For our parents - HKU Librarieslib.hku.hk/Press/9622094953.pdf · · 2015-03-04School of Professional and Continuing Education The University of Hong Kong ... Although our responses

For our parents

— the Editors

Printed in Hong Kong by Nordica Printing Co. Ltd.

Hong Kong University Press14/F Hing Wai Centre7 Tin Wan Praya Road

AberdeenHong Kong

© Hong Kong University Press 1999

ISBN 962 209 495 3

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication maybe reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any

recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,without permission in writing from the publisher.

CONTRIBUTORS vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix

CHAPTER 1 Worlds of Words: Authenticity of Response 1and the Experience of Literary Texts in theHong Kong Second-language ClassroomPeter Kennedy and Peter Falvey

CHAPTER 2 Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue: 13S3 Sail Off with the JumbliesAmanda Tann

CHAPTER 3 Radio Plays 33Bob Adamson and Annie Siu-yin Tong

CHAPTER 4 Using Hong Kong Stories in Hong Kong Classrooms 45Peter Kennedy

CHAPTER 5 Using Asian Poems in English Classes: Sample Lessons 59Mike Murphy

CHAPTER 6 From Reading to Speaking and Writing: Dramatizing 67for the English ClassroomPhilip Kam-wing Chan

CHAPTER 7 Little Red Riding Hood in Hong Kong 77Peter Kennedy

Contents

vi Contents

CHAPTER 8 ‘The Course of True Love’: Bringing Romance to the 91English ClassroomSarah Woodhouse

CHAPTER 9 Drama and Other Literary Strategies in the Teaching 117and Understanding of Poetry — Approaches to theExperience Dimension of Language UsePeter Falvey

CHAPTER 10 Imitation as Freedom: Creative Writing in the Second- 129language ClassroomCully Wilcoxon

Contributors

Bob Adamson Associate ProfessorDepartment of Curriculum StudiesThe University of Hong Kong

Philip Kam-wing Chan LecturerSchool of EducationOpen University of Hong Kong

Peter Falvey Senior LecturerDepartment of Curriculum StudiesThe University of Hong Kong

Peter Kennedy LecturerSchool of Professional and Continuing EducationThe University of Hong Kong

Mike Murphy LecturerDepartment of EnglishThe Hong Kong Institute of Education

Amanda Tann Hong Kong secondary school teacher

Annie Siu-yin Tong LecturerDepartment of EnglishThe Hong Kong Institute of Education

Cully Wilcoxon Associate ProfessorDepartment of EnglishThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

Sarah Woodhouse LecturerHong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

Acknowledgements

The editors and the publisher wish to thank the following who have kindlygiven permission to reproduce copyright material:

Fishing by Li Hou-chu, translated by E. Edwards, is reprinted from TheDragon Book by permission of T. & T. Clark Ltd. Publishers, Edinburgh,Scotland.

Lazy Man’s Song by Po Chü-i, translated by Arthur Waley, is reprintedfrom Chinese Poems by permission of the Estate of Arthur Waley, Richmond,Surrey, United Kingdom.

This is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams from Collected Poems:1909–1939, Volume 1. Copyright 1938 by New Directions Publishing Corp.Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

Three Raindrops by Terry Jones is reprinted from Fairy Tales by permissionof Pavilion Books, London.

Wires by Philip Larkin is reprinted from The Less Deceived by permissionof the Marvell Press, England and Australia.

Wrong Number from The Cockroach and Other Stories by Liu Yichang,pp. 44–46, Hong Kong: Renditions Paperbacks, 1995, by permission ofRenditions, Research Centre for Translation, Institute of Chinese Studies, theChinese University of Hong Kong.

Thanks to Andrew Chan for the drawings in chapters four and seven. Theeditors would also like to thank the following Hong Kong students forpermission to include their poems:

Atiya Bansal, Maria Chan, Dora Chong, Genevieve Ku, Calvin Kwok,Catherine Leung and Ada Tsoi.

Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright holders, but if anyhave been inadvertently overlooked, the publisher will be pleased to make thenecessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

1CHAPTER

Worlds of Words: Authenticity of Responseand the Experience of Literary Texts in theHong Kong Second-language Classroom

Peter Kennedy and Peter Falvey

INTRODUCTION

Read this poem. Resist the temptation to skip this bit!

Read it through again and, as you do so, note down:1. your first thoughts as to what it might be ‘about’;2. the feelings it evoked or any personal experiences that came to mind while

you were reading the poem; and

W i r e s 1

The widest prairies have electric fences, For though old cattle know they must not stray Young steers are always scenting purer water

Not here but anywhere. Beyond the wires

Leads them to blunder up against the wires Whose muscle-shredding violence gives no quarter.

Young steers become old cattle from that day, Electric limits to their widest senses.

2 Peter Kennedy and Peter Falvey

3. the questions you asked yourself as you went along (e.g. were there anywords you weren’t sure about?).

Here are our initial responses.

Peter A

• Title What does the title refer to? What kind of wires are they? Telephone/telegraph wires? Barbed wire?

• Pictures It is cows in a field but it isn’t a ‘field’ or a ‘meadow’, it is a‘prairie’. . . (mental picture of a combine harvester in an American landscape— Kansas? — wheat — breakfast cereal advert)!

• Sounds ‘though old cattle know’ . . . There are a lot of ‘oh’ sounds there. . . Why?

• Questions Old cattle and young steers . . . It is something to do with youthand experience? What?

• Language ‘muscle-shredding’ . . . Sounds like a Bruce Willis orSchwarzenegger film . . . ‘give quarter’? Arthurian romance — jousts —knights, when one knight is on the ground and the other one has a lance athis throat. What is the exact meaning of the phrase? Check it in thedictionary.

• Personal experiences ‘electric fences’ . . . reminds me of holiday in Devon,when we tried to take a short cut, got stuck in the corner of a field andcouldn’t get into the next one because of an electric fence . . . buzzing. Wehad to walk the long way round to get back onto the road . . . very annoyedwith the farmer. Why do they do that? How much of a shock do you get ifyou touch them? How strong would the electric current be?

Peter B

• The title, Wires, makes me think of concentration camps and films that Ihave seen — it reminds me of Steve McQueen, one of my favourite actorsin that famous prison camp film.

• ‘Prairies’ sets me off thinking of the old Westerns and the battles betweenthe ranchers who wanted wide-open spaces and the sheep-herders andfarmers who wanted to enclose the spaces.

• The first stanza, however, brings me back and I begin to think of operantconditioning and the ‘learning’ that the old steers have encountered whenblundering into the electrified fences.

• The ‘purer water’ makes me think of my days in the desert and the needsthat drive animals — and humans.

• I wonder why the poet carries the last line of the first stanza over into thesecond stanza, but then I realize what a powerful image those two linescreate, especially the phrase ‘muscle-shredding’ in the next line and thecontrast of ‘beyond the wires’ with ‘up against the wires’.

Worlds of Words 3

• I got to the end of the poem and thought ‘This is interesting’ but I need toread it again a few times.

The first reactions by Hong Kong University students to this poem areshown in Appendix 1.

What Were We Doing As We Were Reading?

Although our responses to Philip Larkin’s poem Wires were very different,there were a number of things they had in common:1. We looked at the title and started speculating as to what the poem might

be about even before we read it.2. We made inferences, e.g. ‘The poem appears to be about cows but is

something to do with youth and experience.’3. The poem sparked off associations. We connected the words with films

we had seen, books we had read, personal experiences we had had.4. We didn’t understand it all at the first reading. Even after a second reading,

we were still puzzling it out using the clues in the text and asking ourselvesquestions, e.g.:

• The poem has an interesting shape — ABCD DCBA. Why is that?• If you read aloud lines two and three, they have different rhythms/

speeds. Why?• There is very little punctuation in the first stanza, but then two full

stops and a comma in the last three lines. Why?

The poem provoked thoughts and evoked feelings simultaneously.

THINKING AND FEELING

Ted Hughes reminds us that reading a poem is a physical, sensual experience.Poems present vivid pictures and open our eyes so that we begin to look closelyat what we only saw before. Poems re-attune our ears so that we listen attentivelyto what we merely heard before. Poems refresh and awaken our five senses:

. . . words that live are those which we hear, like ‘click’ or ‘chuckle’ or whichwe see like ‘freckled’ or ‘veined’ or which we taste like ‘vinegar’ or ‘sugar’or ‘touch’, like ‘prickle’ or ‘oily’ or smell like ‘tar’ or ‘onion’. Words whichbelong directly to one of the five senses or words which act and seem to usetheir muscles like ‘flick’ or ‘balance’.2

Wires evokes powerful feelings. However, the expression of personalfeelings about a literary text isn’t enough. We must not lose sight of the textitself. A literary text is LANGUAGE used in interesting ways. It needs to belooked at as a linguistic artifact which can tell second-language learners things


about the language system, extend what they know about grammar andvocabulary (this does NOT mean ransacking it for verbs — see tasks below!).We have been talking above about what we would call the ExperienceDimension of TOC, but the tasks in this book also fulfil the requirements ofthe other two dimensions necessary for full competence in English — theKnowledge Dimension and the Interpersonal Dimension. For instance, suchgoals as:

Knowledge Dimension

• Using a range of language patterns for various purposes• Employing contextual and syntactic cues to interpret words• Making connections between simple facts and information not directly

stated through clues

Interpersonal Dimension

• Soliciting, sharing of experiences, views, preferences, attitudes and values• Understanding other people’s views, attitudes and preferences in

conversational exchanges• Discriminating between the different styles of writing used by different

people in common relationships

A literary text appeals to both the intellect and the emotions at the sametime. Reading is not a dry, cerebral activity. It does not entail taking a text topieces and labelling the parts — its metre, rhythm, verbal texture, etc. — likea specimen in the biology lab. Neither is it just emoting at the text, using it asa springboard for fantasies. For, as Hughes reminds us:

there is the inner life, the world of memory, emotion, imagination whichgoes on all the time like the heart-beat. There is also the thinking process bywhich we break into that inner life . . . if we do not, then our minds lie in uslike fish in the pond of a man who cannot fish.3

‘LITERARY’ TEXTS AND SECOND-LANGUAGE LEARNING

More than 100,000 students a year take the HKCE English Language exambut fewer than 1,000 take the English Literature exam. So why bother withliterary texts? We have put forward elsewhere, some of the arguments for usingliterary (small ‘l’) texts in the second-language class.4 It is clear that HongKong children will not be sustained through thirteen years’ schooling by thethought that one day they may need English for a job! Learning has to be —the three Ms — MOTIVATING, MEANINGFUL and MEMORABLE. Literarytexts that are stimulating and worthwhile can put the intellectual content back

Worlds of Words 5

into language learning. The fruitful ambiguity of literary texts may be harnessedto generate tasks that engage interest and offer an outlet for students’ creativeenergies. These striking texts and challenging tasks, in turn, help make thelanguage more memorable.

But these words become slogans, just empty phrases to which we pay lip-service, if we lose sight of the central reason for the existence of a literary text— it was written for the reader to enjoy. Literary texts are killed stone-dead ifthey are treated just like other EFL texts, if they are read only for informationnot for pleasure, if individuals are not allowed to give their responses to thedelights of the text.

How NOT to Use Literary Texts in the Second-language Class

1. (Ab)using them to teach grammar. Ransacking them for examples of thepresent perfect, plundering them for new items of vocabulary.

2. Smothering them with worksheets which ask students to carry out dulltasks, such as underlining adjectives or answering pointless comprehensionquestions.

3. Lecturing on the texts and playing the ‘Look how much teacher knows’game, rather than letting students make their own discoveries about thetexts.

4. Asking students to formulate a response before they are ready or forcingthem to share personal feelings in class when they don’t want to. Theycan come to this naturally as examples in following chapters show.

5. Boiling the texts down to moral ‘lessons about life’. Children shy awayfrom books that preach or try to persuade them. (Much has been writtenabout the traditional didactic role of literary texts in China and how this istraceable to Confucianism. In fact, as a Chinese scholar has recently pointedout, this is based on a misinterpretation of Confucius’ writing. Althoughin the Analects he did stress that poetry should help ‘observe socialconditions’ guan and ‘give expression to complaints’ yuan, he also said itcan ‘stimulate the imagination’ xing.)5

What Might We Have Done With the Poem (Wires) in a Hong KongLanguage Class?

We chose this poem with teachers in mind. It is a bit more difficult than thetexts you would normally use in class, but it is still accessible to an upper-secondary class.

We didn’t come to the poem blank. We put a template of thoughts andfeelings over it as we read. Any ‘reading’ of a text is, in part, a ‘reading’ ofourselves too. A literary text is a patterning of language not Reality. However,it presents a reality, a parallel world. Reading is an interactive process, anegotiation between the text and the knowledge, experiences and ideas webring to it. In this sense, the reader is part of the creative process:


Interpretation of the text depends on the reader’s ability to imagine ameaningful world in their interaction with the language of the text.6

For students to relate Wires to their imaginative and emotional lives, theymust be given an opportunity to express their genuine reactions to the text, notchannelled or directed. They need a chance to experience it first-hand, not totalk ABOUT or OUTSIDE it. What we are advocating is that students aretaken through the same (authentic) PROCESS of reading as you went throughearlier with Wires.

Here are some possible (pre-, while- and post-reading) tasks you may wishto use with the poem.

Pre-reading Tasks

• Title What does the title suggest to you? Students brainstorm and the teacherputs their suggestions on the board.

• Visual prompts Bring in magazine pictures, display them around the roombut don’t refer to them directly. Let students make the connections forthemselves, e.g. a picture of cows in field, another of adolescents on astreet corner and one of barbed wire.

• Word association Put the words ‘prairie’, ‘cattle’, etc. on the board andask students to talk about their (personal) experiences or the mental picturesthat they associate with these words.

• Word association The teacher says, ‘You are going to hear a poem inwhich these (six) words appear,’ and puts six words on the board, e.g.fences, cattle, wires, violence, limits, senses. Then the teacher says, ‘Whatdo you expect the poem to be about? What “story” do you think it willtell?’

While- and Post-reading Tasks

• After the students have read the poem, make two columns on the board.Put the words ‘young’ at the top of one column and ‘old’ at the top of theother. Ask the students to call out the pros and cons of being young/old,e.g. young people have more fun, old people have more freedom. Theclass debate the topic of Youth vs Age.

• Dictation/composition: The teacher reads the poem; each student writesdown the words he/she can recall. Next the teacher reads the poem againand pairs of students, using their list of words, begin to reconstruct thepoem. Then the teacher reads the poem a third time and groups of studentssit together for a further reconstruction of the poem.

• Cloze/dictionary work, e.g.1. Students look up the words ‘field’, ‘meadow’, ‘prairie’ in the dictionary

to understand the subtle differences between them.

Worlds of Words 7

2. Delete five words (which should include ‘prairie’) from the poem andgive out the cloze version of the poem.

3. Students fill in the blanks.• To help students become more sensitive to (subtle) differences in meaning

of the words the poet uses, put up on the board the words ‘field’, ‘meadow’,‘prairie’. Ask students why they think the poet chose ‘prairie’ and whatthe poem would lose if he had chosen one of the other two words, e.g.‘meadow’ instead of ‘prairie’ (more domestic, less vast). The sameprocedure is repeated for the following:

e.g. steer, cow, bull (the OED defines steer as young, male, castratedand raised for beef!);e.g. smelling and scenting.

• Present the poem line by line on, if possible, an overhead transparency.After presenting two lines, stop and ask the students what they think thepoem is about. Present another two lines and ask them again and so on. Atthe end, attempt to elicit how their expectations altered as they got moreand more information.

• Make enough copies of the poem for groups of four students. Cut up thetext. Jumble the lines and put them in an envelope. Give each group anenvelope. Ask them to organize the lines into a poem and stick them ontoa clean sheet/card. Groups compare poems by reading them out or byswopping them. They then explain how they arrived at their version. Askthem to say what clues assisted them in ordering the lines. Was it therhyme pattern, grammar, conjunctions, etc.? Give out the original poemand ask students to read and compare it with their own version.

• Students write (three) questions about the text for another group to answer.This is a refreshing alternative to the teacher always asking all the questions.

Extended Activities

Wires is a short poem but the mind goes on after the poem stops. Ask studentsto:• draw a picture to illustrate the poem;• rewrite the poem as a newspaper report (e.g. an incident in which an

adolescent ‘learnt from experience’ or a smug adult was taught by anadolescent to unlearn what he/she thought he/she knew!); and

• write their own poems on the theme of Youth and Age.

LANGUAGE LEARNING AND CREATIVITY

Employers in Hong Kong complain of a lack of ‘creativity’ and original thinkingamong school-leavers. If Hong Kong is to compete effectively, they say, schoolsneed to foster in students the capacity for questioning and for critical reflection.


Viewed in this way, ‘education’ is not a matter of narrow skills training, but ofeducing — of developing the capacity for sustained enquiry. This point wasmade by the Director of Education:

Instead of just imparting knowledge, we should be teaching our children tobe enthused about acquiring knowledge, to enjoy the experience of learningand to train their minds to be critical and analytical . . . to develop an attitudeand aptitude for lifelong learning . . .7

For too long, second-language education in Hong Kong was concernedwith skills training and with learning about language. ‘Enjoyment’ is not aword many children would associate with their (language) learning experiences!Abbs (1994) speaks of the boredom and disenchantment young people feelwhen education does not extend their sensibilities and intellects, fails ‘. . . toturn their energies to the creative elaboration of their lives.’8

The Experience Dimension of the new Target Oriented Curriculum (TOC)aims to develop the capability to use English ‘. . . to give expression to real andimaginative experience’ through the use of poems, plays and stories. Thesereforms hold out the possibility that the creative elaboration of the lives ofHong Kong children can now occur in the second-language classroom. Theuse of literary texts in the language class will no longer be a marginal Fridayafternoon activity but will be central to the school curriculum.

This view has been boosted recently by a report on the Hong Kong PublicExaminations System (Hong Kong Baptist University, 1998) which proposesthat the range of achievements to be assessed at CEE and ALE should bebroadened, and that school-based assessment should be adopted. This movetowards school-based assessment would include the kind of projects, portfolios,class tests and assignments which lend themselves to experiential class-workof the type presented in this book. On TOC, ROPES suggests:

The innovation is likely to change from its original conception . . . [in] an on-going process of adaptation and modification.9

The intention is to retain the best of TOC but in a form which does notupset the well-entrenched view of assessment held by the Hong Kong public.

There is a further point to be made about language creativity. Recent corporaresearch — based on analyses of huge data banks of contemporary spokenEnglish — has revealed that creative play with language is common in everydayEnglish. Dialogue, it seems, is a verbal double act in which one person picksup a phrase another has used and modifies it when his/her ‘turn’ comes. It is aspeech ‘act’, co-constructed and co-scripted. These patterns of inventivenessfound in ordinary conversation — word-play, joking with fixed phrases,reformulating idioms — are features we normally associate with ‘literary’language.10

It is clear that getting students to use English ‘creatively’ is not something

Worlds of Words 9

that can be left to the end of the language learning process — until after thegrammar and vocabulary have been mastered — creativity is inherent inordinary language use. ‘Literary’ uses of language routinely occur in speechand in all kinds of texts. Learning to learn and developing learning strategiesinvolve aesthetic understanding, appreciating the creative play and inventionof language use. As Carter and McCarthy (1994) put it:

students’ language development is best supported when they are exposed to acontinuum of texts, both literary and non-literary texts . . . all kinds of creativeand purposeful play with the resources of the language needs to be presentedwith the texts organized around related themes.11

If Hong Kong’s prosperity is to be maintained, it must continue to lookWest as well as East. A lot of the individuality, creativity and critical thinkingbeing constantly spoken about in education circles will need to occur in Englishas well as in Chinese. For this to happen, second-language learning can nolonger be only about grammar and superficial communication. Linking second-language learning to the feelings, opinions and experiences of students cangive them a chance to express their individuality in a second language. Usingliterary texts in the second-language classroom can also play a part in developingsuch creativity and critical thinking. Affective learning can encourage effectivesecond-language learning. The following chapters in this book illustrate howthis can be done, but before reading them, take a moment to glance through thewords in Appendix 2 which have been used to define poetry, stories and drama.

REFERENCES

Abbs, P. The Educational Imperative: A Defence of Socratic and Aesthetic Learning.London: Falmer Press, 1994.

Carter, R. ‘Commonly Creative Language.’ A lecture given at the conference Speech,Writing and Context: Literary and Linguistic Perspectives, 16 July 1998,Nottingham University.

——— and M. McCarthy. ‘Literature, Culture and Language as Discourse.’ In Languageas Discourse: Perspectives for Language Teaching. London: Longman, 1994.

Falvey, P. and P. Kennedy. Learning Language Through Literature: A Sourcebook forTeachers of English in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press,1997.

Hong Kong Baptist University. Review of the Public Examination System in HongKong: Final Report. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Baptist University and Hong KongExaminations Authority, 1998.

Hughes, T. Poetry in the Making. London: Faber & Faber, 1982.Kennedy, P. and P. Falvey. Learning Language Through Literature in Primary Schools:

Resource Book for Teachers of English. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press,1998.

Larkin, P. ‘Wires.’ In The Less Deceived. Hull: the Marvell Press, 1955.


Semino, E. Language and World Creation in Poems and Other Texts. London: Longman,1997.

Tang, Y.F. ‘Cognitive or Affective Experience: Theory and Practice of Reading inChinese and Western Literary Traditions.’ Comparative Literature 19/2 (1997).

NOTES

1. Larkin, 1955.2. Hughes, 1982, p. 17.3. Hughes, 1982, p. 57.4. See Falvey and Kennedy, 1997, and Kennedy and Falvey, 1998.5. Cited in Tang, 1997, pp. 151–175.6. Semino, 1997, p. 9.7. South China Morning Post, 25 November 1998.8. Abbs, 1994, p. 35.9. Hong Kong Baptist University, 1998, p. 179.10. This point was made by Carter (1998).11. Carter and McCarthy, 1994, pp. 166–167.

APPENDIX 1: FIRST RESPONSES BY HKU STUDENTS AND (TRAINEE)TEACHERS TO WIRES

Making Inferences

• The poet is talking about boundaries and experiences — the innocence ornaïveté of the young and how experience makes them ‘wiser’ and ultimatelylimits their zest for new things.

• The old are complacent, willing to be confined in contrast with theadventurous young ones.

• There is a parallel between cattle and humans . . . the wires are theconstraints of society and the limits of freedom.

• Older people seem to live behind ‘virtual fences’ that limit their thinkingand behaviour.

Feelings and Reactions

• Rules, regulations, discipline, laws, responsibility . . . the young possessguts, courage, fantasies, dreams but they will (learn to) conform.

• Wires, electric limits imply painful, often unseen, controlling forces.• The electric limits are imposed — a corralling of freedom.

Worlds of Words 11

Related Personal Experiences

• An image of open space made into a prison . . . widest prairies — USA atdusk.

• This is a poem about how young cattle ‘learn their lesson’. . .• I thought about how my students sometimes say they study in a ‘prison’,

how they are stifled by all the rules.• It makes me think of a prison. The young steers are the young, violent

prisoners, the old cattle are like old prisoners who have been locked up along time.

• The title Wires makes me think of nerves in the brain.

Puzzling It Out

I’m not sure about the meanings of one or two words.

The Poem As An Aesthetic Object

• I like the rhythms of this poem.• I like the phrase ‘beyond the wires’. It separates the two stanzas but at the

same time links them together.• The rhymes are organized in this way — the last sentence of the first

stanza rhymes with the first sentence of the second stanza and so on.

APPENDIX 2: POETRY? STORIES? DRAMA?

