Humans of New York - les 3

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 3

Humans of New York - Lesson 3

Reading - Topics and Themes

Do you remember what the texts and photos from Humans of New York were about?

What is the difference between a theme and a topic?
Think - Pare - Share

Topic - what the story is about

Summary - the events of the story

Theme - an idea/lesson that the author wants 

us to learn from the story

A theme is not a topic!

Themes are always a complete sentence.

Themes do not contain character names.

A theme is true for everyone, rich and poor, young or old.

How do you find a theme in a story?

Read the text

“I’m saving up money to go to Brazil so I can find my birth mother.” (Jerusalem)

Create a list of topics

Pick a topic

Write a sentence about what the author believes about the topic:

The author believes it is important to learn about your family roots. 

Cross out 'The author believes'

The author believes it is important to learn about your family roots.

Make a sentence

It is important to learn about your family roots. 

Make a better sentence.

In order to develop your identity, you have to learn about your family roots. 

And this is your theme!

Your turn: Find a theme in your text

In pairs:

- Choose a topic from your text

- Write a sentence that starts with 'The author believes that'

- Cross 'The author believes that' out

- Make it a good sentence (grammar and clarity)

Stand up if you're done. Walk to a table with another text and theme. 

With your partner, read the theme of other text and write down evidence for the theme below. Do this with three texts. 

For example:

The girl in the image is willing to work hard so that she can travel to Brazil and learn more about her birth mother. 

Hang the photos, texts and themes on the wall.

Which themes are recurrent in different texts?

Which themes do you find important?

Next class:

You are going to learn about how to photograph and interview somebody so you can create your own 'Humans of New York'