This document describes an approach for teaching English language learners to become skilled conversational storytellers. It involves a 4-step process: 1) Using a model story and questions to introduce the generic structure of stories, 2) Having students practice telling their own stories using fluency techniques, 3) Making storytelling a regular classroom activity and adding details to stories, 4) Focusing on listening skills and interaction between storyteller and listeners. The document provides an example of using a true story about encountering a snake on a hike to model the introduction of story structure.
Writing New Types of Poetry in the Classroom: Exploring The letter poemirmarisrn
Yazmin Méndez is a secondary English teacher pursuing her MA in education. She has two years of teaching experience in both private and public schools in Puerto Rico. Her teaching philosophy is grounded in pragmatism, existentialism, Marxism and reconstructionism. She believes students should be at the center of education and that teaching and learning should be a reciprocal process. Her goal is to help students improve their writing skills so they can use writing as a tool for communication and enacting change in society.
This document outlines the goals and content of a literature course. The two major goals are to analyze literary elements like setting, conflict, and symbolism across American short stories and novels, and to apply techniques of analysis, criticism, and evaluation in critical essays. The course will examine stories from different cultures, including seven short stories and a novel by Toni Morrison. Literary elements like setting, character, plot, theme, and figurative language will be analyzed for each work. Students will complete weekly reading responses and discussion board posts to engage with the material.
This document discusses using the five senses to teach literature. It provides exercises that engage students' senses, such as having them identify smells and write haikus based on scents. Students are also organized into literature circles to discuss assigned readings. The goal is to help students activate their senses and make deeper connections to the texts through sensory experiences and group discussions guided by assigned roles.
This chapter discusses themes that are common in autobiographical writing by Filipino women. It notes that autobiography has traditionally been seen as a genre focused on achievements and social status, but modern theories see it as a narrative that constructs identity through language. For Filipino women writers, autobiography is a way to address their marginalization and a means of empowerment. Their works often focus on personal relationships rather than events, use non-linear structures, and convey ambivalent attitudes toward the reader. Additionally, the concept of "home" looms large due to traditional women's roles, and exile or displacement from home is a theme that arises from the colonial history of the Philippines.
This document provides instructions and examples for writing a narrative paragraph. It explains that a narrative paragraph tells a story through relevant details about who was involved, when and where an event took place. It identifies the key components of a narrative paragraph as a topic sentence, supporting details, and a closing sentence. An example is provided of a narrative paragraph that introduces a new student's experience on their fifth day of school when a popular student sat next to them and included them, making other students now friendly toward them. The writer learned about what it means to be a true leader from this.
Ideas for teaching Primary Drama at Christmas timeJoanne Villis
This slide share provides teachers with ideas for teaching drama using the Infancy Narratives (birth of Jesus). Lessons can be applied to non Catholic schools who can replace the scripture references with two different picture books. Drama activities are linked to the Australian Curriculum and involve script writing, reader theatre and acting.
It may be hard to believe, but June has arrived! As the holidays approach we want to encourage our learners to start thinking about places to visit, at least online! Our C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency students can learn more about Japan while they improve their reading and listening skills. Our B1 Preliminary and B2 First learners can start thinking about the next time they will be able to meet their classmates while they practise their speaking. The younger ones can talk about the beach and learn new vocabulary to express their ideas. Happy teaching!
The document discusses using personal voice in writing. It defines voice as the sense that a real person is speaking to the reader and cares about the message. Voice comes through the writer's choice of words and attitude about the subject. The document provides examples of text with unique voices and an activity where students write a letter expressing a given tone.
Writing New Types of Poetry in the Classroom: Exploring The letter poemirmarisrn
Yazmin Méndez is a secondary English teacher pursuing her MA in education. She has two years of teaching experience in both private and public schools in Puerto Rico. Her teaching philosophy is grounded in pragmatism, existentialism, Marxism and reconstructionism. She believes students should be at the center of education and that teaching and learning should be a reciprocal process. Her goal is to help students improve their writing skills so they can use writing as a tool for communication and enacting change in society.
This document outlines the goals and content of a literature course. The two major goals are to analyze literary elements like setting, conflict, and symbolism across American short stories and novels, and to apply techniques of analysis, criticism, and evaluation in critical essays. The course will examine stories from different cultures, including seven short stories and a novel by Toni Morrison. Literary elements like setting, character, plot, theme, and figurative language will be analyzed for each work. Students will complete weekly reading responses and discussion board posts to engage with the material.
This document discusses using the five senses to teach literature. It provides exercises that engage students' senses, such as having them identify smells and write haikus based on scents. Students are also organized into literature circles to discuss assigned readings. The goal is to help students activate their senses and make deeper connections to the texts through sensory experiences and group discussions guided by assigned roles.
This chapter discusses themes that are common in autobiographical writing by Filipino women. It notes that autobiography has traditionally been seen as a genre focused on achievements and social status, but modern theories see it as a narrative that constructs identity through language. For Filipino women writers, autobiography is a way to address their marginalization and a means of empowerment. Their works often focus on personal relationships rather than events, use non-linear structures, and convey ambivalent attitudes toward the reader. Additionally, the concept of "home" looms large due to traditional women's roles, and exile or displacement from home is a theme that arises from the colonial history of the Philippines.
This document provides instructions and examples for writing a narrative paragraph. It explains that a narrative paragraph tells a story through relevant details about who was involved, when and where an event took place. It identifies the key components of a narrative paragraph as a topic sentence, supporting details, and a closing sentence. An example is provided of a narrative paragraph that introduces a new student's experience on their fifth day of school when a popular student sat next to them and included them, making other students now friendly toward them. The writer learned about what it means to be a true leader from this.
Ideas for teaching Primary Drama at Christmas timeJoanne Villis
This slide share provides teachers with ideas for teaching drama using the Infancy Narratives (birth of Jesus). Lessons can be applied to non Catholic schools who can replace the scripture references with two different picture books. Drama activities are linked to the Australian Curriculum and involve script writing, reader theatre and acting.
It may be hard to believe, but June has arrived! As the holidays approach we want to encourage our learners to start thinking about places to visit, at least online! Our C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency students can learn more about Japan while they improve their reading and listening skills. Our B1 Preliminary and B2 First learners can start thinking about the next time they will be able to meet their classmates while they practise their speaking. The younger ones can talk about the beach and learn new vocabulary to express their ideas. Happy teaching!
The document discusses using personal voice in writing. It defines voice as the sense that a real person is speaking to the reader and cares about the message. Voice comes through the writer's choice of words and attitude about the subject. The document provides examples of text with unique voices and an activity where students write a letter expressing a given tone.
This document summarizes a webinar on using information technology to enhance the study of literature. It discusses using flipped classrooms, creative writing exercises, and discussion forums to analyze works like A Streetcar Named Desire. Students are guided through close readings and analyses of scenes from the play, completing characterization activities and debates. The webinar models interactive teaching methods using technology to supplement traditional literary study with multimedia materials, collaborative projects, and opportunities for feedback. Contact information is provided for the presenter and organizers to continue the discussion.
This document provides guidance on using sensory imagery to improve reading skills. It discusses using the five senses of taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing to visualize and understand texts. Students are encouraged to role play characters and use descriptive language that appeals to senses. Exercises are provided where students visualize passages and discuss or draw what they envision to strengthen comprehension. Feedback and reinforcement activities ensure students learn to effectively employ sensory imagery.
Latest version of the slides which will go with my Sept. 5 webinar.