Poetry?Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takesits origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.

— W. Wordsworth

Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are themost useless; peacocks and lilies for instance.

— J. Ruskin

A parcel which will not come undone despite being hurledrepeatedly at the wall.

— R. Graves

True ease in writing comes from art not chance,As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.’Tis not enough no harshness gives offenceThe sound must seem the echo of the sense.

— A. Pope


Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement.— C. Fry

Stories?A patterned dramatisation of life.

— E.A. Poe

A true short story is something other and something more than amere story which is short.

— B. Mathews

A story is like a horse race, it is the start and finish that countmost.

— E. Hemingway

There are three necessary elements in a story — exposition,development and drama.

— F. O’Connor

With a short story, you have to be there on every word; everyverb has to be lambent and strong.

— J. Cheever

Drama?A Muse of fire that would ascendThe highest heaven of invention.

— W. Shakespeare

Students making an imaginative leap from their actual roles . . .enter into the drama without fear of the consequences that mightresult from such a situation in real life.

— J. Somers

People watching film or TV tend to lean back, people in the theatreto lean forward. The body-language tells a truth . . . the theatrecannot shed the civic and religious importance it possessed at itsdawning.

— B. Nightingale

Theatre is one of the inheritors of pre-industrial ritual: ideas andimages, clown and gods, cosmos and chaos, all the sensory codes,music, dance, body language, song and chant.

— V. Turner

To use the simplest means — a person’s hand or face, aninarticulate cry, an empty space — to draw together moments ofperformance that can seem an enhancement of an audience’s ownthoughts and desires.

— J.R. Brown

2Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are

Blue: S3 Sail Off with the Jumblies

Amanda Tann

CHAPTER

INTRODUCTION

The following lesson plan demonstrates how literature can be used in the Englishlanguage classroom as a starting point for giving students opportunities topractise their language skills in a meaningful and interesting context. At thesame time it fulfils some of the aims as stated in the Experience Dimension ofthe Target Oriented Curriculum as it relates to Key Stages 3 and 4. Specificallyit helps students to develop their own response to imaginative literature, in thiscase, a nonsense rhyme and to appreciate the importance of intonation inconveying meaning and different emotions. They have the opportunity torespond to characters and events in the text, and to discover how these can berelated to their own experiences, although, initially, the ideas contained in therhyme may seem to be far removed from reality. In addition, students areencouraged to give expression to imaginative ideas by creating short dramaticepisodes (in this case, conversations) in which they first put themselves intoimaginary roles and then incorporate ideas suggested by their own experiences.

This lesson is aimed at students in Form 2 or 3, but could easily be adaptedto suit older students. The overall objective of the lesson is to use a poem as abasis for encouraging the students to be creative in their use of English. It ishoped that students will find the poem surprising and amusing, and that it willstimulate them to produce some original ideas of their own. The activities aremore than activities of a more guided nature which would have been used inearlier lessons when practising specific language forms. This lesson provides

14 Amanda Tann

students with the opportunity to use their imaginations and utilize the structuresand vocabulary with which they are familiar.

The poem is used as a starting point for other language activities. This‘nonsense’ rhyme offers students plenty of opportunities to make links withtheir own experiences, both real and imagined, and provides a context for bothwritten and oral communication. Students should think about their ownexperiences and incorporate these in the work they produce. The conversationtask gives groups an opportunity to think about how people communicatemessages in different ways, and to act this out in a role play. Students have thechance to use their own words rather than use those given by somebody else.

The characters in the poem make their own ‘boat’. Later, students areasked to design their own rafts, and are then expected to explain to others howthey work. In order to develop written skills, the homework task is a postcardto be sent home. The guidelines offer support to weaker students. It is importantthat assessment evaluate content as well as language, so that students can receivecredit for ideas, and not only for accuracy of language.

Finally, I hope that students will appreciate the poem and enjoy doingsomething a bit different where they have the chance to learn without realizingthat they are doing so.

LESSON PLAN

Double lesson (eighty minutes).

Objectives

By the end of the lesson (including homework) students should be able to:

Time Teacher Activity

5 minutes • T: We are all so busy in Hong Kong. You work so hard at school.• Question Have you ever thought about going off and having

an adventure? If you did, where would you like to go? Howwould you like to travel?

• If Ss respond, take it from there, or if quiet, T talks aboutadventurers in the past, e.g. Christopher Columbus, and T’sown wish to go off on a sea voyage to explore distant lands.

• Question Have you all been on a boat before? What kind?• Question If you were going on a long sea journey with your

friends, what kind of boat would you choose? Why?

Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue 15

1. Follow the rhythm of the poem, by clapping, and use appropriate stress ifasked to read.

2. Understand the meaning of the poem, be aware that it is a ‘nonsense’ rhyme,but pick out connections to real life.

3. Answer simple comprehension questions orally to demonstrateunderstanding.

4. Demonstrate awareness of different intonation patterns for differentemotions by creating and performing dialogues based on the poem.

5. Create a short piece of written work based on ideas from the poem.

Prior Knowledge

1. Knowledge of vocabulary about travelling, adventures, the sea, kitchenitems.

2. Previous postcard writing.

Materials Required

1. Copies of the poem The Jumblies by Edward Lear, and a tape recording ofsame made by the teacher (or a NET in the school).

2. Conversation worksheets (A to E).3. Homework instruction sheet plus pieces of card.

Set

Arouse interest in sea journey and adventures.

Student Activity Objectives Check

Students (Ss) may respond, or just listen to the teacher (T) Setat first.

Ss likely to call out ‘yes’: ferry, sampan, jetfoil, etc.Ss volunteer their answers and/or are called upon by T.

16 Amanda Tann


5 minutes • T: We’ve been thinking about boats and going on a sea journey.Now you are going to hear a poem which is all about a group ofpeople who go off on a long sea journey to visit distant lands.

• Question What sort of things might happen in such a poem?• T writes up suggestions, which are likely to be conventional

ideas about Indiana Jones-type explorers or historicaladventurers.

• T: Yes, these are good suggestions. BUT listen very carefullyto the poem about a sea adventure and you may get a surprise.These are very unusual people. Their choice of a boat is verypeculiar, and they visit some very strange places.

• T distributes copies of The Jumblies.

5 minutes T plays his/her recording of poem which he/she has tried to readwith as much animation as possible, making it lively andinteresting.

5– 7 minutes • T writes up three questions (Qs) on the board:Can you tell me (1) What are the people called? (2) What didthey go to sea in? (3) What is the name of a place they visited?

• Question Look at these questions. Can you give me the answersnow that you have listened to the poem?

• If not, have a quick look through and see if you can find theanswers now. (T can show Ss an illustration if feels it isappropriate.)

• T goes through Qs on the board.• Using answers to these Qs, T points out that it is a ‘nonsense’

rhyme. Do real people have blue hands? Can you sail in a sieve?Why not?, etc. (NB: very important to check understanding ofsieve as important to meaning — maybe bring one to show.)

• Ask Ss to look through the poem and pick out items whichdon’t make sense to them. T writes up suggestions on the board.

3–5 minutes • T points out that stress beats have been marked in on the firstverse.

• T reminds Ss (and demonstrates by clapping) that once youhave the regular rhythm of the stressed beats, the remainingunstressed syllables fit into the same amount of time, howevermany there are.

• Call on Ss to clap rhythm together, then call on some individualsto clap and then to read a line of the poem with correct stress.

• Task Try to mark where the stress beats will fall in the secondverse.

• T walks round and monitors. Helps individuals as necessary.• T gets everyone to read the second verse in unison with correct

stress.



Ss listen to T.

Ss volunteer suggestions and/or are called upon by T.

Ss listen to recording of T reading poem and follow therecording on their own copy.

Ss volunteer if able.Ss volunteer or are called upon.

Ss demonstrate their understanding of ‘nonsense’ by 2, 3responding to these Qs.

Ss call out suggestions.

Ss listen to T. 1

Ss follow T, clap the rhythm in unison, then alone, ifcalled on.

Ss work individually to mark stress beats in thesecond verse.Ss read the second verse in unison.

18 Amanda Tann


10 minutes • T: The Jumblies are imaginary people who make an impossiblejourney. None of this is real, but, for me, what makes the poemfunny is the close link between the things people say to theJumblies, and the way people treat you in real life if ever youtry anything different.

• T: Have a look at verses 1 and 2. What do people think aboutthe Jumblies’ journey? What kind of things do they say? Whatdo the Jumblies think about it? Have you ever heard anyonemake those kind of comments? Have a look at the last verse.How do people treat the Jumblies when they come back? Is itdifferent from before they went away? What kinds of things dothey say? Talk with your neighbour if you like.

• T sets up teacher-led large group discussion based on answersto Qs above. Elicit from Ss how people react whenever someonewants to do something different. Teenagers know about this!Share own relevant experiences. (NB: If Ss shy away fromtalking in a large group, let them talk for a few minutes in smallgroups, and then share if they want to.)

3 minutes • T: We have just been talking about how people can showdifferent feelings when they are worried about you, or whenthey think you are silly. They show yet another kind of emotionwhen they are pleased to see you back safe and sound, and you,yourself, may feel quite excited and happy about the whole thing,and very pleased with yourself for being brave and adventurous.Concern, relief, admiration — we use different words to expressthese feelings, but it is not only the words we use, but the waywe say them.

• T demonstrates ‘you’ll all be drowned’ in a monotone. Whatdoes it mean? Not much. Show how it can be said with fear, toconvey ‘it serves you right’, with resignation, with excitement,etc.

3–4 minutes Task T picks out some phrases from the poem and asks Ss topractise saying them to their neighbour with different intonationto achieve different meanings, as above, e.g. ‘you’ll all bedrowned’, ‘it’s extremely wrong’, ‘how happy we are’, ‘how tallthey’ve grown!’ (amazed, angry, questioning, sad, bored, etc.). Twalks round and monitors. You may wish to draw faces on theboard expressing these emotions or bring in appropriate pictures.

2–3 minutes • T gives link to next task: We have seen from the poem thatdifferent people reacted in different ways to the Jumblies’adventure.

• Task What you are going to do now is work together in yourgroups to make up a short conversation between different peoplein the poem. Each group will choose a piece of paper from my



Ss listen to T. 2, 3

Ss volunteer answers to Qs and/or are called on by T.Ss hopefully are willing to volunteer and sharein the discussion. They may be interested to hearabout some incidents in T’s life, and may then bemore willing to share their own stories.

Ss listen to T. 4

Ss try, if called on.

Ss work together with partner to try out differentintonation.

Ss listen to T. 2, 4

20 Amanda Tann

bag. This will tell you which are the characters speaking inyour conversation. I will give you about 10 minutes to workout what you will say, and write down the script, and then I willcall on groups to perform the conversation to the class.

• T distributes worksheets (A to E) and spare paper for writing.Groups choose worksheets at random. Checks Ss understandinstructions.

8–10 minutes T monitors activity.

5– 7 minutes T calls on 5 groups at random to perform their conversations.There may not be time to hear all groups, but others mightcontribute in the next lesson. Comment encouragingly onperformances. Collect scripts so that all Ss know their work willbe seen.

10 minutes • Task The Jumblies used a very strange object for their boat.Not many people would choose a seive to sail in, not with allthose holes! Now I want you to use your imagination and thinkabout what you would use to make your own raft or small boat,if you were going off on an adventure. It can be as silly or assensible as you like, but you must be able to explain why youchose that item and how it all works. Draw a picture of yourraft/boat and label the different parts. Be ready to explain thingsif I or your classmates ask you. Make your picture as beautifulas you like. We will put them up on the wall afterwards. Whenyou have finished, show your neighbour and your other groupmembers. Ask each other questions similar to those onWorksheets A to E.

• T should walk round monitoring the activity, admiring,suggesting, etc. Collect sheets afterwards.

2–3 minutes T distributes homework sheet and checks that Ss understandinstructions. It is a short writing task based on activities in thelesson — A Jumblie writes a postcard home or the student writeshome from his/her own adventure.


Next Lesson: Comment on conversations which were handedin, and admire the boat pictures which should by now be onthe wall. Could easily extend topic to another double lessonwith miming activities and oral storytelling, perhaps developingthis into a full-scale composition topic.(Note: Lesson plan format adapted from Pang, 1992.)



Groups of Ss work together to produce their own 2, 4conversation based on characters in the poem.Instructions and suggestions are on the worksheet.They are to think especially about the differentfeelings and emotions shown by the different charactersconcerned, as we discussed earlier.

Ss perform their conversations if called upon. 4

Ss work individually to produce labelled picture of 5their own raft/boat, then share with other Ss and ask eachother questions.

Ss listen to T. 5

22 Amanda Tann

The Jumblies

They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,In a Sieve they went to sea:

In spite of all their friends could say,On a winter’s morn, on a stormy day,

In a Sieve they went to sea!And when the Sieve turned round and round,And everyone cried, ‘You’ll all be drowned!’They called aloud, ‘Our Sieve ain’t big,But we don’t care a button! we don’t care a fig!

In a Sieve we’ll go to sea!’Far and few, far and few,

Are the lands where the Jumblies live;Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

And they went to sea in a Sieve.

They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,In a Sieve they sailed so fast,

With only a beautiful pea-green veilTied with a riband by way of a sail,

To a small tobacco-pipe mast;And everyone said, who saw them go,

‘O won’t they be soon upset, you know!For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long,And happen what may, it’s extremely wrong

In a Sieve to sail so fast!’Far and few, far and few,



The water it soon came in, it did,The water it soon came in;

So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feetIn a pinky paper all folded neat,

And they fastened it down with a pin.And they passed the night in a crockery-jar,And each of them said, ‘How wise we are!Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong,

While round in our Sieve we spin!’Far and few, far and few,



` ` ` `` ` `

` ` ` `` ` ` `

` ` `` ` ` `` ` ` `

` ` ` `` ` ` `

` ` `` ` ` `

` ` `` ` ` `

` ` `


And all night long they sailed away;And when the sun went down,

They whistled and warbled a moony songTo the echoing sound of a coppery gong,

In the shade of the mountains brown.‘O Timballo! How happy we are,When we live in a Sieve and a crockery-jar,And all night long in the moonlight pale,We sail away with a pea-green sail,

In the shade of the mountains brown!’Far and few, far and few,



They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,To a land all covered with trees,

And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart,

And a hive of silvery Bees.And they bought a Pig, and some green Jack-daws,And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,

And no end of Stilton Cheese.Far and few, far and few,



And in twenty years they all came back,In twenty years or more,

And everyone said, ‘How tall they’ve grown!For they’ve been to the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone,

And the hills of the Chankly Bore!’And they drank their health and gave them a feastOf dumplings made of beautiful yeast;And everyone said, ‘If we only live,We too will go to sea in a Sieve, —

To the hills of the Chankly Bore!’Far and few, far and few,



Edward Lear

24 Amanda Tann

THE JUMBLIES

Conversation Worksheet A

Group Name

Secretary’s Name

The task for your group is to make up a short conversation betweena mother and some of her Jumblie teenage children before they setsail in their sieve.

Think about the kinds of things the characters might say to eachother. Is the mother worried, or is she happy that her children aregoing away? Does she think they will be safe, or might they be indanger? Do the Jumblies feel sad to go away, or are they excited?Are they confident about their journey, or are they afraid? Thinkabout what they might say to each other at this moment.

Use the text to give you clues, but you should use your own wordsand not just copy directly from the poem. Use your imagination!

Choose a secretary and write that person’s name in the spaceprovided. The secretary should write down your conversation, andthen your group should practise it and be prepared to perform it forthe class, if asked.

Remember! You can help show us how the characters feel by theway you say the lines.


THE JUMBLIES

Conversation Worksheet B

Group Name

Secretary’s Name

The task for your group is to make up a short conversation betweena television interviewer and some of the Jumblies before they setsail in their sieve.

Think about the kinds of questions an interviewer might ask, andhow the Jumblies might reply. Does the interviewer think theJumblies will be safe, or might they be in danger? Do the Jumbliesfeel confident about their journey, or are they afraid?




26 Amanda Tann

THE JUMBLIES

Conversation Worksheet C

Group Name

Secretary’s Name

The task for your group is to make up a short conversation among agroup of Jumblies as they sail away in their sieve. They are faraway from land, and the water is coming in.

Think about what they might say to each other. What kind of moodare they in? Are they confident, or are they scared? Are they happyto be going on an adventure, or do they want to go home? Do theythink they will be safe, or do they think they might drown? Do theJumblies feel sad to go away or are they excited? Think about whatthey might say to each other at this moment.





THE JUMBLIES

Conversation Worksheet D

Group Name

Secretary’s Name

The task for your group is to make up a short conversation betweena television interviewer and a group of Jumblies when they havejust sailed back home in their sieve after twenty years away.

Think about what questions the interviewer might ask, and how theJumblies might reply. Are the Jumblies happy to be home, or arethey sad? Did they miss their families? Were they homesick? Whatwonderful things did they see on their travels? Does the intervieweradmire them for going exploring, or were they foolish to take suchrisks?




28 Amanda Tann

THE JUMBLIES

Conversation Worksheet E

Group Name

Secretary’s Name

The task for your group is to make up a short conversation among agroup of very old Jumblies, many, many years after they returnedfrom their travels in the sieve.

Think about what they might say to each other. Try to imagine whatmemories they might have. Are they happy memories or are theysad? What might they say about the wonderful things they did ontheir travels? Are they glad they had a big adventure or do theywish they had never gone away?





THE JUMBLIES

Homework Sheet

Writing A Postcard

Choose one of the following short writing tasks to complete foryour homework. Try to write at least fifty words, but no more thanone hundred words. Use the questions as guidelines if you needhelp, but you may write whatever you think would be interesting.

Use the piece of card you have been given to make your postcard.Draw a picture of where you are on one side. Make the postcardlook as realistic as possible.

Remember! When you write a postcard you use a very informal,friendly style.

Choice 1 You are a Jumblie. You sailed away in a sieve severalyears ago. You are now visiting the Torrible Zone or the ChanklyBore. Write a postcard home to your family telling them all about it.What is the weather like? What strange things have you seen? Howlong will you stay? Do you like travelling around? Think what youmight like to tell your family about your travels, if you were aJumblie. Use your imagination!

Choice 2 Imagine that you have made your own raft or boataccording to your own design. You have sailed away, either alone orwith some friends, to have an adventure. You have stopped off in afaraway land to explore. Write a postcard home to your family tellingthem all about the place where you are. It can be a real place thatyou know about, or you can invent a place of your own. What is theweather like? Is it desert or jungle there, or maybe a busy city? Arethe people friendly? What do you like to do there? Tell your familywhat you think they might like to know about your trip. Use yourimagination!

30 Amanda Tann

EVALUATION

When I devised this lesson plan, I had in mind my Form 2 girls at the Band 3secondary school where I was doing my main block of Teaching Practice duringmy full-time P.C.Ed course.

I soon found that, for a class covering such a wide range of ability, I hadunderestimated the time it would take to cover the material. To begin with,several of the students were quite suspicious of something new, and wanted toknow if it was something they would need for the examination, and, if not,why we were doing it. I was generally able to persuade students that theycould benefit from trying something new, and that it would help them to developlanguage skills needed for the examination.

I decided to concentrate on the oral and discussion work. Studentsresponded well to the ‘Set’ activity, and I was very pleased with their reactionto the rhyme itself. Many of the students were smiling and looking at eachother and seemed quite fascinated by the strangeness of it. We actually listenedto the poem three times altogether, because the students requested this. Wehad a very interesting class discussion about how parents and friends can reactwhen you try something new, with several students willing to share amusingincidents about reactions to such things as outrageous high fashion clothesand, for one girl, dyed hair.

This led quite naturally into the activity on different intonation patterns.The more able students took to this well, but some of the weaker ones found itquite difficult and needed to copy my model. By then time was running short,so we finished the session with the ‘conversation’ activity. I was able to givegroups only about five minutes to prepare, so there was no time for them towrite down a proper script, and I had to give substantial assistance to weakergroups. However, I was, nevertheless, quite pleased with the results as I walkedround the class and talked with groups about their ideas, even though, in theend, only one group actually performed their conversation before the class onthis occasion.

Overall I was very pleased with students’ reaction to the lesson. Themajority of students were interested in what we were doing and participatedquite actively in the various activities. I felt that I had achieved my aim ofusing a rhyme to stimulate students’ interest and to encourage them to useEnglish to communicate about experiences. I also learnt that it is necessary toallow quite a bit more time when trying something new, as some students takelonger to feel comfortable with what you are doing, and weaker students tendto need more explanation and support if they are to participate fully in thelesson. A more able class might easily complete the lesson in a double period,but it would be sensible to allow twice that for a weaker class.

During the ten weeks I was with them I found that, although there may beproblems with their English, the ideas they produced were sometimes quite


exciting. The weaker students were very much encouraged to find that theirgood ideas were recognized and commented on by the teacher, rather than justhaving their language skills criticized.

REFERENCE

Pang, K.C. Lesson Planning. Hong Kong: Longman, 1992.

3CHAPTER

Radio Plays

Bob Adamson and Annie Siu-yin Tong

INTRODUCTION

The power of radio plays to absorb an audience was made strikingly evidentabout sixty years ago in the United States. A famous actor, Orson Welles,produced a play about a Martian invasion of New York. It was so convincingthat many people actually believed that an invasion was taking place, andpanicked. Very soon the highways were jammed with cars fleeing the city. Inthe countryside, people went out with guns hunting for the alien spacecraft.

This story encouraged us to use radio plays with our Band 2, Form 2students. Specifically, there were three reasons why we felt that radio playscould help to improve our listening lessons. The first was to introduce an elementof drama into an otherwise fairly dull listening lesson — although we did notwant quite so strong a reaction as happened in New York! The radio is actuallymore powerful than television and films in stimulating the imagination, becausepeople are not spoonfed visual information — they have to create their ownimages. The second reason was to give a sense of theme to the lesson, whichthen could be integrated with work in other skills areas. Too often, the listeninglesson is isolated and has no connection with the rest of the English course.Third, we thought that by writing our own materials we could concentratemore on teaching listening skills, rather than just testing the students, whichwe felt had been the practice in the recommended listening book.

With TOC, another important motivation for using a radio play emerges— the experience dimension and, in particular, the following learning targets:

34 Bob Adamson and Annie Siu-yin Tong

Key Stage 3, Experience Dimension (b): to respond to characters, events andissues in imaginative and other narrative texts through oral, written andperformative means, such as:• making predictions and inferences;• making evaluative comments;• explaining one’s feelings towards characters and events;• expressing one’s reactions to issues;• relating to one’s experiences;• putting oneself in the imaginary roles and situations in the story; and• participating in dramatic presentations.

These learning targets can stimulate ideas for a range of tasks that can beincorporated in the lesson. Some suggestions are given in the lesson plan laterin this chapter.

Writing our own materials had the advantage of enabling us to tailor thecontent to our students’ interests in terms of subject matter, location andlanguage. We did not have to be particularly creative, as the play which wewrote, The Ghost of Cheung Sha Wan, was derived from two existing sources.The storyline was very loosely based on a reading passage in a textbook writtenin the early seventies which we found in a store cupboard. This passage wasabout an animal that escaped from a local zoo, causing havoc in theneighbourhood. The second source was a television programme, Shoestring,that had once been popular in the United Kingdom. The hero, Eddie Shoestring,was a radio programme presenter who investigated mysteries and crimes. Wechose to combine the two: The Ghost of Cheung Sha Wan is the story of a radiodetective investigating some mysterious happenings in a housing estate inKowloon.

