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MASARYKOVA UNIVERZITA V BRNĚPEDAGOGICKÁ FAKULTA
Katedra cizích jazyků
Using Stories in Teaching English
Bakalářská práce
Brno 2006
Autor práce: Žaneta Urbancová Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Naděžda Vojtková
Bibliografický záznamURBANCOVÁ, Žaneta. Using Stories in Teaching English :
Bakalářská práce. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, Fakulta
pedagogická, Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury, 2006.
37 listů, 11 listů příloh. Vedoucí bakalářské práce Mgr.
Naděžda Vojtková.
2
AnotaceBakalářská práce „Používání příběhů ve výuce
angličtiny“ pojednává o důležitosti poslouchání, čtení a
vytváření příběhů při studiu cizího jazyka, v tomto případě
angličtiny. Svou práci jsem zaměřila na studenty druhého
stupně základní školy, protože příběhy jsou nezbytné pro
dobrý vývoj nejen malých dětí, ale i dospívajících. Uvádím
důvody, proč jsou příběhy důležité, z jakých zdrojů je
můžeme čerpat a zabývám se zde také aktivitami, které
učitel může použít před začátkem, během a po skončení
vyprávění příběhu. Učební plán, který následuje, obsahuje
praktické využití aktivit ve dvou vyučovacích hodinách,
které jsou založeny na příběhu z knížky.
AnnotationThe thesis „Using Stories in Teaching English “ deals with
a need of listening to, reading and creating stories in
learning foreign language, in this case English. I focus my
thesis on students of secondary school, because stories are
necessary not only for a good development of young
children, but adolescents as well. I state reasons why
stories are important, from what sources we can gain
stories and I also deal with activities, which a teacher
can use before, while and after storytelling. A lesson
plan, which follows, includes practical application of
activities in two lessons, which are based on a story from
a real book.
Klíčová slovaPříběh, vyprávění příběhu, čtení, činnosti, dospívající
KeywordsA story, storytelling, reading, activities, adolescents
3
Prohlášení
Prohlašuji, že jsem diplomovou práci zpracoval/a samostatně
a použil/a jen prameny uvedené v seznamu literatury a
internetových stránek.
Souhlasím, aby práce byla uložena na Masarykově univerzitě v Brně v
knihovně Pedagogické fakulty a zpřístupněna ke studijním účelům
V Brně dne 7. srpna 2006 Žaneta Urbancová
4
Acknowledgements
I would like to express gratitude to my supervisor Mgr.
Naděžda Vojtková for her valuable advice and help. Then I
would like to thank my husband for his support, patience,
love and help with our four-month-old daughter.
5
Motto:
"Tell me and I forget.
Teach me and I remember.
Involve me and I learn."
Benjamin Franklin
6
CONTENT
INTRODUCTION..............................................8
1. DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY AND STORIES.................10
2. ADOLESCENTS - THE AGE OF THE GROUP...................12
3. REASONS FOR USING STORIES............................14
4. SOURCES OF STORIES...................................17
5. ACTIVITIES BASED ON STORIES..........................19
5.1 PRE - STORYTELLING ACTIVITIES..........................20
5.1.1 Concreate pre - storytelling activities............20
5.2 WHILE - STORYTELLING ACTIVITIES........................21
5.2.1 Concreate while - storytelling activities..........22
5.3 POST - STORYTELLING ACTIVITIES.........................23
5.3.1 Concreate post - storytelling activities...........24
6. LESSON PLAN..........................................27
CONCLUSION...............................................34
RESUMÉ...................................................35
BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................36
REFERENCES...............................................37
APPENDIX
APPENDIX #1
APPENDIX #2
APPENDIX #3
APPENDIX #4
APPENDIX #5
APPENDIX #6
7
INTRODUCTION
Stories guide us through our whole life - from the
moment we were born and it does not change when we become
teenagers or adults. When we are children, our parents tell
us or read us stories and fairy tales. When we are older we
can hear stories in radio or watch them on TV. As pupils we
have to create our own stories at school from time to time.
As adults we like listening to songs with strong stories in
them, watch soap operas or films or read books or magazine
stories. Stories are for all of us, not just for children.
I chose the topic using stories in teaching English
because I believe that stories are important not only in
our mother tongue. Children enjoy listening to stories,
they are familiar with narrative conventions, and they can
make predictions about what will happen next. Stories are
an ideal introduction to the foreign language as they
present language in a familiar and memorable context.
Stories could help us in learning and it could be more fun.
