Reading narratives is essential for learning as it develops critical thinking, empathy, and creativity. Narratives offer a unique perspective that cannot be found in other materials. To gain a deeper understanding, readers should use strategies like identifying the main idea, making connections, visualizing scenes, and asking questions. It is important to determine key ideas, cite evidence to support statements, and analyze the author's message and themes expressed. Overall, reading narratives cultivates important learning competencies.

1. Reading Text Types
Narratives

2. W hy Reading Narratives is Essential for Learning
Using Reading Strategies to M eet Your Purpose
Determining the Worth of Ideas in a Narrative
Citing Evidence to Support General Statements
Reacting to What is Asserted or Expressed in a Narrative
Developing Essential Learning Competencies through Reading
Narratives:

4. What type of text is this book?
Write down one thing you know about narratives
on your Worksheet.

5. This narrative is called The Hare and the Tortoise. It is a type of narrative
called a fable. What is a fable?”

6. • hare (a large rabbit)
• tortoise (a land animal like a turtle)
• challenged (dared to enter a contest)
• finish line (the end point of a race)
• chagrin (annoyance or anger)

7. Let’s practice these words. Say them and their meanings after me. Look at
their spelling.
Let’s put them in a sentence. I’ll do the first one…. “Hares look like rabbits
but are bigger and are big pests for farmers.”

8. Teacher reads the text and tells class before
reading to look out for the answer to the
question:
“Who won the race and how did he win it?”
Students mark on their copy of the narrative
where they got clues for their answers.
Students write answer on the Worksheet
(LC4A) giving reasons.

9. The Hare and the Tortoise
There was once a hare who was friends with a tortoise. One day, he
challenged the tortoise to a race. Seeing how slow the tortoise was going,
the hare thought he would win this easily. So, he took a nap while the
tortoise kept on going. When the hare woke up, he saw that the tortoise was
already at the finish line. Much to his chagrin, the tortoise won the race while
the hare was busy sleeping.
[Adapted from The Hare and the Tortoise by Aesop (c. 620 BCE-564 BCE].
A narrative usually has 3 parts:
a beginning, middle and end – but they are not always the same length.

10. A narrative usually has 3 parts:
a beginning, middle and end – but they are not always the same length.
• In the beginning we get the answers to the questions, “Who (characters),
where and when
(setting).”
• The middle part is where a problem occurs or something happens to
disrupt or confuse the situation (a ‘crisis’) and leads to a sequence of
events that lead to a ‘climax’, a big event – like the final battle scene in a
war movie.
• The end is where the problem is solved, or the action comes to an end as
when someone wins the final battle in a war movie – a resolution.

11. Questions:
Q1.Name the main characters.
Q2.What event and /or character sets the action going/ causes the problem?
Q3.Who won the race and how did he win it?
Questions:
Q4.What is the moral/lesson of the story?
Q5.“The Hare is the villain/bad character in the story” – do you agree? Give
reasons.
Q6.Parent A said, “This story is silly – we don’t want our children growing up to be
like the Tortoise –
he’s too slow for the times we live in.” Do you agree? Give reasons.
“Who would you rather be – the Hare or the Tortoise ?
and good-looking or ugly and boring?” Give reasons.]

12. Lesson Conclusion:
Q1.The focus of the lesson was on learning about how narratives work.
How has the lesson helped you to understand this?
Q2.Which questions were easy to answer? Why?
Q3.What strategies did you use to answer the harder questions?

13. LESSON 2: Locating information in the text – Narratives
Most Essential Learning Competencies
The learner will:
• Use appropriate reading strategies to meet one’s purpose (e.g., scanning,
skimming, close reading, etc.) EN7RC-IV-b-10
• Use direct and reported speech appropriately in varied contexts EN7G-III-e-3
• Discover literature as a tool to assert one’s unique identity and to better
understand other people
EN7LT-III-b-5

14. Short Review
In our last lesson we read a story about a hare and a tortoise. It was a kind of
story called a fable.
Q1.What is the purpose of a fable?
Q2.What kind of text type is a fable?
Q3.How do narratives usually start?
Q4.What happens in the middle part of the narrative?
Q5.How do narratives usually end?