LEVEL

Once we had decided on the storyline, we drafted the script, bearing in mindour students’ language competence. Our students were mainly Band 2, butsome were comparatively weak in English. We therefore decided that one aspectof the lesson would be a focus on tenses, as this would provide someconsolidation for students who had problems in this area. The nature of theplay, with the inclusion of several narrative passages, meant that it was easy tobuild in this linguistic practice, as it was appropriate to bring out the relationshipbetween tenses and sequences of events. We decided that a useful constructionto practise would be ‘I was [doing something] when [something happened]’,so the script has a number of examples of this structure.

After paying attention to the linguistic focus, we then thought about thelistening skills that we wanted to practise. For this, we referred to Penny Ur’sbook, Teaching Listening Comprehension (Cambridge University Press, 1984).

Radio Plays 35

We wanted to have a variety of activities for the students so as to maintaintheir interest, and for these to be contextualized, thus allowing realisticcommunicative development. It was necessary to alter the draft of the script tomake it suitable for the tasks that we had designed. Sometimes this involvedsimplifying the narrative, for an intensive listening exercise. Sometimes wemade the narrative more complex, such as for Task 3, which gets the studentsto work out the sequence of events. Our basic principle was to challenge thestudents, but to allow them the opportunity of completing the tasks successfully.

The script and tasks are shown at the end of this chapter. The tasks includeboth non-linguistic and linguistic responses. Non-linguistic responses do notrequire the students to produce any language. In Task 1, they have to underlinethe words on the tape that are different from those on the written script. In Task3, they have to number events in the correct order. These tasks mean that thestudents can concentrate on listening skills, without being worried aboutproducing correct English. The linguistic responses include filling in the blanks(a kind of simple dictation) in Task 4 and a note-taking exercise in Task 2.These different tasks focus on various skills and cater for students of varyinglevels of ability. Other, non-listening, tasks were built in, such as making up adialogue (with some support provided) or holding a brief discussion.

When we were happy with the script and the tasks, the next step was torecord the play. To do this, we asked some colleagues on the English Panel tohelp. Some were reluctant, saying that their English pronunciation was notperfect and so they were unsuitable for recording listening materials. Wereassured them by saying that the play was set in Hong Kong, involving Chinesepeople speaking English for an English-medium radio station, so they wereideal for the purposes! We used a simple cassette recorder in two locations: forthe scenes set in the radio station studio, we went to a quiet room; for thescenes set in the housing estate, we used the staff room, where we hadbackground noises. These noises made the recording more realistic, as outsidebroadcasts on the radio often have extraneous sounds that add to the complexityof listening.

In the end, we found that the tape recording was not of the highest quality,but was adequate for the lesson, and the students also enjoyed our amateurefforts!

LESSON PLAN

The materials were used with our two parallel classes. We adopted two differentapproaches to suit our own teaching styles — one more dramatic than theother — but we basically followed the same lesson plan.

The first stage consisted of setting the scene. We did that by asking thestudents whether they had seen a particular TV programme the previous evening.


This was a traditional Chinese story in which one of the characters was a ghost.We then asked the students whether they believed in ghosts and had a briefdiscussion about different kinds of ghosts — in one class, the term ‘poltergeist’came up and this provoked a lot of interest.

The next phase was to introduce the radio play. The main character, EddieShu, and his radio programme were described and the students were asked tospeculate on the various topics that Eddie might cover in his programme (theft,murder, mysteries and so on). The students deduced correctly that the theme ofthat day’s programme was a ghost story.

It was then time to move to the listening activities. We did not play thewhole tape at the outset, as we wanted to build up the drama and tension byletting the story unfold gradually. Therefore we started with the first task. Beforelistening to the tape, we went through the task to make sure that the studentsknew what they had to do. This is an important point. From our experience, wefind that although students might have a good understanding of a listeningpassage, they perform poorly in the comprehension task because they are notclear what to do. The first task was straightforward, but we did a couple ofexamples with the whole class before asking the students to work in pairs.This eased the students into the task and reduced their anxiety. We chose to askthe students to work in pairs because we believe that peer teaching is a verypotent learning strategy. Afterwards, we checked the answers, focusing onspellings.

This was the basic pattern for the rest of the lesson: preparation for listening,peer listening, answer-checking and then some non-listening activities. Answer-checking can be rather boring and demotivating, as the students have alreadycompleted a task and may not feel the need to spend a long time discussinganswers. Thus we decided to make answer-checking as valuable and asinteresting as possible. We did not merely ask ‘What’s the answer?’, we alsoasked ‘How did you know?’ or ‘Which words gave you the answer?’. Thisrequired the students to talk through their listening strategies (sometimes theyneeded to express themselves in Cantonese, which we thought was acceptable).We also focused on specific language items, such as the vocabulary andgrammatical structures at this stage. Where possible, we used drama, gettingthe students to re-enact the incidents described on the tape. Students eitherworked in pairs to reconstruct a dialogue or gave a presentation at the front ofthe class. The drama worked particularly well in the windowless languagelaboratory where the lesson was held, as the lights could be switched off to re-create the frightening atmosphere of the story.

A regular feature of the lesson was discussion. We asked the students aboutthe mystery, the characters in the play and how the students themselves wouldhave reacted to the situation. This stimulated some interesting ideas. Oneexplanation for the mystery was that the ghost was a former owner of the flatswho still wanted to collect rent from the people living there!

Radio Plays 37

At the end of the lesson, we asked the students to retell the story in theirown words. There were also some extension activities, which are described inthe following section.

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

As we mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, one of our aims was to integratethe listening lesson with other skills. The drama activities and discussionsprovided speaking practice, but we were also able to add a range of readingand writing activities in the lesson and afterwards. For instance, when we askedthe students for their own explanation of the mystery, they had to write a briefparagraph, which they then showed to their classmates for comment. In a laterlesson, we used a reading passage called ‘The Snakebusters’, which had athematic link to The Ghost of Cheung Sha Wan. In this reading passage, whichwe found in the South China Morning Post, a group of men who were inspiredby the film The Ghostbusters offered a free service to remove snakes frompeople’s homes.

Another extension activity was to get the students to write their own radioplays. For this, they had a choice: to write either a ghost story or another editionof Eddie Shu’s programme. Each group of six students was then asked to selectone radio play and to record it. Some of these student-produced resourceswere used in later listening lessons with activities designed by the teacher.One story was about a young fisherman who perished in a storm at sea, and hiswife could hear him calling her name whenever the wind blew strongly in atyphoon. Another story was a murder set in the school library — and the Englishteacher was the murderer!

Other extension activities could include: getting the students to write acartoon-strip version of the story; asking them to make a scrapbook collectionof mystery stories taken from magazines or newspapers; holding a debate onthe existence of ghosts or whether people should be allowed to keep exoticpets; and encouraging them to read mystery stories from the school library andto write book reports about them.

EVALUATION

The preparation for this listening lesson was time-consuming, but the resultswere very satisfactory. It took us about two hours to draft the script and todesign the tasks, and a further hour to record and edit the tape. However, oncerecorded, the tape could be reused for several years in our school and copies


were made for interested teachers from other schools. The lesson proved popularwith the students and the tasks seemed to work well, although they could bevaried in terms of difficulty and type to cater for the individual needs of students.

It is not necessary to be a creative genius in order to write your own radioplays. The stories can be adapted from magazine or newspaper articles or fromstories written by students in composition lessons. The drama was quite easyto write. We used a Hong Kong setting and short, sharp dialogue. Appropriatesound effects also help to convey the story. The challenge is to integrate valuableand interesting tasks with the play. The play should not lose its dramatic quality,and the tasks should not lose their focus on specific listening skills.

In the classroom, we found that it was necessary to work hard initially toset the scene, as the students were not expecting a drama in their listeninglesson. It took a while before they relaxed and became engrossed in the story.However, we taught the lesson with considerable enthusiasm, as it was ourown material, and this eventually proved infectious. If using the material withparallel classes, it is worthwhile ensuring that the students do not get informationabout the solution to the mystery from friends in another class. In our case, thesecond class heard the story a few days after the first class, and it was nearlyspoilt because one student knew the ending. Fortunately he was prevailed uponto keep it secret.

CONCLUSION

We were pleased with this lesson for a number of reasons. It providedopportunities for a broader range of activities than we had used before in alistening class, and this facilitated integration of various language skills. Italso gave us valuable experience and confidence in designing our own material,and some new insights into ways of handling other aspects of our work, suchas using the stories produced by students for teaching purposes.

Above all, the lesson was an enjoyable experience for the students andourselves. Several students commented on how much they liked the lessonand asked for similar ones in the future. They certainly seemed to be motivatedby the radio play and the tasks, and were enthusiastic in writing their ownradio plays afterwards. We concluded that, if used with discretion, radio playsare an excellent addition to our teaching repertoire.

Radio Plays 39

The Ghost of Cheung Sha WanScript

ANNOUNCER: This is Radio Four. The time is nine o’clock which meansit’s time for Radio Detective with Eddie Shu.(music)

EDDIE: Hi everyone. Do you believe in ghosts? Well, tonightI’ll be telling you the strange story of the Ghost ofCheung Sha Wan. This week I met some people whosay they heard, saw and even touched a horrible ghost.First of all I talked to Mr Fred Lee.

[Pause here for Task 1.]

Mr Lee, what happened last Monday evening?MR LEE: It was very frightening. I was sitting at home watching

TV when suddenly I heard someone knocking at thedoor. When I opened the door there was nobody there!

EDDIE: But it could have been children playing a silly game . . .MR LEE: Just a minute: that’s not all. About an hour later, around

half past ten, I was getting into bed when I heard a noiseat the window. When I turned round to have a look thelight went out. I was so frightened! And then when Itried to turn the light on again I touched a hand — itwasn’t a human hand: it was hairy and horrible!

EDDIE: What did you do?MR LEE: I ran into the bathroom and locked the door. I stayed

there until midnight. When I came out I found the ghosthad gone.


EDDIE: Mr Lee’s story wasn’t the only report of a ghost inCheung Sha Wan that evening. I spoke to Mrs BettyLeung.

MRS LEUNG: Oh it was terrible you know.EDDIE: What happened?MRS LEUNG: I was lying in bed reading a book when I suddenly looked

up — I don’t know why — and do you know what Isaw? Two big round eyes staring at me through thewindow. They were horrible! Then this thing laughed:‘Huh-huh-huh.’ It wasn’t a human laugh; it was ghostly.I was terrified.


EDDIE: What did you do?MRS LEUNG: I threw my book at it and the thing disappeared. Very

fast, it moved too. I live on the seventh floor you know,and there was no ladder outside my window, so I’m sureit was a ghost.

EDDIE: Mrs Leung, when did all this happen?MRS LEUNG: Last Monday evening, at about ten o’clock.


EDDIE: There were many more strange stories from the residentsof Cheung Sha Wan about frightening happenings thatMonday evening. Like them, I could find no explanationand I too began to believe in the Ghost of Cheung ShaWan. Until yesterday, that is. Yesterday I received thisphone call from Mrs Jane Lam.(phone ringing)Hello.

JANE: May I speak to Eddie Shu please?EDDIE: Speaking.JANE: My name’s Jane Lam. Can you help me?EDDIE: What can I do for you, Jane?JANE: I’ve lost my Billy.EDDIE: Can you describe him?JANE: Yes. He’s very friendly but sometimes naughty. He’s very

clever and can do many tricks. He also has a lovely laugh.He has been missing since last Monday. I want yourlisteners to help me find him.


EDDIE: Surely you’ve told the police, Jane? You should tell themstraight away that your little boy is missing.

JANE: Little Boy? No, no, you don’t understand. Billy isn’t aboy. He’s my pet monkey.

EDDIE: Oh I see. Billy’s your monkey. And what’s your address,Jane?

JANE: I live on Kowloon side. In Cheung Sha Wan.

EDDIE: Is that the answer? Is Billy the monkey the Ghost ofCheung Sha Wan? Or can you think of a better answer?That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next Friday, so untilthen, take care, and watch out for Billy! Goodbye.(music)

Radio Plays 41

THE GHOST OF CHEUNG SHA WAN

Task 1

Listen to Eddie Shu introducing his programme. Below is his scriptbut he makes some changes as he speaks. Underline the words thathe changes.

Radio Detective: Eddie Shu

Script

Hello everyone. Do you believe in ghosts? Well, this eveningI’ll be telling you the mysterious story of the Ghost of CheungSha Wan. This week I talked to some people who claim theysaw, heard and even touched a horrid ghost. First I spoke toMr Fred Lee.

Task 2

This is Eddie’s notebook. Fill in the blanks with the informationfrom the tape.

Fred Lee

Time What happened

7 – 9:30 p.m. watching TV

9:30

10:30 a.

b. heard a noise at the window

c. turned around to have a look

d.

e. tried to turn the light on again

f.

g. ran into the bathroom

Midnight


Task 3a

Eddie’s notebook is very untidy. Can you number these notes in thecorrect order?

suddenly looked up

1. Mrs B. Leung threw my book at it

laugh — ‘huh-huh-huh’ the thing disappeared

saw two big round eyes

2. lying in bed not a human laugh — ghostly

reading a book

staring at me!

live on the 7th floor no ladder

Task 3b

Pairwork: You and your partner are neighbours of Mrs Betty Leung.Discuss what happened to her. Here are some useful phrases.

Partner A Partner B

Did you hear what happened What did she do?to Betty?

She says she saw . . . How terrible!

heard . . . I see. What happened next?

Radio Plays 43

Task 4

Eddie wrote down his conversation with Jane Lam but hishandwriting was very bad. His secretary has difficulty reading it.Listen to the tape of the telephone conversation and fill in the blanks.

E = Eddie Shu J = Jane Lam

J: Eddie Shu please?E: .J: My name’s Jane Lam. ?E: , Jane?J: I’ve lost my Billy.E: Can you describe him?J: Yes. He’s very but sometimes .

He’s very and can do many . He alsohas a . He has been missing since last . I want your listeners to help me find him.

Who is Billy? What do you think happened last Monday?

4CHAPTER

Using Hong Kong Stories inHong Kong Classrooms

Peter Kennedy

. . . classic English poetry was a kind of force-feeding.

It did not delight us by reflecting our experience.1

WHY USE HONG KONG WRITING IN ENGLISH CLASSES?

In the lines above, poet Seamus Heaney recalls his boyhood experience ofreading English literature in Ireland. The texts he encountered in school saidnothing to him about his Irish experience. He records how he went on to discoverpoems which did deal with the (rural, Irish) world he knew. He learnt, to hisdelight, that his own experience was a fit subject for poetry.

Heaney grew up in an English-speaking community. For many Hong Kongsecondary school students, the events, values, settings, people, names andhistorical references in English literature can seem even more culturally remotethan they were for Heaney. When Shakespeare wrote ‘Shall I compare thee toa summer’s day?’, it was intended to be a compliment. It certainly wouldn’t bein humid Hong Kong!

Literary texts have an important role to play in helping to make second-language learning more meaningful and memorable. However, the texts studentsencounter in Hong Kong secondary schools should be situated within theirown cultural experience.

Brock (1990) makes out a case for ‘localized literature’ in Hong Kong and

46 Peter Kennedy

Macao second-language classrooms. He contends that such texts promotesuccessful reading comprehension because they ‘ . . . offer a balance betweenthe reader’s background knowledge and that presupposed by the text . . . [whichhelps prevent] many of the difficulties a reader encounters when faced withculturally foreign texts.’2 Unfamiliar cultural content may impede students’learning of linguistic information. Post and Rathet (1996) cite a body of recentresearch on reading and ask, ‘Why overburden our students with both newlinguistic content and new cultural information simultaneously?’3

Reading is an interactive process in which the reader seeks to make senseof a text by matching it against his/her real world knowledge. Using HongKong texts in English, on topics consonant with the experiences of Hong Kongstudents, and using tasks that will enable learners to deploy their priorknowledge and experiences should assist in the interpretation process. HongKong writing in English can act as a ‘cultural bridge’ to other English texts.

WHICH HONG KONG WRITERS?

Using Hong Kong writing in the English class can enable students to draw ontheir own background knowledge. If the topics, beliefs, ideas and metaphorsare culturally familiar and only the language new, the texts may well be moreaccessible and motivating. This does not mean using texts that make superficialreferences to the Star Ferry or which tell a clichéd tale of tai tais, taipans andtriads. Many attempts have been made to tell The Hong Kong Story (particularlyby outsiders in 1997). Much more interesting (and relevant for Hong Kongstudents) are the many and various Hong Kong stories told by local writers.4

Such Hong Kong writing could include short stories by Peng Cao (FungSuk-yin), Ni Kuang, Liu Yichang, Xi Xi (Zhang Yan), David Wong and EileenChang;5 poems by P.K. Leung, Fan Sin-piu, Laurence Wong and Louise Ho;6

plays by Anthony Chan, Raymond To, Joanna Chan and Danny Yung.7

Some of these Hong Kong writers choose to write in English — LouiseHo and David Wong, for instance — others are translated from Chinese. Itmay be objected that literature written in Chinese is best read in the originallanguage. In one sense, this is undeniable. What we are talking about herethough is harnessing the power of such texts for the second-language classroom.Of course, in selecting texts, proper account must be taken of the lexis andsyntax appropriate for the level of the learner. However, writing which sayssomething worthwhile and, at the same time, reflects a world students canidentify with has an important role to play in post-colonial English-languagelearning in Hong Kong.8

I would like to look at a short story, Wrong Number, by one of Hong Kong’smost distinguished writers, Liu Yichang.9 The central idea of the story is anengagingly simple one. We have two versions that are almost identical, except

Using Hong Kong Stories in Hong Kong Classrooms 47

that in the first, a young man is knocked down by a bus, while in the second, heis held up by a phone call and is not killed. The ‘what ifs’ begin to multiply,enabling students to speculate, imagine or predict and, of course, providingthe teacher with a pretext for revising modal verbs and conditional sentences!

WHAT TASKS ARE APPROPRIATE?

Pre-reading Tasks

These exercises are intended to:• focus attention on the topic or stimulate interest in what the students are

going to read (expectation);• encourage students to make intelligent guesses about the text, predict what

it may be about (deduction); and• draw out what they already know, think or feel about a topic and help

relate the text to their personal experiences (anticipation).

While-reading Tasks

The purpose of these exercises is to:• check students’ understanding of what they have read (comprehension);• go beyond atomistic tasks that focus on form at the expense of meaning

and, instead, encourage students to read between the lines, think aboutwhat was implied as well as what was stated in the text (interpretation);and

• help students recognize how a text is structured (organization).

Post-reading Tasks

These exercises give students the opportunity to:• apply what they have learnt and use the language creatively (invention);• make a judgement on the content and style of what they have read

(evaluation); and• express their own ideas, opinions, feelings on the issues raised in the text

(discussion).

I will outline some tasks for this story. It is not, of course, necessary to doall of them. The ones you select will depend on the time you have availableand the level of your class.

48 Peter Kennedy

Wrong Number

I

Chen Xi was lying on his bed looking at the ceiling whenthe telephone rang. It was Wu Lichang. She suggested goingto see the five-thirty film at the Lee Theatre. He perked up atonce, and briskly set about shaving, combing his hair andchanging his clothes. As he changed he whistled the tune ofan old patriotic song, ‘We are the bold Chinese’. Havingfinished changing he stood in front of the wardrobe andlooked himself up and down in the mirror; he decided hewould have to buy himself a designer tracksuit. He lovedLichang, and Lichang loved him. As soon as he found a jobthey could go to the marriage registry office and name aday. He had just come back from America, and though hehad got a degree, finding work was still a matter of luck. Ifhis luck was good it shouldn’t take long, but if his luck wasout he might have to wait a while. He had already appliedfor seven or eight jobs, and the replies ought to be comingback any time now. That was in fact the reason why he hadbeen hanging about at home all day: he was waiting for thefirms he had applied to to give him a ring. Normally hewouldn’t go out unless absolutely necessary, but in Lichang’scase it was different: going to the cinema with her was notto be missed. It was already four-fifty: he had to get a moveon to get to the Lee Theatre in time. Lichang would beannoyed if he was late.

So he took the distance to his flat door in big strides,opened the door, then the steel security grille, went outside,closed both the door and the grille behind him, took the liftdownstairs, went out of the building, and made his way witha song in his heart to the bus stop. He had just got to the busstop when a bus approached at high speed. The bus was outof control; it crashed into the bus stop, knocked down ChenXi and an old lady and a young girl, and squashed them flat.

50 Peter Kennedy

day. He had just come back from America, and though hehad got a degree, finding work was still a matter of luck. Ifhis luck was good it shouldn’t take long, but if his luck wasout he might have to wait a while. He had already appliedfor seven or eight jobs, and the replies ought to be comingback any time now. That was in fact the reason why he hadbeen hanging about at home all day: he was waiting for thefirms he had applied to to give him a ring. Normally hewouldn’t go out unless absolutely necessary, but in Lichang’scase it was different: going to the cinema with her was notto be missed. It was already four-fifty: he had to get a moveon to get to the Lee Theatre in time. Lichang would beannoyed if he was late.

So he took the distance to his flat door in big strides,opened it . . .

The telephone rang again.Thinking it was someone from one of those firms he

had applied to, he rushed back to answer it.A woman’s voice came over the line:‘Is Uncle there, please?’‘Who?’‘Uncle.’‘There’s no such person here.’‘Is Auntie there, then?’‘What number do you want?’‘3–975 . . . ’‘You want a Kowloon number?’‘Yes.’‘Wrong number! This is Hong Kong side!’Slamming the telephone down angrily, he covered the

distance to the door in big strides, opened the security grille,went outside, closed the flat door and grille behind him,took the lift downstairs, went out of the building, and with asong in his heart headed for the bus stop. When he wasabout fifty paces from the bus stop, he was startled to see abus approach the stop at high speed and, out of control,crash into the bus stop, knocking over an old lady and ayoung girl, and squashing them flat.

22 April 1983

Today’s newspaper reported a fatal accident at a busstop in Taikoo Shing.


PRE-READING TASKS

Task 1 (anticipation)

Individual

A. Which of these numbers do you think of as ‘lucky’? Tick the ‘lucky’numbers:482914

B. In England, some people think Friday 13th is an unlucky day. In HongKong, some people would not buy flat number 14.What about numbers 8, 2, 9, 4?Think of situations — e.g. weddings, exams, etc. — involving these ‘lucky’or ‘unlucky’ numbers. Write one sentence about each of these.

Pair

C. Compare your ideas with your partner’s.D. ‘If you break a mirror you will get seven years bad luck.’

‘If you see a black cat you’ll have good luck.’Have you heard people say similar things in Hong Kong?With your partner, think about good luck or bad luck in relation to:• clothes (e.g. red dresses)• objects (e.g. jade bracelets)• food (e.g. shark’s fin soup)• habits (e.g. mahjong players)Write down one sentence for each of these.

Group

E. In groups of four, compare your answers to (B) and (D).

52 Peter Kennedy

Task 2 (deduction)

Individual

A. You are going to read a story called Wrong Number. The story takes placein Hong Kong. Here are some words taken from the story:

telephone rang he loved Lichang

luck

cinema bus crashed

• What do you think is going to happen in the story?• Who are the characters?• How might the story end?

Make brief notes in answer to each of these questions.

Pair

B. Compare your ideas with your partner’s.C. Together, write a six to eight sentence story outline. Try to include ideas

that both of you came up with.