A lot of books were written about story-telling and
young learners, but I would like concentrate my work on
pupils at secondary school, that means teenagers, children
from 12 to 15, because I have mostly worked with them. I
want to use stories as a supplementary teaching aid as I
have to follow national curriculum and I have always used a
coursebook in lessons. In these days some coursebooks are
very good, they develop all skills and they use different
techniques to motivate students in learning, e.g. stories,
songs, cartoons. Another reason for using stories just as a
part of a lesson is that adolescents have only three
lessons of forty-five minute session per week.
8
Firstly, in my theses, I would like to outline a
psychological point of view of using stories in different
periods of human’s life and then I will describe the
adolescents as a group of students for whom is this theses
focused on. Next I will state some activities to use in the
beginning, during or at the end of storytelling. Lastly
there will be lesson plan based on reading of extract from
a real book.
9
1. DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY AND STORIES
Psychologists believe that children need stories,
legends and fairy tales when they grow up. They are a part
of children’s intellectual life. They provoke their fantasy
and give them answers to important questions of a child’s
life. They are meaningful and effective item of their
socialization. Myths and legends give material of which
children make their concept of origin and purpose of the
world and of ideals, which they may follow.
Fairy tales express inner intensity of a child, which
he or she unconsciously understand and which offer
different possibilities of problem solving. Fairy tales
always have good end. At the end a good man is awarded -
for his or her good nature, persistence, courage - a bad
man is affected by upright punishment.
Obvious polarization between “good” and “bad” makes
different situations explicit and comprehensible.
Characters are not individual, unique, but typical. That is
why the identification is easier. A child identifies with a
young hero not because he is “good”, but because he titles
the child, and if the hero is “good” character, the child
wants to be “good” as well. (based on: Maria Fürst, 1997)
Classic fairy tales solve a problem important for a
human in particular developmental stage. Psychologists
believe that human mental development is in progress of
several periods. In every period we try to cope with a
problem, gain some skills and experience, which is very
important for our next life. These periods tie together on
themselves. Successful command of one period is
precondition of antiquation of problems in following
10
period. (based on: http://psychologie.doktork+-a.cz/pohadky-nasi-
dusi-vyvojove/ )
According to Erikson we go through eight periods
during our lives. We obtain basic confidence in first year.
We look for a way to our own autonomy till we are three.
This is connected with locomotive faculties. In a pre-
school age we balance between a desire to be initiative and
feel guilty when we are unsuccessful. Before puberty it is
assiduousness vs. inferiority and in a period of puberty
and adolescence we look for our identity - it means the
conception about who we are. Intimacy, establishment of
close and steady relation, is important for us in another
period. In a middle age we focus on upbringing of our
children, later of our grandchildren. Old age end the
development by stage of integrity - the sense of
satisfaction, conciliation, in another case the sense of
frustration and desperation. (based on: http://psychologie.doktork+-a.cz/pohadky-nasi-dusi-vyvojove/ )
We develop whole life and in each period of our life
we need stories with heroes who solve similar problems that
we solve in a particular period. These stories usually do
not give concrete advice how to cope with our problem; they
give notice that situations like that may come. They
prepare our soul on that. For our soul the story is real. (based on: http://psychologie.doktork+-a.cz/pohadky-nasi-dusi-
vyvojove/ )
Stories are very important for our psychical health.
We learn our mother tongue through stories. So, it is
natural to learn foreign language through them as well.
Teachers should try to teach their students about language,
life and culture through stories.
11
2. ADOLESCENTS - THE AGE OF THE GROUP
Because I have been an English teacher at a secondary
school for five years, I chose teenagers as a group of
students I will focus my work on.
