Once Upon A Time

CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOKS H1R IANGt:i\GE TEACHERS
GeneralEditors: MichaelSwanandRoger Bowers

Thisis aseriesofpracticalguidesforI"eachnsof Englishandother
languages. Illustrativeexamplesareusuallydrawn from thefield ofEnglish
as aforeignorsecondlanguage,butthe ideasandtechniquesdescribedcan
equallywellbeusedin theteachingofany language.
In thisseries:
DramaTechniquesinLanguageLearning- Aresourcebookof
communicationactivitiesforlanguageteachers
byAlanMateyandAtanDuff
GamesforLanguageLearning
byAndrewWright, DavidBetteridgeandMichaelBuckby
DiscussionsthatWork- Task-centredfluency practicebyPenny Ur
OnceUponaTime- Usingstoriesinthelanguageclassroom
byJohnMorganandMario Rinvolucri
TeachingListeningComprehensionbyPennyUr
KeepTalking- Communicativefluency activitiesfot languageteaching
byFriederikeKtippel
WorkingwithWords- Aguidereteachingandlearningvocabulary
byRuthCairnsandStuartRedman
LearnerEnglish- Ateacher'sguidetointerferenceandotherproblems
editedbyMichaetSwanandBernardSmith
TestingSpokenLanguage- Ahandbookoforaltestingtechniques
byNic Underhitl
LiteratureintheLanguageClassroom- Aresourcebookofideasand
activitiesbyJoanne CollieandStephenSlater
Dictation- Newmethods,newpossibilities
byPaulDavisandMario Rinvolucri
GrammarPracticeActivities- ApracticalguideforteachersbyPennyUr
OnceUponaTillle
Usingstoriesinthe
languageclassroom
]ahnMargan
andMaria Rinvalucri
The dgh,0l,he
Unipe,s;ty 0/Com})"dge
10 prultandulJ
allmanner ofooakt
"';03' granted. by
V/I!irt }JJf.
The -Ulllrns/ly Im.r plinre4
wldI'lIhli.fhCdCOrtflntlously
,Iill(,( JJ8.f.
.11111,,111
1
.1' Press
"1\1.".1, .
I I , ,,' i I;, n' U." Ior ""
11" I,,,. ', .. 1", \
Publishedby thePressSyndicateoftill"1 ....If .d(.11I1I11I1I1, ,c
ThePittBuilding,TrumpingtonStreet,(':JJIIlll I '" litI'
32East57thStreet,NewYork,NY I ODn,1J:,,\
10StamfordRoad,Oakleigh,Melbourn' \1/'1,.1\11'.1]"h:l
CambridgeUniversityPress1983
Firstpublished1983
Fifthprinting1988
PrintedinGreatBritain
attheUniversityPress,Cambridge
LibraryofCongresscataloguecardnumber: 83-5356
BritishLibrarycataloguingin publicationdata
Morgan,John
Onceuponatime- (Cambridgehandbooksfor
languageteachers)
1. Englishlanguage- Studyandteaching-
Foreignstudents
I. Title n. Rinvolucri,Mario
428.2'4'091 PE1128
ISBN0521252695 hardcovers
ISBN0521 272629 paperback
Once Upon a Time was originally published in pilot form by Pilgrims
Publications, Canterbury,England.ThisCambridgeUnivcrslly Press echtlOn
been extensively revised and cxpandcd.
Contents
Techniques
TotheTeacher
Section1 Tellingastory
Section2 Storiesandfollow-ups
2.1 Revengequestions
2.2 Themepictures
2.3 Forbeginners
2.4 Takingroles
2.5 Themewords
2.6 Discussion
2.7 Shapesandcharacters
2.8 Completion
2.9 Storytopoem
2.J() Innewclothes
2.1 J Birthorder
2..12 Problemstories
.2..1'\ Aserialstory
2.1
/
1 Storyropicture
3
'..1 1'.\1;.11('1
Stories Page
1
Thehunchback 5
Theriver 12
13
Theinventor 13
KingCaliban 16
Kacuy 18
MrsPeters 20
Thebearthatwasn't 23
Jackandthebeanstalk 25
Peacocks 27
Freyfaxi 28
Rumpelstiltskin 29
Thetwosons 31
Yvonne 32
Willow 32
Thesingingmushrooms 34
Th.epiperofRome 35
TheBillyGoatsGruff 36
Thetwodoors 37
Unexpected 38
Thesignofthebroken 38
sword
Ananecdote 40
41
Seguin'sgoat 41
TIll:' (:{It thatwal1udbyitself 42
nIf',Ineebears 43
1,,1',11'11-' 44
Itl'" I""'I1'/S 47
1I1I1"/"',II,! 4S
1/"/'1,,1'1}1/ \ I
Techniques
St"".... Page
