HomeMy WebLinkAboutRead Aloud Book Gr. 3-Lesson 15Deaf people cannot hear. They cannot make out the sound of music. But they
can still learn to dance. In fact, deaf people can dance just as beautifully as dancers
who can hear. If you ever get the chance to see a group of deaf dancers, you will
be amazed. You will see a complex performance that has been perfectly timed to
go along with the music. The dancing will be so precise that you will feel sure the
dancers can hear the music.
You may wonder how deaf dancers could learn such sophisticated dance moves
without hearing the music. The process is interesting. Even though they cannot
hear music, deaf people can feel vibrations from drums. Did you know that drums
help deaf people play football? Football teams with deaf members use a big drum
that creates vibrations. These vibrations tell deaf players when to start a play. In
the same way, vibrations from the music can sometimes help deaf dancers. The
dancers can feel when they should move. But some kinds of music do not have strong
vibrations. In these cases, deaf dancers learn a dance by counting the steps.
A piece of music has a certain number of beats. You can count the beats. Dance
steps go along with the beats of the music. Dancers who are deaf break down the
dance into its individual steps. They learn elaborate dances by counting the beats
carefully. They learn each step, and then they count in their heads when the step
should happen. It is like remembering every turn in a long and confusing maze.
Learning a dance can be elusive, or diffi cult to grasp. It takes many hours of hard
work and practice before the dancers are ready for a big production, where they will
show the dance to audience members.
When a deaf dancer performs, he or she is in a deep state of concentration.
Dancers compare it to walking through a labyrinth. You follow a path that takes you
to the center of the labyrinth, but you must pay attention or you will get lost. The
dancers think about each step and keep count of the beats of the music at the same
time. This is very hard to do.
When the curtain goes up on a show, the audience is always amazed by the
beauty of the performance. It’s inspiring to see people who do not let their
challenges stop them from living out their dreams.
COMPREHENSION What are some challenges that a deaf dancer has to
work past? Which words make learning to dance without hearing seem like
a puzzle?
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The wind roared and shook the windows of the farmhouse. Olivia peered out
at the driving snow. “Father should be back by now,” she said to her brother,
Ethan. Her voice was quiet and tense.
Snow had blocked the road. Mother could not get home from town. Father
had gone to the barn to check on the sheep. Ethan pulled on his coat. “I’m
going to look for him,” he declared.
“He told us to stay in,” Olivia reminded him. “Remember last year, when the
tornado demolished the old barn and the debris from the broken wood was
fl ying around? He wants to be sure we’re inside in bad weather so we’re not
caught in any destruction.”
“This is a blizzard, not a tornado,” Ethan pointed out. “I’m not going to
blow away.” As he put on his hat and tattered old gloves, Olivia ran upstairs
and quickly returned with a ball of red yarn. She handed it to Ethan. “I read
a myth about a man in a maze. Let the yarn unravel as you go. Then you can
follow it back. I’ll tie this end to the doorknob. Just be sure to come back
before it disintegrates in all that heavy snow.”
Clutching the yarn, Ethan stepped outside. The wind shrieked. The snow hit
his skin like millions of needles. He struggled to walk in the knee-deep snow. He
stepped wrong once and collapsed into a drift. Yet he held on tight to the yarn.
With every step, he noticed the outline of the house disappearing. Ahead,
the barn slowly began to take shape. Two minutes later, he was inside. The
barn smelled of wool and the decomposition of old, rotted hay.
“Ethan?” Dad said. He hugged his son. “I’m glad you’re here. Two lambs
were born. They’re fi ne, but the blizzard was getting really bad. The situation
seemed to be deteriorating and I did not want to leave the barn.”
Ethan held up the yarn. “Don’t worry. Olivia found a way to get us home safe.”
They fed the cows and chickens. Ethan shattered the ice on the water tank
outside the door so he could give the animals more to drink. Then he and his
father followed Olivia’s yarn back to the farmhouse.
COMPREHENSION Which words help you understand how strong the
storm is? What do you think Ethan learns from this challenge?
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