Wonders Unit 2, Week 2 Weekly Assessment - Anna Strenk | Laabri

Akwankyerɛ

After reading Ta-Nehisi Coates' text "A Quick Note on Getting Petter at Difficut Things", answer the following questions.

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PART A: Choose the statement that best captures the main idea of this text.

Learning a new skill is never easy, but it is worth all the hard work.

Learning a new skill is easier for younger people than it is for older people.

People often fail at learning several new skills until they find one they can master.

When choosing a new skill to learn, it is important to pick something that comes naturally to you.

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PART B: Which detail from the text best supports your answer?

"I started writing as a 6 year old boy under my mother's tutelage. I always 'felt' I could write." (Paragraph 1)

"This field of study has been, all at once, the hardest and most rewarding of my life." (Paragraph 1)

"Hopelessness feeds the fatigue that leads the student to quit." (Paragraph 4)

"That is why I ignore all the research about children and their language development. I don't want to hear it." (Paragraph 4)

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PART A: What is the author's purpose in this text?

To give people an example of how failure is a good thing

To encourage people to keep working hard, even if something is difficult

To prove that nothing can be rewarding if it's not challenging

To urge people to learn a foreign language since that's a necessary skill in the 21st century

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PART B: Which detail from the text best supports your answer?

"I spoke French at the border. I spoke French when I checked in. I spoke French when I went to get lunch." (Paragraph 2)

"If there is such a thing, I don't have it. I mishear words. I confuse tenses. I can't really use the subjunctive. Yet." (Paragraph 2)

"There is absolutely nothing in this world like the feeling of sucking at something and then improving at it." (Paragraph 5)

"I have said this before, and will say it again: Studying French is like setting in a canoe from California to China." (Paragraph 6)

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PART A: What is the author's point of view about struggling?

Struggling will always be part of the process, so you need to work through it.

To best succeed, find things that feel less difficult to you.

As you improve, you will struggle less and less.

If you practice worrying less, you won't feel like you're struggling as much.

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PART B: What quote best supports their point of view about struggling?

"I did not always 'feel' I could effectively study a foreign language." (Paragraph 1)

"Something has happened to me and the something is this - I have gotten better." (Paragraph 3)

"Hopelessness feeds the fatigue that leads the student to quit." (Paragraph 4)

"I felt, as I always feel, like I was stumbling around in the dark. I still feel like that. But I also feel like I am getting better at stumbling." (Paragraph 3)

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PART A: What is the author's point of view about studying another language?

It's too difficult to be worth your time.

It's difficult, but if you work through your feeling of failure and struggle, it's worth it.

It's easy for some people and harder for others.

It's important to learn the technical parts of the language to succeed.

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PART B: What quote best supports their point of view about studying another language?

"I mishear words. I confuse tenses. I can't really use the subjunctive. Yet." (Paragraph 2)

"I felt, as I always feel, like I was stumbling around in the dark. I still feel like that." (Paragraph 3)

"But the real enemy was not any injury so much as the 'feeling' of despair." (Paragraph 4)

"Part of that long term management...is giving myself the opportunity to get better at difficult things." (Paragraph 5)