You are all welcome to attend it! Here is the link to learn more about it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1ft1yvy0ld6aden/Fasquel_Lets_study_lit.pdf?dl=0
This document outlines a 3-step project for American students at the Lycée International Nelson Mandela in Nantes, France to interview author Eric Price after reading an excerpt from his book. The steps include: 1) Preparing interview questions by analyzing the excerpt, 2) Conducting a Skype interview and discussion with Eric Price, 3) Writing a summary of the interview. The document provides background on Eric Price and his book "Unveiling the Wizard's Shroud" to help students analyze the excerpt and develop thoughtful questions to ask during the scheduled Skype interview.
This narrative tells the story of Brandon, a boy with a physical disability, and his experiences with feeling different and treated differently by his classmates. It describes an incident in class where a comment is made that makes Brandon feel like he is "half a person" because of his disability. He feels angry, upset, and unsure if he can trust his classmates after this. The narrative explores Brandon's ongoing struggles with how others perceive and treat him due to his disability.
The document describes a critical collage workshop for teachers focused on social issues. In the workshop, teachers identified a social issue from a book, researched it further by reading supporting and contradictory information, then created a collage representing the issue. One teacher initially chose a book but realized through further research that it appropriated Indigenous culture. Her collage represented this issue of cultural appropriation, using hands to symbolize how it hides Indigenous culture. The conclusions were that the workshop supported critical thinking skills by having teachers view issues differently, question assumptions, and take ownership of their representations through creative works.
i-prose: Feminism in The Girl Who Can by Ama Ata AidooBerliana Ayu
The document analyzes the theme of feminism in the short story "The Girl Who Can" by Ghanaian writer Ama Ata Aidoo. It discusses how the main character Adjoa struggles against the traditional society she lives in, which does not believe women should go to school or express their opinions. Adjoa fights to prove herself despite having an imperfect physical condition deemed unsuitable for a girl. In the end, she succeeds in changing her grandmother's views by winning a running competition, showing that women can be powerful and worthy of pride. The author aims to show that societal stereotypes against women need to end.
This document outlines the requirements and instructions for a Level 2 English assignment analyzing connections across multiple texts. Students must write logs about 4 texts total, with 1 being their own choice. They will then write a report analyzing significant connections between the texts. The logs require describing conflicts in the texts, whether they are resolved, use of language features, and the author's theme. An exemplar log is provided. Deadlines are given for completing each log over the school year.
This lesson plan provides objectives and activities for a unit on the novel "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. Students will examine plot elements, compare characters, make predictions while reading, and write an additional chapter. Activities include a plot diagram, character comparisons, prediction exercises, and an extension where students are assigned roles in a simulated society. The plan supports all learners and allows for differentiation through options like artwork, music, or acting related to the novel.
The document provides an overview of activities for a creative writing workshop across four days. It includes a variety of performing arts activities to spark creativity such as story sequencing, defining creativity, persuasive speeches, sensory writing prompts, improvisation exercises, and dramatizing stories through tableau and pantomime.
The document discusses using magazines and books in the ESL classroom. It describes how magazines provide authentic materials that can inspire a variety of motivating activities to develop students' language skills. Pictures from magazines can stimulate discussions and introduce topics like colors, clothing, and transportation. Books are also discussed as being crucial for education and providing knowledge. Different approaches for teaching literature, such as cultural and language models, are described. The document provides tips for selecting materials and adapting texts and activities to suit different student levels.
This document provides learning invitations for teaching third grade students about the history of African Americans' fight for equality and freedom using the picture book "We Shall Overcome: The Story of a Song." The invitations include having students create a visual timeline of key historical events from slavery to the Civil Rights Movement, role-playing responses to scenarios about injustice, responding to readings from the book through writing or discussion, and creating art in response to listening to different versions of the song "We Shall Overcome." The teacher notes provide instructions for introducing and facilitating the learning stations.
The document provides strategies for writing an effective introduction to a narrative essay. It discusses that an introduction should catch the reader's attention, establish the narrator's voice and point of view, and create interest to make the reader want to continue reading. The document also lists things to avoid in an introduction, such as summarizing the entire essay, using slang, or starting with a quote or question unless it is particularly interesting. Finally, it provides seven strategies for strong introduction openings, such as starting in the middle of the action, using something shocking or misleading, creating mystery, introducing a problem, using vivid imagery, employing humor, or posing an intriguing question.
This document contains details of 5 English lessons for Module 3. Lesson 1 includes activities on identifying sensory images in a song, analyzing a short story, identifying pronoun cases, performing a eulogy, and discussing Mother Nature. Lesson 2 covers distinguishing important points, analyzing a story's tone and purpose, critiquing a selection using pronouns, and writing a speech. Lesson 3 objectives are pointing out nature's feminine side, defining words, explaining how elements build a poem's theme. The activities provide guidance, references, and tasks to help students meet the learning targets.
During this English lesson, students will review vocabulary related to museums and practice using the past tense of the verb "to be". They will play a jigsaw game to put paragraphs about museum experiences in the correct order. Students will then read a text about museums and complete sentences assessing their comprehension. Finally, they will analyze examples using the past tense of "to be" to understand this grammatical structure and how it indicates past events. The goal is for students to improve their reading skills and knowledge of the past tense verb form.
The library teacher provides three lessons as examples of their work:
1. A kindergarten lesson introducing fiction and non-fiction genres using a PowerPoint and game. Students learned to identify the genres and what makes a story fictional or non-fictional.
2. A lesson for grades 1-2 about Earth Day where students listened to a story, learned what Earth Day is for, and made their own books listing ways to help the Earth.
3. A third lesson is mentioned but no details are provided. The teacher aims to improve lessons by adding more critical thinking and hands-on activities.
The document discusses the process of teaching storytelling to students. It involves 9 steps: 1) choosing and memorizing a story, 2) practicing mime, 3) adding sound effects, 4) incorporating words, 5) getting feedback, 6) using character voices and placement, 7) making eye contact, 8) describing scenes with 5 senses, and 9) surfing the story with expression and pacing. The goal is to help students visualize stories and practice performance skills through physicalization, voices, and engaging an audience.
How to Analyze a Model Essay for ImitationJodie Nicotra
The document provides guidance on how to analyze a model essay in order to imitate its style. It discusses several key elements of style to examine: the situation and story, motives of language/subject/writer/reader, physical and social footing, tropes/schemes/images. As an example, it analyzes Susan Orlean's essay "Lifelike" about a taxidermy competition. It examines these various style elements in the essay such as the situation being a tour of the competition, the motives of the reader and subject, the physical and social footing, and tropes like metonymy. The document advises applying these same style elements to the reader's own topic for their imitative essay.
The document discusses the development of Philippine literature over different historical periods from Japanese period to 21st century. It notes that during the Japanese period, Philippine literature in English halted except for two publications. It also discusses trends in literature forms over time, including new codes/lingos used in recent works, and growth of regional literature reflecting the Philippines' diversity. The document finally encourages using local languages to uphold culture and traditions despite colonization or modernity.
This document provides a detailed lesson plan for a 9th grade English class on Anglo-American literature. The lesson plan aims to teach students about point of view in literature. It includes learning objectives, materials, procedures and activities. Students will analyze passages from works to identify the point of view, discuss how point of view is useful in literature, and do group and individual activities designing their own poems, stories and advertisements from different points of view.
This lesson provides historical context for the 1930s setting of To Kill a Mockingbird. Students will take a vocabulary quiz and reading quiz. They will then learn about the Jim Crow era through a Springboard excerpt and group discussion. The lesson aims to explain the racism and poverty prevalent in the 1930s to understand the novel.
