Why did Laura put drawings on the card instead of only words?
Analyze and Evaluate Information in Spoken English · TELPAS Grades 4–5 listening. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
Reporting category 3: make inferences from what was said, and work out a speaker's purpose, opinion, or what will happen next.
Listen to the story. Then answer the questions.
Abuelo's New Phone
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Every Sunday, Laura called her grandfather in Laredo. But last month, Abuelo got a new phone, and he could not figure out how to answer a video call. Each time Laura called, the screen showed his ear, or the ceiling fan, or nothing at all.
Laura had an idea. She made a small card with three big drawings on it: a green button, a hand holding a phone up in front of a face, and a smiling face. Under each drawing, she wrote one short step in Spanish and in English. Then she mailed the card to Laredo.
The next Sunday, Laura called again. The phone rang twice, and then there was Abuelo's face, right in the middle of the screen. He was holding the card up next to his cheek and laughing.
"I put it on the refrigerator," he said. "Now I can see you, and you can see my tomatoes." He turned the phone toward the window, where a row of red tomatoes was growing in pots.
The question
Choose the best answer.
Why did Laura put drawings on the card instead of only words?
- She wanted it to look like a pretty birthday card.
- Her grandfather asked her to draw tomatoes.
- She did not know how to write the steps.
- Drawings would make the steps easier to follow.Correct answer
Why “Drawings would make the steps easier to follow.” is correct
This asks the student to infer a character’s reason when the story does not state it. Abuelo could not work out the video call, so Laura made big, simple drawings of each step: a green button, a phone held up to a face, a smile. A student who connects the problem to the solution can see the drawings were meant to make the steps clear.
Why the other answers are wrong
- She wanted it to look like a pretty birthday card. — Nothing in the story says the card was for a birthday or a celebration.
- Her grandfather asked her to draw tomatoes. — The tomatoes are Abuelo’s plants at the end; he never asks for a drawing.
- She did not know how to write the steps. — She did write the steps, in Spanish and in English, under each drawing.
Practice more of this
More listening practice for Grades 4–5, or see the TELPAS practice test for 4th and 5th grade.
This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Texas Education Agency or the official TELPAS program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published test design.