Summarizing an Informational Text Practice

The Signs of Language by Simón Darío

In Nicaragua, deaf children made up a brand-new language—their very own sign language. Their story began the early 1980s, when 500 deaf children enrolled in Nicaragua’s first school for the deaf. The children came from hearing families scattered throughout Managua, Nicaragua’s capital, and they had no language at all—they spoke neither Spanish nor used sign language.

People usually learn their first language when they are approximately two years old. Deaf children in the United States often learn American Sign Language (ASL) because they learn ASL from their parents. In Nicaragua, however, no one “spoke” sign language until recently. Instead, these children communicated by using mimicas, or gestures. Deaf people use mimicas the same way hearing people might use pantomimes to mimic getting a drink or picking up the telephone.

Soon after the school opened, the children began to adopt very specific gestures to get across particular ideas. The new mimicas meant “Line up,” “Time for lunch,” and “Do you want to play?,” for example. Before long, the teachers noticed that the children were communicating among themselves in an unusual way. These deaf schoolchildren were creating a new language, and the number and complexity of the signs were expanding with every passing day.

Over several years, the children developed rules on how to combine the signs. With new signs and rules for putting together sentences, the children made their mimicas into a new language. Today, Nicaraguan Sign Language is still developing and changing, as do all languages. Other Nicaraguan schools for deaf children are teaching it, and it is even becoming a written language. Soon, Nicaragua’s deaf children will be able to explain to the world how they created a new language!

Which sentence would be best to include in a summary of this report?

• These students’ amazing achievement has made life easier for deafchildren all over the world.

• Nicaraguan Sign Language has rules for how it is used.

• Someone should have thought of a way to help these children communicate before the 1980s.

• Deaf children in Nicaragua have transformed a simple system of gestures into a complex new language

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

The Signs of Language by Simón Darío

In Nicaragua, deaf children made up a brand-new language—their very own sign language. Their story began the early 1980s, when 500 deaf children enrolled in Nicaragua’s first school for the deaf. The children came from hearing families scattered throughout Managua, Nicaragua’s capital, and they had no language at all—they spoke neither Spanish nor used sign language.

People usually learn their first language when they are approximately two years old. Deaf children in the United States often learn American Sign Language (ASL) because they learn ASL from their parents. In Nicaragua, however, no one “spoke” sign language until recently. Instead, these children communicated by using mimicas, or gestures. Deaf people use mimicas the same way hearing people might use pantomimes to mimic getting a drink or picking up the telephone.

Soon after the school opened, the children began to adopt very specific gestures to get across particular ideas. The new mimicas meant “Line up,” “Time for lunch,” and “Do you want to play?,” for example. Before long, the teachers noticed that the children were communicating among themselves in an unusual way. These deaf schoolchildren were creating a new language, and the number and complexity of the signs were expanding with every passing day.

Over several years, the children developed rules on how to combine the signs. With new signs and rules for putting together sentences, the children made their mimicas into a new language. Today, Nicaraguan Sign Language is still developing and changing, as do all languages. Other Nicaraguan schools for deaf children are teaching it, and it is even becoming a written language. Soon, Nicaragua’s deaf children will be able to explain to the world how they created a new language!

Which of the following choices most accurately summarizes paragraph 2?

• People usually learn their first language when they are children. For example, American deaf children learn to speak sign language. In Nicaragua, there was no language for children to learn.

• By the time their children are about two years old, parents in the U.S. have usually taught them how to speak or sign. Nicaraguan parents did not teach their deaf children any language at all.

• Children usually learn their first language from their parents around age two. Because no sign language existed in Nicaragua, deaf children communicated using gestures, or mimicas.

• It was a challenge for Nicaraguan children to communicate because their parents didn’t teach them. They struggled and had to use simple gestures instead of a real language.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

The Signs of Language by Simón Darío

In Nicaragua, deaf children made up a brand-new language—their very own sign language. Their story began the early 1980s, when 500 deaf children enrolled in Nicaragua’s first school for the deaf. The children came from hearing families scattered throughout Managua, Nicaragua’s capital, and they had no language at all—they spoke neither Spanish nor used sign language.

People usually learn their first language when they are approximately two years old. Deaf children in the United States often learn American Sign Language (ASL) because they learn ASL from their parents. In Nicaragua, however, no one “spoke” sign language until recently. Instead, these children communicated by using mimicas, or gestures. Deaf people use mimicas the same way hearing people might use pantomimes to mimic getting a drink or picking up the telephone.

Soon after the school opened, the children began to adopt very specific gestures to get across particular ideas. The new mimicas meant “Line up,” “Time for lunch,” and “Do you want to play?,” for example. Before long, the teachers noticed that the children were communicating among themselves in an unusual way. These deaf schoolchildren were creating a new language, and the number and complexity of the signs were expanding with every passing day.

Over several years, the children developed rules on how to combine the signs. With new signs and rules for putting together sentences, the children made their mimicas into a new language. Today, Nicaraguan Sign Language is still developing and changing, as do all languages. Other Nicaraguan schools for deaf children are teaching it, and it is even becoming a written language. Soon, Nicaragua’s deaf children will be able to explain to the world how they created a new language!

Summarize the report.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

CCSS.RI.7.2