Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS):
6.6.B*
recognize dialect and conversational voice and explain how authors use dialect to convey character
6th Grade Reading - Characters Lesson
Characters
Characters are the people in a story. Stories tell the reader how a character acts, thinks, or feels. A character helps move the story along.
When you read a story, think about:
Which word(s) best describes a character
Why a character does what he or she does
How a character behaves with another character
How two (or more) characters are similar or different
How a character’s actions affect the plot
How a character changes from the beginning to the end of the story
Dialect
Dialect is a form of language. It is a way people in an area speak, pronounce, or write some words from the same language differently. In a dialect, the grammar is also different.
For example, in southern parts of the U.S., some words or phrases have different uses, pronunciation, and grammatical structure than the northern U.S. However, both dialects are a part of the English language. Dialects show that language is a changing thing, and there is more than one correct way to say something.
Following are some examples of dialect that show English sounds different in different parts of the U.S.
6th Grade Reading - Characters Lesson