NOTES FOR TEACHERS
Using stories is fun, but the process should not be considered
trivial or frivolous. Indeed, strong pedagogical theory supports
using stories in classrooms. A good story can be enjoyed without
warm-up or follow-on activities; it can provide both new
language to the reader as well as content for further consideration
and reflection. However, the proper combination of exercises for
use before and after the story is read can help guide the student’s
learning and help the student get the most out of the interaction
with the story.
The exercises presented after each story are in no way meant to
be comprehensive. Teachers should choose the exercises and
questions they feel best address the class’s learning goals. The
exercises should also serve as a model for creating further
exercises.
Myrtis
Mixon and Access students in Elista
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Story Presentation
The stories do not have to be read in sequence. Your first choice
could be the story you think that has the highest interest for your
group. Each story can be presented in several ways. Here is one
way.
1. Before reading, if the story has an illustration (please see the
DVD), the teacher can ask students to look at it. They can also
read the title. Students guess what the story will be about.
Teachers can also have the students turn to the Vocabulary
exercise, at the end of the story, and work with a partner to
determine which words are known and which are unknown. They
can explain the known words to each other. The teacher should
point out that these words will be presented in bold in the text of
the story so that students can guess the meaning of the word from
context while they are reading. The actual exercise should not be
done at this point. If necessary, the teacher gives a partial
explanation of the words or example sentence at this point, but
not a full explanation.
It is important for the teacher to have read the story in advance.
The teacher can then prompt the students with a few key
questions about a dilemma or issue that is covered in the story.
These questions often take the form of “What would you do if?”
2. First reading. The teacher can read aloud to the class, with the
students following in their books. Alternatively, students can
keep their books closed and listen to the teacher read the story.
This is a good exercise in listening. Still another approach is to
have students read silently.
3. Second Reading. It's always good to hear a story twice.
Regardless of the approach used in step 2, a second reading
should follow. Students could take turns reading. Or, the teacher
could use the reading technique called “echo reading” (or choral
reading) for all or part of the second reading. Echo reading is the
technique whereby the teacher reads a sentence, and the classimmediately repeats it. This technique speeds comprehension. In
short, a variety of approaches to reading should be used in steps
2 and 3.
4. The teacher gives students time to ask questions about any
difficulties with the story.
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Storytelling and Retelling
It is beneficial to teach students how to retell the stories with the
appropriate tone, rhythm and pace to convey meaning. When
they retell the story, they should not try to memorize the stories
word for word. In fact, allowing the student to improvise in
English encourages the creative and authentic use of English
inside and outside of the classroom.
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Types of Exercises
The exercises at the end of each story promote comprehension,
vocabulary, verbal and written skills, and critical thinking skills.
It is not necessary to use all of the exercises.
The order of the exercises is:
I. Understanding the Story
II. Vocabulary
III. Now you Talk
IV. Now you Write
V. Role Play
The only divergence from this order is in position V. If another
type of exercise is added, like grammar or sentence completion,
it is placed in position V, and Role Play is then placed in position
VI. The Role Play exercise is best last, because it is an
opportunity for the students to both consolidate the new
vocabulary and grammar they have learned and to experiment
expressing themselves with new content and ideas from the story.
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About the Exercises
Pair work (2 students) or small group work (3 to 5 students) is
suitable for all of the exercises, regardless of whether it is
suggested in the exercises. Pair work and group work provide the
students with a natural way to practice listening and speaking.
It is best if the teacher circulates during the exercises in order to
help struggling pairs or groups by guiding them with further
questions or models. It also gives the teacher the opportunity to
pick up common errors, both in terms of the story’s content and
the use of language.
The teacher should not interfere with the flow by correcting
students in the middle of an exercise as this pulls them off the
task at hand and makes the student more self-conscious about
their speech, which greatly reduces fluency. It is better for the
class to collectively correct the common errors after finishing the
exercise.
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I. Understanding the Story
This type includes discussing the main idea, multiple choice
about the main idea, and answering questions about the story.
The teacher may add other questions. After this exercise, it is
helpful to have a few pairs or groups report their conclusions to
the class. Others could disagree or ask questions. Don't ask all
the groups to report, because that becomes too repetitive. Be sure
to call on the students who may be too shy to volunteer. This
exercise allows the teacher to find out the depth of the students'
understanding of the stories.
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II. Vocabulary
Included are a variety of vocabulary exercises: matching,
completing the sentence, explaining words to a partner, writing
new sentences, explaining words in context. The exercises
require the students to apply their understanding of the words,
rather than just provide a definition. In the following examples
students must answer the questions that contain a new word in
bold.
Share nicknames used in your family or among your
friends.
When do you feel like a statue?
When do you need shelter?
Research has proven that this type of vocabulary exercise helps
students apply the word in an authentic, natural way. The more
often the student “retrieves” the word, the more likely the word
will be remembered.