It is quite difficult and sometimes hopeless to teach
secondary school students. They are a group of people who
are less motivated and to motivate them is a very difficult
work. They are tired of school and a lot of things bored
them. Teenagers present discipline problems and they are
sensitive about their individual identity. Identity has to
be forged among classmates and friends. They value love and
friendship very much. They do not want to lose their face
in front of their peers, peer approval may be considerably
more important for the student than the attention of the
teacher. (based on: Jeremy Harmer, 2005 and Methodology session)
The work with adolescents is hard, because they are
undisciplined. There are few factors like need for self-
esteem and the peer approval which may provoke
disruptiveness in a class. It is useful then to set up some
common rules at the beginning and be consistent in keeping
them. Very often teenagers feel bored, so as teachers, we
have to attract their attention through new and challenging
topics. (based on: Jeremy Harmer, 2005 and Methodology session)
“Teenagers, if they are engaged, have a great capacity to
learn, a great potential for creativity, and a passionate
commitment to things which interest them. There is almost
nothing more exciting than a class of involved young people
at this age pursuing a learning goal with enthusiasm. Our
job, therefore, must be to provoke student engagement with
material which is relevant and involving. At the same time
we need to do what we can to bolster our students’ self-
12
esteem, and be conscious, always, of their need for
identity”.1 (Jeremy Harmer, 2005:39) What we should not do is
- ridicule or humiliate them, not laugh or criticise them
or their friends. We always have to respect them. We should
not press them to express their opinions or push them into
activities if they do not want to. (based on: Methodology session)
Teenagers have got the biggest potential to learn the
language, because they have time, good memory and they are
able to discuss abstract issues. But students’ world of
thought and experience is different from adults. So,
teachers must link language teaching far more closely to
the students’ everyday interests, they must be encouraged
to respond to texts and situations with their own thoughts
and experience, rather than by answering questions and
doing abstract learning activities. Teenagers address
learning issues directly in a way. They need constructive
feedback on whatever they do. (based on: Jeremy Harmer, 2005)
To teach teenagers is not easy as I said, that is why
teachers have to permanently develop their skills, they
have to absorb new educational ideas, have to be open
minded and flexible to accommodate the needs of all
students in each class, because classes often consist of
mixed levels of using foreign language. It must to lead to
the fact that every lesson will be important for their
students. On the other hand students, when they have
achieved certain level, they tend to fossilise there.
Another problem is that if they are classified as good or
bad students, they do not try to change it.
13
3. REASONS FOR USING STORIES
Stories are very important for children in learning
their mother tongue, and they are important in learning any
foreign language as well. That is why it is good to start
using stories in teaching English as soon as possible.
Primary school “children enjoy listening to stories over
and over again. This frequent repetition allows certain
language items to be acquired while others are being
overtly reinforced. Many stories contain natural repetition
of key vocabulary and structures. This helps children to
remember every detail, so they can gradually learn to
anticipate what is about to happen next in the story.
Repetition also encourages participation in the
narrative”.2 (Ellis and Brewster, 2002:2)
Stories are very motivating, challenging and great fun
for children. They “can help develop positive attitudes
towards the foreign language, culture and language
learning”.3 (Ellis and Brewster, 2002:1) Using “stories allows
the teacher to introduce or revise new vocabulary and
sentence structures by exposing the children to language in
varied, memorable and familiar contexts, which will enrich
their thinking and gradually enter their own speech”.4
(Ellis and Brewster, 2002:2) “Listening to stories helps
children become aware of the rhythm, intonation and
pronunciation of language”.5 (Ellis and Brewster, 2002:2)
Stories also provide opportunities for developing
continuity in children’s learning. They can link English
with other subject areas across the curriculum.
When children listen to stories in class they share
social experience, it “provokes a shared response of
14
laughter, sadness, excitement and anticipation which is not
only enjoyable but can help to build up the child’s
confidence and encourage social and emotional
development”.6 (Ellis and Brewster, 2002:1) “Stories are a
useful tool in linking fantasy and the imagination with the
child’s real world. They provide a way of enabling children
to make sense of their everyday life and forge links
between home and school”.7 (Ellis and Brewster, 2002:1)
Children exercise their imagination through stories.
They “can become personally involved in a story as they
identify with the characters and try to interpret the
narrative and illustrations. This imaginative experience
helps”8 (Ellis and Brewster, 2002:1) students develop their own
creative potential.
Stories also “develop the different types of
‘intelligences’ that contribute to language learning,
including emotional intelligence”.9 (Ellis and Brewster, 2002:2)
Stories “develop children’s learning strategies such as
listening for general meaning, predicting, guessing meaning
and hypothesizing”.10 (Ellis and Brewster, 2002:2) Stories can
develop all children’s skills.
