza

FORMS OF
POETRY

Definitions

Narrative Poems

poems that tell a story

Epics

Long narrative poems written in dignified style

that celebrate the adventures and achievements
of one or more heroic figures of legend, history or
religion

Ballads

songlike poems that tell a story often dealing with

adventure and romance

Sonnets

A form of rhyming lyric poetry with fourteen lines

that follow an iambic pentameter rhyme scheme

Haiku

a special type of poetry from Japan consists of 17

syllables arranged in three lines, (5-7-5 syllables)

DRAMA
a

story told in a dialogue by performers

before an audience
Includes television plays, radio plays and
even movies
Actors make a world come alive before an
audience

DRAMA FORMS
COMEDY
TRAGEDY
MELODRAMA
FARCE
HISTORICAL DRAMA

Definitions

DRAMA FORMS

LITERARY TEXT

INFORMATIONAL
TEXT

Literary texts include Informational texts

short stories, novels, provide factual
poems and dramas.
information.
Biographies,
autobiographies and
essays can also be
considered literary
texts.

Consumer, public and

workplace documents
are considered
informational
materials.