Techniques Stories Page
7.5 Firestories 94
Section4 BeforeIbegin... 54
7.6 Hidingthings 95
4.1 Grammarpractice (;oMduI' ;,>.,' 54
7.7 Heroesandheroines 95
'I'f!/'l'I'1I'lshl's 55
7.8 Storiesfromjobs Thewrparkattendant 96
"Un'tIJlI'I' pigs 56
7.9 Shame Theorchard 97
4.2 Themesentences HreJllfslm'l'lJr'Silent 57
4.3 Apicturestarter (;dert 59
Section8 Vanishingstories Godin amatchbox 98
TheIJigl'oll 59
4.4 Picturerose Theqllilrrymall 60
Section9 Revision
9.1 Astoryyoureallyliked 102
Section5 Co-operativetelling
63 9.2 Music 103
5.1 Inthelanguagelab Theunicorn 63
9.3 Doodlestripreview 104
Twobrothers 65
5.2 Groupstory Theghost 65
Section10 Storypool 105
5.3 Dictation Theseventhrose 66
A Snow 105
Nonamewom,m 68
B Thepullover 105
5.4 Scenetostory ThedragonofNara 69 C Honour 106
5.5 Astoryfromfourwords 72
D Thefigtree 106
5.6 Threeitemstories 73 E Ivar 107
5.7 Randomstory 74
F Inthecellar 107
5.8 Picturecomposition 75
G Thedonkey 108
5.9 Dictogloss Solomon'sjudgement 77
H Oogledeboo 108
Theforcedburglar 77 I Theman,thesnake,and 109
thestone
Section6 Students'stories 79
J
Thebaby 110
6.1 Mumble,listen,tell 79
K Thehusband 110
6.2 Comprehensionquestions Thegianttortoise
80 L Enkidu 110
6.3 Spoofstories Cambodiansoupstone 80
M Ophir 111
Airtravel 81
N Ahorserace 112
6.4 Storyofthefilm 82
o Thewisdomoftheworld 112
6,5 Lovestories Rapunzel 82
P Theprincessandthepea 113
6.6 Frombeginnings... Frogin awell 83 Q Thepaem 114
Grandpa 84 R Analdman 114
Three-wheeler 84
S Ants 115
6.7 ...toendings Wildcat 85 T Themagicbarrel 116
6.8 Objectstellstories
86 NI,I,". 117
6.9 Doodlestrips 87
6.10 Triplestories 88 PI""" I ipl 119
Section7 Fromthepast l)() \.),,1,,\\,11"111:' 111"111'. 120
7.1 Photos l)()
7.2 ')2
7.. Tilll"-!ravl'llllil'1'l'!
'Ij
. LI I1 h''!'!Il'IL,,lllInil' qi
To the teacher
Thanks
Wewish tothankthefollowingpeople:
Studentswithwhomwehavelearnttotell stories.
Bothscepticaland enthusiasticcolleagues, in particular.lane
Lockwood,KatyaBenjamin,PaulDavis, MoStcll1gcman,Cynthia
Beresford,.lanAspeslagh,CharlesWilliams,.lamesDixey,Michael
Swan,MargaretCallow,CarlosMaeztu,RichardandMarjorie
Baudins,ElenaMorgan,LindsayBrown,LorenMcGrail,Sarah
Braine.
BernardDufeuwhoopenedoureyes tothepsychodramauseof
tales.
Theartisticoraltraditionwe knowbestis thatoftheGreekshadow
puppeteersandweparticularlywanttoacknowledgetheinsights
gainedfromworkingwithGiorgosCharidimos.
Booksthathavehelpedus inourthinkingabouttheoralstory
include: '
BrunoBettelheim,The Uses of Enchantment, Penguin 1978
IonaandPeterOpie,The Classic Fairy Tales, OUP1974
V1adimirPropp,Morphology of the Fo/ktale, Austin 1968
GianniRodari,Grammatica de/la Fantasia, Einaudi1973
Finally,this bookowesa heavydebtto thevariousoraltraditionsof
whichit1S acuriouscontinuation,andto individualswhosewritten
storieswehave'skeletonised'in preparationfor manyoral
tellings.
].M.
M.R.
Amongbothpractisinglanguageteachersandapplied linguiststhere
anIOcreasmgawarenessthatsuccessfu.lsecond-languagelearning
is far morea matterofunconsciousacquisitionthanofconscious,
systemaricstudy.Stephen Krashen (Second Language Acquisition
and Second Language Learning, Pergamon 1981)goessofar as to
saythat'themajorfunctionofthesecond-languageclassroomis to
provideintakefor acquisition'.
It viewthatthe'intake'requiredto facilitatelanguage
wdlbeverydifferentfromthematerialscurrentlyprovided
mthedassroomas partofsystematicstructuralornotionalcourses.