Stories address universal themes which go beyond the
useful level of basic dialogues and daily activities. “They
allow children to play with ideas and feelings and to think
about issues which are important and relevant to them”.11
(Ellis and Brewster, 2002:2) They also provide “ideal
opportunities for presenting cultural information and
encouraging cross-cultural comparison”.12 (Ellis and Brewster,
2002:2)
For teachers stories allow “to use an acquisition-
based methodology by providing optimal input”.13 (Ellis and
Brewster, 2002:2) It is great to use real storybooks because
15
they “add variety and provide a springboard for creating
complete units of work that constitute mini-syllabuses and
involve pupils personally, creatively and actively in an
all-round whole curriculum approach. They thereby provide a
novel alternative to the coursebook”.14 (Ellis and Brewster,
2002:2)
Secondary school students like stories as well as
primary school pupils. They want them, maybe not all the
time, but basically they all need them. Stories are largely
based on words. They give meaning to words. “Learning
English through stories can lay the foundations for
secondary school in terms of learning basic language
functions and structures, vocabulary and language learning
skills”.15 (Ellis and Brewster, 2002:2) It is obvious that we
should choose different types of stories and different
topics for secondary school students. Also the sources of
stories are different. Students are able to create their
own stories if they have the right input.
16
4. SOURCES OF STORIESWe can use many sources when we look for stories to be
used in lessons.
Firstly, we are all storytellers and all the time we
tell someone about missing a train or losing our watch,
about our family life - we are telling a story. We cannot
tell all the facts, we must select. We have to decide what
to say first and then next - we sequence for effect and
understanding, we decide what words to choose and how to
move our body and use our voice for expression. (based on: http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/stories_andrew.htm)
So, the best source is our everyday life, our experiences.
We, teachers, are real people and we can choose to
share some or many of our experiences with the students.
Telling stories from our life can give something personal
to our students. It needs not be only listening
comprehension but it helps to establish a special rapport
with the class. The students are more likely to really use
English in order to communicate than just mechanically
practise it. They will probably do this because they begin
to see us as people and not just teachers. And they realise
that we think of them as people and not only students of
English. Personal stories can help to bring about this
shift of perception. (based on:http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/stories_andrew.htm)
The main skills we teach here are speaking and listening.
Storytelling encourages empathy and a respect for different
points of view as well.
Secondly, there is a lot of English children’s fiction
or original texts (like newspaper’s articles, anecdotes,
folktales, etc.). Real books give us the feeling of
accomplishment and satisfaction, such richness and magic of
17
language no coursebook can ever offer (based on: (Brumfit, Moon
and Tongue, 1991). Using real books “helps children to become
better readers, writers and users of language”.16 (Brumfit,
Moon and Tongue, 1991: 187) “They are also exposed to such
issues as loss, death, friendship, responsibility, power
and domination which can heighten their sensitivity and
help them in the task of growing up. Furthermore the varied
illustrations, which provide clues to the story, stimulate
interest and pave the way for the text, in themselves
develop children’s artistic perception and imagination”.17
(Brumfit, Moon and Tongue, 1991: 78)
Students can listen to or read folktales from other
times and places. They can evaluate a folktale from its
historical context. Listening to or reading about ancient
times and places, about different customs. Folktales
usually have a moral too, which could be important for
students.
Next, we can bring pictures or we can use a short
video extract to illustrate the topic we want to work.
Pictures provoke students’ imagination and video may be
used to show an authentic language.
Songs are other alternative. Adolescents love
listening to songs and using real songs can encourage
children in other learning of English. For example The
Beatles is a group which is a part of British culture and
which use strong stories in their songs. Unfortunately for
some students they are old fashioned. But we can use other
pop-songs or we can use folk ballads. Usual activity is gap
filling. Another activity is retelling the story in the
song in students’ own words.
5. ACTIVITIES BASED ON STORIES18
When we create a story-based lesson plan or syllabus,
we need to know what aim we want to achieve and think about
activities that will be used not only during the students
work with the story but also about activities that begin
and activities that end the work with the story. These
activities are known as pre-reading or before reading
activities, while- or during reading and post- or after
reading activities. It is good to change several activities
during the lesson and keep students in constant interest.
Of course stories need not to be only read but also heard
or created.
“Good language activities have no age limits, an idea
which works with five-year-olds will, with some minor
adaptations in content and presentation, probably work
equally well with much older learners”.18 (Brumfit, Moon and
Tongue, 1991: 187) Children may need to try each type of
activity several times before they begin to exploit fully
its learning potential. Activities must be varied, so that
the learning environment is stimulating, exciting and
unpredictable, and to stay motivated, they need goals and
rewards. A teacher must plan each activity beforehand. It
is also important to give clear instructions and to
communicate to the children what is expected of them. (based
on: Brumfit, Moon and Tongue, 1991) “This will often involve a
demonstration of the activity by the teacher with the whole
class watching, discussing and participating. When the
children know exactly what to do, and how to go about the
task, they have completed the activity; a brief report-back
session provides children with some feedback on their
success”.19 (Brumfit, Moon and Tongue, 1991: 189)
19
5.1 PRE - STORYTELLING ACTIVITIES Pre-storytelling activities are important because they
introduce the topic, they motivate the students to read or
listen to a story, they provoke initial interest in the
topic, students start to think about it, they prepare their
minds and show what they know about it. These activities
help teacher anticipate problems in terms of language and
concepts and give space to pre-teach complicated language
(based on: http://moodlinka.ped.muni.cz/mod/resource/view.php?id=12940).
