Pocahontas by Tim Vicary

(Graded Reader)

            I’m still trying to introduce some history into my classes the extensive reading program.

            This book is low level, and very short.  And yet, for someone like me who doesn’t know much about Pocahontas beyond the standard Hollywood version, I was able to learn a few new things from this book.

            The final chapter is heartbreaking, but beautifully written.  (Given the constraints of the graded reader system, I’m impressed the author was able to cram such powerful emotion into such simple words. I almost choked up as I was reading it to my class.)

            One complaint though: I’m sure the difference between American-Indians and Indian-Indians is obvious to European ESL students, but this was not at all obvious to my Cambodian students.  Some of them spent the entire story thinking Pocahontas was from India.  I wish the author wouldn’t have referred to Native-Americans simply as “Indians.”

Teaching Materials 

[This book contained a glossary at the back for words that might be problematic for students.  On the first day, I had the class read through the glossary, then on subsequent days I made matching exercises for the words in the glossary.  I know this is all terribly boring and uncreative, but my theory was something was better than nothing when it came to the vocabulary.]

build, buildings chief, enemy, fever, fight

Definitions

_______to hit and hurt or try to kill someone

_______the most important man in an Indian village

________to make buildings

________when you are ill with a very hot head and body, you  have this

________ houses, schools, shops, et cetera

_______not a friend; a person who hates you

Sentences

My sister is sick with _________.

I am going to _________ a building.

You shouldn't  _________ during English class.

He is my ________.  He is not my friend.

The Indian ________ is very powerful.

The workers are making a ___________.

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glass, gunpowder, hard, hostage, king

Definitions

_______a powder used in guns that burns very quickly.

______the most important man in a country

______ bottles and windows are made of this.

Your enemy takes somebody as a __________ because he wants something from you

_______a lot

Sentences

During the time of Pocahontas, the ________ of England was James.

You need to put _________ in a gun before you can shoot it.

_______ can break easily.

You need to work ______ at your job.

They captured the leader and took him __________.

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leader, lock, marry, queen, sadly

Definitions

______to take somebody as your husband or wife

______an important person in a group of people

_______the wife of a king

______to close (a door, box, etc.) with a key

_____not happily

Sentences

The ___________s of the Englishmen were Christopher Newport, Edward Wingfield, and John Smith.

My dog is dead, he said _________.

When I grow up, I want to ___________ a queen.

The ___________ of England now is Elizabeth II.

Don't forget to _______ the door before you leave the house.

***************************************************************

sail, sow, surprise, try, unhappy

Definitions

__________when something new or sudden happens, you feel this

__________to go over water (the sea, rivers, etc.) in a ship

__________not happy

__________to put small plants in the ground

__________to work hard to do something

Sentences

It's spring now.  They must ______ corn and vegetables in their fields.

Thirty years ago, an Englishman called Francis Drake ______ed around the world in a ship.

Later, some of Powhatan's men ______d to take guns from the English.

Pocahontas was angry and _______.

When my friend jumped out from behind the tree, I was very _________d.

 Link of the Day

There’s Always a Class War Going On
and Phnom Penh’s Most Famous Urban Planner Sees a City on the Verge of Collapse (An interesting article.  I've noticed some of these issues myself--the flooding every year, the roads overburdened with traffic...)
Also, I was very happy to see that Charlie Chaplin's movie the Great Dictator is suddenly becoming popular in Khmer.  This video of the famous speech at the end of the movie has been making the rounds on facebook in Cambodia.