Pair

D. Sit with a new partner. Tell him/her your story (C). He/she will then tellyou his/her story.

Individual

E. Now read Wrong Number. Did you guess what was going to happen?

Task 3 (expectation)

Pair

A. Here are six newspaper headlines. Look at them with your partner anddiscuss what you think each story might be about.


1. TRAIN PASSES OVER DRUNK2. UNLUCKY SHOT KILLS CHILD3. DUSTMAN SAVES DIAMONDS FROM RUBBISH INCINERATOR4. WEDDING DREAMS TAKE A DIVE5. SLEEPING BURGLAR (AR)RESTED6. TODDLER SURVIVES JOYRIDE

B. Read the following twelve sentences. Find two sentences to go with eachheadline above.a. Jakarta: An Indonesian man caught after he fell asleep while committing

a burglary has been jailed for a year.b. He hit two parked cars and then drove along a busy highway before

astonished police could stop him.c. Helen Sunmore, the owner of the diamond rings, had put them in a

piece of tissue paper while she washed her hands and then tossed thepaper into the rubbish bin.

d. California: A 15-year-old showing off for friends fired a bullet into theair that killed a five-year-old boy a kilometre away, said police.

e. When New Yorker Tom called his fiancée to tell her he had survivedthe crash, he learnt that a burglar had stolen their wedding presentsand that their honeymoon in the Virgin Islands was off because of ahurricane.

f. When I woke up, I moved my hands and legs slowly and found theywere still attached to my body.

g. Bridegroom Tom Hanley walked away from a horror plane crash andsaid, ‘You could say I am both the luckiest and the unluckiest man inthe world.’

h. Ontario: ‘I go fast’ was all a three-year-old boy had to say after grabbinghis parents’ car keys while they slept and taking a wild joy ride.

i. ‘We worked out which truck had carried her rubbish and searchedthrough the piles. She was crying with joy when she saw the rings andkissed all of us,’ said David.

j. Michael Carleton was walking with his mother when the bullet hithim in the head.

k. The couple, who found him sleeping when they returned home, saidhe had begged them not to call the police.

l. London: A drunken man passed out between the rails of a commutertrain and slept while trains rumbled over him.

C. Choose three of the six stories. For each story, discuss these questionswith your partner:• What happens in the story?• Where did the events/incidents occur?• Who was involved?

(In some of the stories we are told the answers, in others, you have towork it out for yourself.)

54 Peter Kennedy

D. What do all the stories have in common?

WHILE-READING TASKS

Task 4 (comprehension)

Individual

A. Read version I of the story. Write down questions to each of these answers:

• at the Lee Theatre Where?

• Wu Lichang What?

• America Where?

• four-fifty When?

• annoyed How?

Pair

B. If the phone hadn’t rung, then Chen Xi . . .If the old lady had arrived at the bus stop five minutes later . . .Complete these sentences. Then, with your partner, write down two similarsentences beginning with:If . . .

Task 5 (interpretation)

Pair

Discuss these questions with your partner. Write down your answers.1. ‘He decided he would have to buy himself a designer tracksuit.’ What

does this sentence tell us about Chen Xi?2. ‘Finding work was still a matter of luck . . . he was waiting for the firms he

had applied to to give him a ring.’ Chen Xi did not get the call he waswaiting for but . . .

3. What is the author saying to us about luck/chance?4. Why do you think the writer called his story Wrong Number?


5. Write down three questions you would like to ask Chen Xi.6. At the end of the story, the author mentions a newspaper report of a fatal

accident at a bus stop in Taikoo Shing. What would Liu Yichang’s storylose (or gain) if this line was left off?

7. What would you say to Chen Xi if he were your friend and had just toldyou about his lucky escape?

Task 6 (organization)

Pair

Version II of the story is almost a ‘video rewind’ of version I. Compare thetwo versions. Look at what is repeated and what is different. Discuss with yourpartner why you think the writer has done this.

POST-READING TASKS

Task 7 (invention)

Pair

A. A reporter has been sent to interview Chen Xi about his lucky escape. Oneof you is the reporter. (What questions are you going to ask?) The other isChen Xi. (How do you feel about what happened?)Together, write a headline for the story that will appear in the South ChinaStandard the next morning.

B. What do you think Chen Xi would say to Wu Lichang when he meets heroutside the cinema and tells her what happened?With your partner, improvise the dialogue that might take place. Chen Xicould begin by saying: ‘You will never believe what happened to metoday . . . !’When you have spoken the dialogue, write it down.Swop dialogues with another pair and read what they have written. Howdo your versions differ?

C. Look back at the newspaper stories in Task 3. Choose one of these anddiscuss what you think might have happened AFTER the events depictedin the story. Write down your ideas.

D. A local magazine is running a series called Lucky Escapes. Write either aparagraph based on one of the newspaper stories or a story of your own.

E. Chen Xi was killed in the accident. It is not him but his ghost who appearsin version II. What will the ghost do?

56 Peter Kennedy

Will he try to prevent the accident? Will he warn the bus driver or the oldlady? Will he visit Wu Lichang?The ghost story is to be made into a film. Write a scene from that film.

Task 8 (discussion)

Individual

A. Write down answers to these questions:1. What does ‘being lucky’ mean to you?2. Do you know anyone who is called ‘lucky’, by others?3. Why is he/she considered to be lucky?4. Have you seen a TV programme or read a story about someone who

had ‘good luck’? What do you recall about it?5. Is it possible for some people to foretell the future (e.g. palm-readers)?6. Can you make your own luck — e.g. through feng shui?

Group

B. There is no such thing as luck (good or bad). Life is what you make ityourself.Divide into groups of four. Groups A agree with the above statement, groupsB disagree.Each person in the group should write down one sentence and read it tothe other group members. Get ready to argue with the other group.Groups A and B can now argue for or against the statement.

Task 9 (evaluation)

Group

A. Using the words ‘luck’ or ‘chance’, write one sentence which captures thecentral theme of the story.

B. Write down three reasons why members of your group liked (or disliked)the story.

C. If you were recommending this story to a friend, what would you sayabout it? Make notes on:• the characters• what happens• how things happen


Then, in no more than thirty words, say why you think the story is (not)worth reading.

D. Swop papers with another group and read what they have written for (C).

TOWARDS TOC LEARNING TARGETS

The tasks outlined above offer students chances to practise their listening,speaking, reading and writing skills.10 They are also in accord with the TOClearning targets.11 Here are some of the relevant Knowledge, Interpersonaland Experiential Dimension targets (Bands 4 to 7):

• using a range of language patterns for various purposes;• interpreting meaning between the lines;

• participating meaningfully in role-play activities;• understanding what others say and responding in appropriate ways;

• understanding the significance of events and characters and theinteraction between them in narrative texts;

• expressing personal responses to descriptions of experience.

HONG KONG LITERATURE AND ENGLISH-LANGUAGE LEARNING

For some people, ‘Literature’ still connotes dull, irrelevant texts or moral tractswhich teach worthy lessons about life.12 It is crucial that the texts Hong Kongstudents encounter are not only linguistically accessible but also culturallyrelevant. Things are changing, the literature and film texts for the A/S examnow include The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and Li Ang’s The Wedding Banquet.

If the second-language classroom is to be transformed, texts must beconsonant with the students’ own experiences. Then, instead of just engagingin language routines, drills and practice exercises, students can see their ownculture valued and ‘Hong Kong voices’ heard in the English lesson.

REFERENCES

Brock, M. ‘The Case for Localized Literature in the ESL Classroom.’ English TeachingForum July 1990, pp. 22–25.

Cheung, P.Y., ed. Hong Kong Collage: Contemporary Stories and Writing. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1998.

——— and C.C. Lai, eds. An Oxford Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Drama.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Curriculum Development Committee. Syllabus for English (Form I–V) (draft). HongKong: Government Printer, 1997.

Falvey, P. and P. Kennedy, eds. Learning Language Through Literature: A Sourcebookfor Teachers of English in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press,1997.

58 Peter Kennedy

Heaney, S. Preoccupations: Selected Prose 1968–1978. London: Faber & Faber, 1980.Hung, E. Contemporary Women Writers: Hong Kong and Taiwan. Hong Kong: The

Chinese University Press, 1992.Idema, W. and L. Haft. A Guide to Chinese Literature. Michigan: Michigan University

Press, 1997.Kennedy, P. Fact or Fiction? Hong Kong: Macmillan, 1995.Lau, J. et al., eds. Modern Chinese Stories and Novellas: 1919–1949. New York:

Columbia University Press, 1981.Leung, P.K. (trans. Osing, G.T.). City at the End of Time. Hong Kong: Twilight Books

Co., 1992.Liu, Y.C. The Cockroach and Other Stories. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press,

1995.Parkin, A. From the Bluest Part of the Harbour: Poems from Hong Kong. Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 1995.Post, R. and I. Rathet. ‘On Their Own Terms: Using Students Native Culture as Content

in EFL Classroom.’ English Teaching Forum 34/3–4 (1996), pp. 12–17.Wong, D. Hong Kong Stories. Hong Kong: CDN Publishing Ltd., 1996.Xi, Xi. A Girl Like Me and Other Stories. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press,

1986.———. Marvels of A Floating City. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1997.

NOTES

1. Heaney, 1980, p. 26.2. Brock, 1990, p. 23.3. Post and Rathet, 1996, p. 12.4. This point is made most eloquently by P.K. Leung in Cheung, 1998, pp. 3–13.5. The two special issues of Renditions magazine on Hong Kong literature — nos.

29 and 30 (1988) and 47 and 48 (1997) — contain translations of works by thesewriters. See also Lau et al., 1981, pp. 530–559; Xi Xi, 1986, 1997; Hung, 1992;and Wong, 1996.

6. Leung, 1992, and Parkin, 1995.7. Translation of plays by these four Hong Kong playwrights can be found in Cheung

and Lai, 1997, pp. 583–873.8. Though this is not the place to argue for it, a case could be made out for using

other ‘Chinese’ writing in Hong Kong English classes. For instance, stories bySingaporean writers such as Catherine Lim, Chinese-Americans like Maxine HongKingston, and Chinese-British writers such as Timothy Mo.

9. Liu, 1995, pp. 44–46.10. For other task ideas, see Kennedy, 1995, and Falvey and Kennedy, 1997.11. Curriculum Development Committee, 1997.12. It is worth recalling that in China, stories, novels, ballads and plays were not,

traditionally, considered ‘literature’ at all. History has always been regarded as thehighest embodiment of truth. ‘Untrue’ texts about events that never happened orfeelings not felt were not valued. New genres such as novels and short storiesborrowed from the West were called xiao shuo (‘small talk’) and criticized forbeing ‘trivial’, ‘immoral’ or ‘lacking credibility’ (Idema and Haft, 1997, p. 56).

5CHAPTER

Using Asian Poems in English Classes:Sample Lessons

Mike Murphy

INTRODUCTION

As the editors of this series have pointed out in the first volume, since the mid-1980s, ‘literary texts have begun to appear alongside other texts in textbooksand on language syllabuses worldwide’. However, the vast majority of literarytexts, selected for use with non-native speakers learning English, are thosefrom English Literature rather than from literature in English. Moreover, thetexts chosen are usually those which have been written by native speakers ofEnglish. This is particularly true for poetry. There is a clear need to redress thebalance. There is a burgeoning corpus of literature in English written by second-language (L2) speakers of English, as well as world literature translated fromthe original into English. It is also appropriate to select some texts from thatpart of the world in which the students live.

There are a number of sound pedagogical reasons why L2 teachers shouldchoose such literary texts for use in language lessons. First, L2 learners maybe more encouraged to try their hand at creative writing if they have first enjoyedand responded to a piece of creative writing written by an L2 speaker likethemselves. Second, the students are more likely to be the kind of readers theauthors had in mind when writing their poems or stories. Third, these texts arelikely to be less culturally alien, so the comprehension difficulties encounteredby students when reading culturally alien texts might be avoided. Fourth, suchtexts are more likely to deal with familiar themes and describe situations towhich the students can relate. Consequently, a personal response will be more

60 Mike Murphy

readily forthcoming. Fifth, more students will come to understand that theword ‘literature’ need not be synonymous with some of the more difficultEnglish literary texts. Finally, since understanding and response lead toenjoyment, it is possible that students may be more motivated to read worldliterature in English outside the classroom.

I have chosen some Asian poems that have been written by L2 speakers ofEnglish to demonstrate the points above. They have either been written inEnglish or translated into English. The suggested lesson plans, that accompanythe poems, illustrate how they can be profitably used with Hong Kong studentsduring English lessons.

LESSON ONE

The Forest

The faint cracking of twigs;an occasional call

from a frightened bird;the steady throbbing cry

of the cicadas on the tree trunks;a shrill piping from a frog,

and the summing uphaunting melody of an owl

complete an orchestra of tiny sounds.

Ignatius Dev Anand (Malaysia)

Lesson Plan

1. Play a recording of twigs crackling, the cry of a frightened bird, the soundof cicadas (crickets), the croak of a frog and the hoot of an owl. Then askthe students to write down what they think the sounds are.

2. Ask the students to get into small groups and compare what they havewritten down. Then ask them to suggest words that describe the soundsthey have heard, e.g. frightening, mysterious, surprising.

3. Ask the students to listen carefully to the poem and try to guess what thetitle is.

4. Read the poem to the students.5. Listen to their suggested titles for the poem. Reveal the title if they don’t

come up with it.6. Hand out copies of the poem to the students who, in pairs, take turns to

read it to each other.7. Walk around listening to the students reading the poem to each other, and

Using Asian Poems in English Classes: Sample Lessons 61

help them with any difficulties they may have, e.g. pronouncing strangewords, stress and intonation.

8. Clarify the meaning of unknown or difficult words, after you haveencouraged the students to make a guess at the meaning first.

9. Ask the students to compare and contrast their descriptive words for thesounds, with the words used by the poet.

10. Compose a class poem on the board using a similar framework to that ofThe Forest, but eliciting original ideas and new words from the students.

Here is an example of one possible class poem.

Hong Kong

The loud shuddering of drills; a deafening hammer

from the fourteenth floor; the ear-piercing scream

of the siren in the crowded streets; a sharp screeching from a bus,

and the climax, angry honking of a car

complete a Hong Kong cacophony.

11. Ask the class to read their class poem in chorus.12. Finally, invite the students to write a poem of their own, following a similar

framework, either individually or in groups.

LESSON TWO

Only the Moon

When I was a child I thoughtThe new moon was a cradle,

The full moon was granny’s round face.The new moon was banana,

The full moon was a big cake.

When I was a childI never saw the moon.

Only saw what I wanted to see.

And now I see the moon.It’s the moon,

Only the moon, and nothing but the moon.

May Wong (Singapore)

62 Mike Murphy

Lesson Plan

1. Hold up coloured drawings of the full moon and the new moon, and askthe students to suggest what they look like to them. (Give them one exampleto start them off.)

2. Write students’ ideas and words on the board.3. Ask the students to listen carefully to the poem and see how many words

on the board are in the poem.4. Read the poem to the students.5. Ask the students to identify those words on the board which are in the

poem.6. Hand out copies of the poem to the students who, in pairs, take turns to

read it to each other.7. Walk around listening to the students reading the poem to each other, and

help them with any difficulties they may have.8. Clarify the meaning of difficult or unknown words after you have asked

the students to make a guess at the meaning first.9. Ask the students to suggest why the poet repeats the word ‘moon’ in the

last stanza.10. Compose a class poem on the board using a similar framework to that of

Only the Moon. For example, get the class to compose two short stanzas,the first beginning with ‘When I was very small I . . . ’ and the secondbeginning with ‘But now I . . . ’. Elicit ideas and new words from thestudents.

11. Ask the class to read their class poem in chorus.12. Finally, invite the students to write a poem of their own, on a similar theme

and following a similar framework, either individually or in groups.

Here is a poem written by a Hong Kong student from Sing Yiu SecondarySchool in 1991.

I Can’t Believe It!

When I was a childThe sky was clean,

The ground was fresh,The sky looked like a blue blanket,

The ground was a green carpet.

When I was a childI always saw the sky and the ground,

I was familiar with them.

And now I see the sky and the ground:It is dark and dirty,

I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it.

Thomas Tai


LESSON THREE

F i s h i n g

A light spring breeze,A tiny boat,A silken line,

A bobbing float.

A carpet of flowers,A jar of wine.

For a moment in time,Liberty’s mine.

Li Houchu (China) (translation by E. Edwards)

Lesson Plan

1. Show the students a picture of someone fishing from a small boat on alake in the countryside, and ask them to tell their neighbour how theyimagine the person in the picture might feel at that time.

2. Use the same procedures as for Lesson One.


F o o t b a l l

A lined-up wall,A straight-through ball,

A clever flick,A corner kick.

A powerful shot,A goal is got.

The whistle’s gone.The game is won.

3. Finally, invite the students to write a poem of their own, about their ownhobby and following a similar framework, either individually or in groups.

64 Mike Murphy

LESSON FOUR

Lazy Man’s Song

I’ve been offered a job,but I’m too lazy to take it!

I own some land,but I’m too lazy to farm it!

I bought some wine,but I’m too lazy to drink it!

I have a small lute,but I’m too lazy to play it!

I received some letters,but I’m too lazy to open them!

I keep lots of good books,but I’m too lazy to read them!

So even Hsi ShuyehWas not as lazy as I am!

Po Chui (China) (adapted from a translation by Arthur Waley)

Lesson Plan

1. Arrange the students in small groups and ask them to think of five thingsthat a very lazy person might do or not do.

2. Ask the groups to report back to the rest of the class.3. Ask the students to listen carefully to the poem and note the things that

this lazy person did not do.4. Read the poem to the students.5. Ask the groups to report back on (3).6. Hand out copies of the poem to the students who, in pairs, take it in turns

to read it to each other.7. Walk around listening to the students reading the poem to each other, and

help them with any difficulties they may have.8. Clarify the meaning of difficult words.9. Compose a class poem on the board using a similar framework to that of

Lazy Man’s Song, but eliciting original ideas and new words from thestudents.



D i s a p p o i n t m e n t s

I wrote to you twice,but you did not reply.

I went to the party,but you were not there.

I got you a ticket,but you did not come.

I saw you at the bus stop,but you did not wave.

I asked for your help,but you did not give it.

I thought you were my friend,but you’re obviously not!

10. Ask the class to read their class poem in chorus.11. Finally, invite the students to write a poem of their own, following a similar

framework, either individually or in groups.

CONCLUSION

I have found that taking time to select simple yet suitable poems from theregion can appeal to students and motivate them to produce good poems oftheir own. Why not try this with your students?

6CHAPTER

From Reading to Speaking and Writing:Dramatizing for the English Classroom

Philip Kam-wing Chan

INTRODUCTION

This chapter will outline the importance of drama in English lessons andillustrate how drama activities can be used to teach integrated reading, speakingand writing skills.

DRAMA IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM

From a pedagogical point of view, drama has much to offer. Drama exemplifieshow language is enacted to organize and formulate experiences, particularlyfeelings and attitudes. Drama activities can help students in learning to interpret,appreciate and communicate experiences in language. In language teaching,drama can be used to foster speaking skills: it requires students to project theirvoices while speaking, helps rid them of their inhibitions, prompts them totake speaking turns, and encourages them to convey meaning and emphasisthrough intonation, facial expressions, gestures and movement. Practisingspeaking skills through drama activities can be personalized, authentic andfun.

The importance of drama is acknowledged in the Teaching Syllabus1 whichgives guidance on how to use drama in the classroom. The School DramaFestival and the School Speech Festival give students opportunities and the

68 Philip Kam-wing Chan

motivation to act and speak in English. The revision of the Certificate ofEducation Examination English Language Syllabus in 1996 increased theweighting of the oral test and introduced role-play as a test format.

However, drama activities in the language classroom are often regardedas peripheral. This is because the Examination Syllabus tests predominantlytransactional and referential functions of language. Drama is excluded fromthe Syllabus. In the oral test, for instance, the situations prescribed for the role-play are related to work and study. The washback effects of these exemplarfunctions and tasks find their way into the classroom through an overrelianceon textbooks. Students are drilled to do role-playing tasks in situations whichmay not require English for communication. These tasks are useful to preparethem for work but they are not engaging in learning activities since most studentsmay not feel the urgent need to play those roles in the immediate future. Thewashback effect of such tasks may be one reason why only 6.58% of primaryand secondary pupils participated in the Hong Kong School Speech Festival inthe 1994–95 academic year.2 The percentage of pupil participation in the HongKong School Drama Festival was even lower, at 0.62%.

The lack of drama scripts for the EFL classroom is another reason whydrama activities are marginalized. There is a large supply of stories for theteaching of reading, but there are few plays available on the market for teachersto use in the classroom. This chapter proposes a way of improving this situationby turning stories into plays. This will lead students into integrated reading,speaking and writing activities. The following sections will illustrate how tocreate and conduct these integrated activities.

TEXT SELECTION

The first thing is to select a suitable story. The story I have chosen is TerryJones’ ‘Three Raindrops’.3 I chose this story because it is short enough to usefor intensive reading. The story is unabridged and the language is simple butnot simplified. Sentence patterns are repeated. This makes it interesting foranalysis and imitation. We are invited to witness the vanity of the threecharacters and evaluate their behaviour. The plot is straightforward and thetheme is clear. The message is simply presented when we see the downfall ofthe characters at the end.

The story is excellent for both silent reading and reading aloud. It is amodel for writing and speaking practice. There are a number of activities thatcan be generated from this story depending on the language level and learningobjective of the class. Here are some of the tasks that have been tried out in theclassroom.

From Reading to Speaking and Writing 69

TASK DESIGN

The tasks do not involve drilling or testing students’ knowledge of language.Instead, they seek to build on and extend students’ language use by linking thetext and tasks to students’ personal experiences. Unlike many of the questionsfound in language textbooks which require students to find the ‘right’ answers,the tasks here are open-ended. They invite and encourage varied responses.Another point is that these tasks are not form-oriented (they do not just focuson grammatical form). Many textbooks tend to start a unit by defining orexplaining a form, e.g. the present tense. They often go on to list and illustrateuses of the structure by giving examples and substitution or transformationexercises. Texts are often fabricated just to illustrate the grammatical form.The context becomes peripheral. The tasks here do not do that. Instead, thesetasks focus students’ attention on the context and match the context to students’personal experiences and language knowledge, so that they will learn when,how and where to use the language items appropriately.

The following tasks range from the general to the specific. Pre-readingtasks prepare students for the theme and language in the text. Post-readingtasks guide students towards analysis, interpretation and creative writing.Teachers can adapt the tasks and worksheets to suit the level and need of theirstudents.

‘Three Raindrops’

A raindrop was falling out of a cloud, and it said to theraindrop next to it: ‘I’m the biggest raindrop in the wholesky!’

‘You are indeed a fine raindrop,’ said the second, ‘butyou’re not nearly so beautifully shaped as I am. And in myopinion, it’s shape that counts and I am therefore the bestraindrop in the whole sky.’

The first raindrop replied: ‘Let us settle this matter onceand for all.’ So they asked a third raindrop to decide betweenthem.

But the third raindrop said: ‘What nonsense you’re bothtalking! You may be a big raindrop, and you are certainlywell shaped, but as everybody knows, it’s purity that reallycounts, and I am purer than either of you. I am therefore thebest raindrop in the whole sky!’

Well, before either of the other raindrops could reply,all three hit the ground and became part of a very muddypuddle.


PRE-READING TASKS

1. What are your feelings about being thought of as ‘number one’, e.g. inexams, on the sports field, most popular person in class, etc.?

2. ‘No one is the best at everything but everyone is good at something.’Discuss.

3. Fill in the blanks in Worksheet 1 to complete the story.

Worksheet 1

Fill in each blank with one word or more to complete the story.Then, compare your answers with those in the story.

A raindrop was falling out of a cloud, and it said to the raindropnext to it: ‘I’m the raindrop in the sky!’

‘You are a fine raindrop,’ said the second, ‘butyou’re not nearly so beautifully shaped as I am. And in my

, it’s shape that and I am thereforethe best raindrop in the whole sky.’