Warming up activities relax students. For example an
informal chat can build up and maintain good relation
between a teacher and students. Questions that introduce
the topic are good to use, but not too many. Or students
can guess the title of the topic of the lesson. We can show
students a picture or watch a video extract to provoke they
interest. A newspaper article or just a newspaper title as
well as a song may lead on to a brief discussion about
students related personal experiences. (based on: Ellis and Brewster, 2002, and on
http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/stories_andrew.htm)
5.1.1 CONCRETE PRE - STORYTELLING ACTIVITIES HANGMAN - students may guess the topic by saying alphabet,
every wrong letter is making a part of a hangman.
WARMING UP - DISCUSSION - brief discussion about students’
own personal experiences.
ANSWER AND PASS ON - each student has a piece of paper and
must answer a question and pass it on, another student
will answer second question and pass it on, etc.
Example of questions are - who, where, when, what is
he/she doing.
BRAINSTORMING - we can ask students to think about a topic
and write down all their ideas.
20
ASKING QUESTIONS - is a good activity and we can use it a
lot, but “a good question must be probing and motivate
thought so that it encourages children to justify
their responses, it must focus their attention and
encourage observation, invite enquiry and stimulate
because it is open-ended, it should be productive and
seek a response and generate more questions”.20 (Ellis
and Brewster, 2002: 20)
5.2 WHILE STORY-TELLING ACTIVITIESWhen we have involved our students in the lesson by pre-
storytelling activities, we can start reading or hearing
the story. The way we choose to present and tell a story
affects the content and the style of telling. We should
offer activities to all our students. There are three types
of learners:
a) V - visual learners- learn by seeing, they need real items, pictures, colours,
etc. in learning,
- like reading books,
- create an orderly environment,
- watch the teacher’s face,
- are appearance orientated,
- are good spellers, remember what was seen, and understand
directions, use colours, shapes and physical position
as memory aids.
b) A - auditory learners- learn through listening, like dialogues, plays, they move
lips when reading,
- like songs, sounds, sound effects, chants, rhymes, etc.
- they are usually class clowns, chattering, whispering,
21
- speak in rhythmic patterns,
- remember what was heard, they have short concentration
span,
- can retell a story or message with high accuracy.
c) K - kinaesthetic learners- learn through doing, they like a moving plot, reflect
action in story with body movement,
- they gesture when speaking and like to be active,
- move around a lot, like to do things with hands, they are
good at taking things apart,
- remember overall impression, want to start the activity
immediately, impatient,
- learn best with quiet periods followed by active ones,
they gesture when speaking and like to be active. (based on: http://moodlinka.ped.muni.cz/mod/resource/view.php?id=13663)
5.2.1 CONCRETE WHILE - STORYTELLING ACTIVITIESDuring the story the teacher might like to see if the
learners understand the language of the story and might ask
them to mime what is going on or use other activities.
WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT - we can stop the reading and
ask questions to provoke students think about what
they have been reading.
YES/NO QUESTIONS - e.g. a teacher think about a character
or a place mentioned in the story and students have
to find out who or what it is by asking only ‘yes/no’
questions.
HOT SEAT - a teacher is one character from the story, and
students have to ask questions to find out, what has
happened, or why, etc.
22
PANTOMIME - a teacher act as some character and students
have to guess who is it, other variation - one student
act and the rest guess.
COUNTING - in this activity we may ask students to count
how many times they hear a particular word or how
many characters are there - it is good when a teacher
tell the story or when we use a story on video.
A PART OF A STORY - students have one part of a story -
first, last, or middle and they are asked to complete
it or continue it.
A CAREFUL LISTENER - while students listen to a story, they
may answer easy factual questions like - who (name
the main characters), what (describe one action that
a character in the story did), where (setting of the
story) or when (make a linear timeline of the
sequence of events).(based on: http://www.storyarts.org/lessonplans/newstandard/index.html)
5.3 POST - STORYTELLING ACTIVITIES“Stories may bridge the gap between language study and
language use and also to link classroom learning with the
world outside. Some of the activities do not always have a
very large language element but are nevertheless important
in creating a feeling among the pupils that learning
English means fun, activity, creativity and enjoyment”.21
(Ellis and Brewster 2002: 17) Students will be much more
involved and motivated to the teaching process when they
see that their hard work in lessons has been leading
somewhere. That is why follow-up activities are so
important for students.
