COOPERATIVE LEARNING:

ACTIVITIES BOOKLET

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much”

-Helen Keller

By: Erika de la Barra & Soffía Carbone.

2020

2

Table of Contents

-Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………… 3

How to use this booklet?........................................................ 3

-Unit 1: “Defeated by Pride”, Aesop ……………………………………………… 4

-Unit 2: “Bad Temper”, Unknown author………………………………………. 6

-Unit 3: “My Greatest Regret”, Hussein A. Termos………………………… 8

-Unit 4: “Foolish Imitation”, Noor Fatima………………………………………. 10

-Unit 5: “The Night Train at Deoli”, Ruskin Bond……………………………. 12

-Unit 6: “There Will come Soft Rains”, Ray Bradbury……………………… 17

3

Introduction

Erika de la Barra and Soffía Carbone conducted a qualitative action-research

study on the use of cooperative learning through literature in two vulnerable

EFL classrooms in Chile. The study aimed at bridging EFL inequality by

exposing students to a different methodology using cooperative learning, and

a content- based approach through literature, which are inexistent methods

in vulnerable schools. Improving students’ performance and increasing their

personal growth was also pursued.

As to teach english through a content-based approach, it was necessary to

create handouts with selected poems and extracts from texts, together with

suitable activities based on the literature aiming to enhance cooperative

learning in the classrooms.

How to use this booklet?

There is no formula for using this booklet! You can either select one of the

units and use it as it is, or you might adapt and move around the steps, add a

suitable video or a song. You are the one who knows your students best, so

feel free to make the most of these activities!

The authors.

4

Unit 1: Defeated by Pride1

I. Pre-Reading tasks. Discuss these questions with your teacher

1. Are you a proud person?

2. What is the opposite of being proud?

3. What is a fable?

II. Guessing: You will see different pictures about the short story “Defeated by Pride”

by Aesop. Discuss in groups what you think the story is about.

III. Pre-Reading Vocabulary: Get together in groups of 4 and look up the meanings of

the following words. All of them appear in the short story “Defeated by Pride”

by Aesop

IV. Listening: Listen to your teacher read the story and mark the best alternative.

1. What happened to the proud rooster?

a. He was taken by the eagle

b. He killed the other rooster

2. What is the moral of the story?

a. Proud people usually win in the end.

b. Proud people are generally defeated by themselves.

1 Aesop. “Defeated by Pride” Retrieved from http://www.english-for-students.com/Defeated-by-Pride.html

Supremacy farmyard Vanquished hen-house

barn swopped down unchallenged

5

V. Reading. Read the story aloud taking turns with your classmates and memorize it.

Defeated by Pride By Aesop *

Two roosters fought for supremacy in the farmyard.

Finally one was vanquished and he went and hid himself in a corner of the hen-house.

The victor flew up to the roof of the barn and begin to

crow, “I’ve won, I’ve won!"

An eagle swooped down and carried him away and the

rooster that had been defeated suddenly found himself

unchallenged master of the farmyard.

Moral: The enemy is often defeated by his own pride.

VI. Speaking. Cover the story and retell the it to your classmates without reading.

VII. Writing. Work together as a group and write a different ending to the story.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________.

VIII. Just for Fun. Choose a word from the story and work in groups to create an acrostic with

this word as in the example.

6

Unit 2: Bad Temper

I. Open discussion: In pairs, discuss whether you have…

GOOD TEMPER BAD TEMPER

II. Reading: Read the first half of the following story.

Bad Temper By Unknown author

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper.

His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that

every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a

nail into the back of the fence.

The first day, the boy had driven 37 nails into the

fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to

control his anger, the number of nails hammered

daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it

was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence…

III. Predict: In groups of 3 or 4, answer the following questions:

1. Why do you think that the father is asking the boy to hammer nails into a fence?

2. What do you think is going to happen in the second half of the story?

IV. Reading: In the same groups, read the second part of the

story.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He

told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull

out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days

passed and the boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails

were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said,

"You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the

same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife

in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry. The wound is

still there."