The first raindrop replied: ‘Let us this matter .’ So they asked a

third raindrop to between them.

But the third raindrop said: ‘What you’reboth talking! You may be a raindrop, and you arecertainly , but as everybody ,it’s purity that really counts, and I am than either ofyou. I am the best raindrop in the whole sky!’

Well, before either of the other raindrops could reply, all three hitthe and became part of a very puddle.

POST-READING TASKS

4. Give a title to this story.5. For whom is the story written? Give reasons for your answer.6. Look at the complete text. Which words (and punctuation marks) in the

story express attitudes, e.g. ‘You are indeed a fine raindrop’?7. Divide the story into sections and label them ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’ . . .


8. Give reasons for your division of the story.9. What parts of the story are repeated?10. Why do you think the writer repeats these phrases?11. Why do you think the writer chose raindrops to be ‘characters’ in the story?12. What do you think the story teaches us about relationships among people?13. In what ways might the story change the way you look at yourself and

your friends?14. Continue the story.15. Draw cartoon strips to illustrate the story.16. Write a similar story using different settings and characters. See Worksheet

2 below.

Worksheet 2

Story-rewriting practice: fill in the blanks to make your own story.

‘_____________________ ’ by ______________________

A . . . , and . . . said to . . . : ‘I’m the . . . in the whole . . . !’

‘You are indeed a . . . ,’ said . . . , ‘but you’re not nearly so . . . asI am. And in my opinion, it’s . . . that counts and I am therefore the. . . the whole . . . ’

. . . replied: ‘Let us settle this matter once and for all.’ So theyasked . . . to decide between them.

But . . . said: ‘What nonsense you’re both talking! You may be a. . . , and you are certainly . . . , but as everybody knows, it’s . . . thatreally counts, and I am . . . than either of you. I am therefore the best. . . in the whole . . . !’

Well, before either of the other . . . could reply, all three . . .

17. In groups, do a role-play or radio play of the story. See Worksheet 3 fordetails.


Worksheet 3

In groups,• read the lines aloud; and• write stage directions for each line.

The list below contains things you might want to think about.• Tone: how do you think the words might be spoken (e.g. angrily,

sadly, nostalgically . . . )?• Facial expressions: what facial expressions do you think would

go with these words (e.g. puzzled, surprised . . . )?• Emphasis and pace: underline the words which you think should

be stressed (e.g. spoken in a loud or soft voice, etc.).• Voice characterization: think about the age, sex, nationality, social

position, education, occupation and relationship of the characters.How would you suggest these characteristics by the tone of yourvoice, the accent you use, etc.?

Turn The Narrator’s/Storyteller’s Role Stage Directions

1 A raindrop was falling out of a cloud, First raindropand it said to the raindrop next to it: looks at second

raindrop.

2 said the second,

3 The first raindrop replied:

4 So they asked a third raindrop to decidebetween them.

5 But the third raindrop said:

6 Well, before either of the other raindropscould reply, all three hit the ground andbecame part of a very muddy puddle.


Turn The First Raindrop’s Role Stage Directions

1 I’m the biggest raindrop in the whole sky!

2 Let us settle this matter once and for all.

18. In groups, turn the story into a play. See Worksheet 4 below and followthe outline.

Turn The Second Raindrop’s Role Stage Directions

1 You are indeed a fine raindrop, butyou’re not nearly so beautifully shapedas I am. And in my opinion, it’s shapethat counts and I am therefore the bestraindrop in the whole sky.

Turn The Third Raindrop’s Role Stage Directions

1 What nonsense you’re both talking!You may be a big raindrop, and you arecertainly well shaped, but as everybodyknows, it’s purity that really counts, andI am purer than either of you. I amtherefore the best raindrop in the wholesky!


Worksheet 4

Title: ‘Three Raindrops’

Setting: Indicate the time, place, scenery, costume and props, e.g.On a windy August afternoon in the countryside . . .

Characters: Give a name to each ‘character’ (the three raindrops).

Stage Directions: Put these instructions in your text in squarebrackets to describe appearance, actions, positions, facialexpressions, gestures, and tone of the characters, e.g.A very big round raindrop is falling out of a dark cloud . . .First Raindrop [proudly to the raindrop next to him/her]: I’m thebiggest raindrop in the whole sky!Second Raindrop [looking down at First Raindrop]: You are indeeda fine raindrop, but you’re not nearly so beautifully shaped as I am.And in my opinion, it’s shape that counts and I am therefore the bestraindrop in the whole sky.First Raindrop: . . .Third Raindrop: . . .[Before either of the other raindrops can reply, all three hit theground and become part of a very muddy puddle.]

A PLAY BY A FORM 1 STUDENT

Here is something a Form 1 student wrote.

‘Three mice’

Setting: A certain day in a mouse’s hole.Characters: Three mice:

Paul — He thinks that he is very handsome.Sam — A small mouse which wears glasses.Peter — A fat mouse with two big teeth, but

he thinks that he is strong.

[Three mice have worked outside to find food. They arecoming back home and they meet in Mouse Street.]


Peter: Hello Paul and Sam! Can you see? [Showing off hisfood.] There are many sweets, many cakes, muchcheese, many apples and many good things. I cancarry many things with my two strong arms [flexinghis muscles]. I am the biggest, the strongest and thebest mouse in the whole mice’s world.

Paul: You may be a strong mouse. But you are not ashandsome as I am. And in my opinion it’s face thatcounts. Since I am very handsome, every mousewelcomes me, and I am therefore the best mousein the whole mice’s world.

[Sam and Peter are pretending to vomit because Paul saidthat he is very handsome.]

Sam: [Looking down on them.] What nonsense you’reboth talking! In fact, Peter, you’re not strong, you’refat! Paul, you’re also not so handsome. We welcomeyou because we don’t want to hurt your heart. Andas every mouse knows, it’s wisdom that reallycounts, and I am wiser than either of you. I usuallyhelp many mice to solve problems. I am thereforethe best mouse in the whole mice’s world.

[When they are arguing, a cat appears. It uses its big handto catch Paul, Sam and Peter. It puts them into its mouth oneby one. And strength, smartness and wisdom slowlydisappear.]

EVALUATION

This Form 1 student turned the composition into a play. She included a narratorand stage directions. In fact, as there was already dialogue in the story it waseasier for her to change her composition into a play. Writing and performingthe play engaged her in eliciting and expressing feelings and attitudes in English.

This play is only one of the many assignments that the students didthroughout the school year. One major difference from the usual textbookexercises is that the teacher was marking writing produced by students whowere doing a task they found personally engaging and enjoyable. Their workwas collected and put in the school magazine. This was also an opportunity toexpress themselves in English to a real audience.


NOTES

1. Curriculum Development Committee. Syllabus for English (Forms I–V). HongKong: Government Printer, 1993.

2. Education Department. Education Indicators for the Hong Kong School EducationSystem. Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1995.

3. Jones, Terry. ‘Three Raindrops.’ In Fairly Tales. London: Puffin Books, 1981.

7CHAPTER

Little Red Riding Hood in Hong Kong

Peter Kennedy

There was once a little girl who lived on a public housing estate in KwunTong . . . Once a week Little Red Mien-lap Mou went to visit her grandmotherin Sham Shui Po . . . ‘Jo san, Granny,’ she said . . . It was a young ‘wolf’ withgrinning jaws and a gold medallion . . . Just as he was about to speak, hispager rang . . . They looked at each other then laughed and laughed at thestupidity of the wolf.

INTRODUCTION

Why use a children’s story, first encountered in primary school, with (upper)secondary students? The very familiarity of the story is its strength. Studentscan use the Little Red Riding Hood (LRRH) story as a framework for theirown ideas. In order to play with a text, you have first to pay close attention tothe original and master its characteristic features — what Abbs1 has called‘imaginative plagiarism’. Most writers and painters begin by imitating othersbefore they find their own voice or style (see also Chapter 10). The second-language writing ‘apprenticeship’ can offer scope for creativity too and neednot be restricted to writing letters and essays. As I will show later in the chapter,the LRRH story generated some strikingly original Hong Kong versions.

First though, I will outline some activities based on the traditional folktale and on three other versions of the story including a Chinese folk tale. I goon to show how a fifth version, an Angela Carter short story, may be used forextensive reading practice.

78 Peter Kennedy

The starting point for these tasks was an idea I came across in a book afew years ago.2 I have since developed a range of lively language learningactivities to use with the story. These tasks are suitable for fifteen- /sixteen-year-olds. Of course, you may not want to work through all of them. Selecttasks according to the needs of your class and the time available. However, Iwould recommend that you do include steps 1 to 3.

LESSON PLAN

1. Getting ready to read the text• Ask your students to recall the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Who

are the characters (LRRH, wolf, grandmother, hunter)? What are themain events? How does the story begin/end? What lines are repeated(e.g. ‘What big ears/eyes/teeth you’ve got!’)?

• To help prompt their recall of the story, you may want to put upmagazine pictures on the walls. For instance, pictures of a wolf, aforest, etc.

• If you have time, you could also record some sound effects from thetelevision — wolves howling, trees being chopped down — and playa tape of these.

• As students recall the main events and characters, put these up on theboard.

2. Listening and demonstrating comprehension (verbal and non-verbalresponses)• Read out the standard version of LRRH.3 (Tapes of this version are

also available in major Hong Kong bookshops.)• As the students listen, ask them to note down any elements of the

story not already listed on the board, e.g. the warning LRRH’s mothergave to her, the hunter’s appearance, descriptions of the forest, etc.

• Alternatively, you may ask students to draw pictures of the maincharacters as they imagine them.

3. Silent readingGive students a copy of the standard version (A) to read.

4. Reading and note-taking• Divide the class into groups of three.• Prepare the three versions of the story below (B, C and D).

Version B: Some Day My Prince Will Crawl4

In this version, LRRH is a karate expert who beats up the wolf and then getsthe hunter to wash the dishes.

Little Red Riding Hood in Hong Kong 79

Version C: Roald Dahl’s rhymed version5

At the end of this version:

The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.She whips a pistol from her knickers.She aims it at the creature’s headAnd bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.

LRRH then leaves off her red cloak and takes to wearing a wolfskin coat instead!

Version D: Chinese folk tale

There are a number of variants, but here is the basic outline of the one I heardin Nanning.

A mother and three children live in a forest — mother visits grandma —wolf comes to house pretending to be grandma — blows out light so childrencan’t see his face — one child, a little girl, tricks the wolf — she says there are‘fairy nuts’ on a tree nearby — anyone who eats them will live forever — thechildren climb up the tree — the wolf shouts ‘come down!’ — no, the fairynuts must be eaten on the tree or the magic doesn’t work — wolf can’t climb— children tell him to get a rope and a basket and they will pull him up —wolf does so — three times the children pull the basket up and let it fall —each time they pull it higher — the first time the wolf hurts his head — thesecond time he breaks a leg — the third time they let the basket fall and thewolf is killed — mother returns from grandma’s to find three happy children.

(You will need to write out this one in full or use your own variant of the tale.)

• Give each group one version (B, C or D). (In a class of thirty-sixstudents, for instance, you will have four B groups, four C groups andfour D groups.)

• Students read through their version and make notes on the main events,the characters, how the story begins, ends and what lines are repeated(using the headings on the board).

5. Mime — non-verbal communication• Groups prepare to mime their version of the story. (This can be fun but

it is also useful in getting students to think about appropriate gesturesand facial expressions — communication is more than just words.)This task can be set up quickly but it does call for careful classroommanagement. I have found it useful to have ready a box of (unsharpened)coloured pencils — twelve red, twelve blue and twelve green. In a class ofthirty-six, twelve students have now worked on version B (give them the redpencils), 12 on C (give them the blue pencils) and twelve on D (give them thegreen pencils). Now say, ‘Hold up your pencils. [Point to four ‘ reds’.] Youfour Reds go to that area of the room [point and pause]. Now the next four

80 Peter Kennedy

Reds go to that other part of the room [pause] and the last four go to the thirdarea. Now, four Blues, you join the first set of Reds in that corner . . ., etc.’You should end up with four Bs, four Cs and four Ds sitting together in (three)corners of the room.

• Tell the Reds to mime their story for the Blues and Greens.• Then the other colours mime their versions.• After each mime, the watchers tell the mimers what they thought was

happening in the story they saw.6. Storytelling

• Regroup the students in threes (one B, one C and one D in each group— ‘One red, one blue and one green sit together’).

• Each student should retell, in his/her own words and without readingfrom notes, the version (B, C or D) he/she mimed.In putting the story into their OWN words, the students modify and augmentthe original. Apart from the fluency and intonation practice it offers thestoryteller, this is also a purposeful listening task for the other students.

7. Comparing written texts, understanding and evaluating information andtransposing it onto a chart• Students stay in the same groups.• They read and compare the four versions, identify differences and note

these down on the chart.

Version A B C D(the original (Some Day (Roald (Chinesetale) My Prince Dahl folk tale)

Will Crawl) version)

The little girl

The grandmother

The wolf

The hunter

Other differences

(adapted from Grellet, 1981, pp. 203–205)

8. Group discussions• The groups report back on what they have written.

(Copy the chart onto an OHT and write down a few responses fromeach of the groups. Or, copy the chart onto a large sheet of paper, blue-tak it to the wall and write on it.)It is important to write down students’ responses to show them they are beinglistened to and taken seriously. Otherwise, they may feel this is just a languageroutine and the teacher is only ‘going through the motions’. Keep it briskthough!


Here are some comments my students came up with.

Verson A B C D(the (Some Day My (Roald (Chineseoriginal Prince Will Dahl folk tale)tale) Crawl) version)

The little girl sweet, tough, cunning, clever,cute, strong, ruthless, brave,innocent feminist a city girl alert

The grandmother weak absent indigestibleand ill (but probably

proud ofhergranddaughter)

The wolf greedy big but not easily tricked big, badand strong and a bad andwicked enough actor (he foolish

could havebeen better asthe old lady)

The hunter tough, timid, weak, there is no there is nostrong, powerless male hero hunterbrave

Other differences

The last group I did this with focused on the patterns of repetition. In theoriginal tale and the ‘feminist’ versions, the patterns are more or less the same:

What big ears/eyes/teeth you have.

All the better to hear/see/eat you with.

In the Dahl version, LRRH says ‘What a lovely fur coat you have’, while inthe folk tale, it is the ‘business’ with the rope and basket that is repeated threetimes.

The moral of the story

The above-mentioned group came up with these:

Don’t trust women in red cloaks.Mind what your mother says and don’t talk to strangers.It isn’t easy to fool little girls nowadays.Modern women can take care of themselves.Don’t fool around with ladies who know karate.

82 Peter Kennedy

• Divide the class into groups of six.(There will be little disruption if students simply turn to face those behindthem.) This second stage of the discussion is a chance for the students toexpress their own ideas, opinions, feelings about the texts.

• Put a few prompts on the board to start them off but resist the temptationto supply pre-packaged ‘arguments’.

Which version did you like? Why?Which did you find the most/least amusing? etc.

• Put up more points as you hear them arise from the groups.In one class I taught this lesson to, the discussion focused on the Chineseversion of the story. One student knew another variant. Another class lookedat the story from the wolf’s point of view. They went on to consider thewriters’ attitudes and the humour in the versions. Why is it that in folktales, fairy stories and jokes, things always happen in threes?

• While the discussion is going on, the teacher can eavesdrop and take notes.It is useful to give the students feedback on language errors as well asdiscussion strategies, but it is important that the feedback is not toonegative; jot down interesting points to share with the others (and praise)when summing up. One of the purposes of the discussion is to lead into thewriting task (step 10) below.

9. Extensive readingFor a more mature group, the Angela Carter short story, ‘The Company ofWolves’,6 is another interesting variation on the LRRH theme and can berecommended for extensive reading at home. It was made into a film (byNeil Jordan) and can be found in local video shops. Carter takes apart thefamiliar story and makes a new one which offers a feminist perspective onthe tale. Instead of being a passive victim, LRRH is a confident youngwoman. Carter captures very well the feeling of being alone in a scaryforest where predatory wolves with flashing eyes lurk in the dark. Shelinks this to our secret primal fears: ‘. . . we keep the wolves outside byliving well.’ LRRH is both repelled and attracted by the wolf. She doesnot repeat the usual phrases, instead we get ‘What big arms you have’ and‘What shall I do with my blouse?’ LRRH lies down with the wolf ingranny’s bed!

10. Creative writing• I asked students to write a Hong Kong version of the LRRH story.

They started by ‘brainstorming’ ideas in class:Who might be a local ‘wolf’ character?What Hong Kong settings would it be fun to use?

• Students then wrote their pieces at home.• Second-language students are seldom given chances to be creative in

English or to give expression to their imaginative ideas. The LRRHtexts can now act as springboards for students’ own writing. Here aresome of the texts they produced.


(a)

There was once a little girl who lived on a public housingestate in Kwun Tong. Her mother had just baked somemooncakes and asked her to take them to her Granny’s housein Fanling. Her mother packed the cakes and told Red not tostray from the usual route because she had heard that anillegal immigrant had been seen in the area. On the newsthey had called him the Wolfman. Red didn’t listen, shedecided to take a short cut through a deserted alley andthere she bumped into the Wolfman. He was a large manwith a pock-marked face and tattered clothes. As he cametowards Red, she got out her mobile phone and called somefriends. They belonged to the triad group controlling thatdistrict. Red made it to her grandmother’s that day and, asfor the Wolfman, there have been no more stories abouthim on TV.

(b)

Once upon a time in Hong Kong, when trees and fresh airstill existed, there lived a stonecutter and his daughter onStonecutter’s Island. Once a week Little Red Mien-lap Mouwent to visit her grandmother in Sham Shui Po. Along theway, she stopped at a stall to look at the most beautiful silkshe had ever seen. The man told her it came all the wayfrom Thailand and invited her to take a closer look. ‘Whatare you doing out by yourself?’ he asked. She told him shewas going to see her grandmother. This ‘wolf ’ asked her if hecould show her the way. Little Red Mien-Lap Mou said sheknew the way and hurried off to her grandma’s. The wolf ranahead to Granny’s place and, when she opened the door, heshoved her inside. But this little old lady was tough. Shestuck a fistful of burning incense up his nose, picked uporanges and pieces of pork from her altar and threw them athim. By the time Little Red Mien-lap Mou arrived, the wolfhad been given to neighbours for their dai pai dong . . .


hurt to take a short walk to Granny’s from here.’ Meanwhile,a stranger had called on Granny and tricked his way pasther metal security door. He had grabbed the old lady, tiedher up and taped her mouth. Mr Wolf had then started tosearch for her money. ‘Jo san, Granny,’ said Emily when shearrived. ‘Jo san, Emily’ came the reply. But as Emily openedthe door she saw Granny’s padded jacket — the old ladywas lying across the majong table. All of a sudden Wolfjumped out from behind the door and grabbed her. Emilytook out the Bitasoy drink she had bought in the supermarketand squeezed it into Wolf ’s mouth. The drink was poisonousand Wolf immediately fell to the floor. She called the policewho released Granny and took away Wolf. Emily and Grannyhad a nice lunch together that afternoon.

(d)

Little Red Riding Hood looked at herself in the mirror. Shelooked splendid in her Versace cloak and Chanel paddedhandbag. She sighed and remembered that she had to spenda dull afternoon with her grandmother. As Red Riding Hoodpicked her way through the Filipinas in Central, someonespoke to her and she turned her head. It was a young ‘wolf ’with grinning jaws and a gold medallion. He was dressed ina fashionable violet Versus suit. Just as he was about to speak,his pager rang.

‘Well, well, what have we here?’ he continued. ‘A prettylady all alone and a big wolf like me standing in her way!’

Red Riding Hood looked bored. They were all alike.

‘Well, where are you going sweetheart?’

‘To visit my granny, if you must know, and I’m late!’

‘Why don’t I take you there in my new red Ferrari. It matchesyour pretty cloak.’ The wolf ’s grin grew wider.

‘You have a Ferrari?’ Red’s eyes widened. ‘Well, what arewe waiting for?’


(e)

It was a very cold winter’s day in Hong Kong. Little RedRiding Hood was thinking about the school holidays whenher mother came up to her. ‘Come, Little Red Riding Hood.Here is some food and a flask of soup for you to take to yourgranny. She can’t cook food for herself because she has abad cold. Remember to tell her to rest and not to eat anysweets. It is bad for her health because she is diabetic. Becareful and give me a ring when you arrive at Granny’s.’

Little Red Riding Hood put all the food in her basket and setoff. She took a wrong turning and got lost. She saw a manon the street corner and decided to ask him for directions.The man had lost all his money gambling and now BrotherOn, the loan shark, was threatening to chop him if he didn’trepay the money. When this wolf saw how well-dressed LittleRed Riding Hood was he thought to himself, ‘She must befrom a rich family. I’ll kidnap her and get a lot of ransommoney.’

‘Where are you going little girl?’

‘I’m going to visit my grandmother. She is very ill and mymother has asked me to take her some hot soup.’ She toldhim the address and he gave her directions.

‘Ah, what a good girl! Do you see those beautiful flowersthey are selling across the road? Why not take your grannysome of those?’

Little Red Riding Hood thought this was a good idea and,while she was buying the flowers the wolf went straight tograndmother’s house. When she opened the door, he fell onher, tied her up and then put her money and jewellery in abag.

Little Red Riding Hood arrived with the flowers and the basketof food. The wolf pushed her into the room and she fell onthe sofa. She noticed granny’s syringe on the table. She pickedit up and stabbed wolf in the stomach with it saying, ‘Youknow my granny got AIDS from a blood transfusion two yearsago. Now you can share with her the fear of death.’

The wolf was shocked. He pulled the syringe out of his bodyand asked in a whisper, ‘Is . . . is it true . . . are you HIVpositive?’ Granny nodded her head. ‘Ahhh!’ cried the wolfbitterly and rushed out of the house. Little Red Riding Hooduntied Granny. They looked at each other then laughed andlaughed at the stupidity of the wolf.


Knowledge Dimension• appreciating stylistic variations between text types

Interpersonal Dimension• understanding other people’s views, attitudes and preferences in

conversational exchanges• participating in a range of role-play and other activities• discriminating between the tones and moods of different writers when

they address different audiences

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

These might include asking students to:• illustrate their stories and display them on the notice-board or classroom

wall• continue their stories:

What happened after LRRH went off in the Ferrari?Write the dialogue that took place in the dai pai dong between LRRH andher neighbours

• write a trailer for a forthcoming LRRH film using one of the four versionsas a scene from that film

• retell incidents in the story from the point of view of the wolf• write down the dialogue between the characters in the students’ versions,

then swop with another pair and read out aloud what they have written

Have a look at other children’s stories such as ‘Puss in Boots’, ‘Hanseland Gretel’, ‘The Gingerbread Man’, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, ‘The UglyDuckling’ and ‘The Elves and the Shoemaker’. You may now want to come upwith tasks of your own based on these stories.

REFERENCES

Abbs, P. The Educational Imperative: A Defence of Socratic and Aesthetic Learning.London: The Falmer Press, 1994.

Carter, A. ‘The Company of Wolves.’ In The Bloody Chamber. London: Gollancz,1979.

Curriculum Development Council. Syllabus for Primary Schools: English LanguagePrimary 1–6. Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1997.

Dahl, R. Revolting Rhymes. London: Penguin (Puffin) Books, 1984.Grellet, F. Developing Reading skills: A Practical Guide to Reading Comprehension

Exercises. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

90 Peter Kennedy

NOTES

1. Abbs, 1994 , p. 17.2. Grellet, 1981, pp. 202–205.3. Version A The original story, Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, was written by Charles

Perrault in 1697. The English version is widely available, for instance, NurseryTales, London: Ladybird, 1994.

