The Shouting Girl: L8 Making Inferences

The Book

The Shouting Girl

Written by Steven Huynh, illustrated by Gehenna Pham, published by Steven De GC

The poem follows a young girl who struggles to express herself calmly, often shouting when she feels frustrated or unheard. Through her journey, she learns to recognise and understand her emotions (AC9HPFP03, AC9HP2P03 – Foundation to Year 2, Health and Physical Education) and works to develop positive strategies for expressing her thoughts and feelings in respectful ways (AC9HPFP02, AC9HP2P02 – Foundation to Year 2, Health and Physical Education).

The story also encourages children to explore characters’ perspectives and emotional responses, fostering empathy (AC9HP2P01 – Health and Physical Education, Years 1 and 2). It helps them define safe and unsafe environments, such as calm corners, through interactions with friends in a classroom, establishing help-seeking strategies in such situations (AC9HP2P05 – Health and Physical Education, Years 1 and 2).

With its poetic language and engaging illustrations, The Shouting Girl helps students understand how rhyme and rhythm create cohesion in a text. It also explores how words and images shape settings and characters, along with other literary features such as lists of three and similes.

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Resource creator

Steven Huynh

Subject

Creating texts (English Language and Literacy), Empathy (Health and Physical Education), Reading comprehension (English Language and Literacy),

Level

Year 2,

Description

This talk for reading lesson explores Kim from The Shouting Girl using an iceberg graphic and inferencing activity. Students uncover what Kim is feeling beneath the surface through guided reading, questions, and discussion using the text and illustrations. This inference comprehension activity supports empathy and deep comprehension aligned with the Australian Curriculum Year 2 English, with a free download for your classroom.

Learning Intentions

• We are learning to analyse the Kim character in the text by making inferences.

Successful Criteria

• I can identify the language used to build Kim the character.
• I can see her personality underneath the surface.
• I can show my empathy with Kim.

Curriculum Alignment

AC9E2LA08 9.0 (English Language and Literacy Year 2): Understand that images add to or multiply the meanings of a text

• identifying images and graphics in a text that add ideas or information not included in the written text; for example, a map or table in a factual text or an illustration in a story, which gives clues about the setting
• identifying visual representations of characters’ actions, reactions, speech and thought processes in narratives, and considering how these images add to or multiply the meaning of accompanying words

AC9E2LE03 9.0 (English Language and Literacy Year 2): Discuss the characters and settings of a range of texts and identify how language is used to present these features in different ways

• comparing how similar characters or settings are described in texts from different contexts; for example, how the seasons are described
• identifying and comparing verb groups used to convey actions, emotions and dialogue in a range of literary texts
• identifying the language used to describe the landscape in First Nations Australians’ stories

AC9E2LY05 9.0 (English Language and Literacy Year 2): Use comprehension strategies such as visualising, predicting, connecting, summarising, monitoring and questioning to build literal and inferred meaning

• listening for specific information and providing key facts or points from an informative or persuasive text
• listening and responding to detailed instructions
• integrating information from print, images and prior knowledge to make supportable inferences
• identifying the main idea of a text
• predicting vocabulary that is likely to be in a text, based on the topic and the purpose of the text; for example, predicting that “station” and “arrive” would be in a text recounting a train journey
• using prior knowledge to make and confirm predictions when reading a text
• using graphic organisers to represent the connections between characters, order of events or sequence of information

AC9E2LY07 9.0 (English Language and Literacy Year 2): Create, rehearse and deliver short oral and/or multimodal presentations for familiar audiences and purposes, using text structure appropriate to purpose and topic-specific vocabulary, and varying tone, volume and pace

• preparing and delivering oral presentations using more formal language and specific vocabulary about content area topics
• sequencing ideas, points or events appropriately
• adjusting volume and tone when speaking in more formal situations

AC9HP2P02 9.0 (Health and Physical Education Year 1,Year 2): Identify and explore skills and strategies to develop respectful relationships

• identifying characters in texts who demonstrate respect and cooperation to develop respectful relationships
• identifying characters in texts who demonstrate respect for different types of families and carers, including those of different cultures, abilities or compositions
• demonstrating appropriate language (including verbal, non-verbal, body language and gestures) when encouraging and including others in physical activities, when completing movement tasks or practising for performance
• discussing strategies we can use to show respect to First Nations Australians and acknowledge difference using appropriate language
• describing behaviours that may cause hurt or harm to others, or cause them to feel disrespected, including verbal and physical forms of bullying

Materials

The Shouting Girl by Steven Huynh
Iceberg graphic organiser (butcher’s paper and worksheet)
Pencils, crayons, textas

Instructions

Warm-up

Discuss: “What’s Kim like again?”
Revisit ideas from previous lessons to describe her behaviour and emotions.
Teacher jots surface-level traits on the top half of the iceberg chart before making inferences

Reading – Iceberg Activity

Read The Shouting Girl slowly as a whole class, pausing after key parts.
Teacher jots below-the-surface traits on the bottom half of the iceberg worksheet while guiding students to infer them using the following questions:
- Why does she think that no one likes or listens to her? Is that true?
- Why do you think kindness whispers to her?
- Why does she imagine Jim and herself laughing and holding hands?
- Why does she ask herself, “Would he be upset?” when she makes Jim cry? Does she look happy then?
- Why does she repeat the teacher’s words in her head?
- What do you think she would like her parents to do instead of arguing?
- Why does she have to think about what to do the next time she feels mad?

Discussion

Ask the big question: “What do you think about Kim now that we understand her more deeply?”
- Is Kim a bad girl?
- Is she a kind person deep down? How do you know?
- What do you think about Kim now?
Write 2–3 sentences below the iceberg to answer the big question.

Individual Work

Hand out the iceberg worksheet for students to complete independently.

Extensions

If you were to send Kim a postcard, what would you write to her? Download a FREE postcard activity here.

Downloads

	Free Version	Paid Version
Material contents	1 x Lesson 8 (pdf)	1 x Lesson 8 (editable slide) 1 x Iceberg worksheet 1 x Postcard template
Instructions	Not included	Included
Redownloads	5 per download	Unlimited
Download	FREE DOWNLOAD	BUY WITH $3.99