Introduction to characters

Introduction to: Characters

Inferences

What are characters?

Differentiating characters, story-teller, and author

Understanding characters and their emotions

Objectives

• By the end of this lesson, you should:

• know what characters are

• know what inference is

• understand how to know a character's emotions

• know the difference between author, story-teller and character

• know what reading between the lines is

Revising...

• Before this lesson, you might've learned:

• First, second and third person

• Author and illustrator

• How to answer questions

• Understanding questions.

Multiple Choice

QUICK! THINKING:

a format using I, me, us, we, etc... pronouns is called:

• First person format

• Third person format

• Second person format

Inference

Inference means working out the answer. Sometimes, authors don't clearly state something and you might have to find the meaning yourself. You might be asked to find things from the text that might not have been obvious at first.

Remember to read the text carefully before answering the question(s).

What are characters?

Characters come in three types: some are very significant to the story, some are slightly less significant, some are not significant at all. We also call these main, supporting/side and invisible or unimportant characters. They can be humans, witches, animals, vampires, or anything you want.

Story-teller, author and character

A storyteller is different in different types of formats. In a first person format, the storyteller will be someone you know, someone who is also a character in the story. In third and second person formats, you will probably not know who the storyteller is. The author is someone who wrote the story.

Characters and their emotions

If you are happy, you might not say 'I am happy'. Instead, your actions could show that you are happy.

It is the same with characters. They don't say they are happy, but we can work this out by the things they do and say.

Test yourself!

Think about what a character would do if they are:

happy

sad

Multiple Choice

Read the paragraph

Daniel turned around and gasped - his mother was stood right there grinning at him! She had managed to sneak up on him without him noticing. He could not believe that she had come home from her trip early just to be there for his birthday. Everyone had been certain that she would not be back for at least another two days!

How does Daniel feel about his mother coming home?

• Daniel feels jealous, because his mother went on a trip alone

• Daniel feels angry, because his mother did not tell him she was coming home

• Daniel feels worried, because he is in trouble with his mother

• Daniel feels surprised, as he 'gasped' and 'could not believe' his mother had come home.

HAPPY LEARNING!