4. Version B See Grellet, 1981, p. 204.5. Version C Dahl, 1984, pp. 36–40. I have found that the Dahl version is more

accessible to students than the James Thurber version which Grellet uses. The lattercontains too many obscure cultural references.

6. Version E Carter, 1979.7. The Bands of Performance for TOC, Key Stages 1–4, can be found in Curriculum

Development Council, 1997.

8CHAPTER

‘The Course of True Love’:Bringing Romance to the English Classroom

Sarah Woodhouse

INTRODUCTION

Although the lessons which follow are based on the text of Romeo and Juliet,students are introduced to only a few lines of the original text. This is the age-old story of two teenagers in love. The unit of work which follows providesstudents with plenty of opportunities to consider contemporary examples ofthis theme and to interpret the play in ways that are relevant to their own livesand situations.

Filmed extracts of two modern versions of Romeo and Juliet have beenincluded in the lessons to provide opportunities for language practice and textualanalysis. In my view, film is a much under-utilized resource in the EFLclassroom. This is a particularly surprising omission since the current generationof young language learners watch a lot of films (through home-video, moviechannels and cinema) and have a sophisticated understanding and enjoymentof film at an early age.

Film offers great opportunities for learning language in context and learninglanguage as it is spoken. It also provides insights into the culture(s) of thetarget language. It can be used for listening exercises or as the basis fordiscussion. It can provide the stimulus for narrative, descriptive, persuasiveand factual writing.

The unit of work comprises a series of activities which, if used in theirentirety, would take six to eight forty-minute lessons to complete (with somework set as homework). Considerable flexibility has been built into the materials

92 Sarah Woodhouse

so that the teacher has the freedom to adapt both the content and the approachaccording to the group he/she is teaching.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The emphasis of the lessons is less on introducing new linguistic material andmore on offering a fresh approach to language reinforcement and textualanalysis. It is intended that the use of film and literature will not only providea meaningful context and a stimulating environment for language practice, butwill also introduce students to the skills needed to analyse and appreciate literarytexts written in English.

The more specific objectives of each activity are:

Activity Objectives

A Love Story Brainstorming • To introduce the topic andstimulate interest.

• To activate relevant priorknowledge.

B Awareness of Romantic • To develop students’Stereotypes awareness of character types

and stereotypes.• To activate and enrich

students’ vocabulary.

C Story Construction: Skeleton • To practise structuring andStory writing narrative.

• To encourage discussion andinterpretation.

D Jigsaw Reading • To develop students’ intensivereading skills.

• To underline the importance ofreferences, sequencers andtime-markers in the writing ofnarrative.

E Identifying Significant • To develop students’Incidents understanding of the

relationships betweencharacter, plot and situation.

• To create short dramaticepisodes.

‘The Course of True Love’: Bringing Romance to the English Classroom 93

Activity Objectives

F Developing Reading Skills • To provide practice in readingfor gist.

• To foster the skills of inferenceand reference.

G Expressing Opinions: • To encourage students toThe Films express their opinions and

feelings about the characters,events and themes of the film.

• To reinforce the skills ofprediction and inference.

• To provide intensive listeningpractice.

H Extension Activities: • To promote students’ ability toDeveloping Writing Skills interpret and understand points

of view.• To practise narrative writing

skills.

LEVEL

The lessons have been targeted, in terms of both content and language, atstudents of Form 4 level and above (Juliet is only thirteen years old when shemarries Romeo). This should provide an excellent opportunity to discusshistorical and cultural differences and similarities, and more general issuesconcerning love and marriage. By Form 4, students should have reached alevel of maturity which allows them to deal with the romantic theme of thework in a sensitive and appropriate manner. The teacher need not present thematerial in a stuffy, humourless way. A lot of the motivation and enjoyment isderived from playing with the language of love.

The language input is lower-intermediate level, but the materials can beused profitably with more advanced students.

PREVIOUS LEARNING

To complete the reading and writing activities, students will need to have aworking knowledge of the structures associated with simple narrative such asthe past tense, sequencers and connectors. A familiarity with different filmtypes would be advantageous but not essential for the discussion, e.g. Westerns,horror films, romances, comedies, musicals, action films and thrillers.

94 Sarah Woodhouse

HOW THE MATERIAL FITS INTO THE SECONDARY SYLLABUS GOALS

These materials have been developed specifically to meet the requirements ofthe ‘Experience Dimension’ at Key Stages 3 and 4 of the Target OrientedCurriculum (TOC):• writing stories with a clear awareness of the development of plot and

character;• putting oneself in imaginary roles and situations in the story;• providing oral or written descriptions interpreting a situation, object or

character.

The film-related and discussion activities have been included in responseto the following targets listed in the TOC document:• identifying and interpreting themes;• making predictions and inferences;• creating short dramatic episodes and participating in them;• explaining one’s feelings towards characters and events;• analysing the actions and motivations of the characters and the significance

of events.

The materials give students the opportunity to take part in activities and topractise skills they will need to acquire if they are to achieve proficiency inthese important skills at Form 5 level. The relevant descriptors for each of thefour skills are paraphrased below from the original document.

Writing • expressing views, experiences, feelings andimaginative ideas through stories and plays

• expressing imaginative ideas through narrative inwhich there are elements of setting, a sequence ofevents and an appropriate conclusion

Reading • appreciating interactions between characters• awareness of how emotions are expressed

Speaking • giving comments with justification during thediscussion of the text

• expressing imaginative ideas through description ofsimple events or characters

Listening • responding to imaginative/narrative texts with anunderstanding of plot development and interactionbetween characters

• anticipating the likely outcome of stories and plays• appreciating the means of creating aesthetic effect in

a variety of materials including the media


VIDEOS

Romeo and Juliet

This contemporary version (1997) of Romeo and Juliet, starring LeonardoDiCaprio, is available on video. The original Shakespearean text is usedthroughout, but the fast pace and larger-than-life characters and sets make itvery engaging even if the language cannot be fully understood. Its cast ofattractive young actors and the California beach setting make it particularlyappealing for students.

West Side Story

This film (1961) is a musical version of Romeo and Juliet. It is set around1960 in America and the dialogue is in modern English. The names of theprotagonists have been changed to Tony and Maria and the fights are betweengangs rather than families but the basic story is the same. A highly successfulfilm at the time, the dialogue and style of West Side Story now seem a littleold-fashioned. It provides a contrast with the 1997 film. Students find thedialogue and characters very amusing.

LESSON PLAN

A. Love Story Brainstorming

Class activity, approximately ten to fifteen minutes.

1. Introduce the theme of love and ‘great love stories’ and ask students tosuggest great love stories which they know. (Titanic will be mentionedhere!)

2. Ask students to identify elements which are common to many differentlove stories. You can prompt them by asking questions such as:• What must a love story have? (love, a girl, a boy)• What do the girl and boy usually do? (touch, kiss, hold hands, write

letters, date, etc.)• How do love stories often end? (marriage, sex, suicide, death)• Why are love stories sometimes sad? (terminal illness, accident, love

triangle, parental disapproval, etc.)3. Write the suggestions on the board and add suggestions of your own. Don’t

reject less relevant suggestions. This may discourage students at this stage.The activity is intended to be a light-hearted means of stimulating theirinterest and activating their prior knowledge.

4. Have the students write down any words they are not familiar with.

96 Sarah Woodhouse

B. Awareness of Romantic Stereotypes

Individual and group activity, approximately fifteen to twenty minutes.

1. Introduce to students the idea of the romantic hero and heroine, and suggestto them that such characters often have a similar appearance, personalityand way of behaving. (For example, the hero is usually handsome and theheroine beautiful.)

2. Ask students to write down five adjectives which would commonly beused to describe the appearance / personality / behaviour of the hero andanother five to describe the heroine.

3. When the students have finished the above task, ask them to work in groupsof four to compare the adjectives they have chosen and to note down theones which are identical or similar. (While they are working, walk roundthe class and familiarize yourself with the most common adjectives theyhave chosen.) For minimum disruption during the group work session,ask the front pair of each of the four rows to work together. Two of thesefour pairs will need to move their chairs. The other thirty-two studentsshould easily be able to form groups with the pair directly in front of themor behind them. They shouldn’t need to move their chairs. Alternatively,you may wish to have students working in pairs rather than groups, ormiss out the group work component of the exercise entirely.

4. Have a class feedback session. Ask each group to report briefly on themost popular adjectives in their group and note them on the board. (Youwill probably find you have a list like this:Boys: strong, tall, muscular, brave, sexy, funny, cool, well-dressed, smart,

intelligent, etc.Girls: beautiful, slim, shapely, kind, lovely, cute, innocent, sweet, good-

tempered, etc.)

You may wish to comment on these lists or ask students for comments.

C. Story Construction: Skeleton Story

Pair or individual work, approximately twenty minutes.

A HANDSOME BOY A BEAUTIFUL GIRL

TWO SUICIDES A MARRIAGE

TWO FAMILIES THAT HATE EACH OTHER A SECRET

✄


1. Photocopy the above and cut up a set of cards for each pair.2. Ask students to use the cues on the cards to construct a love story. The

story should be only four or five sentences long. (While students areworking on this, walk round and note down any stories which areparticularly interesting and/or well written.)

3. Either ask a few students to report back to the whole class, or have studentsexchange their stories with other groups. (In a typical Hong Kong classroomwhere there are four rows of five pairs, students can pass their storiesforward five times so they can read five different versions.)

4. Ask students if they recognize the Romeo and Juliet story on which thecards are based. If they are not familiar with it, give them a very briefoutline using the information on the cards.

D. Jigsaw Reading

Pair or individual work, approximately twenty minutes.

This jigsaw reading tells the story of Romeo and Juliet in very simple terms.1. Photocopy Worksheet D below. Then cut up the sentences on page 99 and

mix them up. (They are currently in the correct order for your reference.)You may wish to pre-teach the following vocabulary items: ‘ruler’, ‘priest’,‘tomb’.

Worksheet D

The Story of Romeo and Juliet

1. In a city called Verona, two families, the Montagues and theCapulets, were always fighting. They often injured and sometimeskilled each other.

2.

3. One evening, Romeo (a Montague) met Juliet (a Capulet) andthey instantly fell in love.

4. Later that same evening Romeo and Juliet met again, talked abouttheir love and planned to marry the next day.

5.

98 Sarah Woodhouse

6. After their wedding Romeo went to meet his friend Mercutio.When he arrived Mercutio was involved in a fight with Tybalt, amember of the Capulet family.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12. Only a few hours after Romeo left Verona, Juliet’s mother toldher that in three days’ time she had to marry a man called Paris.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17. Romeo did not get the priest’s message. His friend told him thatJuliet was dead. Although it was very dangerous for him, hereturned to Verona and found Juliet ‘dead’ in the tomb.

18.

19.


✄

The ruler of Verona was angry about this fighting. He announcedthat anyone who started a fight in future would be punished by death.

The following day they married SECRETLY.

Because of his recent marriage to Juliet (a Capulet), Romeo tried tostop the fight but he failed and Mercutio was killed.

Upset by Mercutio’s death, Romeo wanted revenge. He fought Tybaltand killed him.

As a result of Tybalt’s murder, Romeo was told by the ruler that hemust leave Verona forever. If he returned he would be killed.

Before leaving Verona, Romeo visited Juliet for the last time.

With difficulty, Romeo left Juliet and went to live in a nearby city.

Juliet could not marry Paris so she went to a priest for help.

The priest had a plan. He gave Juliet a drug that made her sleep sodeeply she SEEMED to be dead.

Juliet took the drug, her family found her dead and she was taken tothe family tomb.

The priest sent a message to Romeo about his plan.

Romeo was so upset to see Juliet dead that he killed himself.

Juliet woke up from the drug too late. She found Romeo alreadydead and, no longer wishing to live, she too killed herself.

2. Give students Worksheet D. Point out that some of the key incidents in thestory are already provided.

3. Ask them to complete the story in pairs by placing the cut-up sentences(p. 99) in the correct order on the unfinished story.

4. After the students have finished, check their answers. Elicit from thestudents how they were able to place each sentence in the correct position.

100 Sarah Woodhouse

E. Identifying Significant Incidents

Individual or pair work.

1. For this activity you will need to make photocopies of Worksheet E below.For a class of forty you will need ten copies of each card.

Worksheet E

✄

THE FIRST MEETING

Use the following questions and sentences to HELP you write someparagraphs about the first meeting.

The first meeting takes place in the evening.

Where does it take place? Describe the place and give informationabout the background and setting.

Are there other people at the place? What are they doing?

Why are Romeo and Juliet there? Who are they with? What arethey wearing?

How do they meet? (Accident? Introduction? Their eyes meet acrossa crowded room?)

What do they do?

Who speaks first? What does he/she say?

Continue the conversation . . .


✄

LOVE DECLARATION

Use the following questions and sentences to HELP you write someparagraphs about the love declaration.

The love declaration takes place on the same night as the firstmeeting.

Why do they meet later? (Is it a plan or does it happen by chance?)

Describe the place where they meet. Is it romantic? Why?

What do they talk about?

Who declares their love first?

What does the other reply?

Who proposes marriage?

What do they do next?

✄

GANG SCENE / MERCUTIO SCENE

Use the following sentences and questions to HELP you write oneof the above scenes.

Set the scene.

Describe the place where the fight takes place.

Who arrives first? How do they arrive? (Horse? Motorbike? Car?)

How do the others arrive?

How do the gangs feel?

Describe the atmosphere.

What happens next?

Who speaks first?

What do they say?

How does the fight start?

What weapons do they use?

Who gets hurt first?

Are there any other people around? What do they do?

How does the fight end?

102 Sarah Woodhouse

✄

DEATH SCENE

Use the following sentences and questions to HELP you write thedeath scene.

Describe the place.

Describe Juliet ‘dead’.

How does Romeo arrive?

How does he look?

How does he feel?

What does he do?

What does he do to Juliet?

What does he say to her?

What does he do finally?

What does Juliet do when she wakes up?

What does she say?

How does the story end?

2. Explain to the students that this activity gives them the opportunity tothink about important incidents in the story in greater detail and to writetheir own interpretations. Encourage the students to use their imaginationand to choose interesting settings for their bits of the story. It can be set inany time or place as it does not presuppose familiarity with Romeo andJuliet. Explain further that, when they have completed their interpretations,they are going to be given the opportunity to compare them with two filmversions of the same important moments.

3. Introduce the significant incidents:• the first meeting;• the love declaration;• the gang fight / Mercutio’s murder; and• the death scene.Allocate one of the four prompt cards from Worksheet E to an equalnumbers of students (approximately ten students or five pairs for eachmoment).

4. Explain that each prompt card is composed of a number of questions andstatements which are designed to help them write their part of the story.


They should not just answer the questions! The writing should includesentences which set the scene, describe the characters and make up thedialogue.

5. Ask students to complete this writing task for homework and to makethree photocopies of their work so that they can share it with their classmatesin the following lesson.

6. Students can share their work in different ways. They can either exchangephotocopies and read each other’s work quietly, or they can act out or readaloud their scene to the other group members.• Use this method to show students the variety of options for each of the

significant incidents: Students who have written about the samesignificant moment get together in groups of four and compare ideas.

• Use this method to allow students to get a sense of the whole story:Students who have all written about a different significant incidentwork together in groups of four and share ideas.

This activity can also be completed in pairs. The feedback activity theninvolves eight students reading each other’s work. This may work betterwith a Form 5 class. With a more confident class, you could ask them toact out their significant moments to another group or the whole class.

7. While students are working, go round and note down some of the morepromising settings, descriptions and bits of dialogue, so that you can givestudents some feedback on the edited highlights of their work and/or askstudents to read out (or allow you to read out) particularly interestingextracts of their work to the class.

Here are some examples of authentic student work.(For the sake of authenticity, some of the errors have not been corrected.)

It was a very dark night. The moon was shining. The fighttook place at a narrow street in Tai Wai. The street was verydirty because it was behind a Chinese restaurant. At the mid-night Mercutio came by the bicycle. He led a lot of others.They were also ride bicycles.

After a minute, the other gang came by foot. They feltMercutio’s gang were very smart. The two gangs stood onthe two sides of the street. That night was very cold becauseit was winter. The second gang put on their jackets. Mercutiowatched this situation and said ‘Are you cold?’

The other gang replied ‘No, I don’t think so!’

Mercutio said ‘I don’t think it is cold tonight.’ The twogangs stared to each other a long time.

104 Sarah Woodhouse

In the tomb, the floor was full of dead flowers. Poor Julietwas laid on there. She ate a bottle of pills and was then‘dead’.

Later Romeo arrived by helicopter. He jumped out fromit. He wore a checked suit but had bare feet. He went intothe church and ran towards Juliet. He saw Juliet laid downon the floor. She didn’t breathe any more. Then his facebecame white and full of cold sweat.

He was very sad. He cried for Juliet, touching her faceand said, ‘Although you have a white face, it is smiling inmy heart. Although you have a cold body, your heart is warmin my mind. Although you died I’ll love you forever and livewith you forever.’

Romeo was caught and sent to prison. No one knew whetherhe was still alive or not. Juliet was so worried about Romeo.She went to prison to find him secretly. Both of their parentsobjected their marriage. Before Romeo was caught, theyplanned to ran away and started a new life. Juliet brought apoison to the prison. She thought that if Romeo was dead,she would follow him and kill herself. The prison was sodirty and dark. Rats were everywhere. The environment wastoo bad.

When Juliet arrived to the prison she couldn’t find hisRomeo. She found a clothes with blood. It’s Romeo’s clothes.At the same time she heard a shot. She thought that herRomeo was dead. She cried.

Juliet: (with tears) Oh my Romeo, where have you gone?It can’t be you. I don’t believe it. Why the bloody clothes isyours? Why I heard the gun shot? Why? I can’t leave withoutyou. I would not marry the man that I don’t love. I just wantto marry you but not the others.

(Juliet cried and called Romeo’s name. She decided totake the poison.)

Juliet: Romeo! I’m coming. You can’t leave me alone.I’ll be right there with you.

(Juliet opened the bottle and drank it. At that time Romeocame back to the room with the police. He saw her wasdrinking something.)


Romeo: Oh Juliet, what have you done? Why you drankall the poison up and not remain a little bit to me.

(Juliet died. Romeo’s heart was broken.)

Romeo: Wait for me honey, I’ll be there! (He kissedJuliet’s cool lips. Then, pointing a gun to his head.) Whythere are so many quarrels? Why the last generation’sanimosity never stopped and made us to suffer? Why is thereno peace? I’ll never forgive all of you.

(He lies down next to Juliet, holds her hand and shootshimself.)

F. Developing Reading Skills

Pair or individual work, ten to fifteen minutes.

1. Photocopy Worksheet F.2. Tell students they are going to look at a few lines of the original

Shakespearean text. Explain that it is not as difficult as it first seems, butthey need to know about some differences in language:thee, thou = youthy = yourhast, hath = have, has

3. Give out Worksheet F and read the quotations aloud. (Ideally the readingshould be exaggerated and ‘hammed up’ particularly for the quotationsabout love.) As you go along you may need to explain some words suchas ‘disturb’, ‘infinite’, ‘quarrel’ and ‘plague’, but it isn’t necessary toexplain every word as students need to understand only the gist.

4. As the instructions on the worksheet say, ask students to identify who isspeaking and at what point in the play the speech occurs.

5. Check the answers and tell the students they are going to try to identifysome of the quotations as they watch the films.

106 Sarah Woodhouse

✄

Worksheet F

Match the quotations to the correct characters and the correct partof the story.

Characters: Gang/family members, Juliet, Mercutio, the ruler,Romeo

Part of the Story:first meeting love declaration gang fightMercutio’s death final death scene

1. ‘Oh my love, my wife!Death that hath sucked the honey of thy breathHath had no power yet upon thy beauty.’

2. ‘My bounty is as boundless as the sea,My love as deep, the more I give to theeThe more I have for both are infinite.’

3. ‘If ever you disturb the streets againYour lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.’

4. ‘O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?’

5. A: Do you quarrel, Sir?B: Quarrel Sir, no Sir.A: If you do, Sir, I am for you. I serve a good a man as you.B: No better.

6. ‘Did my heart love till now? Forswear it sight!For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.’

7. ‘A plague o’ both your houses!’


Here is a paraphrase of the quotations in Worksheet F.

Paraphrases of Quotations in Worksheet F

1. Oh my love, my wife, although death has taken away your breathit has not yet taken away your beauty.

2. What I wish to give you knows no bounds, like the sea. My lovefor you is as deep as the ocean and the more love I give you themore I have because my love is infinite.

3. If you ever disturb the peace again, you will be punished bydeath.

4. O Romeo, Romeo, where are you Romeo?5. A : Are you starting an argument?

B : Who, me? No!A: If you are thinking of it — think again — my leader is asgood as yours.B : But no better!

6. If I ever thought I was in love before I was wrong. I now realizethat until this moment I have never really seen true beauty.

7. I hope both of your families rot in hell! (a curse)

G. Expressing Opinions: The Films

Pair, individual and class work, approximately forty minutes.

The film extracts correspond to the significant incidents that the students havealready written about, so that they can compare their own interpretations to thefilmed ones.

Video Extract 1: Romeo and Juliet

Start: approximately min. 1 (times measured from start of film not videotape)— at the end of the newsreader on TV section

End: approximately min. 8 — after Captain Prince says, ‘Your lives shallpay the forfeit of the peace.’

(This is a high action scene, unusual for the start of a romantic film.)

1. Tell students they must listen for the quotations from the last exercise andraise their hands as soon as they hear them. (You can offer prizes if youwish!)

108 Sarah Woodhouse

2. After the viewing, ask students for their first impressions of the film. Followthis up with more specific questions about the extract such as those listedbelow.• Where and when does the story take place? (America, 1990s)• How do you know? (clothes, buildings, cars, style of city, accents,

etc.)• Does this extract seem to be the start of a romantic film? Why not?

(guns, violence, high action)• What sort of film does it remind you of? Why? (action film — war

scenes, threatened and actual violence, car chase, very tense; Western— music, cowboy boots, sign swinging in the wind, guns, characters)

• How does the scene make you feel? How does it do that, do you think?(excited, tense — lots of fast-changing shots, lots of action, lots ofanger and fear)

Video Extract 2: Romeo and Juliet

Start: approximately min. 23 — when the title ‘The party begins’ appears onthe screen

End: approximately min. 26 — when the nurse calls Juliet away from thefish tank

1. Turn the television round, cover the screen, or minimize the brightnesscontrol so that students can only hear the sound.

2. Tell the students they must try to note down all the sounds they hear.3. Play the extract through twice with sound only up to the point when Romeo

finishes washing his face.4. Gather feedback on the sounds (people talking, opera singing, a lion

roaring, pop singing, the sound of water). Do not reveal the answers to thestudents. Allow them to discover them for themselves in the final viewing.

5. Show the video with the visuals and this time play it to the end of the fishtank scene.

6. Ask some post-viewing questions:• How does Romeo feel at the party ? (unwell, confused)• How do you know? (difficult question — it is filmed as if through his

eyes, things are distorted and larger than life)• Do you think the scene at the fish tank is romantic? Why / why not?

Video Extract 3: West Side Story

Start: approximately min. 39 — when Maria and Tony see each other acrossthe room

End: approximately min. 43 — when Maria’s brother interrupts

1. Ask students to work in pairs and to decide who will be Tony and who willbe Maria. Those students who are Tony must try to write down Tony’s


dialogue while they are watching the extract and those who are Mariamust write down Maria’s.