If ,unconsciousprocessesaretobeenlisted,then thewholeperson
Will needto be engaged: weshallnolonger be abletorelyonthe
learner'sgeneral'motivation'orontheintrinsiccharmsofthetarget
bnguagetosustainhimorherthrough theyearsofmonotonous
drillingand blandrole-play, Classroomactivitieswillhaveto be
slructurcdtoserveimmediateratherthanlong-termneeds,topromote
I'atl!crthanpractisecommunicationandexpression,
Thisbook is offeredasastepinthatdirection.Within theframeof
srofytelling-thatmostancientandcompellingofhumanactivities-we
Ill' >])OSC a \vide rangeofclassroomexercisesandmorethan70story
ol1dil1cS ('skeletons') foryouandyourstudentstoworkfrom. The
1''1: 'rcist'srangehonlintrospectivetohighlyi.nteractive;frombeginner
1,) advanced; manyareofferedascommunicative to
Ir:lditiollal language-teachingactivities; all, wehope,arcengaging
,lllllfL'w:ll'dlngHl rhcl11,'dves.
J (i\N'IIFl.l. ST01UIS' YOLlcouldberight,butifsoyou'rein
,I lllillorily, III \1111' very few teachersofEnglish can
/"",/,tlnll,I,It!nlll.lll'l " IlIll ,111110,';( ,dl 11;1\1(':1 hidd'11 talcr)! asstory-
11'111'1'... I '011,1'.;':[" ',\\,1\", II1 ",,'hid, \,(111 Cln workfrom a bare
1111111T1i' III 111.1,,1, '1"'111 HI,I,1111 '111.1 Idlll'!',
11. '1".111,1) ,111i',II'Jlilll',I!l:11
',llll\ rlllll\'III,,1 \',," 1l'11 1.11111'1
1'''111 dill ,1111111" "11 '111I"ll.d
To the teacher
listening comprehension frolll 1;'11('. TIH' 1.1l1l"l" is always third-person
listening, a kind of eavesclroppill1',lI1.l1 i. r:\llgely uncompelling. To
be told a stOry by a live storyteller, Oil 1l1l' l'Olllrary, involves onc in
'I-thou' lisrening, where the IiSll'IllTS t ';111 Ji reedy influence the
telling. Even if you arc a non-native Il':lt her of English, the com-
municative gain will more than outwl'igh thl' 'un-Englishness' you
may hear in your telling.
FOLLOWING UP A STORY 'Compn'hL:l1sion ql1'estions' and
paraphrase exercises are standard classroom follow-ups to listening
work: after a story they at best dilute, at worst de-stroy, its effect on
the listener. In Section 2 you will find a variety of alternative follow-up
exercises. 2.1, for example, gives the student all opportunity to
decide for himself or herself which questions (if any) he or she wants
answered, and to hear the answers from a classmate. 2.4 uses role-
assignment to explore the group's feelings towards characters in a
story; 2.14 uses a drawing exercise to help students 'cap' one story
with another. All the exercises encourage the recycling of new
language.
RETELLING Being required to retell a story to someone who has
just heard it is a pleasure few of us would willingly repeat: yet this is
often what we force upon our students. Section 3 suggests activities
in which retelling is both necessary and enjoyable.
STORIES AND GRAMMAR Many traditional stories abound in
powerful repeated phrases (e.g. 'Who's been sleeping in MY bed?).
For elementary and intermediate students, such stories (suitably
chosen) can be used as an almost subliminal grammar input. 4.1
gives some examples of this.
It is also a fairly simple matter to angle your telling and/or follow-up
exercises in such a way that particular structures are demanded of
the student: ftom common strong verbs to third conditionals.
In Section 8 you are introduced to the Silent Way reduction
technique which has the students working intensively on grammar,
syntax, intonation and meaning all at the same time. After 20 minutes
intensive work the story they started out from has vanished!
FROM I.ISTENINC TO OI{AI. I'ROIHI(TI()r-! III Sl'clioll S Wt'
suggest W:lys of t'oll:lhor;llilll'. willl ;lll1h'III'. III tI" 1lIll,ltl(lilll1 01
11.111.11<111'111 (oI., I 11"'111 I 1111111111'; " H
To the teacher
shows the teacher modelling vocahulary from within a group; in 5.1
a use IS found for the language lahoratory.
ORAL PRODUCTION There are stories hidden inside everyone.
Elementary students will bring them out in dramatic, excited half-sen-
tences; advanced speakers will reach out for ever more vivid or exact
expression. For all, adequate communication is an attainable miracle
if the teacher is prepared to allow it. Section 6 provides frames for '
the recal,l or creation of students' own stories; Section 7 goes a little
deeper-mto one's real or imaginary past.