Retrieved from: http://www.english-for-students.com/Bad-Temper.html

7

V. Post- Reading discussion: Where your answers from activity 3 correct? Did you

think that the story was going to end like that? Write your reflections below:

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

VI. Pair work: Read the next sentence and discuss:

“A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one”

1. Do you agree with the sentence?

2. Have you ever been hurt with words?

3. Have you ever hurt someone with your own words?

VI. Interview time! Move around your classroom and ask 5 classmates about their

techniques for controlling their bad temper. Complete the chart below:

My classmate’s name: His/her technique:

8

Unit 3: My Greatest Regret

I. Inferring: In pairs, take a look at the following pictures. What do you think the poem will

be about?

II. Group Reading: In groups of 5, read the following poem. Each member will read one

stanza of the poem. Do not worry if you do not understand every word. Try to get the

main ideas of the poem.

My Greatest Regret By Hussein A. Termos

I never showed my love when she was here.

Of her reaction I always had that fear.

Now she will no longer stay.

I never showed my love, and now she's away.

I always wanted to look at her face.

I always wanted to be near her place.

I always had a feeling deep down inside,

A feeling I always had to hide.

I did what I could to hide what I feel,

To hide how my heart she can steal.

Why hide? I was always asking.

Now it's time for unmasking.

Since I saw her, I wanted to be more than her friend.

Now that dream will forever end.

She was the first girl on which I had a crush.

To see her, I went to school in a rush.

I never told that girl how my feelings were.

I never showed her how much I care.

I regret not having that talk.

I regret not breaking that block.

Retrieved from https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/my-greatest-regret

9

III. Vocabulary: In the same groups, discuss the meaning of the following words. You can use

a dictionary if you want to.

Fear:

Steal:

Hide:

Unmasking:

To have a crush:

Regret:

IV. Reflect: Find a partner and discuss the following questions. Write down some of your

ideas.

1. Do you feel identified with the boy from the poem? Why? Why not?

2. Have you ever had a crush? Did you tell the person? Share your

experience.

V. Role –Play: In the same pairs, prepare a short conversation in which one of you is the boy,

and the another one is a friend providing advice. You can use some of the prompts

below and also create your own ideas.

-You shouldn’t be sad!

- Regrets are no good for you.

- Talk to her! Call her!

10

Unit 4: Foolish Imitation

I. Brainstorming: In groups of 4, take a look at the following pictures of a crow and a

hawk. Which concepts or words come to your mind?

II. Move around: Find a partner from your class and ask the following question. Write

down their answers.

Would you like to be the crow or the hawk? Why?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

III. Reading: Read the following story individually. Don’t worry if you don’t understand every

word and try to focus on the main ideas of the text.

Foolish Imitation By Noor Fatima

Long ago, a hawk lived on the top of a hill. At the

foot of the hill there was a banyan tree on which a

crow used to perch every day. The crow was very

foolish. He would imitate everyone.

The hawk atop the hill would fly down every day in

search of food. The crow watched the hawk circling

in the air for long hours and swooping down when he

saw his prey. The hawk gifted with eyes that could

see long distances would spot his prey from the hill

top and then fly down to pounce upon the prey.

The crow watched the hawk thinking, “Hunh! If the hawk can do that, I too can. What

does he think? One day, I will show the hawk that I can do the same thing."

A few days later, as the hawk was circling in the air, the crow decided to do the same.

Suddenly a baby rabbit came out of the bushes. The hawk saw it and the crow too saw the

rabbit.

Before the crow could move, the hawk swooped down, caught hold of the rabbit in his

strong sharp talons and flew away. “Swoosh!" was all the crow heard as the hawk

disappeared in the sky with his prey. “Hmmph! That is no great skill," thought the crow,

angrily.

Next moment he spotted a big fat mouse coming out of a hole. Without wasting time, the

crow swooped down. Like the hawk he tried to catch the mouse in his claws.

11

But the mouse saw the crow and moved away, the crow crashed against the hill. “Eeeaaa!"

cried the crow in pain.

Just then the hawk came flying down. “I hope, now you know it is not easy to hunt and it

is not easy to imitate, either” said the hawk and flew away.

Thereafter, the crow never imitated any one in its life. It lived happily with its God-given

abilities.

Retrieved from http://www.english-for-students.com/Foolish-Imitation.html

IV. Reading Comprehension: Now form teams of 3 or 4 and read the story again. Answer the following questions:

1. What did the crow think every time he sees the hawk?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

2. What happened when the crow imitated the hawk?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

V. Whole-class conversation: Take a look at the following image and discuss the questions

below with your classmates and teacher.