The document describes a lesson plan for teaching a story called "I wish I had a monster" to 4th grade students. The plan includes 7 activities such as reading the story aloud, putting story events in order, describing the monster, and matching pictures to dialogue. The goal is for students to comprehend the story, practice vocabulary, and increase creativity. Discussing stories helps children feel connected to characters and find personal meaning. Literature is an effective way to teach content across generations. The teachers observed that this lesson plan helped students learn the intended structures.
This document summarizes a webinar on using information technology to enhance the study of literature. It discusses using flipped classrooms, creative writing exercises, and discussion forums to analyze works like A Streetcar Named Desire. Students are guided through close readings and analyses of scenes from the play, completing characterization activities and debates. The webinar models interactive teaching methods using technology to supplement traditional literary study with multimedia materials, collaborative projects, and opportunities for feedback. Contact information is provided for the presenter and organizers to continue the discussion.
This document provides guidance on using sensory imagery to improve reading skills. It discusses using the five senses of taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing to visualize and understand texts. Students are encouraged to role play characters and use descriptive language that appeals to senses. Exercises are provided where students visualize passages and discuss or draw what they envision to strengthen comprehension. Feedback and reinforcement activities ensure students learn to effectively employ sensory imagery.
Latest version of the slides which will go with my Sept. 5 webinar.
You are all welcome to attend it! Here is the link to learn more about it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1ft1yvy0ld6aden/Fasquel_Lets_study_lit.pdf?dl=0
This document outlines a 3-step project for American students at the Lycée International Nelson Mandela in Nantes, France to interview author Eric Price after reading an excerpt from his book. The steps include: 1) Preparing interview questions by analyzing the excerpt, 2) Conducting a Skype interview and discussion with Eric Price, 3) Writing a summary of the interview. The document provides background on Eric Price and his book "Unveiling the Wizard's Shroud" to help students analyze the excerpt and develop thoughtful questions to ask during the scheduled Skype interview.
This narrative tells the story of Brandon, a boy with a physical disability, and his experiences with feeling different and treated differently by his classmates. It describes an incident in class where a comment is made that makes Brandon feel like he is "half a person" because of his disability. He feels angry, upset, and unsure if he can trust his classmates after this. The narrative explores Brandon's ongoing struggles with how others perceive and treat him due to his disability.
The document describes a critical collage workshop for teachers focused on social issues. In the workshop, teachers identified a social issue from a book, researched it further by reading supporting and contradictory information, then created a collage representing the issue. One teacher initially chose a book but realized through further research that it appropriated Indigenous culture. Her collage represented this issue of cultural appropriation, using hands to symbolize how it hides Indigenous culture. The conclusions were that the workshop supported critical thinking skills by having teachers view issues differently, question assumptions, and take ownership of their representations through creative works.
i-prose: Feminism in The Girl Who Can by Ama Ata AidooBerliana Ayu
The document analyzes the theme of feminism in the short story "The Girl Who Can" by Ghanaian writer Ama Ata Aidoo. It discusses how the main character Adjoa struggles against the traditional society she lives in, which does not believe women should go to school or express their opinions. Adjoa fights to prove herself despite having an imperfect physical condition deemed unsuitable for a girl. In the end, she succeeds in changing her grandmother's views by winning a running competition, showing that women can be powerful and worthy of pride. The author aims to show that societal stereotypes against women need to end.
This document outlines the requirements and instructions for a Level 2 English assignment analyzing connections across multiple texts. Students must write logs about 4 texts total, with 1 being their own choice. They will then write a report analyzing significant connections between the texts. The logs require describing conflicts in the texts, whether they are resolved, use of language features, and the author's theme. An exemplar log is provided. Deadlines are given for completing each log over the school year.
This lesson plan provides objectives and activities for a unit on the novel "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. Students will examine plot elements, compare characters, make predictions while reading, and write an additional chapter. Activities include a plot diagram, character comparisons, prediction exercises, and an extension where students are assigned roles in a simulated society. The plan supports all learners and allows for differentiation through options like artwork, music, or acting related to the novel.
The document provides an overview of activities for a creative writing workshop across four days. It includes a variety of performing arts activities to spark creativity such as story sequencing, defining creativity, persuasive speeches, sensory writing prompts, improvisation exercises, and dramatizing stories through tableau and pantomime.
The document discusses using magazines and books in the ESL classroom. It describes how magazines provide authentic materials that can inspire a variety of motivating activities to develop students' language skills. Pictures from magazines can stimulate discussions and introduce topics like colors, clothing, and transportation. Books are also discussed as being crucial for education and providing knowledge. Different approaches for teaching literature, such as cultural and language models, are described. The document provides tips for selecting materials and adapting texts and activities to suit different student levels.
This document provides learning invitations for teaching third grade students about the history of African Americans' fight for equality and freedom using the picture book "We Shall Overcome: The Story of a Song." The invitations include having students create a visual timeline of key historical events from slavery to the Civil Rights Movement, role-playing responses to scenarios about injustice, responding to readings from the book through writing or discussion, and creating art in response to listening to different versions of the song "We Shall Overcome." The teacher notes provide instructions for introducing and facilitating the learning stations.
The document provides strategies for writing an effective introduction to a narrative essay. It discusses that an introduction should catch the reader's attention, establish the narrator's voice and point of view, and create interest to make the reader want to continue reading. The document also lists things to avoid in an introduction, such as summarizing the entire essay, using slang, or starting with a quote or question unless it is particularly interesting. Finally, it provides seven strategies for strong introduction openings, such as starting in the middle of the action, using something shocking or misleading, creating mystery, introducing a problem, using vivid imagery, employing humor, or posing an intriguing question.
This document contains details of 5 English lessons for Module 3. Lesson 1 includes activities on identifying sensory images in a song, analyzing a short story, identifying pronoun cases, performing a eulogy, and discussing Mother Nature. Lesson 2 covers distinguishing important points, analyzing a story's tone and purpose, critiquing a selection using pronouns, and writing a speech. Lesson 3 objectives are pointing out nature's feminine side, defining words, explaining how elements build a poem's theme. The activities provide guidance, references, and tasks to help students meet the learning targets.
During this English lesson, students will review vocabulary related to museums and practice using the past tense of the verb "to be". They will play a jigsaw game to put paragraphs about museum experiences in the correct order. Students will then read a text about museums and complete sentences assessing their comprehension. Finally, they will analyze examples using the past tense of "to be" to understand this grammatical structure and how it indicates past events. The goal is for students to improve their reading skills and knowledge of the past tense verb form.
The library teacher provides three lessons as examples of their work:
1. A kindergarten lesson introducing fiction and non-fiction genres using a PowerPoint and game. Students learned to identify the genres and what makes a story fictional or non-fictional.
2. A lesson for grades 1-2 about Earth Day where students listened to a story, learned what Earth Day is for, and made their own books listing ways to help the Earth.
3. A third lesson is mentioned but no details are provided. The teacher aims to improve lessons by adding more critical thinking and hands-on activities.
The document discusses the process of teaching storytelling to students. It involves 9 steps: 1) choosing and memorizing a story, 2) practicing mime, 3) adding sound effects, 4) incorporating words, 5) getting feedback, 6) using character voices and placement, 7) making eye contact, 8) describing scenes with 5 senses, and 9) surfing the story with expression and pacing. The goal is to help students visualize stories and practice performance skills through physicalization, voices, and engaging an audience.
