The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Sec. 30, VIII–XV · Part 1: Part First
12. Gemila, the Child of the Desert (part 2)
Goal: Your child can tell the story of the journey across the desert to the new spring.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
What's in the book
Parts VIII to XV of the story of Gemila: the caravan sets out under the stars, the heat of noon, the ostrich and its eggs, meeting the rich merchant Sheik Hassein, the new home under the palm trees, and what Gemila looks like. The pictures "The Caravan" and "Kabyl" are in this part.
The lesson, step by step
Remember part 1
Ask your child to remind you what happened so far: who Gemila is and why the family is moving.
Read parts VIII to XV
Read aloud together. Look at the pictures "The Caravan" (page 38) and "Kabyl" (page 40) when you come to them.
She is the child of the desert, and she loves her desert home.
What we know now
Two things in the story are old beliefs:
- Ostriches don't really hide their heads in the sand. That is an old tale.
- Camels don't carry a water bag in their throats. They can go a long time without drinking because their bodies are very good at saving water, and they drink a great deal at once.
Tell it back
Close the book. Prompts:
- What did the family do at noon, when it was hottest?
- What did Gemila see on the second morning?
- Who did they meet on the third day, and what did they trade?
- What was waiting under the palm trees?
Write
Your child writes 4 or 5 sentences about the meeting with Sheik Hassein: what he looked like and what happened.
Check it gently
Read it aloud together. Check one thing: does every sentence begin with a capital and end with a period? Your child finds and fixes any slip.
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
On the third day Gemila saw a row of black dots far away. It was a caravan of a hundred camels. Sheik Hassein rode at the front on a brown horse. He wore a shawl with golden fringes for a turban. Abdel Hassan gave him dates and salt for a turban cloth and a brown dress for Gemila.
Afterwards
The book will come back to Gemila several times. Keep the story handy.