Do you agree or disagree with the image?

Have you ever imitated anyone? Why?

Do you agree with the hawk? Is it difficult to imitate others?

VI. Writing. Write a short letter to the crow in which you give him advice regarding his

imitation problem.

12

Unit 5: The Night Train at Deoli2

I. Pre-Reading tasks. Discuss these questions with your teacher

4. Do you like travelling?

5. Have you ever travelled by train?

6. Are there any towns you have seen from a bus or train but never visited?

II. Guessing: You will see different pictures about the short story “The Night Train at

Deoli” by Ruskin Bond. Discuss in groups what you think the story is about.

2 Ruskin Bond. “The Night Train at Deoli” The Night Train at Deoli and other stories. Penguin Books. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/TheNightTrainAtDeoliAndOtherStoriesRuskinBond/The+Night+Train+at+Deoli+and+Other+Stories+-+Ruskin+Bond_djvu.txt

13

III. Pre-Reading Vocabulary: Get together in groups of 4 and look up the meanings of

the following words. All of them appear in the short story There will Come Soft

Rains by Ray Bradbury

IV. Reading & Listening: Listen to your teacher read the story. Follow the story as you

listen and then answer the questions together as a team. Don’t worry if you don’t

understand every word. Try to get the main ideas.

The Night Train at Deoli By Ruskin Bond *

When I was at College I used to spend my summer vacations in Dehra, at my

grandmother ’s place. I would leave the plains early in May and return late in July. Deoli

was a small station about thirty miles from Dehra; it marked the beginning of the heavy

jungles of the Indian Terai.

The train would reach Deoli at about five in the morning, when the station would be

dimly lit with electric bulbs and oil-lamps, and the jungle across the railway tracks would

just be visible in the faint light of dawn. Deoli had only lone platform, an office for the

stationmaster and a waiting room. The platform boasted a tea stall, a fruit vendor, and a

few stray dogs; not much else, because the train stopped there for only ten minutes before

rushing on into the forests.

Why it stopped at Deoli. I don’t know. Nothing ever happened there. Nobody got off the

train and nobody got in. There were never any coolies on the platform. But the train

would halt there a full ten minutes, and then a bell would sound, the guard would blow

his whistle, and presently Deoli would be left behind and forgotten.

I used to wonder what happened in Deoli, behind the station walls. I always felt sorry for

that lonely little platform, and for the place that nobody wanted to visit. I decided that one

day I would get off the train at Deoli, and spend the day there, just to please the town.

I was eighteen, visiting my grandmother, and the night train stopped at Deoli. A girl came

down the platform, selling baskets.

It was a cold morning and the girl had a shawl thrown across her shoulders. Her feet were

bare and her clothes were old, but she was a young girl, walking gracefully and with

dignity.

When she came to my window, she stopped. She saw that I was looking at her intendedly,

but at first she pretended not to notice. She had a pale skin, set off by shiny black hair,

and dark, troubled eyes. And then those eyes, searching and eloquent, met mine.

She stood by my window for some time and neither of us said anything. But when she

moved on, I found myself leaving my seat and going to the carriage door, and stood

waiting on the platform, looking the other way. I walked across to the tea stall. A kettle

was boiling over on a small fire, but the owner of the stall was busy serving tea somewhere

on the train. The girl followed me behind the stall.

'Do you want to buy a basket? she asked. ‘They are very strong, made of the

finest cane ...’

Plains dimly tea stall blow smouldering

Blurred foreboding

14

‘No,’ I said, ‘I don’t want a basket.’

We stood looking at each other for what seemed a very long time, and she said,

‘Are you sure you don’t want a basket?’

‘All right, give me one,’ I said, and I took the one on top and gave her a rupee, hardly

daring to touch her fingers. As she was about to speak, the guard blew his whistle; she

said something, but it was lost in the clanging of the bell and the hissing of the engine. I

had to run back to my compartment. The carriage shuddered and jolted forward.

I watched her as the platform slipped away. She was alone on the platform and she did

not move, but she was looking at me and smiling. I watched her until the signal- box

came in the way, and then the jungle hid the station, but I could still see her standing

there alone ...

I sat up awake for the rest of the journey. I could not rid my mind of the picture of the

girl’s face and her dark, smouldering eyes.