How to Analyze a Model Essay for ImitationJodie Nicotra
The document provides guidance on how to analyze a model essay in order to imitate its style. It discusses several key elements of style to examine: the situation and story, motives of language/subject/writer/reader, physical and social footing, tropes/schemes/images. As an example, it analyzes Susan Orlean's essay "Lifelike" about a taxidermy competition. It examines these various style elements in the essay such as the situation being a tour of the competition, the motives of the reader and subject, the physical and social footing, and tropes like metonymy. The document advises applying these same style elements to the reader's own topic for their imitative essay.
The document discusses the development of Philippine literature over different historical periods from Japanese period to 21st century. It notes that during the Japanese period, Philippine literature in English halted except for two publications. It also discusses trends in literature forms over time, including new codes/lingos used in recent works, and growth of regional literature reflecting the Philippines' diversity. The document finally encourages using local languages to uphold culture and traditions despite colonization or modernity.
This document provides a detailed lesson plan for a 9th grade English class on Anglo-American literature. The lesson plan aims to teach students about point of view in literature. It includes learning objectives, materials, procedures and activities. Students will analyze passages from works to identify the point of view, discuss how point of view is useful in literature, and do group and individual activities designing their own poems, stories and advertisements from different points of view.
This lesson provides historical context for the 1930s setting of To Kill a Mockingbird. Students will take a vocabulary quiz and reading quiz. They will then learn about the Jim Crow era through a Springboard excerpt and group discussion. The lesson aims to explain the racism and poverty prevalent in the 1930s to understand the novel.
The document describes a lesson plan for teaching a story called "I wish I had a monster" to 4th grade students. The plan includes 7 activities such as reading the story aloud, putting story events in order, describing the monster, and matching pictures to dialogue. The goal is for students to comprehend the story, practice vocabulary, and increase creativity. Discussing stories helps children feel connected to characters and find personal meaning. Literature is an effective way to teach content across generations. The teachers observed that this lesson plan helped students learn the intended structures.
This document provides teaching resources for a module on learning English through short stories. It includes three short stories that students can read and answer questions about to understand key story elements. It also presents activities for adapting a story outline, creating setting, establishing characters, and writing dialogues. The document aims to give teachers examples and guidance for developing lessons and materials to help students work on focuses from the Three-year Senior Secondary English Language Curriculum relating to short stories.
This lesson plan is for a 10th grade English class on narrative texts in the form of fables. The lesson will take place over two class periods of 45 minutes each. Students will learn about the social function, generic structure, and language features of fables. They will then work in groups to create and present short oral narratives using "good morning ball game" as a technique. Student understanding and performance will be assessed using a speaking rubric that evaluates effort, comprehension, pronunciation, requirements, and delivery.
This document provides a review of sentence structure and types, including simple, compound, and complex sentences. It includes examples and activities for students to practice identifying and writing different sentence types. Students are asked to self-quiz by labeling sample sentences as simple, compound, or complex. The document also discusses the differences between independent and dependent clauses.
This document discusses different patterns of development in writing across disciplines. It begins by outlining three learning objectives about distinguishing patterns, critiquing examples, and applying patterns. It then introduces the key patterns of narration, description, definition, exemplification/classification, comparison/contrast, cause and effect, problem-solution, and persuasion. The document focuses on narration, providing its definition, examples, objective vs. subjective forms, tips for presentation, and steps for writing a narrative paragraph. It also briefly discusses description and varieties of description like objective and subjective.
The document provides an overview of activities for a creative writing workshop across four days. It includes a variety of performing arts activities to spark creativity such as story sequencing, defining creativity, persuasive speeches, sensory writing prompts, improvisation, and dramatization. The goal is to use multimodal tools to explore different perspectives and spark creative expression.
This document discusses strategies for teaching reading based on Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. It describes how reading instruction can incorporate spatial, kinesthetic, logical, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist intelligences. Specific strategies are provided like using gestures for phonemes, acting out stories, treating reading like hypothesis testing, incorporating music, connecting texts to students' emotions, considering social contexts, and using nature-themed materials. The goal is to engage more types of learners and help every student experience the power of reading.
Reading narratives is essential for learning as it develops critical thinking, empathy, and creativity. Narratives offer a unique perspective that cannot be found in other materials. To gain a deeper understanding, readers should use strategies like identifying the main idea, making connections, visualizing scenes, and asking questions. It is important to determine key ideas, cite evidence to support statements, and analyze the author's message and themes expressed. Overall, reading narratives cultivates important learning competencies.
AECT 2011 - "Once upon a time...": What students stories tell us about good i...Patrick Lowenthal
Each semester, our students tell stories about their best learning experiences and analyze those stories to identify common themes. From this activity we generate a list of common instructional strategies to guide our assessments throughout the remainder of the course. In this session, we present the results of this assignment as a series of case stories. We will focus on what students discover and the resulting instructional design guidelines that inform their practice (and ours).
This lesson plan provides a series of lessons using song lyrics to teach literary elements to gifted 9th and 10th grade students. The introduction defines key terms like characters, plot, setting, theme and various literary devices. It recommends specific songs to analyze and discusses preparing materials and assessing student learning. The goal is for students to better understand literary analysis by identifying elements in lyrics.
This document describes a technique for teaching descriptive writing through visualization and the five senses. The author, Katherine Carter, implemented this technique in her intermediate English class in Namibia. The technique involves: 1) Reading a short story or poem aloud that stimulates the senses, having students underline sensory details; 2) Guiding students to visualize the text and discuss their mental images; 3) Having students visualize and note details about a special place using the five senses; 4) Discussing their places with partners to add more details before writing a descriptive paragraph. The technique aims to engage students and improve writing by activating their background experiences and helping them see vivid images to describe.
This document provides teaching activities and guidance for an English teacher support unit on the theme of "Accidents and Safety". It includes 7 suggested classroom activities:
1. Discussing common phrases used during accidents and imagining conversations around accident scenarios.
2. Identifying dangerous objects and situations at home and discussing safety precautions.
3. Reading about the dangers faced by ancient travelers and connecting it to a textbook passage on Marco Polo.
4. Analyzing newspaper reports of accidents and discussing comprehension questions.
5. Presenting safety check scenarios and situations before undertaking different activities.
6. Discussing road safety rules based on a textbook passage and listing rules for pedestrians.
Walmart Business+ and Spark Good for Nonprofits.pdfTechSoup
"Learn about all the ways Walmart supports nonprofit organizations.
You will hear from Liz Willett, the Head of Nonprofits, and hear about what Walmart is doing to help nonprofits, including Walmart Business and Spark Good. Walmart Business+ is a new offer for nonprofits that offers discounts and also streamlines nonprofits order and expense tracking, saving time and money.
The webinar may also give some examples on how nonprofits can best leverage Walmart Business+.
The event will cover the following::
Walmart Business + (https://business.walmart.com/plus) is a new shopping experience for nonprofits, schools, and local business customers that connects an exclusive online shopping experience to stores. Benefits include free delivery and shipping, a 'Spend Analytics” feature, special discounts, deals and tax-exempt shopping.
Special TechSoup offer for a free 180 days membership, and up to $150 in discounts on eligible orders.
Spark Good (walmart.com/sparkgood) is a charitable platform that enables nonprofits to receive donations directly from customers and associates.
Answers about how you can do more with Walmart!"
