This film follows a grade 4 language lesson at Escuela Básica Francisco Ramírez in Santiago, Chile. Since the introduction of the new curriculum in 2002, emphasis is now placed on developing pupils' comprehension skills, and these skills are taught from the start of grade 1. By grade 4, pupils have covered all 12 reading competencies; and in this lesson, teacher Jeannette del Rosorio Romo Solar and her pupils are practicing applying them to an information text about a town in northern Chile. Ms Solar believes that pupils become more engaged when they?re given more demanding texts - and a lot of encouragement and motivation. Skills such as being able to identify cause and effect, the principle idea, and developing strategies for deciphering the meaning of unfamiliar words are all important elements to help pupils understand what the text is about and feed into other subjects such as history and science.

Video Series: Lessons From Chile
Release Date 2010