2. Play the extract twice.

Listening Exercise 1: The dialogue of the first meeting between Tonyand Maria

Tony: You’re not thinking I’m someone else?Maria: I know you are not.Tony: Or that we’ve met before?Maria: I know we have not.Tony: I felt, I knew something never before was going to happen,

had to happen but this is so much more.Maria: My hands are cold — yours too. (touches his face) So warm!Tony: So beautiful.Maria: Beautiful!Tony: So much to believe. You’re not making a joke?Maria: I’ve not yet learned to joke in that way. I think now I never

will.

3. Check the answers.4. Ask for students’ views on this extract and ask them to justify their

arguments.5. Optional activity but fun

Individual or pair work, approximately fifteen minutes.As students may have found this extract a little old-fashioned, it’s good toshare a laugh with them about it.• Ask them to write an inappropriate, humorous dialogue for the scene.

Use the script from the previous listening exercise as a model. Here isan example of student work which you can show your students inadvance.

Joke Dialogue for West Side StoryTony: I think there is something on your face.Maria: I think there is not.Tony: Did you have something on your face before?Maria: I know I did not.Tony: I think I have seen your face before. At that time it was cleaner.Maria: My hands are so dirty. Yours too.Tony: So dirty.Maria: Like rubbish.Tony: So difficult to clean.Maria: I think we had better have a bath.

110 Sarah Woodhouse

• Select the best ones as you walk round and have students read or actthem out while the video extract is replayed with the sound turned off.

Video Extract 4: West Side Story

Start: approximately min. 83 — Tony runs towards Maria and is shotEnd: end of the film

1. For the first activity you will need to photocopy Worksheet G below.

Worksheet G: Death Scene Gap-filling Exercise

Death Scene

Tony: I didn’t believe hard enough.Maria: .Tony: Not here, they won’t let us be.Maria

.Tony: , .Maria: !Tony: .

SONGHold my hand,

.Hold my hand,

., , . . .

Maria: ! How do you Chino? Just by pulling this little trigger. bullets are left Chino? Enough ? All of you, you all killed

him, and my brother, and Rif — not with bullets and guns — with! Well, I can kill now too . How many can I kill Chino?

How many, and still have ?

2. Tell students they must try to fill in the blanks while they are listening.3. Play the extract twice if necessary. Stop the video immediately after the


last line of the exercise so that students do not see what is going tohappen next.

4. Check the answers which are provided below in bold.

Listening Exercise 2: Death Scene Gap-filling Exercise

Tony: I didn’t believe hard enough.Maria: Love is enough.Tony: Not here, they won’t let us be.Maria: Then we’ll go away.Tony: Yes, we can.Maria: Yes!Tony: We will.

SONGHold my hand, and we’re halfway there.Hold my hand, and I’ll take you there.Somehow, some day, some . . .

Maria: Stay back! How do you fire this gun Chino? Just by pullingthis little trigger. How many bullets are left Chino? Enough foryou and me? All of you, you all killed him, and my brother, andRif — not with bullets and guns — with hate! Well, I can kill nowtoo because now I have hate. How many can I kill Chino? Howmany, and still have one bullet left for me?

5. Point out Maria’s last line ‘How many can I kill Chino? How many, andstill have one bullet left for me?’ and ask the students to predict what willhappen next. After listening to the students’ suggestions continue playingthe videotape to the end so that students can check to see if they wereright.

H. Extension Activities: Developing Writing Skills

Some brief introductory activities are included here. They are intended tostimulate the students’ imagination and provide some focus for their writtenassignments.

Essay Title 1: Write the story from Juliet’s mother’s / father’s perspective.

Essay Title 2: A newspaper front page which reports the suicides of Romeoand Juliet.

112 Sarah Woodhouse

The following activity can be used as a stimulus for essays one and two.

APPLE DAILY 10 May 1998

Terrible end for two teenagersTwo teenagers who loved each other killed themselves lastnight.

Romeo Montague, 16, who studied at Q.C. College, was anaughty student in school. One teacher said, ‘He was alwaysabsent and destroyed the school infrastructure.’

Juliet Capulet, 13, was a good student at St. Paul’s SecondarySchool. She always joined the competitions and won manyprizes.

They began dating when they met for the first time at theSpeech Festival.

Later Juliet’s school result was decreased and her parentsstopped her dating Romeo. Afterwards they ran away anddrank the drug in Romeo’s father’s hotel.

They were discovered by a servant who worked in the hotel.She said, ‘I was very afraid at that time and I called my bossimmediately.’ They were both sent to Tang Shiu Kin Hospitalbut unluckily they were dead when they arrived.

1. Tell the students they are journalists who are going to attend a pressconference where they will have the opportunity to interview Juliet’smother/father after Juliet’s death. Ask them to write a list of questionsthey would like to ask him/her.

2. The teacher plays the role of Juliet’s mother/father and answers the students’questions in role.

3. Students make notes.4. Students can then use the notes to help them write the essay.5. For Essay 2, students may need some hints on the basic structure of a

news report. This is a suggested model:• statement of main event;• more details on main event;• background information on characters and the build-up to the event;• comments from witnesses and/or those involved;• what is likely to happen concerning/as a result of this event in the

short- and longer-term future.


6. You may wish to ask students to present it as the front page of a newspaper.Here is an example of a student attempt at this task. (Her mistakes havenot been corrected.)

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

Lack of communication leads to suicideRomeo and Juliet, at their friend’s house where they hadsecret meetings.

Two teenagers committed suicide last night in an emptyhouse. It was about 2a.m.

Romeo Montague, 18, and Juliet Capulet, 13, took drugstogether as they want to stay with each other forever. Theywere certified dead on arrival at the Queen ElizabethHospital.

Romeo was a student in Lasalles College. He left a suicidenote. His classmate said, ‘Romeo was in love with Juliet buttheir family was strongly objected.’ Other classmates saidthat Romeo complain of family pressure.

Juliet was a student at Shatin Worker’s Government School.Her family strongly control her life as they knew she was inlove with Romeo. Police were told that Romeo and Juliet tryto persuade their family to listen to them but they haven’t.Their family just stand on their own point of view.

Juliet’s mother said yesterday, ‘I feel very sad. I didn’t listento my daughter.’

Essay Title 3: Romeo and Juliet Hong Kong Style

Ask students questions such as:• What would be a romantic place for a first meeting or a love declaration

in Hong Kong?• The lovers can’t date openly in Romeo and Juliet because their families

hate each other. What sort of reasons can you think of why young peoplein Hong Kong might be banned from dating each other?

• How and where do they get married in secret?• What sort of gifts do they exchange?• Where does the death scene take place? How do they commit suicide?

114 Sarah Woodhouse

Essay Title 4: The Diary of Romeo/Juliet

1. Ask students to identify when and by whom these diary entries were made.a. ‘If she had been more obedient, this would never have happened.’b. ‘I should have talked to her more. I should have realized something

was wrong.’c. ‘I’ve taken a big risk giving her this drug, I hope it works.’d. ‘This is the best party we’ve ever had.’e. ‘I want to go home to Verona.’Answers:a. Juliet’s father/mother (after the deaths).b. Juliet’s mother (after the deaths).c. The priest (when he gives Juliet the drug).d. Juliet to her mother (after the party).e. Romeo (after his banishment).

2. Use this task as a starting point to discuss the sorts of things people writein diaries (secret thoughts, feelings and ideas, interpretations of events,opinions of people, etc.).

Essay Title 5: Write an alternative ending to the story of Romeo and Julietfrom the moment when Juliet’s father tells her she must marry Paris.

1. Tell the students that they are Juliet’s best friends. It is a short while afterher marriage to Romeo and her father has told her she must marry Paris.She comes to you for advice. What do you say?

2. Have the students make some brief notes and have a feedback session.3. This exercise should stimulate their imagination so that they are able to

write an alternative ending.

LINKS TO THE NEXT LESSON

While these lessons are designed to be a themed unit of work which is completein itself, there are a number of issues that are introduced in the context of thestory which could profitably be explored further in more general terms andcould form the basis of the language work which follows this unit. The themesof love, marriage, gang membership and teenage suicide, which are exploredto some extent in this work, could be investigated further through the use ofreading materials of different genres (newspapers, magazine articles, graphsand statistics) and through discussion, debate and writing tasks.

EVALUATION

This evaluation is based on the results of a simple questionnaire completed by


the students at the end of the lessons, on the comments of participating teachersand on my own observations.

The questionnaire was completed by the forty students who took part inthe trial lessons. Thirty-eight said they enjoyed the lessons and thirty-seventhought they were useful for learning English. The story of Romeo and Julietwas very popular among the students. They liked it because it was ‘veryromantic’ and ‘everyone is interested in love’. Of the two films they watched,they preferred the 1997 one because ‘the story was more exciting’ and ‘theactor was very handsome’. The students generally enjoyed the activities becausethey afforded ‘lots of opportunities to speak and write which is good for learningEnglish’. They said ‘it was good to try to listen to what the actors said’ and ‘itwas good to try to analyse things’. The most popular activities were Activity A(Love Story Brainstorming) and Activity G (Expressing Opinions: The Films).

The teachers praised the range of the materials and the flexibility ofapproach they offered. They were unsure about whether they would be willingto do all the activities, which would take up to eight lessons given the shortperiod of time they had to fulfil the requirements of the current syllabus. Theysaid they would be willing to do a project like this once a term and wouldselect activities that were most appropriate for particular groups.

One of the teachers commented that the materials required a differentteaching approach and some teachers might be unwilling to change their style,while another said that she welcomed the opportunities for greater interactionwith her class that this approach offered.

The teachers observed that the lessons required students to be veryproductive. They were pleased that productive skills were being encouragedin the TOC, but pointed out that teachers might be unwilling to devote a greatdeal of time to these in their lessons while the existing public examinationsplaced their emphasis elsewhere. They hoped that the examination syllabuseswould follow the line of the TOC and introduce more integrated and productivetasks.

The teachers particularly liked the brainstorming activity and the essays.They suggested that one essay, the newspaper story, could be developed furtherso that students had to write either a tabloid or a broadsheet news story. Theythought that watching the films was an excellent idea, but expressed concernabout students being able to hear the listening exercises clearly in noisy HongKong classrooms.

Finally, they thought that these activities were highly motivating andenjoyable for students and hoped that more ready-made resources would bemade available.

In my own view, the students seemed very positive about the lessons,although I am very much aware that the novelty value of work such as thismay lend it an appeal that it might not have if it were a regular feature of theEnglish class. It was encouraging to see students enjoying the films so much.

116 Sarah Woodhouse

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am very grateful to the English Department and students of Kwun TongGovernment Secondary School for their participation in this project. I shouldparticularly like to thank the following people for their support, patience andexcellent suggestions:Miss Cho-ling SungMiss Suk-ching TangMiss Terri Li; andMr Tom Jewett.

9CHAPTER

Drama and Other Literary Strategies in theTeaching and Understanding of Poetry —Approaches to the Experience Dimension

of Language Use

Peter Falvey

BACKGROUND

Twenty-five years ago, Barnes (1976) pioneered approaches which tried todiscover how young adolescent native speakers of English in England respondedexperientially to stories, events and poetry. The particular poem that he choseto try out with these youngsters was Warning by Jenny Joseph. This chapteruses the same poem. Barnes’ strategy, of listening to what students have to saywhen they are reacting naturally to a poem, was considered innovative anddaring at the time and attracted a great deal of attention in the English-teachingcommunity in Britain.

The attitudes prevailing in those days were that students were there toreceive wisdom and knowledge from their knowledgeable teachers. By listeningto what the students themselves had to say, Barnes was, in fact, setting a taskfor his students which allowed them to develop the language and emotionsrequired for the experience dimension of language learning. Until then, with afew honourable exceptions, the teaching of poetry and other genres (as Chandetails in Chapter 6) was dominated by the cognitive (knowledge) dimensionof language learning.

Barnes states:1

To comprehend this particular poem, a reader must achieve imaginativesympathy with a middle-aged woman’s wish to engage in childish naughtiness,such as over-eating and taking flowers from people’s front gardens . . .

118 Peter Falvey

Although this is easy enough for an adult, most children of this age find itdifficult to hold at once within their sympathetic imagination two suchcontradictory groups of feelings. All children will have wished to be naughty;all will have learnt to check themselves from unacceptable behaviour. Theirtask was therefore to bring this existing experience [my italics] to bear uponthe poem. They were (merely instructed) to ‘Talk about the poem in any wayyou want to’.

In talking about children using their ‘existing experience’, Barnes wasarticulating what is stated in the current English curriculum for Hong Kong.

As the century comes to a close, moves towards giving students a voice intheir reaction and response to various text types are growing in Hong Kong(see Chapter 1 of this volume and a number of chapters in Falvey and Kennedy,1997 and 1998, which document such voices and responses). The TargetOriented Curriculum (TOC), currently being implemented in Hong Kong’sprimary schools, and the draft syllabus of the Curriculum Development Council2

for secondary-level English, to be implemented after the year 2000, requirethat the experience dimension of language learning takes place. It is importantthat teachers acquaint themselves with the understanding, techniques andstrategies required for its implementation. However, given some negativereaction to the implementation of the new curriculum in primary schools becauseof inadequate teacher preparation, the government has decided to postpone theintroduction of TOC in the new secondary school English syllabus and isawaiting the results of the 1999/2000 review of education.

INTRODUCTION

Like Barnes, this chapter uses Jenny Joseph’s Warning as the stimulus forthree separate lessons. The poem has been chosen for the same reason thatBarnes chose it. It allows students to bring their own experience to theirresponses. Later, by giving them a personal voice to say how they would reactif they were allowed to behave naughtily — an enticing prospect — they candraw on their own experiences of life.

However, there are cultural constraints, e.g. ‘what’s wrong with wearing ared hat “that doesn’t go”?’ and ‘I never eat butter, except at McDonald’s! It’snot a treat!’ Nevertheless, although it is a UK poem, naughtiness is universaland the students can readily respond to that.

The first and second lessons are used to ‘set up’ the students by helpingthem to access the meaning of the poem, although the second lesson also drawsout responses from the students. The first lesson uses dramatic techniques inorder to bring the meaning alive without the detailed explanation of the textcommonly used in literature classrooms in Hong Kong. Successive generationsof students attending postgraduate language and literature teaching methodologycourses at The University of Hong Kong have complained that, for them, such

Drama and Other Literary Strategies 119

techniques ruined Literature — whether with a small or large ‘l’. Suchtechniques ruined their enjoyment and turned the study of literature into meretechnical exercise as they worked hard memorizing teacher-given notes andlearning how to spot literary techniques and comment on them.

The second lesson is an alternative to the first. It uses elicitation techniquesto draw out from students both their understanding of the poem, their reactionto the poem and responses which can be built upon in order to provide studentswith their own voice while creating a poem of their own.

The third lesson is a writing lesson which uses either Lesson One or LessonTwo as the stimulus. It demonstrates how ‘literature’ can often provide amotivating stimulus for what are often routine lessons.

LESSON ONE

Duration of Lesson

Thirty-five/forty minutes.

Purpose of Lesson

The purpose of this lesson is to follow the criteria set out in Key Stages 3 and4 of TOC:• to create enjoyment of the poem;• to stimulate the imagination; and• to facilitate an understanding of the poem without recourse to explanation

(e.g. an explanation of vocabulary such as ‘gobble’, ‘hoard’ and ‘sobriety’).

The lesson demonstrates to students that it is possible to extract a gooddeal of meaning from a staged reading. In such lessons, the teacher’s role ismore that of a stage director than a traditional ‘giver of knowledge’.

Lesson Plan

The procedures outlined below are made deliberately dramatic, using voiceand movement to enhance understanding.

The major dramatic technique is to help the students visualize the poem asa confrontation between two groups of students — very similar to playgroundname-calling and boasting. The students are divided into two opposing groupsand lined up on opposite sides of the classroom.

Each student is given only two lines to read — the poem allows for thisnaturally because many of the lines in the first part of the poem begin with ‘I’(see the text below). From one side of the room, Speaker 1 ‘boasts’ (usinglines 1 and 2) to Speaker 2 and to all the speakers who are across the roomfacing him/her, how outrageous he/she is going to be. Speaker 2 then ripostes

120 Peter Falvey

with lines 3 and 4 to those opposite him/her. Speaker 3 (who is on the sameside of the room as Speaker 1) then acts/reads lines 5 and 6 challenging thespeakers who are facing him/her. The poem is then processed in the same wayfor the rest of the lines (with one exception).

The exception occurs in mixed classes when line 11 is reserved for a groupof the boys. They can act it up as much as they want and include gestures ofspitting (without the actual act, we hope!). One variation that worked verywell recently was to use three boys to read line 11 ‘And learn to spit’. Eachboy, in turn, said the line once fairly rapidly. Once each boy had his turn, theythen spoke the line in chorus, very loudly and graphically. This line was receivedwith great hilarity by the whole class. The actions of pretending to spit werevery effective.

Warning

1. When I am an old woman I shall wear purple2. With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me,3. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer

gloves4. And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.5. I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired6. And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells7. And run my stick along the public railings8. And make up for the sobriety of my youth.9. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain10. And pick the flowers on other people’s gardens11. And learn to spit.

12. You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat13. And eat three pounds of sausages at a go14. Or only bread and pickle for a week15. And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things

in boxes.

16. But meanwhile we must stay respectable17. And must not shame the children; they mind more18. Even than we do, being noticeable.19. We will keep dry with sensible clothes and spend20. According to good value, and do what’s best21. To bring the best for us and our children.

22. But maybe I ought to practise a little now?23. So people who know me are not shocked and surprised24. When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Jenny Joseph

(Note: if time is tight, I occasionally leave out lines 16 to 21.)


If we use the boys for line 11, there are twenty-two lines available to bespoken by eleven speakers (two lines each), with the final line left over forexploitation. The final line can then be spoken by all the class, or all the speakers,or a group of students who, in very large classes, have had no opportunity tospeak.

In schools where a number of classes can be taken from the same yeargroup, it is possible for the large group to split into many groups of eleven ormore students. The poem is then rehearsed by each group separately. A typicalgroup would consist of eleven students (plus one or two boys or girls for line11).

A diagrammatic version of the interaction for the first eleven lines isproduced below for teachers’ easy reference.

Speaker Speaking to Location Textof listener

Speaker 1 Speaker 2 and Across the When I am an old(Lines 1 the rest of the room woman I shall wearand 2) even-numbered purple

speakersWith a red hat whichdoesn’t suit me,

Speaker 2 Speaker 1 and Across the And I shall spend my(Lines 3 the rest of the room pension on brandyand 4) odd-numbered And summer gloves

speakersAnd satin sandals, andsay we’ve no money forbutter.

Speaker 3 Speaker 4 and Across the I shall sit down on the(Lines 5 the rest of the room pavement when I’mand 6) even-numbered tired

speakersAnd gobble upsamples in shops andpress alarm bells

Speaker 4 Speaker 3 and Across the And run my stick along(Lines 7 the rest of the room the public railingsand 8) odd-numbered

speakers And make up for thesobriety of my youth.

Speaker 5 Speaker 6 and Across the I shall go out in my(Lines 9 the rest of the room slippers in the rainsand 10) even-numbered

speakers And pick the flowers onother people’s gardens

Speaker(s) Everyone in And learn to spit.6(Line 11) the class

This format is continued for the rest of the poem.

122 Peter Falvey

Role of the Teacher/Director

There are a number of techniques that the teacher can use to make the lessonlively:• Rehearse with each speaker for a short time before the first full reading of

the poem. Concentrate on good pronunciation and the automatic recitationof words. Record each student and give them the tape to work on improvingdelivery.

• Coach the student as you would for a choral or drama competition. Lines1 and 2, for example — Speaker 1 can start with a loud ‘Hey!’ pointinghis/her finger at his/her opposite number to attract attention, thenexaggeratedly pointing to himself/herself, saying ‘when I’m’ as boasting.Just before the words ‘an old woman I shall wear purple’, he/she can adoptan old woman’s posture and spread out an imaginary gown. For line 2,coach the student to pretend to be wearing a hat while speaking the lineand ensure that he/she grimaces when he/she says ‘which doesn’t go, anddoesn’t suit me’.

• Lines 3 and 4, for example — coach Speaker 2 to react to the first twolines of Speaker 1 by emphasizing the ‘I’ in ‘and I’ — as though what he/she is doing is much more outrageous than anything Speaker 1 hasdescribed. He/she can mime the drawing of gloves and the fitting of sandals.

• Rehearse individuals away from the class so that the first presentation isdramatic and full of impact.

• The teacher demonstrates the difficult words such as ‘gobble’ and ‘hoard’(‘gobble’ usually causes a lot of laughs).

• Remember to be dramatic yourself when rehearsing the poem with thestudents. If the teacher is not dramatic, the students have no model tofollow. Practise in front of a mirror and make sure that you can pronounceall the words accurately.

Students are usually willing to perform a number of rehearsals which, ofcourse, allows meaning to permeate what they are doing. By the time LessonThree occurs, they are very familiar with the concepts behind the poem andare ready to express themselves.

Keeping the groups separate while they rehearse is a useful technique toobecause the impact of the presentation is much more meaningful when theyhave not been exposed to each other’s performance hitherto.

LESSON TWO

Duration of Lesson

Either thirty-five/forty minutes for steps 1 to 8 or a double lesson for steps 1 to9.


Purpose of Lesson

It is possible to use Lesson One as a springboard for Lesson Two in the sameway that Lesson Two can be used as a springboard for Lesson Three (althoughthe lessons need not be used sequentially). The main purpose of Lesson Two isthe same as Lesson One — to help students gain understanding of the poem. Itcan be used as an alternative approach to the poem. The approach describedfor Lesson Two is particularly useful if the class consists of boys only whomay not so readily react to a poem about a middle-aged woman. Lesson Two,however, moves on from mere understanding to the criteria mentioned in TOC’sKey Stages 3 and 4:• expressing one’s reaction to issues;• putting oneself in the imaginary roles and situations in the text;• participating in dramatic presentations and reflecting on the ways in which

authors use language to create effects;• creating simple poems and lyrics;• giving expression to one’s experience through activities such as providing

oral and written descriptions of feelings and events.

Lesson Plan

The procedures for this lesson rely on the teacher performing as actor using anumber of props.

The teacher rehearses in advance of the lesson using the same techniquesas are described above in Lesson One.

Step 1: The lesson starts with the teacher talking about the things he/shewould have liked to do when he/she was young but wasn’t allowed to do.Some of the things that can be mentioned will probably be connected to food,clothes, games, toys and outrageous forms of behaviour. It is important not togive too many examples.

Step 2: The teacher then asks every student to think of one thing theywould like to do but aren’t allowed to do and write it down (with the promisethat the teacher will be the only person to see it).

Step 3: The teacher walks round the room looking at the words that havebeen written and remembering some of them. The papers are then collected,torn up and put in the waste-paper basket to show that confidentiality has beenpreserved.

Step 4: The teacher then writes up on the board When I am an old woman(or man for boys-only classes), I shall . . . and begins to fill in some of thewords that the students have written down. This usually produces a good dealof fun and prepares the class for the next step.

Step 5: This step involves the teacher telling the class that he/she is goingto read them what a woman of forty or so wrote a long time ago about thethings that she wanted to do, but couldn’t, when she was younger. The class is

124 Peter Falvey

asked to listen for those things that they would like to do as well and those thatthey think are not very naughty. At this stage it is possible to assign differentparts of the poem to different groups so that they listen particularly attentivelyto that section of the poem. As the teacher is reading/acting, he/she will pointto the group who should be listening carefully and remembering or notingdown the items of naughtiness that are being listed.

Note: This step can be repeated a number of times to ensure that the studentshave grasped most of the points — but explanations of specific words areNOT given.