15. In this lesson, we are going to read another narrative text with a lesson to be
learned. The story is based on a traditional folk tale from the Philippines.
Something awful happens to one of the characters … let us find out! You are
going to learn some strategies help you to find out what happened and why it
happened by reading the story very closely.
In this lesson, we are
going to read another
narrative text with a
lesson to be learned. The
story
is based on a traditional
folk tale from the
Philippines. Something
awful happens to one of
the
characters … let us find
out! You are going to
learn some strategies
help you to find out what
happened and why it
happened by reading the
story very closely.

16. Here are some words and phrases from the story we are going to read. Let
us read them together.
• Itneg (“the people of the mountains” from Abra in Northern Luzon. Also
known as theTinguian during the Spanish period.) [Show location on map
Appendix 2].
• blanket (a cloth cover used to keep warm)
• design (a pattern used to decorate something)
• stripes (a pattern formed from lines of different color)
• spirit (ghost or soul of a dead person) • companion (person you spend a lot
of time with often because you are friends or because you are travelling
together)
• simile (a phrase that uses comparison to describe, e.g., as white as snow,
I slept like a log)
•

17. • folk tale (a legend or myth; usually belonging to a particular cultural group
(tribe) and having a moral or meaning or an explanation of the creation of
the world, animals or natural phenomena. A story that parents have passed
on to their children through speech over many years.)

18. The Striped Blanket
Three Itneg men once went to the mountains to hunt deer. They took their
blankets with them, for they expected to be gone several days, and the nights in
the mountains are cold. Two of the blankets had blue-and-white designs, like
those commonly worn by the Itneg. The third blanket was covered with red and
yellow stripes like the back of a little wild pig.
At night the men rolled up in their blankets and lay down under a tree to sleep.
But while the one in the striped blanket was still awake, two spirits came near
and saw him.“Oh,” he heard one spirit say to the other, “here we have
something to eat, for here is a little wild pig.” Then the man quickly took the
blanket off one of his sleeping companions and put his own in its place. Very
soon the spirits came and ate the man under the striped blanket.Since that time
the Itneg never sleep under that kind of a blanket if they are where the spirits
can get them.
[Cole, M. C. (1916/2008). The Striped Blanket. Philippine Folk Tales. A.C.
McClurg & Co.]

19. Questions:
Q1.Who are the main characters in the story?
Q2.Where did the story take place?
Q3.Why did the three men go to the mountains?
Q4.Why did they take their blankets?
Q5.What did the men do before they went to sleep?

20. Questions:
Q1. What color was the blanket with stripes?
Q2. Why did the man swap blankets with his sleeping companion?
Q3. What happened to the man under the striped blanket and why?
Q4. How do you think the person with the striped blanket felt?
Q5. What would you do if you were the person with the striped blanket? Give
reasons for your
answer. (Write your answer in a full sentence on the Worksheet.)

21. CONCLUDING QUESTIONS:
Q1. What did you learn from this story?
Q2. Which questions were hardest? Can you rank them
in order of difficulty? (1 for easiest 10 for hardest)
Q3. How were they different from the easier questions?

22. Lesson 3
Comparing Narratives
Key Idea
Comparing the same narrative storyline from different cultures
Most Essential Learning Competencies:
• Use appropriate reading strategies to meet one’s purpose (EN7RC-IV-
b-10)
• Cite evidence to support a general statement (EN7RC-IV-g-10.4)
• React to what is asserted or expressed in a text (EN7RC-IIIe-2.1.7)

24. Component 1: Short review
Time: 7 minutes
Teacher: In our last 2 lessons we read folk tales and fables which fit under the
type of text known as narrative. The Hare and the Tortoise is a famous fable
written in Ancient Greece by Aesop. The text we do today, The Carabao and the
Shell, is very similar to The Hare and the Tortoise but was included in a book of
Folk Tales from the Philippines.
Questions:
Q1.How can you tell from the title that The Carabao and the Shell is fictional
rather than factual?
Q2.Knowing that The Carabao and the Shell is a folk tale like The Hare and the
Tortoise, what do you expect it to be about?
Q3.Knowing that The Carabao and the Shell is a Philippines version of The Hare
and the Tortoise, what do you expect to be different about it?