Follow-up activities include rounding up, reviewing
and summarizing the lesson. They may be done in a lesson or
23
used as homework. They “should provide opportunities to
extend and consolidate language or topics introduced
through a story”.22 (Ellis and Brewster 2002: 17) Students can
make a poster, a book, a collage, a greetings card or other
things based on story, they can organize an event or play a
part of the story. Follow-up activities develop students’
skills especially their productive ones such as writing
(e.g. writing letters and postcards, note-taking, etc.) and
speaking (e.g. interviewing, role-play, questionnaires,
etc.). In these activities students can work individually
or in groups or they can work on a project as a whole class
(based on: (Ellis and Brewster, 2002).
“Follow-up activities provide enjoyment and
satisfaction as they allow students to complete a piece of
work in English. They can also gain self-confidence which,
in turn, can create a more positive attitude to learning
English”.23 (Ellis and Brewster, 2002: 17) Students may express
their own ideas in follow up activities that means that
students’ creativity is encouraged. Some arts and crafts
activities may help dyslectic and dysgraphic children and
further more it is always very motivated when end-products
decorate the classroom.
5.3.1 CONCRETE POST - STORYTELLING ACTIVITIES SUMMARIZATION - students can summarize the story in their
own words.
WRITTEN QUESTIONNAIRES - we can ask students questions
belong to or come out from stories. Students’ answers
may lead to discussion.
RE - WRITING THE STORY - we can encourage students to re-
write the story from different position, e.g. from
position of a particular protagonist’s point of view,
24
placing it in a different time and setting. Students
also may re-tell the story.
WRITING A LETTER - students can write exchanging letters
between protagonists.
ROLE-PLAY OR SIMULATION - can be used to encourage general
oral fluency, or train students for specific
situations based on the story.
MAKE A VIDEO - this activity based on the read or heard
story take much time, on the other hand it may be very
motivated for students to make their own video, and
they can use a wide variety of language in the process
and the product of video-making. For students the
product will be helpful, because they can see what
mistakes they have made and they can find them and
learnt from them. (based on: Harmer, 2005)
CREATING STUDENT’S OWN STORIES - when we create an
atmosphere in which stories are valued in human terms
much more than in 'learning English' terms, we will
encourage students to create their own stories. Main
technique to help them is to ask questions. The
principle is the same for young learners as well as
for adolescents (based on:
http://www.teachertraining.hu/04_andrew_copies.html).
“'Tell me more!' 'But what do you mean?' 'Tell me how
he walks when he is going to work.' 'Tell me how he
walked on that particular morning.'”.24
(http://www.teachertraining.hu/04_andrew_copies.html)
MAKE A BOOK - we can let students write, design and
illustrate a book which is then exhibited in the
school and then put in the school library. It will be
great experience of using English. We wont have to
say, 'Get the English right!' They will be desperate
to do that because their dignity as a whole person
is at stake.
25
6. LESSON PLAN I have based this lesson plan on an extract from a real
book Ivanhoe by Walter Scott. The reasons for it were – to
introduce the old English history, to follow up last
lessons devoted to part of English history from a
coursebook. I will add a rationale after each activity.
Class: 9 th year Length of lesson: 45 minutes (first lesson)Materials: Pictures - App. 1, copies of App. 2, App. 3,
App. 4 and App. 5 Topic: Ivanhoe by Walter Scott - part one - the 12th
century
Aims:- to focus on the life in the 12th century as an important
part of England’s history, this lesson plan may be
used as a link of English with History or Literature
- to get familiar with a knight’s stuff
- to read an extract from a real book
Assumptions: Ss know some information from History about 12th century,
Ss know some information from Literature about Walter
Scott,
Ss know how to work with a text and how to use a Czech
English dictionary,
Ss read the text.
