Curriculum › Grade 5 › English Language Arts

Summarizing What You Hear or See

  • Grade 5
  • English Language Arts
  • SL.5.2
  • Speaking & Listening
  • Free lesson

Aligned to SL.5.2 — Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

What this lesson teaches

When a text is read aloud or shown as a video or chart, listen for the main points and retell them briefly in your own words.

Worked examples

Example 1

After a three-minute video on recycling, you say: 'It explained why we sort plastic, paper, and glass, and how each is reused.'

Example 2

After a documentary on coral reefs, summarize: 'Warmer water makes coral expel the algae it lives on, which is why bleached reefs starve.'

Example 3

A summary is not the same as your favorite part. If you only remember the shark, you watched but did not follow.

Practice questions

  1. Summarize a short talk or clip in two sentences.
  2. List the main points you heard, not every detail.
  3. Explain a chart's message in your own words.

Watch the lesson

Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.

▶ Watch this lesson

En español

Resumir lo que Oyes o Ves

Cuando te leen un texto en voz alta o te muestran un video o una gráfica, escucha los puntos principales y vuelve a contarlos brevemente con tus palabras.

Ejemplo 1: Tras un video de tres minutos sobre el reciclaje, dices: 'Explicó por qué separamos plástico, papel y vidrio, y cómo se reutiliza cada uno.'

Ejemplo 2: Después de un documental sobre arrecifes de coral, resume: 'El agua más cálida hace que el coral expulse las algas de las que vive, por eso los arrecifes blanqueados mueren de hambre.'

Ejemplo 3: Un resumen no es lo mismo que tu parte favorita. Si solo recuerdas al tiburón, viste pero no seguiste.

More Speaking & Listening lessons

Discussion & Multimedia PresentationsSL.5.1Following a Speaker's ReasonsSL.5.3Giving a Clear Report or OpinionSL.5.4Adding Visuals to a PresentationSL.5.5Formal or Casual SpeakingSL.5.6

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