Beyond Degrees - Empowering the Workforce in the Context of Skills-First.pptxEduSkills OECD
Iván Bornacelly, Policy Analyst at the OECD Centre for Skills, OECD, presents at the webinar 'Tackling job market gaps with a skills-first approach' on 12 June 2024
This presentation was provided by Racquel Jemison, Ph.D., Christina MacLaughlin, Ph.D., and Paulomi Majumder. Ph.D., all of the American Chemical Society, for the second session of NISO's 2024 Training Series "DEIA in the Scholarly Landscape." Session Two: 'Expanding Pathways to Publishing Careers,' was held June 13, 2024.
Level 3 NCEA - NZ: A Nation In the Making 1872 - 1900 SML.pptHenry Hollis
The History of NZ 1870-1900.
Making of a Nation.
From the NZ Wars to Liberals,
Richard Seddon, George Grey,
Social Laboratory, New Zealand,
Confiscations, Kotahitanga, Kingitanga, Parliament, Suffrage, Repudiation, Economic Change, Agriculture, Gold Mining, Timber, Flax, Sheep, Dairying,
Chapter wise All Notes of First year Basic Civil Engineering.pptxDenish Jangid
Chapter wise All Notes of First year Basic Civil Engineering
Syllabus
Chapter-1
Introduction to objective, scope and outcome the subject
Chapter 2
Introduction: Scope and Specialization of Civil Engineering, Role of civil Engineer in Society, Impact of infrastructural development on economy of country.
Chapter 3
Surveying: Object Principles & Types of Surveying; Site Plans, Plans & Maps; Scales & Unit of different Measurements.
Linear Measurements: Instruments used. Linear Measurement by Tape, Ranging out Survey Lines and overcoming Obstructions; Measurements on sloping ground; Tape corrections, conventional symbols. Angular Measurements: Instruments used; Introduction to Compass Surveying, Bearings and Longitude & Latitude of a Line, Introduction to total station.
Levelling: Instrument used Object of levelling, Methods of levelling in brief, and Contour maps.
Chapter 4
Buildings: Selection of site for Buildings, Layout of Building Plan, Types of buildings, Plinth area, carpet area, floor space index, Introduction to building byelaws, concept of sun light & ventilation. Components of Buildings & their functions, Basic concept of R.C.C., Introduction to types of foundation
Chapter 5
Transportation: Introduction to Transportation Engineering; Traffic and Road Safety: Types and Characteristics of Various Modes of Transportation; Various Road Traffic Signs, Causes of Accidents and Road Safety Measures.
Chapter 6
Environmental Engineering: Environmental Pollution, Environmental Acts and Regulations, Functional Concepts of Ecology, Basics of Species, Biodiversity, Ecosystem, Hydrological Cycle; Chemical Cycles: Carbon, Nitrogen & Phosphorus; Energy Flow in Ecosystems.
Water Pollution: Water Quality standards, Introduction to Treatment & Disposal of Waste Water. Reuse and Saving of Water, Rain Water Harvesting. Solid Waste Management: Classification of Solid Waste, Collection, Transportation and Disposal of Solid. Recycling of Solid Waste: Energy Recovery, Sanitary Landfill, On-Site Sanitation. Air & Noise Pollution: Primary and Secondary air pollutants, Harmful effects of Air Pollution, Control of Air Pollution. . Noise Pollution Harmful Effects of noise pollution, control of noise pollution, Global warming & Climate Change, Ozone depletion, Greenhouse effect
Text Books:
1. Palancharmy, Basic Civil Engineering, McGraw Hill publishers.
2. Satheesh Gopi, Basic Civil Engineering, Pearson Publishers.
3. Ketki Rangwala Dalal, Essentials of Civil Engineering, Charotar Publishing House.
4. BCP, Surveying volume 1
Temple of Asclepius in Thrace. Excavation resultsKrassimira Luka
The temple and the sanctuary around were dedicated to Asklepios Zmidrenus. This name has been known since 1875 when an inscription dedicated to him was discovered in Rome. The inscription is dated in 227 AD and was left by soldiers originating from the city of Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv).
How to Make a Field Mandatory in Odoo 17Celine George
In Odoo, making a field required can be done through both Python code and XML views. When you set the required attribute to True in Python code, it makes the field required across all views where it's used. Conversely, when you set the required attribute in XML views, it makes the field required only in the context of that particular view.
The chapter Lifelines of National Economy in Class 10 Geography focuses on the various modes of transportation and communication that play a vital role in the economic development of a country. These lifelines are crucial for the movement of goods, services, and people, thereby connecting different regions and promoting economic activities.
1. 2 2 0 1 2 N u m b e r 3 | E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m
Robert E. Jones
J a p a n
Creating a Storytelling Classroom
for a Storytelling World
Junko, a middle-aged student in
one of my lower intermediate
classes, caused a flurry of excite-
ment. The students were doing paired
practice with a list of “Have you
ever…?” questions: “Have you ever
climbed a mountain/driven a foreign
car/sung on a stage?” One question was
“Have you ever met anyone famous?”
Junko and her partner’s interaction
went something like this:
Q: Have you ever met anyone famous?
A: Yes, I have. I’ve met Kirk Douglas.
Q: (Excitedly) Eeeeh! Kirk Douglas!
When did you meet him?
A: After I graduated from high
school, I was an elevator girl in a
big hotel in Osaka. Kirk Douglas
was a guest at the hotel, and I met
him in my elevator.
Q: Did you speak to him?
A: Yes. I said, “Hello.”
Q: What did he say?
A: He said, “Hello. How old are you?”
I said, “Nineteen,” and he said,
“Oh, very young.” So, I (mimicking
a coy expression) — Hee! Hee! Hee!
Junko’s story of her surprise
encounter with the veteran Holly-
wood actor, Kirk Douglas, is one
of many stories I have heard in my
classroom. As a language teacher, I am
always delighted when a student has
a story to tell and attempts to deliver
it in English. I value it not only for
the rich language practice it involves,
but also because of the prevalent role
that stories of personal experience
play in human interaction. Many
researchers have commented on the
high frequency with which short per-
sonal narratives crop up during coffee
break conversations in the workplace
(Slade 1986; Eggins and Slade 1997),
at neighborhood get-togethers (Ochs
and Capps 2001), and with friends
over the dinner table (Tannen 1984).
Tannen (1984) has also demonstrated
that one person’s narrative may often
be taken up by one or more of the lis-
teners who will add similar narratives
of their own to create what she refers
to as a “story chain.”
Speaking for myself, I can recall
many occasions in which I have been
sitting with friends or relatives and a
large part of the interaction involves us
swapping stories about our triumphs,
2. 3E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m | N u m b e r 3 2 0 1 2
our misfortunes, and various things that have
happened in our lives. As Andrew Wright
(1995) has succinctly remarked, “Go to any
pub or party and you will hear a constant
babble of stories. The whole world is full of
storytellers” (16).
Our students also have stories to tell and
can become a part of that storytelling world
to which Wright refers. In this article I will
detail the following four-step approach to
help students develop their skills as conversa-
tional storytellers:
1. The first step is an introductory lesson
that presents learners with a model
story and follow-up questions to raise
their awareness of the story’s generic
structure as described by Eggins and
Slade (1997).
2. Step 2 is a follow-up lesson that invites
learners to apply the Eggins and Slade
(1997) framework and practice telling
stories of their own. This practice is
combined with a fluency development
technique known as 4–3–2 (Maurice
1983; Nation 1989; Nation and New-
ton, 2009).
3. In Step 3 teachers make conversational
storytelling a regular feature of their
classes and help their learners add inter-
est to their stories through the use of
devices such as extreme adjectives, idi-
omatic expressions, and direct speech.
4. Finally, Step 4 draws attention to the
active role of the listener by helping
learners use back-channeling and other
linguistic devices to show interest and
empathy as they listen to and interact
with the storyteller.