PICTURE We arc all familiar with the 'picture story' as a
deVice for provokll1g narrative work. Unfortunately, anyone with
eyeSight produces much the same story, which robs the
of any In 6,9 -v:e provide symbolic pictures to provoke a
WIde range of dIfferent stones, Once they have created their own
story, students are keen to tell them and to find out what others have
made of the 'doodlestrip':
),R Y POOL At the end of the book you will find twenty story
to supplement those scattered through the exercises. We
ILIVI' Irf(;d to make these as varied as possible, but tecognise that we
, :1111101 d,le range of tastes of all the possible readers of this
hook. 11 you hlltl pk;ls11re and profit in telling stories with your class,
111('11 Wl' hope yOIl wdl he abk to add your own stories to the pool.
to. II( )' ,"I'() I( <, Wt' h;IVl' consciously included a number of fairy
111 i1ll' hO<ll.., w,' It-l'IIIII''''' ;Ill-' for work with both
" I\' VIIIIII,', 1,',1111<'1', ,111.1 \\'ltl, hill lhl'y ;lrc prrh:1ps not a good
1"'1 11111111',\ ,I ',I', III "I, d" /, Ill', II1 till'. W\' sugg 'st you
'l'1' I 1111.1(1 "" 1111 .I'l I,l< I,ll I', 111.1 1,,"hll'lll'iI411 ic";,
I '11" I I I. , I,,, '. , , . I \' I, \1 \ h 11 " I}'.' " r11 IV' 11 I" Ill'. Ill) t. i I1 \ ',r I J I i C'
,i1, ,,1.1. I I" .. ,.1. I I,. 11.' 11 , f 1I'Idl.ll III ,,"t1111 '" 1,111111
To the teacher
in detail) in the student's 11Iot 111'1 1III 11',1 Il' 1" ' LUlguage is simple
the meanings are evocative ,11ll! 11l.IlIY 1.')"'I\'d; and the stones,bnng
back, often in a flood of cxcitCIlIl'1l1, of one's own chIldhood
and that of one's children.
One day, while testing material for this book, we decided to tell the
same story in each of the two groups of students we were working
with, and to record ourselves while doing so. The story, a Ghanaian
folk tale, goes like this:
A hunchback girl protects her father's beans from wild
animals
In the fields, she is visited by fairies
They ask herfor bean soup
She says she can't bend down to pick the beans, because
of her hump
The fairies remove the hump
She picks the beans and cooks them
The fairies eat, thank her
They replace the hump and leave
Her father tells her: 'You silly girl, you should have run
away before they could replace the hump'
Next day, the same thing, She runs off before they replace
the hump
She hides in the hut from the fairies
A week later there is a dance in the village
She can't resist-joins the dance
While dancing, she feels a weight on her shoulders
She turns, sees the fairies leaving the village
(from Folk Tales and Fables, ed, p, Itayemi & P. Gurrey)
I11 OIl(' rooll1l11C stlldcllt.
TIlI'l!' \\';\', ,I I.ll'IlltT / ill rhe norrh of the country I who
\\',1', \'('1 \' I""" f ,llld 1](' jWil !l:ld <l couple of fields where he
)',1"\\ 1',1111', ,llId 1,,',111'. ,111.1 dllllJ'" i and he Jived by himself
\\ 1l11111" ,llll)',hl"1 ,lllt'l ,'VITV d:1)' hl' would 'go our to his
11"1,1',11111,1",, 1",1111111" 1',llIl', I IOllk:tfll'r his f:lI'Jll I his
,111\'1.", .0>1,1,11'," I '''1'\\1111111111 ! 1111l"!H'II:HI:lhllll1p
"11 11' I 11" I I" ',11111111 1.1',11 I ,111.1 ',I,," 1>111.111'1.1" ,Ill\, Ic':d
,,,,I 11" ""1,1,, I I" 1,,1 111,11"'11,,1. \ 1',1" ',', I" 111l' 1111>'"
,1'101" 1111,1,,,,1 11',1 "1",1111. I.. 1\1,110>11,11., 1111111/' \' I
To the teacher
in detail) in the student's 11Iot 111'1 1III 11',1 Il' 1" ' LUlguage is simple
the meanings are evocative ,11ll! 11l.IlIY 1.')"'I\'d; and the stones,bnng
back, often in a flood of cxcitCIlIl'1l1, of one's own chIldhood
and that of one's children.
One day, while testing material for this book, we decided to tell the
same story in each of the two groups of students we were working
with, and to record ourselves while doing so. The story, a Ghanaian
folk tale, goes like this:
A hunchback girl protects her father's beans from wild
animals
In the fields, she is visited by fairies
They ask herfor bean soup
She says she can't bend down to pick the beans, because
of her hump
The fairies remove the hump
She picks the beans and cooks them
The fairies eat, thank her
They replace the hump and leave
Her father tells her: 'You silly girl, you should have run
away before they could replace the hump'
Next day, the same thing, She runs off before they replace
the hump
She hides in the hut from the fairies
A week later there is a dance in the village
She can't resist-joins the dance
While dancing, she feels a weight on her shoulders
She turns, sees the fairies leaving the village
(from Folk Tales and Fables, ed, p, Itayemi & P. Gurrey)
I11 OIl(' rooll1l11C stlldcllt.