But when I reached Dehra the incident became blurred and distant, for there were other

things to occupy my mind. It was only when I was making the return journey, two months

later, that I remembered the girl.

V. Answer the following questions. Each of you answers one question and reads it to the

group.

1. Describe the girl who sells baskets

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________.

2. How does the narrator feel about the girl?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________.

3. Does he want to meet the girl again?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________.

VI. Predicting. Which of the following endings you think is more suitable for the story Discuss

with your group and then create your own ending.

1. The young man and the girl met two years after this in Dehli. They fell in love and married.

2. The young man expected to see the girl at the station in Deoli again but he never saw her

again.

3. The young girl waited for the man at the station in Deoli but the he never came back.

4. Both the young man and the girl met again when they were very old. They had married

other people.

5. Your own ending:

__________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________.

15

VII. Writing. Imagine you are the young man. You have miraculously got the girl’s whatsapp.

Write her a message together as a group.

VIII. Role play. Imagine the young man meets the girl in a café. Write down their conversation

Young man: _________________________________________________________

Young girl:___________________________________________________________

Young man: __________________________________________________________

16

Young girl: ___________________________________________________________

Young man: _________________________________________________________

Young girl: ___________________________________________________________

Young man: __________________________________________________________

Young girl: ___________________________________________________________

IX. Feelings. The young man in the story had very strong for a girl whom he hardly knew. Have

you ever felt like this about someone? Discuss with your group.

17

Unit 6: There Will come Soft Rains

I. Guessing: You are going to read an excerpt of the short story: There Will come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury. What do you think the title means? Look at the

picture and decide in groups of 4 what the story is about.

18

II. Pre-Reading Vocabulary: Get together in groups of 4 and look up the meanings of the following words. All of them appear in the short story There will

Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury

III. Reading: Read The following excerpt of the story taking turns with your group. Each of you may read one paragraph. Don’t worry if you don’t understand

every word. Try to get the main ideas.

There will come soft rains By Ray Bradbury *

In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o'clock! As if it were afraid that nobody would. The morning house lay

empty. The clock ticked on, repeating and repeating its sounds into the emptiness. Seven- nine, breakfast time, seven-nine.

In the kitchen the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its warm interior eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunny side up, sixteen slices of bacon,

two coffees and two cool glasses of milk.

"Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, "in the city of Allendale, California." It repeated the date three times for memory's sake. "Today is Mr.

Featherstone's birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills."

Somewhere in the walls, relays clicked, memory tapes glided under electric eyes.

Eight-one, tick-tock, eight-one o'clock, off to school, off to work, run, run, eight-one! But no doors slammed, no carpets took the soft thread of rubber heels. It was raining

outside. The weather box on the front door sang quietly: "Rain, rain, go away; rubbers, raincoats for today…" And the rain tapped on the empty house, echoing.

lay emptiness hissing sigh relays chimed shriveled

wedge scraped warrens thudded kneading

19

Outside, the garage chimed and lifted its door to reveal the waiting car. After a long wait the door swung down again.

At eight-thirty the eggs shriveled and the toast was like stone. An aluminum wedge scraped them into the sink, where hot water whirled them down a metal throat which

digested and flushed them away to the distant sea. The dirty dishes were dropped into a hot washer and emerged twinkling dry.

Nine-fifteen, sang the clock, time to clean.

Out of warrens in the wall, tiny robot mice darted. The rooms were a crawl with the small cleaning animals, all rubber and metal. They thudded against chairs, whirling their

mustached runner, kneading the rug nap, sucking gently at hidden dust. They like mysterious invaders, they popped into their burrows. Their pink electric eyes faded. The house

was clean.

IV. Answer the following questions. Each of you answers one question and reads it to the group.

4. Is there anybody living in the house? How do you know?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

5. What happens on August 4, 2026?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

6. What’s the weather like?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

7. Is the house clean or dirty at 8.00?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

20

V. Inferring. What is happening? What happened before? What will happen in the future? Discuss with your teacher

What happened before? What’s happening now? What will happen in the future?

VI. Read the comic based on the short story. What had happened in the story?

21

22

VII. Role play. Imagine that you are a journalist who has met a survivor. In groups create 5 questions that you can ask the survivor in an interview.

1. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________?

2. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________?

3. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________?

4. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________?

5. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________?