Step 1, Part 1: Generic structure and
raising awareness
Once our students have reached the
lower intermediate level of English, we can
introduce them to the art of conversational
storytelling. A good start is for the teacher to
present a model story based on some experi-
ence of his or her own:
I’ll tell you something funny that hap-
pened to me once. It was a few years
ago when I was working as a junior high
school teacher. It was about the middle
of April and I was hiking in the country-
side with some third-year students and a
couple of other teachers. Anyway, we were
walking past a rice field and suddenly I
saw a snake lying at the side of the path. So
I asked some of the students, “Is it dead?”
And then one boy walked over to the
snake and he kicked it. Yeah, that’s right.
He kicked it just like this (mimicking the
boy’s movement) and the snake moved its
head. And then the boy turned to me and
said, “No, it’s not dead.” And I … I just
looked at him and said, “What are you
doing? You just kicked a snake. Are you
crazy?” And he just laughed—“Hah! Hah!
Hah!” Oh, there are some crazy people in
this world, aren’t there?
This story is from my own repertoire
but, of course, teachers should feel free to
choose any story that they feel would be
of interest to their particular students. For
teaching purposes, however, two things need
to be insisted on: (1) the story should focus
on one simple event that gave rise to some
emotional reaction such as pleasure, surprise,
fear, or anger, and (2) teachers should ensure
that their stories provide the students with a
clear model of the five generic components
of conversational anecdotes identified by
Eggins and Slade (1997). These components
are abstract, orientation, remarkable event,
reaction, and coda (Eggins and Slade 1997;
Thornbury and Slade 2006). Following is an
explanation of these five components and a
description of how they apply to my snake
story:
1. Abstract. This is a short phrase or sen-
tence indicating that a story is about to
be told, and it often contains a hint of
the type of story to expect: “I’ll tell you
something funny that happened to me
once.”
2. Orientation. This explains the essen-
tial background information that the
listener needs in order to be able to
appreciate the story—who takes part,
and where, when, and under what cir-
cumstances the story unfolds: “It was a
few years ago when I was working as a
junior high school teacher. It was about
the middle of April and I was hiking in
the countryside with some third-year
students and a couple of other teachers.”
3. Remarkable event. This tells what actu-
ally happened and includes the section
3. 4 2 0 1 2 N u m b e r 3 | E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m
from “Anyway, we were walking past a
rice field and suddenly I saw a snake”
to “And then the boy turned to me and
said, ‘No, it’s not dead.’”
4. Reaction. How did the protagonist or
other characters in the story react to
the event? How did they feel, what did
they say, or what did they do?: “And I
… I just looked at him and said, ‘What
are you doing? You just kicked a snake.
Are you crazy?’ And he just laughed —
‘Hah! Hah! Hah!’”
5. Coda. This rounds off the story by
relating it to another time or place
and could be a reference to the long-
term effects of the related event: “And
ever since, I’ve never been able to
look at a mango without feeling sick”
(McCarthy 1991, 138); or, as in the
snake story, we might make a con-
cluding remark commenting on some
aspect of human behavior: “There are
some crazy people in this world, aren’t
there?”
Eggins and Slade’s (1997) five compo-
nents constitute a framework that teachers
can present to the learners as a useful scaffold
on which to build their stories. In particular,
teachers should focus on the three central
components: orientation, remarkable event,
and reaction. This is because the abstract and
coda are optional features that will not neces-
sarily appear in every anecdote (Eggins and
Slade 1997). The remaining three features,
however, will normally be present in any well-
told anecdote. To draw the learners’ attention
to these three features, the teacher can provide
a transcript of the story she has told and ask
a few questions that are designed not only as
comprehension checks but also to function as
consciousness-raising questions (Jones 2001),
drawing attention to the three central features
of the generic structure outlined above.
1. When did this happen? Where did it
happen? What was I doing just before
it happened?
2. What happened?
3. How did I feel about it? Did I say or do
anything?
After the learners have answered these
questions, the teacher can introduce and
explain the Eggins and Slade (1997) termi-
nology with a brief summary on the board
and demonstrate how the questions they were
asked relate to the basic structure of the story:
1. Orientation stage: Who, where, when?
2. Remarkable event stage: What hap-
pened?
3. Reaction stage: How did you feel?
What did you do?
As for the non-obligatory abstract and
coda, these can be referred to after the three
central components have been explained. The
teacher can draw attention to the abstract in
her own story (e.g., “I’ll tell you something
funny that happened to me once”) and then
present a few other typical abstracts: “You
won’t believe this story,” or “Wait till you hear
this!” The coda can be explained as a comment
on how the storyteller feels about the story as
he or she looks back on it now: Did it change
you? (e.g., “Ever since then I’ve been afraid
of dogs.”) Did it teach you something about
life? (e.g., “There are some strange people
in this world.”) Finally, as a check that the
learners have understood the structure of the
framework, they can be given the transcript of
another anecdote and asked to break it up into
its components.
Step 1, Part 2: A language focus
After introducing the generic features of
conversational anecdotes to our learners, we
can start preparing them to tell their own sto-
ries. Before we actually start them on storytell-
ing, however, there is one grammatical feature
that teachers might like to focus on. The past
continuous tense is cited as being particularly
frequent in the orientation stage of anecdotes
as it gives the listener background information
on activities that were in progress at the time
the event occurred (Labov 1972; Thornbury
and Slade 2006). In the orientation of the
snake story, we can see two instances of the
past continuous: “When I was working as …”
and “I was hiking in the countryside.” We
can also see it foregrounding the remarkable
event: “We were walking past a rice field and
suddenly….”
Practice in using this form can be given in
two stages. First, the teacher can give a blank-
filling exercise of the type that can be found in
many grammar practice books (see, for exam-
ple, Swan and Walter 2001; Murphy 2004).
This can then be followed with a more open-
ended exercise in which the teacher gives the
4. 5E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m | N u m b e r 3 2 0 1 2
beginning of a sentence (e.g., “Last Sunday,
I was chopping some onions in the kitchen
and suddenly…”) and invites the learners to
continue it with ideas of their own. An added
bonus with these activities is that the examples
given in the exercises can sometimes trigger
memories of episodes in the learners’ own lives
that they can use later to tell stories of their
own, which brings us to the next step in the
learning process.
Step 2: Getting started on the stories
Preparation for the second step can be
given in the last ten minutes of the conscious-
ness-raising lesson. The teacher can choose a
topic—for example, small accidents and mis-
fortunes—and then take the learners through
the following activities:
1. The teacher tells a story about, for
example, falling off a swing when she
was a child.
2. The learners are asked consciousness-
raising questions similar to those in
the previous section and are reminded
of the Eggins and Slade (1997) frame-
work.
3. The learners are then asked to think of
some small accident or misfortune they
have had and be prepared to tell a story
about it in the next class. The teacher
can nominate some possible topics to
start them thinking (e.g., a sports inju-
ry, falling off a bicycle, forgetting their
bag in a restaurant, etc.).
In the next class, the teacher begins by
eliciting her swing story to remind the learners
of what will be expected from them. She then
instructs the learners to take a pen and paper
and make a few notes in answer to the follow-
ing questions, which she reads out:
Orientation: Where did it happen? When
did it happen? Was anyone with you?
What were you doing just before it hap-
pened?
Remarkable event: What happened?
Reaction: How did you feel? Did you do
anything? If you were with someone else,
did that person say or do anything?