TIlI'l!' \\';\', ,I I.ll'IlltT / ill rhe norrh of the country I who
\\',1', \'('1 \' I""" f ,llld 1](' jWil !l:ld <l couple of fields where he
)',1"\\ 1',1111', ,llId 1,,',111'. ,111.1 dllllJ'" i and he Jived by himself
\\ 1l11111" ,llll)',hl"1 ,lllt'l ,'VITV d:1)' hl' would 'go our to his
11"1,1',11111,1",, 1",1111111" 1',llIl', I IOllk:tfll'r his f:lI'Jll I his
,111\'1.", .0>1,1,11'," I '''1'\\1111111111 ! 1111l"!H'II:HI:lhllll1p
"11 11' I 11" I I" ',11111111 1.1',11 I ,111.1 ',I,," 1>111.111'1.1" ,Ill\, Ic':d
,,,,I 11" ""1,1,, I I" 1,,1 111,11"'11,,1. \ 1',1" ',', I" 111l' 1111>'"
,1'101" 1111,1,,,,1 11',1 "1",1111. I.. 1\1,110>11,11., 1111111/' \' I
Telling a story
who would ("(1111" .111\\ 111'11111.1" ,,,,, ',I ,Hound / ol1e (bv she
wentouttotlllfit'l.I 1111,1 whikshewastherc'sotnt
fairies came oul ut 1111' "',,' ,.1 I ,Ill' I ,hked her for /
beans / they walll... .1 111'1 '" I ""I 1111'111 / and make them
a meal/she said ;,he 'lllIl.11l 1 I",. ,1I1'.C' ;,Ill' couldn't bend to
pick the beans / SOIIIII',dllll"IIIJI"; ,UIH'uptoherputhis
hand on her back and lili<'.1 IIll' 11111111' oil h 'J' hack / and said
now you can pick b 'ans / ",..11,,111' ,hd she picked the
beans and she put thell1 ill :1 I'''' 111,1111' ,I hrl' cooked the beans
and gave them to the fairies / ,lllllllll'Y :lI',' them thanhd
for them / and turned to gu ;llid ,I;' !I\L'y ldt they replaced the
hump on her back / WhclI sll\' (;11111' h;wk to the hut she told
her father what had happened and Ill:r f:lch 'r said hOw if they
come again / and they prohahly wiil / when they take the
hump off your back / don't f-';O pick lhe he,lhs run away
and hide / then you'll gn w lip str,light / like the
other girls / so the next day she we;:J1l our 1'0 the field and the
fairies did come and asked her for bean._ / and took the hump
off her back / and instead of going / out into the field
to pick the beans / she turned and ran / as fast as she
could / she rushed back to the village and hid in the hut /
that evening when her father came home / he advised
her to stay in the house / because the fairies now would be
looking for her / but after a few weeks he thought they
would go away / so she stayed in the house / for a
week / and / then there was a festival in the village
and all the girls went out into the streets of the village / and
they danced / and the girl looked / out of her window at
the girls / in / their bright / costumes / dancing in
the street / and she couldn't resist it / she'd always loved
dancing and she'd never been able to dance and now she
could / and out into the street she went / danced with the
other girls / while she was dancing / she felt a weight /
on her shoulders / turned round / and there she saw the
fairies / quietly / going off / out of the village
In the other room the students heard:
Once upon a time there was a village / on the edge of a
desert / in the village there Jived a mall who had seven sons
he also had one d<.1ughter / his sons were straight and
uprig-ht / but his daughter / well/she had a hUlllp OJ1
her b;1Ck / alllI she, kid ro w;llk hCllf OV(T / and rI,r... 111:1<11'
lh(' fTl;11l vny vl'l'y 1I11h:IIlPY :111,1 il 111.1,1(' ,Ill' !',id VI'I\' 1'('1\-
IlIdl.\I'I'\' I ,.Ill" ",d. hi" Ill' I Il,,,,,,, "I' ,.Ill" 'lId,III-'
w dl, I 1" "I" d\ 11,.1 .1" . ""1.1,, I ,111'11' "," '"
Telling a story
had a beanfield on the edge of the desert / and one of the
daughter's jobs was to go and watch the beanfield / and
make sure no animals or people stoic beans from.it / one
evening she was there / as night was falling / in this part
of the world night falls quickly / and as she was preparing to
go home suddenly some fairies appeared on the edge of the bean-
field / and they came over / and one of them said to her
/ we're hungry / pick us some beans and make us a bean
soup / but the girl looked at them sadly / and said / I
can't bend down to pick the beans / but the fairy / came
close behind her and lifted / the hump from off her back /
and she could stand upright and walk straight / she smiled
/ and began to pick beans / she made a fire / and she
made the fairies a bean soup / which they ate greedily
/ and then disappeared / across the edge of the field back /
into the desert / and the girl / ran home / but as
she was running / suddenly / she felt the hump / com-
ing back onto her shoulders / and by the time she got home
she was stooped forward / and could only walk slowly /
and she told her father everything that had happened / and
her father said to her / you acted wrong my daughter / you
should have run away as soon as the fairies took the hump off
your back / they couldn't have found you to put it back on
again / I'm sure they'll come back tomorrow / when it
happens run away / before they can put the hump back on
your shoulders / and so the next evening / the girl went to
the beanfield again and sure enough the fairies / appeared
over the edge of the field / and they asked her to make them a
bean soup again / and a fairy lifted rhe bump from off her
