6. Comprehension-retrieval/understanding

What is retrieval?

Pick out information from a text in order to answer questions about it.

In order to retrieve information, it's a good idea to make sure you understand what's going on in the text first!

The mermaid's lagoon

The children often spent long summer days on this lagoon, swimming or floating most of the time, playing the mermaid games in the water, and so forth. You must not think from this that the mermaids were on friendly terms with them: on the contrary, it was among Wendy's lasting regrets that all the time she was on the island she never had a civil word from one of them.

Questions to understand

• What did the children do in the summer?

• How do we know that the mermaids weren't friends with the children?

• Who was Wendy?

• Why was Wendy regretful?
  
  

When she stole softly to the edge of the lagoon she might see them by the shore, especially on Marooners' Rock, where they loved to bask, combing out their hair in a lazy way that quite irritated her; or she might even swim, on tiptoe as it were, to within a yard of them, but then they saw her and dived, probably splashing her with their tails, not by accident, but intentionally. They treated all the boys in the same way, except of course Peter, who chatted with them on Marooners' Rock by the hour, and sat on their tails when they got cheeky.

• What did Wendy do by the shore?

• What did the Mermaid's love to do?

• Why did Wendy swim "on tiptoe"?
  
  

​Questions to understand

• Did Wendy every swim close to the mermaid's? How do you know?

• How did the mermaid's treat both the boys and girls?

• Why do you think the mermaid's treated Peter differently? Use clues from the text
  

He gave Wendy one of their combs. The most haunting time at which to see them is at the turn of the moon, when they utter strange wailing cries; but the lagoon is dangerous for mortals then, and until the evening of which we have now to tell, Wendy had never seen the lagoon by moonlight, less from fear, for of course Peter would have accompanied her, than because she had strict rules about every one being in bed by seven. She was often at the lagoon, however, on sunny days after rain, when the mermaids come up in extraordinary numbers to play with their bubbles. The bubbles of many colours made in rainbow water they treat as balls, hitting them gaily from one to another with their tails, and trying to keep them in the rainbow till they burst. The goals are at each end of the rainbow, and the keepers only are allowed to use their hands. Sometimes a dozen of these games will be going on in the lagoon at a time, and it is quite a pretty sight. 

Questions to understand

• When was the worst time to see the mermaids and why?

• Who was the lagoon dangerous for?

• Why didn't Wendy go to the lagoon at moonlight?

• When did Wendy usually go to the lagoon?

• What did mermaids play with bubbles like?

• What was the rainbow used for?
  
  
  
  
  

Pronoun recap

Pronouns Recap

• The following sentence uses an emphatic pronoun (emphatic pronouns are like reflexive pronouns but they are used to emphasise (or repeat) the person/thing taking the action in the sentence).

• I answered the door myself