26
Procedures:Time: Activity: Interaction: Aids:5’ Greetings, brief T - wh.class a board,
introduction of a notice
today’s topic, 12th
brainstorming century
Brainstorming is a very good activity in the beginning
of the lesson, because students start to think about the
topic, everything what they say is right and their own
1 Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman, 20052 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 20023 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 20024 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 20025 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 20026 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 20027 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 20028 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 20029 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 200210 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 200211 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 200212 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 200213 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 200214 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 200215 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 200216 Christopher Brumfit, Jayne Moon and Ray Tongue, Teaching English to Children from Practice to
Principle, Longman 199117 Christopher Brumfit, Jayne Moon and Ray Tongue, Teaching English to Children from Practice to
Principle, Longman 199118 Christopher Brumfit, Jayne Moon and Ray Tongue, Teaching English to Children from Practice to
Principle, Longman 199119 Christopher Brumfit, Jayne Moon and Ray Tongue, Teaching English to Children from Practice to
Principle, Longman 199120 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 200221 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 200222 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 200223 Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 200224 http://www.teachertraining.hu/04_andrew_copies.html
27
ideas about the 12th century will provoke their interest in
the following activities.
5’ talking about this T - wh.class pictures
century - about life App. 1
in it, about people’s
character, clothes,
buildings
In this pre-reading activity students can show what
they know about the topic. Pictures help them in talking
and they present some cultural information about the topic.
A teacher can help with vocabulary.
5’ try to name knight’s in pairs the picture
stuff App. 2,
a dictionary
Students will learn words important for reading in an
entertaining way in this pre-reading activity. The picture
will stimulate their interest and pave the way for the
text.
28
5’ introducing a book individually the crossword
App. 3
Students will find out the title of the book, from
which they will read an extract in an entertaining way.
This activity will be done before reading and it can be
done as a competition, because only 5 minutes is planed for
it.
5’ talking about author T - wh.class the picture
and about this novel individually of WS - App. 4
Students will learn some details of Walter Scott -
they will be asked to fill the gaps individually. Students
have already known something about him from Literature.
There will be small discussion after this activity.
5’ short extract of video whole class video (e.g.
showing knight’s A Knight’s
tournament Tale)
Students watch a short extract of video, before they
read the extract, so they can better imagine the atmosphere
of knight’s tournament. It can motivate them to read the
following text.
15’ read the extract individually copies
App. 5
Students are asked to read the copy of the extract.
This activity is placed at the end of the first lesson,
because students do not read in the same speed and they can
read it for the second time or finish the reading at home,
if they need it.
29
Length of lesson: 45 minutes (second lesson)Materials: App. 1, App. 5, a veil, a leather cap, a
sword, paper, crayons, copies of App. 6
Topic: Ivanhoe by Walter Scott - part two - work with text from real book
Aims:- to make questions - it depends on a teacher, if he or she
wants to practise Yes/No questions or Wh- questions
- to use information from text to summarize it in students’
own words
- to write an informal letter
Assumptions: Ss can speak about the topic,
Ss know how to find out information by asking questions,
Ss know how to summarize a text
Ss are familiar in writing an informal letter.
Procedures:Time: Activity: Interaction: Aids:5’ Greetings, brief T - wh. class pictures
repetition of last App. 1
and today’s topic
Brief repetition based on pictures students have
already known will bring them back to the topic about the
12th century. There maybe also repetition of new words from
the last lesson.
30
5’ talking about the T - wh. class App. 5
extract in own words
Students summarize the story in their own words. This
activity will consolidate the topic and they have to think
about what they were reading at the end of the last lesson.
A teacher will find out who is familiar with the story.
Although I have count this activity as post-reading in the
theory part, I have used it here as while-reading activity.
That is because students read the extract at the end of the
last lesson, but I want to use the extract in following
while-reading activities.
5’ who are probably those in pairs
people(Rowena, Cedric,
Disinherited Knight) what
relationship do they have
This activity is similar as the following one, but
this one is done in pairs. Students can show their
imagination and empathy, they can express their opinions.
It is similar to brainstorming, because there are no
incorrect answers.
5’ who are probably those T - wh. class
people(Rowena, Cedric,
Disinherited Knight) what
relationship do they have
Similar activity to the previous one, but whole class
is involved. Speaking - answering questions, statements,
arguing, agreeing, disagreeing - is developed as a skill.
Students will teach to respect different point of view.
31
10’ hot seat - a different T - wh. class a veil,
person - teacher (Rowena, a leather
Cedric, Disinherited Knight) cap,
ask any questions to complete a sword
information - students
Students will develop speaking through asking
questions to find out who really are those people (Rowena,
Cedric, Disinherited Knight), what is their relationship.
It depends on a teacher if this activity will focus on
Yes/No questions or Wh- questions.