Step 6: The teacher then divides the board into two areas marked ‘ThingsI would like to do as well’ and ‘Things that are not naughty nowadays’. He/shethen asks the representatives of each group to come out and write in theappropriate board area what they would like to do and what they think is notvery ‘naughty’.

Step 7: Step 5 can then be repeated again if required to enhance meaningand to provide an opportunity for the representatives to come out and writedown those things that they missed in Step 5.

Step 8: Each group is asked to confer and decide why they chose each actof ‘naughtiness’. A different representative will be chosen to represent thegroup’s views. When they have decided on their response, the representativewill say what has been decided. If the class is shy initially, they can be allowedto write down their responses.

Step 9: The final step allows the students to write their own poems. If it isthe first time for them to do such a thing, they can write it as a group. It isbetter in the early days to ask them to write only eleven lines (as in the originalpoem) and make line 11 a short, sharp outrageous line. This can be done in thesecond part of a double lesson or in a subsequent lesson or for homeworkalthough the collaborative element is then missing.

Step 10: This step allows the students to read/stage their own poems asthey wish (Lesson One provides some guidelines), to revise them and then to‘publish’ them either in a little newsletter or on the wall of the class.

Note: It is very important that teacher input to revisions should be restrictedto helping with syntactic accuracy or spelling. The content should not be touchedor commented upon (except to praise) as it is the students’ own experience thatis being recorded — it is their voice that counts.

LESSON THREE

Duration of Lesson

Thirty-five minutes plus homework.


Purpose of Lesson

The purpose of the third lesson is to enable students to write prose whichstems from an experiential use of language. The lesson demonstrates how the‘literature’ and literary techniques used in the first two lessons can providestimulus and motivation for the experience dimension of language use. Therelevant skills descriptor from the draft English Syllabus for Key Stages 3 and4 is:

expressing experiences, observations and imaginative ideas by writing shortaccounts of events and/or characters.

Lesson Plan

Step 1: First, the teacher recaps what has been done in either (or both) of theprevious lessons and recounts some of the ‘naughty’ deeds that have beenrevealed either from Warning or from the written work of the studentsthemselves.

Step 2: The teacher explains that the students will use their previous workas the basis for piece of written work. The scenario for the written work is anaccount by themselves of what it is like to be a young person and what it is liketo be prevented from doing the things that they would like to do but are notallowed to do. They are writing this in English to their much older brother (orsister) who emigrated from Hong Kong to Canada some time ago and whowrites to them regularly in English.

Step 3: Students write down what they contributed to Lesson Two. If theyhave not done Lesson Two, they are asked to write down what they rememberedfrom the Joseph poem and to add some items of their own.

Step 4: Teacher helps students build up the vocabulary which is essentialto express the experience dimension of language, e.g. ‘exciting’, ‘naughty’,‘thrilling’, ‘mischievous’, ‘interesting’. However, after that, no interventionor marking takes place because from now on, the students ‘own’ the text. It isthey who decide what goes into the text.

Step 5: The students are asked to make a list of the things that they wouldlike to do but are prevented from doing. They are then asked to rank the itemsin terms of those they would most like to do and then write about the threemost attractive ones. They are asked to ensure that an appropriate introductionis used to brief the brother/sister adequately. This, of course, helps them withthe discourse structure of the text by getting them to explain why they arewriting. The first paragraph can be monitored by the teacher.

Note: The teacher makes it clear to the students that the only interventionthat will be made (apart from help with the introduction) will be to help withwords or phrases to assist the students when they are stuck — otherwise nomarking will take place.

126 Peter Falvey

EVALUATION

Lesson One was universally enjoyed and everyone had a lot of fun rehearsingand performing. Students also said that it made understanding the poem mucheasier. Some teachers and students felt that in its original length the poem wastoo long and other teachers preferred to dramatize only the first eleven lines.They felt that they were enough to prompt the experiential response fromstudents.

Lesson Two worked well with boys who enjoyed the approach. Mostteachers felt that it was essential to encourage group responses first beforemoving on to individual responses. On the whole, feedback was positive.

Lesson Three was the most uneven in terms of teacher responses. Someteachers commented that the students wrote freely and clearly enjoyed theexperience. Others commented that their students were still too inhibited togive of themselves — to expose themselves. One way of ‘protecting’ thesestudents is to emulate the experience described in Lesson One where theresponses are torn up and thrown away. This is very difficult for teachers andstudents to accept, but it may work in the initial phases of experiential writing.The only way to encourage this form of writing is to provide multipleopportunities. Without the opportunities, such writing cannot take place orflourish.

Here is an example of a student’s poem and her comment on engaging inthese activities. This is followed by two other poems written by my students.

Wa r n i n g

When I’m old I’ll wear greenwith a Santa hat and holly round my neck

When I’m old I’ll wear goldon all my toes like finger-rings.

When I’m old I’ll wear a diamondin the middle of the holly

and tattoo a serpent on my back,a slithering cobra with crimson eyes and deep blue fangs

a few drops of venom mingled with bloodsplattered round its neck.

When I’m old I’ll cut my gown from the backdeep deep down to my waist.

Atiya Bansal, 1998


Comments:

I enjoyed reading poems and prose pieces aloud but it was more in the formof soliloquies. I enjoyed the sound system often at the expense ofcommunication. [But] . . . once Peter made us stand at two different sides ofthe classroom. He gave us a poem and asked us to read turn-by-turn, one lineat a time. It was great fun indeed. We laughed and giggled and pointed accusingfingers at each other and took over the role of the narrator projecting ourvoices loud and clear. For me, it was the first step with which I could beginthe longest journey.

Atiya, 1999

When I am an old woman,I shall ask for the lowest price at the grocery store

And jump the queues for Snoopies.I shall take a nap in my armchair with the TV on

And I shall learn to curseAnd earn money by helping people beat the paper man in the street.*

I shall remember to clean my false teethAnd make sure they won’t fall out when I’m gobbling.

I shall jump into the sea, nakedAnd swim in the freezing water

And stutter, ‘I . . . I CaN . . . cAN . . . dO iT.’

Ada Tsoi, 1998

*Chinese people believe that if a person’s name is written on paper, whichis cut in the shape of a person, [and if] people use their slippers to ‘hit’ thepaper and curse at the same time, misfortune will be brought to that personand he/she will soon become very ill. This [action] is always performed by oldwomen in the street who curse well.

128 Peter Falvey

One day, when I wake up and look in the mirror —–OOOPS!

When I am an old woman,I shall have the scary face of a tiger —–

with lots of lines.I shall spend lots of money to buy paintsand use them to hide the traces of time.

I shall dress like an eighteen year oldand tell people that I’m only twenty-five.

I shall look at the mirrorAsking the same question as Snow White’s step-mother

and whisper ‘Of course it’s you’ inside my heart.I will frown if anybody calls me ‘old woman’because I always think that I’m twenty-five!

Maria Chan, 1998

CONCLUSION

The purpose of describing the three lessons above is to demonstrate thatopportunities for oral and written work linked to experience dimension oflanguage learning and language use are not difficult to find. The major problemis in finding a stimulus which enables the students to activate the experienceof the world in respect of the stimulus that is provided by the teacher. In addition,Lesson one, in particular, demonstrates how it is possible to use ‘literary’methods to assist understanding and provide access for students to poems.

REFERENCES

Barnes, D. From Communication to Curriculum. London: Penguin, 1976.Curriculum Development Committee. Syllabus for English (Forms I–V) (draft). Hong

Kong: Government Printer, 1997.Falvey, P. and P. Kennedy, eds. Learning Language Through Literature. Hong Kong:

Hong Kong University Press, 1997.Falvey, P. and P. Kennedy, eds. Learning Language Through Literature in Primary

Schools. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1998.

NOTES

1. Barnes, 1976, p. 47.2. Curriculum Development Council, 1997.

10CHAPTER

Imitation as Freedom: Creative Writing in theSecond-language Classroom

Cully Wilcoxon

I have entitled this chapter ‘Imitation as Freedom’ because I believe that whenworking with student writers in a second-language setting, the use of modelscan be paradoxically liberating. I advocate treating these models not as ideals,but as licences for experiment and play. In having something to deviate or freethemselves from, students often find that they have more to say, and that this isa kind of ‘imitation as freedom’. I will focus on poetry, because poems areeasier to quote from and the imitations are plainer to see than when studentsare responding to prose. Poems (as well as fables and prose fictions) can providestudents with not only structures to put things in (like drawers) or put things on(like clothes-lines), but also structures to play against (like the net in a game oftennis).

Imitating poetic models can provide students with masks through whichto speak. Writing becomes a species of role-play and frees them from the burdensof self-consciousness (‘I’m not speaking, here, I’m imitating Wallace Stevens’).Working with models encourages writers not only to play with the languageand explore ways of putting words together they might not otherwise dare totry, or even know were possible, but also to explore feelings and ideas theymight not otherwise dare to utter.

Students can feel free to speak without anyone assuming that they arespeaking as themselves. To protect this freedom, one rule I established wasthis: no one may ever ask of a poem ‘Did this really happen?’ or ‘Is this true?’.The writer’s only obligation, I would tell them, is to be compelling. If we areafter ‘truth’ at all, it is a sort of truth that differs from being ‘true to the facts’.

130 Cully Wilcoxon

The benefit of such an approach, as I will try to illustrate, can be wonderfullyvaried poems which use the full, expressive resources of the language — itsrich sound patterns, varied registers and subtle tones of voice.

I had an early success when I asked my students to write their own versionsof This is Just to Say, by American poet William Carlos Williams. One imaginesthe poem as a kind of note taped to the door of a refrigerator, or lying on thekitchen table.

This is Just to Say

I have eatenthe plumsthat were inthe icebox

and whichyou were probablysavingfor breakfast

Forgive methey were so deliciousso sweetand so cold

There exist already some lively, published ‘imitations’ by Kenneth Koch,parodies entitled ‘Variations on a Theme by Williams’:

I chopped down the house that you had been savingto live in next summer.

I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to doand its wooden beams were so inviting.

A note beginning ‘this is just to say’ is by nature off-hand, inessential or‘by the way’. Kenneth Koch amusingly retains the tone but playfully mocksthe un-apologetic aspect of Williams’ poem. To prepare the students to dosomething similar, I did little more than show them Williams’ poem, discussvery briefly just how regretful or deep an apology this poem seems to be, andthen give them Koch’s ‘Variations’, which occasioned spontaneous laughterand established the playful mood I wanted to sustain. I told them for the nextclass to write (if possible) several playful imitations of Williams’ poem. Hereis one of my favourites.

Imitation as Freedom: Creative Writing in the Second-language Classroom 131

This is Just to Say

I have spentall the moneyon an air-ticketto Europe

which you wereprobably savingto buy mea diamond ring

Forgive methe starry breezeand the sunlit freedomshine brighter thansheer stone.

Dora Chong

She uses subordinate clauses with perfect naturalness and assurance, mid-poem, more assuredly indeed than does Williams himself who has eaten theplums ‘that were in/ the icebox/ and which/ you were probably/ saving . . . ’.His phrase ‘and which’ is at best awkward. Second, she shows a nice feelingfor rhythm and sonority. Note in the last section how she plays with the sibilantsounds, ending memorably with the accented phrase ‘sheer stone’, whichcontrasts so expressively with the sound and weight of ‘starry breeze’, when‘the starry breeze/ and the sunlit freedom/ shine brighter than/ sheer stone.’Finally, she has tone. She combines delightfully the mock-apologetic undertoneof Williams’ poem with the exaggerated whimsy of Koch’s to create somethingunique, personal and saucy. Such qualities are seldom seen in academic writing,of course. But would not academic writing be better for having more variety intone? And do not such things as controlling tone of voice and displaying afeeling for the sonorities of words and sentences figure substantially in oursense of what it means to master the language?

William Carlos Williams’ poem turned out to be good to work with ingeneral. His relative simplicity of language and freedom from traditional verseforms helped keep the students from feeling intimidated. One student, forexample, wrote about trying to do her assignment, writing a poem, whencontinually interrupted, her repetitions (in Williams’ manner) expressingsomething like annoyance:

132 Cully Wilcoxon

Longing for a moment ofquiet at midnightwriting a poemin the parking lot

People keep coming to mePeople keep comingto me. People keepcoming to me. . . .

I would suggest a few criteria for choosing the kind of poems that inspiredstudents to write their own verse. ‘Free verse’ is best. In more traditional forms,regular metre sometimes encourages ‘sing-song’. Students can discover theexpressive qualities of rhythm without knowing much (if anything) about metre,which is only rhythm regularized. Similarly, rhyme can be a great distraction.Student writers seem to feel that they should find the rhyme words first andthen back-fill the lines of poetry to fit the rhymes, which is completely contraryto the spirit of discovery that ‘creative writing’ should aim to foster. A secondprinciple of selection is that the poem(s) chosen should be fairly close in dictionand syntax to spoken discourse. One common preconception students have isthat the language of poetry does not make sense in the way ordinary languagemakes sense; that our usual machinery of interpretation will not help us indealing with poems. Working with poems that are as close to ‘ordinary language’as possible helps to dispel this idea. A third criterion is that the aspects to beimitated in a given poem should be few in number and easily specified. Theteacher should work with a text that has a fairly obvious organizing principleor salient peculiarity.

To amplify this notion: one might choose to work with a poem that has,for example, a prominent, central image. An important feature of WallaceStevens’ poem Disillusionment of Ten O’clock, for example, is the image thatlies in the first two lines: ‘The houses are haunted/ By white night-gowns.’ Assubsequent lines and a little discussion with the students make fairly obvious,the idea is that suburban American life is colourless, dully unimaginative tothe point of deadness. This image becomes a structural principle too — that ofcontrast — for the people who wear these plain nightgowns and do not ‘dreamof baboons and periwinkles’ are juxtaposed at the end of the poem with arough ‘old sailor’, ‘asleep in his boots’, who in his vivid dreams ‘Catchestigers/ In red weather.’ Grasping the image and the use of it for contrastivepurposes, the students had a happily narrow range of features on which toconcentrate their attention. Of a number of interesting poems that came out ofthis, one begins, ‘The classroom is crowded/ By still sculptures.’ This nicelyevokes what classes are like when they are going badly. At any rate, by


unpacking some implications of her image, the writer goes on to criticize thestolid, unreflective habits of her peers and their joyless goals. Then, she goeson to develop from it a contrast, also in Stevens’ manner: the image of a girlwho, ‘Teased and envied by her peers,/ Pursues happiness/ in her mind’s/ teashop.’ Here is her imitation of the Stevens’ poem.

Imitation of Disillusionment of Ten O’clock

The classroom is crowdedBy still sculpturesNone are concentrating,Or listening with response,Or responding with thought,Or thinking with sense.None of them are abnormal,With minds on examsAnd high-pay jobs.Students are not goingTo think of strange goals.Only, now and then, a young girl,Teased and envied by her peers,Pursues happinessin her mind’stea shop

Catherine Leung

Like a strong central image, clear structural principles may also help inspirestudents by limiting the number of features that compete for their attention.Along these lines, for example, students can readily be encouraged to writepoems built upon structural formulas, like Japanese haikus, which specify thenumber of syllables each line should contain. The happiest experiment in myexperience, however, involves what may be called ‘the list poem’. This listpoem derives in large part from the example of Walt Whitman, the long linesof whose Song of Myself often envelop vast numbers of things, observationsand impressions, cataloguing or listing them, as in these lines from section 26of the poem:

I hear the bravuras of birds, bustle of growing wheat, gossip of flames, clackof sticks cooking my meals,

I hear the sound I love, the sound of the human voice,I hear all sounds running together, combined, fused or following. . .

134 Cully Wilcoxon

The very bravest students accepted an invitation to write a kind of Song ofMyself. I tried also to narrow the focus. I suggested that students build theirpoems in stages. First, to write twenty or thirty sentences beginning with thesame clause, such as ‘I have known’, ‘I have seen’, or ‘We have desired’, andso on. Then to rearrange, add or subtract some of these to make their ownpoems. A successful variation of this formula that has appealed to a large numberin a variety of my classes is a sort of binary poem, involving past and present.I have suggested two ways of opening sets of lines:

I used to think. . .But now I see. . .

[or]

I used to want. . .But now I know. . .

The results were extraordinary for the range of experiences and ideasexpressed, and for the variety of expressive resources that the students hadattempted to use. Their efforts at times to pile impressions on top of one anotherin Whitman’s manner have given us opportunities, for example, to reviewwhat we know about sequences of adjectives (‘I remember the Turkish good-looking considerate boy’, one student wrote), and to discuss the role of soundin writing, focusing on lines such as ‘your heartfelt hopeful hectic promisewhen we parted under the apple tree.’ My point, as Pope puts it, is that ‘Trueease in writing comes from art, not chance/ As those move easiest who havelearned to dance.’ Students may come away from their experiences of creativewriting with more confidence and flexibility in their handling of English ingeneral. I would also like to believe that in the solid accomplishments of somestudent writers, we can see the furthering of larger aims that perhaps underpinboth language and literary study, difficult to talk about concretely, though noless real for that: the aims of learning how handling language well can lift upthe spirit, galvanize the intelligence, and provide at least momentary staysagainst confusion.

Let me quote a touchingly restrained poem, modelled on the Whitmanesque‘list’, by a young man who learnt, during the course of the term, that he wasgoing blind.


Still I See

I have seen a green worm crawling on a twig of mandarin orange,blood-red forked tongue boosted high.

I have seen lavender fields beside shining sunflowers in the middle of aplain, crossed by rail lines.

I have seen a lion-dance in a rain of pink plum blossom petals, linesof fire-crackers fogged me and the crowd.

I have seen a blue lagoon surrounded in cliffs, tanned Thai childrenswimming naked.

I have seen glittering snow reflected on goggles:violet, orange and scarlet outfits flashing past.

I have seen squash rackets dashing, sweat streaming out of bare arms.

I see red and green haloes around traffic lights,the lemon coloured highway in the middle of the night.

I see little dancing genies in my eyes. ‘Those are the fragmentsof your retina,’ my doctor said.

I see lightning flashing when I close my eyes. ‘It’s prettynormal,’ another doctor said.

I see one other doctor when I think I’m all right. ‘It’s incurable,’he said, indifferently.

My photos show lavenders and sunflowers and rail lines in the plain;fogged plum blossoms and tanned laughter; Billie in her skiing outfit,white capped peaks, hanging valleys in Grindelwald and glaciers inSwitzerland; my beloved ‘Laughter,’ which won me a prize and a wholeset of camera lenses.

I see my squash racket sneering at the corner of the room,for he can be lying there, restingfor the restof his life.

I see my goggles’ red eyes, blaming me for breaking my promise.I see my camera looking at me idly.What can he do?

Calvin Kwok

136 Cully Wilcoxon

The dignity in this arises from the loving amplitude of things named poisedagainst the terseness of the writer’s commentary on his situation. Even hisdisintegrating retinas have eerily attractive effects, like the ‘dancing genies’ inhis field of vision. The only complaints are displaced onto the loved but nowpurposeless things in his world: his squash racket, his skiing goggles and hiscamera. Perhaps having a model or a formula to work with may have helpedthe writer not simply compose a response to his experience, but to decide justwhat his experience is, and compose himself.

One can readily integrate reading, writing, speaking and listening withsuch assignments by asking students to compare each other’s efforts, and tocompare them also, perhaps, with an underlying original whose elements youhave borrowed. Imitating models produced good writing, and may have helpedstrengthen some of those links that all good teaching should aim to strengthenand bring to consciousness: links between using language, on the one hand,and thinking, feeling and valuing, on the other. An assignment that workedwell was about childhood injustice. I asked students to search their memoriesfor instances of injustice in their upbringing: a time when (as I put it) theywere punished for something they did not do, criticized because the motivesfor their actions were misunderstood, or treated unfairly in some other way.They did not have to search far, for it is in the nature of such experiences tolinger, perhaps, and be rehearsed again and again in the imagination, if notnecessarily to be told and retold to others. In his Autobiography, AnthonyTrollope speaks as an old man of such an injustice inflicted on him at school,remarking that the memory of it is so vivid and his anger so fresh that he canbarely restrain himself from directly naming the culprits after so many years.Just such intensity animated my students’ performances. And the assurancewith which they wrote arose in large part, I believe, from their knowing well— knowing only too well, they might say — the precise contours of the storybefore embarking on it. A correlative reading that may also have helpedsomewhat was Chekov’s delightful and very short story ‘The Wicked Boy’, inwhich a pair of young lovers are seen kissing by the girl’s younger brother,who, with threats of arousing parental wrath, blackmails them for presentsuntil the couple get permission to marry, at which time they gleefully pull the‘wicked boy’s’ ears in retribution. Let me conclude by quoting a poem about aserious blow to sisterly affection.


Masking Injustice

My Christmas present — a little mermaid mask —Had been taken by my sister unasked.

I demanded, ‘Give it back to me, or else—’‘Or else what? You’re going to Mum and yell?’

I said nothing, but snatched it back.She gave me a blow and I gave her a scratch.

A keen rival she wasMarking wounds on me with force.

At one point, I pushed her downAnd sat right on her not to let her turn around.But out of my expectation she fought no more;

Instead bit her palm hard and called ‘Mum!’ in a roar.

The big judge came in and took me up,‘Why do you have to bully your sister?

Oh, what a bite you gave her, and what a cut!’I simply had no chance to speak.

The whole thing was settledWith the mask on her face

And five finger prints on mine.

Genevieve Ku

I was delighted with the surprising, witty terseness of this conclusion, andwith the mordant, wry phrase ‘The big judge’. The latter is probably an originalmetaphor, but somehow sounds — perhaps because it is the only metaphor inthe poem — like a common epithet translated from Cantonese.

In conclusion, I would like to take issue with the influential ‘process writing’approach to writing in the second-language classroom. In the ‘process writing’approach, structure and form are downplayed. Instead, students concentrateon generating ideas — ‘freewriting’ or ‘brainstorming’. They then focus onwhat is most of interest among the ideas produced. They then arrange, elaborateand so on. Ideally, in this view, writing should be thought of as a verb, not anoun. It is something that you do. And to do it well, you should analyse andfollow steps of the writing which others have performed successfully. Whocould not have sympathy for this view? Yet I am inclined to believe that in asecond-language setting, students do not have precisely the same resourcesthat native speakers possess and therefore, that the process is different for asecond-language speaker. The notion of ‘freewriting’ in a second language is

138 Cully Wilcoxon

inappropriate when one’s freest expression is, of course, in the mother tongue.I am thus arguing that a ‘model’ approach to writing has much to offer and canproduce surprisingly good results.

Another important point has to do with motivation. The ‘process writing’approach aims to help supply motivation in part by urging students to seethemselves as on a continuum with all writers. Student writers, that is, areencouraged to realize — are encouraged by realizing — that even the best,most apparently effortless writers struggle with and overcome problems thatcan be described and analysed. Yet I am inclined to believe that in a second-language setting, motivation is often not a matter of supplying something thatis missing, but of taking away something that is there: a block, or inhibition.My experience suggests that imitating models can help remove inhibitions instartlingly effective ways. Given a certain amount of structure to guide them,and the freedom to assume roles and play fast and loose with conventions,students sometimes start pushing themselves as never before to do new anddifferent things with the language. They gain in confidence and self-knowledge.‘No man can know what power he can rightly call his own unless he presses alittle,’ Frost once observed. Obviously, another related gain is in linguisticcompetence, for what has impressed me most in working with students andtheir imitations of literary models is their frequently heightened awareness ofhow many different aspects of writing can and should be expressive. Theyhave learnt, in a word, about style. There can be freedom in imitation!

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