back / and quickly she ran out of the field aud ran back
home to the viJlage / she hid in her father's house / and
she could walk straight / and she realised that she could
dance / for that evening there was going to be n dance / at
the house of some ncighbours where there was a wedding /
and she / later on in the evening she crept out / and
w('nl 10 th(' / fo the ncighbour's house / and joined
I hl' J:lIH'illg / ;llld Ihl'n she saw / on the edge of the /
d;III' 1111', 1'I'lll'Il' / 1111' f:lirics / suddenly / her hump was
111('1" 1111111'1 11,1< I. ''11,1111 / ;,h(' stooped f()[\vard / she could
11.1111 LOlll) 111IJl('
llin '"01
,lift./ 11"111' 1,11111111'1 1111""llllolll' III
Ill' I I,l IV11 I I I,,, I " .. III I' I.. ,". I ,1 '" I" Iill. I 11" I, 11 I ' I"" I, .," 111/1'
Telling a story
in numerous ways. Onc L';\I) r(';lddy 1111.1)',111(' till' wide range of factors
that might go to producing Sill h lilt mood ofthe teller
when he or she first encoLlmLTcd lIll' ",1111 \'; Ilis or her mood while
telling; the background exrwri('llll'S Ih,ll k:lll, (nr example, to one
teller seeing forest where the 01hLT S:I VI' dc.nt landscape; the numher
and seating of the audience; the lc1kr's rd;lliollship to the audience;
and so on and so on. And thcse difkrl'IlLc'. :Ire in rum reflected in the
language: sometimes fluent, soll1l't iIlIl'S 11l'"j t ;llll alld uncertain,
broken by irregular pauses, but always lh-lillildy s/JOken language,
the language of personal communicatioll I hat is so often absent from
the foreign-language classroom.
In some ways teUing is easier than reading aluud: the reader may
be forced to interpret speech patterns ami rhythms very different
from his or her own; he or she is forced to bccomc aware of things
normally taken for granted, such as breathing; and these technical
problems may become a barrier hetween him or her and the author
just as the book he or she is holding may hccome ;1 physical barrier
between him or her and his or her audience In telling, on the other
hand, one can shape the story to one's own needs, and while this
may require the development of certain, perhaps huried, skills, the
advantages are very great. In the first place, one can address one's
audience directly: one can make eye contact or not as and when one
chooses, use gesture and mirlle freely, expand or modify the form of
one's telling as the occasion demands, and in general establish and
maintain a community of attention het\.... een teller and listener,
Again, from the learner's point of view, it is of immense benefit to
witness the process of framing ideas in the target language without,
as in conversation, constantly having to engage in that process
oneself: forcing students always to hear polished speech (or, worse,
the bland monotony of specially constructed oral texts) does tbem a
great disservice.
Since first starting to work with stories, we have come to realise
something of the extent to which narrative underlies our conversa-
tional encounters with others, and of the deep need that people have
to tell and exchange stories. We have also learned something aboLlt
the ways in which storytelling can take place in the foreign-language
classroom.
Telling a story
Finding and choosing stories
Stories are everywhere: in selecting for this book we have drawn on
traditional fairy stories, folk tale collections, newspaper reports,
literary short stories, films and plays, personal anecdotes, rumours,
stories from our own childhood and from the childhood of our
friends, students and colleagues, and on our own imagination, We
have learned stories from our children and their friends, and from
professionals like Propp and Rodari.
In selecting storics for the classroom, we have been guided by two
main criteria: is this a story that we would enjoy telling and is this a
story our students might find entertaining or thought-provoking?
We have seldom been influenced by purely linguistic considerations
in our choice (though this does play Cl part-see 4,1), and we have
never aUowed the language of an original text to determine suita-
I ility-indeed, many of the stories we have used have been taken
from originals in languages other than English.
Making skeletons
We found early on that a brief written outline ('skeleton') provided
(he hest way for us to store material for storytelling. The skeleton
should give, in minimal form, a plot outline, background information
where necessary (e.g. cultural context if the plot is heavily dependent
oil this), apd a certain amount of character detail. There is no
ohligation to produce a continuous text-indeed, this could be an
to improvisation-or to observe the conventions of punctua-
IlClll Jud 'complete sentences', The aim should be to record all those
(I('IIlCllts that are essential to the story, but only these. (The decision
,d)(l\lt what is essential is entirely, and rightly, subjective: faithfulness
10 an original text or to Cl 'writer's intention' play no part in this
work.)