10’ write a letter to Rowena groups paper,
from Ivanhoe a pen,
write a letter to Ivanhoe crayons,
from Rowena a seal
make his or her seal
This post-reading activity provides opportunity to
express students’ own ideas, they may identify with those
characters, because they solve love problems in their life
as well, so their own experience may be useful here. They
develop their writing skill of informal letter and they
will show how creative they are when they make seals. As
they will work in small groups, they have to cooperate
together. When we have no time for making a seal we can ask
an Art teacher to do it in an Art lesson.
5’ an exhibition of letters wh. class a notice
and seals board
Students were motivated in the previous activity to
make some creative activities such as letters and seals,
so, we have some final products now, which can decorate the
32
classroom and students will see that their hard work in
lessons has been leading to a small exhibition.
33
7. CONCLUSION
Stories are an ideal tool in learning language as they
guide us through our whole life. So, not only learning our
mother tongue, but also other foreign languages through
stories can make our effort more interesting, amusing and
memorable. Students have an amazing ability to absorb
language when activities are familiar and enjoyable to
them. Teaching foreign language on the base of storytelling
is exactly the activity which is both familiar and it is
fun.
Stories are for all of us, not just for children, that
is why using them in teaching adolescents is as important
as using them in teaching young children. Stories can
attract students’ attention, because they provide
challenging topics based on their everyday interests such
as love and friendship. They also provide a huge space for
fantasy and creativity.
Stories may link English with other subjects across
the curriculum, which I demonstrate in my theses. They
teach students to think. All skills, functions and
structures may be taught by stories. Vocabulary,
pronunciation and creativity may be developed.
In my theses I have tried to make a lesson plan based
on an extract from a real book, and even thou I had no
opportunity to try it with a class I believe that students
will like it and they will be motivated to read a whole
book.
34
8. RESUMÉUsing of stories in learning a language is an
important teaching technique. Stories guide a human for his
or her whole life and use them when the human learn his or
her mother tongue. Consequently it is natural learn a
foreign language with the help of stories.
An essential part of this thesis is devoted to some
activities, which we may use, when we create a lesson plan
based on a story. Activities are divided into pre-, while-
and post-storytelling activities. Activities may of course
penetrate.
RESUMÉVyužívání příběhů při studiu jazyka je důležitou
vyučovací technikou. Příběhy totiž člověka provází po celý
jeho život a využívá je také při poznávání své mateřštiny.
Tudíž je přirozené poznávat a učit s cizí jazyk pomocí
příběhů.
Podstatná část této bakalářské práce je věnována
alespoň některým aktivitám, které můžeme použít, když
vytváříme plán vyučovací hodiny založený na příběhu.
Aktivity jsou rozděleny na aktivity používané na začátku,
v průběhu a na konci čtení, vyprávění nebo vytváření
příběhu. Aktivity se také samozřejmě mohou různě prolínat.
35
BIBLIOGRAPHYWRIGHT, Andrew: Storytelling With Children, OUP 1995,
ISBN: 0-19-437202-2
WRIGHT, Andrew: Creating Stories With Children, OUP 1997,
ISBN: 0-19-437204-9
HARMER, Jeremy: The Practice of English Language Teaching,
Longman, 2005, ISBN 0-582-40385-5
ELLIS, Gail and BREWSTER, Jean, Tell it Again!, Penguin
2002, ISBN: 0-582-44777-1
BRUMFIT, Christopher; MOON, Jayne and TONGUE, Ray, Teaching
English to Children from Practice to Principle,
Longman 1991, ISBN 0-17-556889-8.
FŰRST, Maria: Psychologie, Votobia, 1997,
ISBN 80-7198-199-0
KULHÁNEK, Jan. Pohádky v naší duši 1 - vývojové pohádky
[online]. accessible from WWW:
<http://psychologie.doktork+-a.cz/pohadky-nasi-dusi-
vyvojove/>
VOJTKOVÁ, Naďa. Using authentic literature in the
classroom [online]. accessible from WWW:
<http://moodlinka.ped.muni.cz/course/view.php?id=638>
VOJTKOVÁ, Naďa. Didaktika 2A [online]. accessible from
WWW:
<http://moodlinka.ped.muni.cz/course/view.php?id=438>
WRIGHT, Andrew. YOU are a story absorber and a story
teller. A web site for the developing language teacher
[online]. 2005, accessible from WWW:
<http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtrainin
g/stories_andrew.htm>
FOREST, Heather. Storytelling Lesson Plans and Activities.
Story arts [online]. 2000, accessible from WWW:
<http://www.storyarts.org/lessonplans/newstandard/inde
x.html>
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