The teacher can also encourage the stu-
dents to add an optional coda by asking a
question such as one of these: How do you
feel about that story now? Has it changed you
in any way? Did you learn anything from it?
When the students have finished making
their notes, the teacher gives them a couple of
minutes for review, and she can also remind
them of some of the typical abstracts given
in the first lesson. Then they put their notes
away, and the storytelling begins. A recom-
mended format for the storytelling part of the
lesson involves telling the story three times to
different partners via the 4–3–2 technique.
The principles and procedure behind this
technique are explained in the next section.
Improving fluency through 4–3–2
As the learners get ready to tell their stories,
bear in mind that telling a story in a foreign
language can be a very demanding task. The
first attempt is likely to be marked by hesi-
tations, false starts, unnecessary repetition,
and other disfluencies. The 4–3–2 approach,
attributed to Maurice (1983) and popularized
by Nation (Nation 1989; Nation and Newton
2009), is a procedure that can help to rectify
this problem and lead the learners towards a
more fluent performance.
In the purest form of 4–3–2, each learner
tells a story or speaks on a familiar topic to
a partner for four minutes. The learner then
repeats the exercise with a different partner
within a three-minute time frame, and then
with another new partner for two minutes. The
principle behind this approach is that repeti-
tion will bring improvement with fewer dis-
fluencies being evident in the second and third
renditions. According to Maurice (1983, 29):
The first four-minute time frame
allows the student time to think about
the topic while struggling with the lan-
guage. This time is usually filled with
many pauses. When a student speaks
for the second time, he/she already
knows generally what he/she wants
to say and should be able to condense
the four minutes of pauses and back-
tracking into a more organised way of
speaking … The last time frame, two
minutes, is meant to push the students
into speaking as fluently and naturally
as they can.
Nation demonstrates that there may also
be improvements in grammatical accuracy
and lexical choice, as in the following exam-
ple, which compares part of a first rendition
with its equivalent in the third:
5. 6 2 0 1 2 N u m b e r 3 | E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m
Rendition 1: We stay in the youth hostel
that night. By that time it was very late.
Rendition 3: That night we had to stay in
the youth hostel, because we reach there
very late. (Nation 1989, 382)
To set up 4–3–2 in the classroom, teachers
can arrange the learners in rows facing each
other. Each learner then exchanges stories
with the person he or she is facing. When the
teacher signals that time is up, the learners on
one side move down a place so that everyone
is facing a new partner to exchange stories
with.
Let me add that teachers can be flexible
about time allocation and should not feel
compelled to adopt a strict four-minute, three-
minute, two-minute timing sequence. In my
own classes, the time is usually negotiated
with the students and is also influenced by
the language level of the class. A higher-level
class, which might be expected to produce
more ambitious and detailed stories, might
be given the full four minutes for the first
rendition. On the other hand, a lower-level
class might be given two minutes for the first,
one and a half minutes for the second, and
one minute for the third. In my experience,
students have often reported that they enjoy
this activity both for the chance to improve
their stories and also for the fact that they
have heard three different stories from three
different classmates. Like Maurice, I have also
found that disfluencies become less frequent
during the second and third renditions.
Step 3: Improving the quality of the
story—a focus on reaction
Even though students have now been initi-
ated into the art of conversational storytelling,
they will need substantial exposure, time, and
practice in order to develop their skill. Teach-
ers can help by making storytelling a regular
feature of their conversation classes. Various
themes can be proposed: success and achieve-
ment stories, memories of kindergarten or
elementary school, or funny stories about pets
or family members. The teacher can repeat the
processes outlined in previous sections: giving
a model story, asking consciousness-raising
questions, encouraging learners to apply the
Eggins and Slade (1997) framework, and set-
ting up 4–3–2. The teacher can also focus on
story content and help the learners add inter-
est to the story and improve what McCarthy
(1998) refers to as its tellability.
A high school student had been talking
about her part-time job at a restaurant when
she was asked if she had ever had any amusing
or embarrassing experiences in her workplace.
She told the following story:
When I carried food … er meat … I car-
ried an empty dish. I fell … big sound …
(gesturing) kacha! Every customer saw me
… but my boss forgave me.
A week later, the teacher casually asked
the student to repeat her story. She started off
with more or less the same words, and then
she added something:
Student: Every customer looked at me. …
I was very ashamed. My face was very red
and I … (quietly) katazuke … I picked up
the dishes and soon ... and uh hurried uh
returned back to the kitchen without say-
ing sorry for customers.
Teacher: And what did your boss say?
Student: My boss forgive, forgave me. He
didn’t blame me.
The main difference between the two ver-
sions is that in the second she gives greater
voice to her feelings about the incident.
Granted, “Every customer saw me” in the
first version carries an implication of embar-
rassment, but in the second version she states
more clearly that she was “very ashamed,” that
her “face was very red,” and that she “returned
back to the kitchen without saying sorry.” In
other words, her second version contains a
more developed reaction stage.
For me, the richness of the story’s reaction
stage is the key to its tellability. Labov (1972)
emphasizes the need for evaluative devices
that say “this was terrifying, dangerous, weird,
wild, crazy; or amusing, hilarious, wonderful;
more generally, that it was … worth report-
ing. It was not ordinary, plain, humdrum,
everyday, or run-of-the mill” (371).
While a well-expressed reaction stage
would appear to be a crucial element in giving
that extra spice to the story, it is possible that
our learners may lack the linguistic resources
to express their reactions and feelings effec-
tively. We may find, for example, that their
repertoire of adjectives and verbs is limited to
a small, rather bland set of the most common
(e.g., I was very happy, I felt sad, I was angry,
I laughed). If this is the case, we can devote
6. 7E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m | N u m b e r 3 2 0 1 2
some class time to rectifying this situation.
We can, for example, have exercises in which
standard adjectives like happy, sad, funny, and
angry are matched with some of their more
dramatic, extreme counterparts: delighted,
devastated, hilarious, and furious. This can be
done with pelmanism (i.e., memory-based)
games in which, for example, an “angry”
card is matched with a “furious” card, or
with bingo games in which, for example, the
teacher calls out “interesting” or “hungry” and
students mark fascinating or starving on their
bingo cards. We can also practice these adjec-
tives in a more contextualized way through
mini-dialogues in which learners are invited
to upgrade a standard adjective to an extreme
adjective, as in this example:
Q: Were you happy when you finished the
marathon?
A: Happy? I was absolutely ___________
(thrilled/ecstatic).
Learners’ attention should also be drawn
to the fact that while we can say “very happy,”
“very sad,” etc., extreme adjectives tend to
co-occur with absolutely, just, or really rather
than very.
In addition to extreme adjectives, we might
also teach a selection of useful idiomatic
phrases. For example, we can express delight
with phrases like “I was absolutely walking on
air,” or anger with “I nearly hit the roof.” “I
laughed” or “I cried” can be intensified with
“bursting” expressions: “I nearly burst out
laughing,” “I just burst into tears.”
Extreme adjectives and idiomatic expres-
sions can be taught and practiced as the main
focus of a lesson. They can also be taught
proactively in the course of storytelling activi-
ties. One of the attractions of getting learners
to tell their own stories is that it is they who
are supplying the content while the teacher
takes more of a facilitating role in helping
them to express that content more effectively.
If, for example, a learner says, “I laughed,”
the teacher can ask, “Was it a big, loud laugh
or a quiet, gentle laugh?” Depending on the
learner’s reply, the teacher can then suggest or
elicit a suitable word or expression.