25. W hy Reading Narratives is
Essential for Learning
Reading narratives is not just a pastime, it's an essential
competency for learning. By engaging with stories,
students develop their critical thinking skills, empathy,
and creativity. Narratives offer a unique perspective on
the world that cannot be found in textbooks or lectures.
Furthermore, reading narratives helps students develop
their language skills and vocabulary. By encountering
new words and phrases in context, they learn to use
them more effectively in their own writing and speaking.
In short, reading narratives is an indispensable tool for
academic success and personal growth.

26. Using Reading Strategies to M eet
Your Purpose
When reading a narrative, it's important to have a
purpose in mind. This purpose will guide your reading
and help you gain a deeper understanding of the text.
There are several reading strategies that can help you
meet your purpose.
One strategy is to identify the main idea of the text. This
involves looking for the central message or theme of the
narrative. Another strategy is to make connections
between the text and your own experiences or
knowledge. This can help you relate to the characters
and events in the story.
A third strategy is to visualize the scenes in the story.
This can help you better understand the setting and
actions of the characters. Finally, you can ask questions
as you read to clarify any confusing parts of the text.
By using these reading strategies, you can meet your
purpose when reading a narrative and gain a deeper
understanding of the text.

27. Determining the Worth of Ideas in
a Narrative
When reading a narrative, it's important to be able to
distinguish between the ideas that are essential to the
story and those that are not. Identifying these key ideas
helps readers better understand the author's message
and gain deeper insights into the text.
To determine the worth of ideas in a narrative, students
should consider the following questions: What is the
main idea or theme of the story? What are the
supporting details that help develop the main idea?
What are the author's intentions in including certain
ideas or details? By answering these questions, students
can identify the most important ideas and gain a deeper
understanding of the text.

28. Citing Evidence to Support
General Statements
When making general statements about a narrative, it's
important to back them up with evidence. This not only
strengthens your argument, but also helps develop
critical thinking skills. By citing specific examples from
the text, you show that you have a deep understanding
of the material and can analyze it in a meaningful way.
To effectively cite evidence, start by identifying key ideas
or themes in the text. Then, find specific passages or
quotes that support your argument and explain how they
relate to your point. Be sure to use proper citation
format, such as MLA or APA, to give credit to the author
and avoid plagiarism.

29. Reacting to W hat is Asserted or
Expressed in a Narrative
When reading a narrative, it's important to react to what
is asserted or expressed in the text. This means
analyzing and interpreting the author's message to gain
a deeper understanding of the story. One way to do this
is to ask questions while you read. For example, you
might ask yourself why a character acted a certain way
or what a particular event symbolizes.
Another way to react to what is asserted or expressed in
a narrative is to make connections between the story
and your own experiences. This can help you relate to
the characters and understand their motivations. It can
also help you see the relevance of the story to your own
life.

30. Developing Essential Learning
Competencies through Reading
Narratives
In conclusion, reading narratives is an essential part of
developing crucial learning competencies. By using
various reading strategies, determining the worth of
ideas, citing evidence to support general statements,
and reacting to what is asserted or expressed in a
narrative, students can gain a deeper understanding of
the text and develop critical thinking skills.
Through reading narratives, students can also learn
empathy and emotional intelligence by experiencing
different perspectives and emotions. They can develop
their creativity and imagination by visualizing the world
created by the author. And they can improve their
communication skills by learning how to express their
thoughts and ideas effectively.