!\lllIw s[oriL's PITSl'lltl'd ill this book are given in the form of
',k,'klll"'. Tlll'Sl' :11"1' pl"illll'd ("ClL.:t1y as we would use them ourselves,
,1I1l1 \-\l'II.I\'(' Ill" ;llll'lllpll'" to provide;1 'standardised form'. We
1111111 1111'\' wl1lll1' ,11 1",1',( ,ICII'ljl':lll' ,IS tlll'y SI:lI1d, and are sure that
1(',1l /11"1', \\1111 \\/,.1,111 \\1111 IIOIlI 1IIl'lrtlwl1ll1:I!(,l"ial, :1nd thus
1'1, ,dll" ,11"11 "\ I1 ',I'll \ ',I , 11 I,",'" W dI dl'\'('lop I hei I' own Sf le and
I" /lllt'I'I' 11111'1 1 I, '1111,1, 1,1',' I ,!t.tl Ill,' '.I,,'klll" lIlt'n'lv pro"idl"
" I, I, ", 11 I /110 ," 1I,. i ' '" I, -, 1110 I, 11, I I' I \ \" I1 I. f I 0111 _ ,Ill d 11111 I 1101
J" "I.,,,.lr,,d
Telling a story
Preparing to tell
Inpreparingtotell a story,weh;rvc workeddirectly fromskeletons.
Thishastheeffectbothofdist:1.flcing tlw leller from therhythmsand
forms ofthesource(whetheroralorwrillLIl) andoffocussing on
whatisessential to memorise-theploI ami development.Except
where expressionsarecssl'llli;i1 to th story(e.g, in fairy
storiessuchrepetirionsas 'Whatbig..... you have,grandmother') we
haveconsciouslyavoidedall memorisatioll orrecordingofforms of
words, concentratingon plotlineand pace,andon'gettingthe feel'
ofthestory, Adress rehearsal,for example,in frontofthemirror,
may attimes be helpful,butcaneasilyleadto lossofinvolvement,
andthus,intheclassroom,failure tocommunicate;onerehearsal
techniquewhich gets roundthisis to replay thestoryinone'shead
while mumblingtherhythmsofthestory (butnottheactualwords
ofthetelling) aloud.We havealsofoundthata briefperiodoftotal
relaxation beforetellingis ofimmensehelp.
Styles of storytelling
Therearemanywaysoftellingastory. Onecan unrollone'smat
underthenearesttreeandcalltogethera crowd;onecanbuttonhole
a strangerin a railwaycarriageorbar;onecan murmurintheearof
a sleepychild.Theseandmanyothertraditional modesoftellingcan
havetheircounterpartsintheforeign-language classroom.Standing,
orsittingona raisedchairin frontofrowsofstudentsonecan
capturesomethingoftheone-mantheatreshow,andaim to fire
emotionsorentertainby pureactingskill. In total contrastro this,
sittingwiththestudents,inatightcircle,can conjurememoriesof
childhoodstorytelling.By seekingand exchangingeyecontact,one
candrawthestudentsintothestory, andgivea senseofparticipation
in theprocessoftelling;withholdingeyeconmct,ontheotherhand,
canbeusedtoincreasethemoodoffantasy, and to encourage
introspection.Bodyposture,voicelevel, andvariationin theexternal
environment(furniture,lighting,colour)canalsobemadetoheighten
particular effecrs. Particula r stories, and particula rgroups of listeners,
willcall for differentstylesoftelling, and thetellershouldbeaware
ofthe ofpossihilityopento him orher. Acert:lill al1HlIlllt of
ddihl'l':1fccxpt'l'ill1coutillll is VtT)' hclpfllllO:111\'1111<' 11 I'llI!'. (. I ..Jc."dop
his orh(:r OWl) 'it\'ks: \('1' Wh,ll h;I],I'Illo., llll ",,11111'1. . iI 10111', ,11 (.
IlIld Itlllll 1)("1111111 i111' 1"11. 11,'1'" III \\,liI,,]\I \\ 1".1. I '''''1.
1
"I ,I .. '11.
Telling a story
he listener
Justas therearcstylesoftelling,sothere;lrestylesoflistening.
Peopledonotalwayslistenin thesamcway,orfor thesamecnd;nor
do all peoplelisten for theendswemightwanttoprescribe. When,
for example, theschoolmasterpunishesa child for 'daydreaming'
insteadof'payingattention'to whatis beingsaid, heis assuming
thattheaimofthechild'slisteningis theabsorptionand retention of
thestoryorargument,Thus,ifthechildfails topayattention, the
worthofthetelUng, and by implicationoftheteller, is calledinto
question.Inpractice,quitetheoppositemaybe thecase: thetelling
may besopowerful orstimulatingtharitsets updominanttrainsof
thoughtin the listener's head whichforce theattentionawayfrom
the teller and alongnewandexcitingpaths.Thestorytellershould
not merely recognisethatthis, too,might bea validaim, buttake
\lCPS toencourageandexploititby, for example,allowingthinking
I i mewtthin thetelling, a ndbyencouragingthelistenerstosh are
I heirthoughtsafterwards, Foreign'!earnersmayhavetheirown,
\pccialaims in listening: theymay beconcentratingonthestructures
orrhythmsofspeech,andallow'meanings'ro passthem by; they
IlIa)' beengagedin a rangeoftranslationprocesses; they may,
c'o.;pccially iftheyareadvancedstudents,bemakingconsciollsattempts
III rind, in thestyleoftelling, models for thingsthey themselveswish
["l'Xpress-thingswhich maybequite remote(for others) from the
',[llI"y be1l1g told. Thistoothe teller shouldbecontentwith.