For teachers who wish to give students
opportunities to use extreme adjectives and
idiomatic expressions within the body of a
story, my personal recommendation would be
stories of success and achievement. A teacher’s
story about the first time she swam a length
of the pool as an elementary school child
or her feeling after her first solo drive as a
novice driver can provide an excellent context
for extreme adjectives like ecstatic, thrilled,
fantastic, idioms like “over the moon,” or
non-idiomatic lexical phrases like “I couldn’t
believe I’d done it.”
Another device that learners can employ to
add color and interest to their stories is the use
of direct speech. Notice, for example, that in
the snake story the interaction between myself
and the boy was expressed through direct
speech: “What are you doing? You just kicked
a snake. Are you crazy?” Likewise, a student
describing her first solo performance on the
trumpet will be able to give a more vivid
impression of her feeling of triumph with,
“My friends came up and said, ‘Hey Miki, you
were great!’” than with a more mundane “My
friends congratulated me.”
To give practice in expressing emotion
through direct speech, teachers can consider
giving learners short newspaper articles in
which interaction is expressed through indi-
rect speech and ask them to speculate on the
actual words they think the characters might
have used (Jones 2007). And again, when stu-
dents are telling their own stories, the teacher
can monitor and be proactive, prompting
them with comments like, “You said your
teacher was angry. What did he actually say?”
Encouraging a certain amount of mimicry can
also add color to the story.
Earlier in this section, reference was made
to Labov’s (1972) observation of the need for
evaluative devices to highlight the feelings
aroused in the story. The use of extreme adjec-
tives and idiomatic phrases to express strong
feeling, and the use of direct speech to add
atmosphere and immediacy, are some of the
devices that we can practice with our learners
and encourage them to use in their own sto-
ries. Such devices will, hopefully, add interest
to the story and prevent its being killed by a
disinterested “So what?” from their listeners
(Labov 1972), a reaction that every storyteller
dreads.
Step 4: Becoming an active listener
We now come to the final step in the
teaching process, which shifts the focus away
from the storyteller to the listener(s). Though
7. 8 2 0 1 2 N u m b e r 3 | E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m
I say “listener,” Ochs and Capps’ (2001) term,
interlocutor, may be more appropriate, for
while a professional storyteller with a paying
audience may expect to give an uninterrupted
rendition and receive a round of applause, a
conversational storyteller can expect to receive
a substantial amount of interaction.
This interaction may range from what Ochs
and Capps (2001) refer to as low involvement
feedback, such as the continuers “uh huh,”
“yeah,” or “hmm,” expressions that “signal
attentiveness and encouragement to the story-
teller but otherwise does (sic) not contribute
substantially to the telling of the emergent nar-
rative” (26), to higher involvement reactions
such as asking for clarification (“And this was
while you were still in the airport?”), express-
ing empathy (“That must have been scary!”),
showing surprise or outrage (“You’re kidding!
He didn’t!”), or prompts to provide more detail
(“So, did you contact the police?”).
How can teachers help learners train other
learners to become more active as listeners?
Thornbury and Slade’s (2006) three-way pro-
cess of exposure-instruction-practice can be help-
ful here. In the first stage, exposure, the learners
are given transcripts of dialogues containing
short, contextualized back-channeling phrases
such as “Really?,” “Yeah,” “Uh hmm,” “I see,”
“No!” and “He didn’t!” These dialogues can be
taken either from their regular course books,
if appropriate, or supplied by the teacher. The
learners then listen to them either on a record-
ing or as modeled by the teacher and practice
reading them in pairs with a focus on correct
intonation. In the second stage, instruction,
the teacher focuses on the phrases themselves
and discusses their individual functions (e.g.,
“Yeah” and “Uh hmm” as continuers, “I see”
to show understanding, “Really?” to show
surprise, “He didn’t!” and the extended “No-
oo!” to indicate shock). Teachers should also
stress that these phrases, simple though they
may seem, play an important role in showing
the speaker that we are listening, are interested,
and wish to encourage him or her to continue.
In the third stage, practice, learners can be
given short, one-sided dialogues containing
the main speaker’s part (A) only and be invited
to fill in the listener’s part (B) with suitable
expressions:
A: It was a good holiday, but we got a ter-
rible shock on the last day.
B: [Why? / What happened?]
A: Well, Jane was walking along the street,
and she stopped to look in a shop window.
B: [Yeah / Uh huh]
A: And a guy snatched her bag and ran
away with it.
B: [No-oh! / You’re kidding! / What!]
At a later stage, teachers can focus on a
selection of higher involvement responses to
extend the learners’ repertoire. One phrase that
is frequently used by listeners is the I bet +
auxiliary verb structure. Teachers can compose
simple drills to give practice with this item:
I was tired after that climb. ––I bet you
were.
I just wanted to sit down and have a cup
of tea. ––I bet you did.
I won’t be doing it again for a long time.
––I bet you won’t.
A variety of sentence heads (Lewis 1993)
for expressing empathy can also be taught:
“That sounds…,” “I bet that was …,” “That
must have been …,” and “I bet that must have
been ….” These can be practiced in response
to situations like the following:
So, I went up to the checkout to pay for
my groceries. I took out my wallet and
suddenly realized I didn’t have any cash.
(Possible response: I bet that was embar-
rassing.)
After students have had some practice
with exercises like these, they can be invited
to share their own stories about times they
were angry, scared, embarrassed, or happy
while their partners are encouraged to show
interest and make frequent responses. One
way in which this can be staged is for them
to work in a group of three in which one
partner tells the story, another partner makes
listener responses, and the third partner acts
as secretary, noting down how many and what
kind of responses the interlocutor made. The
interlocutor can then be given feedback on his
or her performance. The storyteller can also
be asked how helpful she found the interlocu-
tor’s responses. Did they encourage her to tell
the story well?
One memory that stays with me is of one
upper-intermediate class in which there had
been a strong focus on listener responses.
One student finished telling her story to a
partner and then turned to me with a happy
smile. She commented, “It was so easy for me
8. 9E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m | N u m b e r 3 2 0 1 2
to tell that story because Yukari seemed very
interested and she encouraged me.” The “feel-
good” factor this student experienced here
and the apparent boost to her confidence is,
for me, one of the great payoffs of this type of
activity. That we will make a better job of tell-
ing a story if we can see that our listeners are
interested appears to be a matter of common
sense, and while encouraging our students to
be good storytellers, we should also encourage
them to become good story listeners.
Conclusion
The human need to communicate per-
sonal experiences makes storytelling a natural
way to design lessons that help students
develop their English language skills. Once
learners get into conversational storytelling, it
is an enjoyable experience for both them and
the teacher. Raising awareness of the generic
features of conversational storytelling is a first
step to enable learners to share their own sto-
ries with their classmates. Various techniques
add interest to the narrations and promote
greater fluency, including retelling activities
and exercises that broaden the use of adjec-
tives, idiomatic expressions, and direct speech.
In addition, a focus on active listening creates
a true interactive environment that enhances
the development of higher-order language
skills.
The ability to tell a personal anecdote in
English, to be able to share it with others,
and to react positively to other people’s stories
is a great social asset. I encourage teachers of
English conversation to devote some of their
time to helping their students develop this
valuable skill.
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Robert E. (Bob) Jones taught in Spain,
Sweden, Malaysia, and the UK before
moving to Japan in 1990. He now runs a
small school in Gifu Prefecture, the REJ
English House, with his wife, Ari. He also
teaches part-time at Sugiyama Women’s
University, Nagoya. He is the co-author
with David Coulson of Tell Me Your Stories:
Storytelling in Conversational English.