Critical and Content-Based Questions for Language Learners

Critical and Content-based Questions
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Critical and Content-based Questions
Lesson Title: The Circle of Life and the Clambake
Genre: American Folktale
National Standards
According to American National Standards, the four language skills are to be judged based on the following performance indicators (Corestandards, 2022):
1 Interpretive communication: ability to recognize and learn common English words via reading or gestures
2 Presentational communication: the ability to express ideas using writing and speaking techniques, including self-introduction in English
3 Interpersonal communication: ability to communicate using written and spoken forms of language communication
Making Questions for Language Learners
According to a renowned language teacher, critical questions should be framed from the text to enhance students’ inferential and intellectual language learning (Spathis, 2020). Based on the concepts in this research, the following are some questions related to the selected lesson.
Learning Objectives
1 To be able to read simple English language text and understand commonly used vocabulary.
Content-based Questions
* How does the text explain the importance of everything the world offers us?
The text reveals that living and non-living things like animals, birds, water, and stone are part of the natural cycle providing humans with food and other materials. Therefore, all parts of this Medicine Circle should be respected and important.
* Why did the Wampanoag people consider Maushop their savior?
Maushop helped the Wampanoag people by bringing firewood for them to cook their food; he also pushed whales on shore so that these people could cook their meat as food. Since Maushop made getting food much easier for the Wampanoag people, they considered him their savior.
* Why did Maushop stop helping the Wampanoag people?
Maushop stopped helping the Wampanoag people since god Kehtean deemed this help as harmful to the spirit of self-reliance of these people. Hence, he ordered Maushop to leave the Wampanoag village so that these people could become self-dependent.
Critical Thinking Questions
* How do you figure out Kehtean's role in the Wampanoag people’s life?
Kehtean’s role in the Wampanoag people's life is that of a benevolent and tolerant deity. Instead of letting his children live a lazy and dependent life, he appears as a fatherly figure who does his best to teach them self-reliance and self-respect.
* How does Wampanoag people’s reliance on Maushop prove harmful for them?
Since the Wampanoag people began relying on Maushop for their food, their society was plagued with laziness and procrastination. These people gradually lost their potential and self-respect, which would eventually lead to their extinction.
* How does the text prove the Medicine Circle as a source of human strength?
The Medicine Circle of life explains how everything, including stones, plants, water, and animals, plays a vital role in human life and how the natural cycle maintains every natural resource intact. Thus, this natural cycle is t...