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III. Now you Talk
These exercises are uniform, asking the students to discuss, in
pairs or in small groups, questions about the story. The teacher
may add other questions that might arise. After the discussion,
the teacher may ask for some groups to report. As always, it is
important to limit this reporting while being sure to call on more
quiet students.
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IV. Now you Write
The suggestions in this section include writing a summary,
letters, emails, dialogs, opinions on the stories, descriptions of
characters, and expanded reports on the discussion from the
"Now you Talk" section. It also includes rewriting the ending.
Again, the teacher may add topics for the writing section and alsogive suggestions about the appropriate length for the writing.
This exercise is suitable for a homework assignment. Upon
returning to class, or after the students write in class, the teacher
could call on volunteers who would like to read their writing.
Students should not be required to read their writing aloud to the
class. Another idea is to have a place in the class or in the
hallway where students can display their writing. This increases
the audience for whom they are writing, and thus their
motivation to write. It also allows other students to continue
learning and practicing the new language.
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V. Role Play
In this section are three to six situations, either re-enactments of a
scene or of problems posed in the story, or an imaginative scene
that could have happened in the story. Give the students time to
prepare their dialogs. The teacher needs to determine whether
that particular class needs to write down the dialogs or do the
dialog extemporaneously. In either case the teacher needs to give
the students time to prepare. If the number of students in the
class is larger than the number of roles provided by the three to
six situations listed, more than one pair may be assigned the
same situation. The role plays will be different when done by
different pairs. Students usually enjoy this exercise. If students in
your class have never done a role play, it would be helpful if the
teacher and a brave student, or two students, model one of the
situations. With young teenagers, it takes several classes for
students to get used to the idea of role play. Once they do, it
becomes one of the most powerful tools in the teacher’s
repertoire for learning and practicing new language skills.
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Alternative exercises
This group of exercises, which appears from time to time in
position IV, includes:
- Grammar Practice: students rewrite sentences using
different verb tenses or nouns and pronouns
- Oral Grammar Practice: students retell sentences using
different verb tenses or nouns and pronouns
- Combining Sentences: students combine two or three
sentences to make one sentence
- Adjectives: students change adjectives into the comparative
form
- Sentence Completion: students complete a sentence with an
appropriate ending
- Chronology: students put events in the correct order
- Practicing Writing Questions: students write questions
based on a sentence
Please be confident that you as the teacher will know when to use
as many or as few of these exercises as seems appropriate with
different classes. You want to use the material to create as much
interaction among your students as possible. Also, feel free to
create new activities that will deepen your students' learning.
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Ideas for Using the Video
Some of the stories in this book were dramatized by the students
and filmed. The accompanying DVD contains these filmed
stories. Some are dramatic presentations, with or without a
narrator, and some are a series of pictures with a narrator’s voice.
The idea of the DVD is to give your students some ideas about
how to elaborate on the “Role Play” activities already mentioned
above and that are found after each story in the exercises section. Dramatizing a story is a good way to practice already known
phrases and structures and to explore new uses of language. We
strongly recommend that students try dramatizing other stories
they read as well as stories they have written themselves.
Here are a few ideas on how to use the accompanying DVD
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Questions and Answers
Enjoy watching the dramatized story after reading the story and
doing the exercises. Compare the dramatized version to the
written version. Answer:
- How were they different? Why do you think the changes
were made?
- Was the dramatized version as you had imagined? If not,
what was different?
- How would you have done all or part of it differently?
Option: First try watching with only the sound (cover the TV
screen with a cloth, for example). Try to visualize the story as
you hear it. Watch and then answer the questions above.
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Model
Before watching the video, students dramatize the story
themselves. After acting it out in groups or in front of the class,
the students then watch the video and discuss differences.
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No sound
Watch the video without sound. Using the pause button as
frequently as needed, have students identify characters and
explain what is happening in the scene.
Option: Allow students to work in groups to reproduce a script
that will fit with the action on the screen. Groups can then test
their reproduction by trying to dub the film with their own script.
Afterward, watch the video to check the accuracy of the dubbed
version.
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Freeze Frame
Freeze the scene ahead of time by pushing pause. Allow students
to identify the characters and explain their guesses. Have them
also try to guess what part of the story is being shown. Push play
and check your answers.
Option: While watching the story from the beginning, you can
pause the story in order to point out specific details – gestures,
facial expressions, clothing, decorations in the background,
position of characters in a scene, etc. A teacher can then ask
“Why?” questions to motivate discussion.
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Follow-on Writing
Have your students write a letter or email to the students who
dramatized the story. In the first paragraph, they explain what
they liked about the dramatized version. In the next one or two
paragraphs, they can explain how they think this could be
converted into a major film (recommend famous actors for
certain parts, for example). In the last paragraph, they summarize
their thoughts. Students with artistic talent can even try making a
poster to go with the film idea.
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