What’s your strategy?

Take a moment to reflect on the following questions.

• How does context influence the meaning of words?
• How does context help you understand a text better?
• What strategies do you use to solve unfamiliar words?

Record your responses using a method of your choice.

Part 1: Using cues

Unfamiliar words: Semantic cues

As readers, there are times that we come across words that are unfamiliar and we are unsure what they mean. We can use different information sources or cueing systems to help us solve them!

Let’s explore three different cueing systems: semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic.

Does it make sense?

Semantic (meaning) cues: using familiar words, phrases, sentences, and visuals that activate our existing knowledge (e.g., prefixes, suffixes, base words).

• use the words around the word for clues
• find a synonym of congeal
• find a picture clue

Does it look right?

Syntactic (language structure) cues: using word order, language patterns and rules (grammar), and punctuation to solve unknown words.

• Where does the word appear in the sentence?
• What part of speech is this word?

Does it sound right?

Graphophonic (phonological and graphic) cues: using our knowledge of letter or sound relationships and word patterns (e.g., similarities between words with common spelling patterns and unknown words; words within words; syllables).

• What are the beginning and end sounds?
• Does a portion of this word look familiar to me?

Activity

Explore the article, "How Indigenous land-based learning can help fight climate change." What do you do when you come across an unfamiliar word? Use a method of your choice to record the unfamiliar word and describe the strategies that you use to solve it.

Part 2: Documenting unfamiliar words

Select a method of your choice to create a dictionary that you will use to keep track of and solve the unfamiliar words you encounter.

When you come across an unfamiliar word, record it and its definition in your dictionary for future reference.

Using your dictionary

You are now going to use your dictionary as you explore an article of your choice.

Find an article on a topic that interest you. As you read and/or listen to it, record any unfamiliar words you encounter. Then, describe the types of cues you used to solve or predict the meaning of the word. Finally, research the meaning of the word and add the definition to your dictionary.

Bringing it all together

Once you have finished reading the article, reflect on how these two tools helped you understand the text:

• a) the different cueing systems
• b) your personal dictionary

Record your responses using a method of your choice.

Reflection

As you read the following descriptions, select the one that best describes your current understanding of the learning in this activity. Press the corresponding button once you have made your choice.

Now, expand on your ideas by recording your thoughts using a voice recorder, speech-to-text, or writing tool.

When you review your notes on this learning activity later, reflect on whether you would select a different description based on your further review of the material in this learning activity.