W at not to do
J 11I'IT ;lIT 110 recipes forstorytelling, buttherearevery clearly things
"Ill' sho\lld NOTdo:
1)1111'( 1l'Il stlll"il'S you don'tlike, orare outofsympathywith.
11,111'( Litelilt' sllll"y :lho"ethe list ner: tell thestoryfor thesakeof
tilL' li"II'IIl'l', Illlt tor 1he sakeofthestory.
11111\'1 hnollll'lill"Hl'lIpinl wilh 'gcltingthe right'-your
1I'lIll1
f
', will I"" (>lIlt' Ill" V' >11'> Ilr 1111,
)1"11" 1"llIII01I11I<d''',
Telling a story
Askeleton
Here is an example of thestory presented in the book.
The river
Summer
Theyreachedtheriver, h[ld t)eenatwarthreeyears
Lullinfighting
Threeofthemwentbathing-threeshots
HQputriveroutofbounds
Hecreptthroughwoodtoriverbank
Propped rifleagainsttree, undressed,swam
Watercoolandclean
Caughtbranchinmidstream
Sawheadinwater,Ours?Theirs?
Headwenttootherbank
Hesw.am backto rifle,gottherefirst
Aimedatotherclimbingoutofwater
Couldnotsqueezetrigger
Letriflefall
Sawbirdsriseas shotrangout
Hisface hittheground
(afterAntonisSamarakis,Zitite Efpis)
ection2 Storiesandfollow-ups
2.1 Revengequestions
Skeleton
Theinventor
Inventor
Livedincountry
Drewplans,torethem up,startedagain
For40years neverspoke,readnewspaper,orreceived
letter
Didn'tknowradioexisted
Onedayrealised he hadmade invention
Dayand nightcheckedplans,calculations
Hewenttotown
Carsinsteadofhorses;electricinsteadofsteamtrains;
escalators,refrigerators.
Quicklyunderstood-sawtelephoneand said: 'Aha'
Toldpeoplein street'I havemadeagreatinvention'
Theydidnotcare
Heenteredacafeandexplainedtoaman
'I haveinventedamachinewhichshowswhat'sgoingon
milesaway'
'Ohthetelevision-there'soneinthecorner-shallIturn
iUm?'
Till:inventorwenthome
Atdf:skf )r il rnonth--re-inventedcar
,ill 11 wdll )1', tAlepllone,refrigerator
1111' r rillly11; 11 (1111 ill!l is10 i nv(:ntthingsthatalreadyexist
(,dllll I'..rl" llill",IlI, illK;ndergeschichten)
Stories and follou.;-ups
Before class
Makeonecopyofthequcsriollsgiven llelnw. On thiscopyadd
thenamesoftwopeoplefrOl1l yourd;lss ill tilt: blanksinquestions4
and25.Thencopythenumberofshntsyou will needforyourclass.
In class
1 Tell thestudentsthestory.
2 Givethemthe'comprehension'questions hdowandinvitethem
tocross out anytheydon'tlike orthink arcstupid. Eachstudent
shouldworkonhisorherowndoingthis. Youarehereinviting
thestudenttotakerevengeon boringcomprehensionquestions.
3 Whenstudentshavereadallthequestionsandcrossedoutthose
theywantto,askthemtoworkin pairsandputtoapartnerthe
questionstheyhaveretained.Pairstudentswhohaveretaineda
lotofquestionswithoneswhohavecrossedoutmostorallofthe
questions.
4 Havethemre-pairandrepeat3 above.
QUESTIONS
1 Whatdidthemanin thecafetell hiswifewhenhegothomethat
night?
2 Is it deeplyuseful toinventthings thathavealreadybeen
invented?
3 Whatdidtheinventorlooklike?
4 Did inthisgrouplikethisstory?
5 Whatkindofhousedidtheinventorlivein?
6 Whatis theunderlyingthemeofthis story,for you?
7 Wheredid theinventotgethislivingfrom?
8 Whydidtheinventor nolongerknowhowtospeaktopeople?
9 Whatnewthingssurprisedtheinventorwhenhewentinto
town?
10 Doyou knowanybodylikethisman?
11 Whatcolourwerethewallsoftheinventor'sroom?
12 Wouldyourbrotherlikethisstory?
13 Whatdidtheinventorlooklike?
14 Whatkindoffatherwouldtheinventormake?
IS Why didtheinvcntorfinally dccide togo intoIOWII?
1(, Wh:ll sort oflnWIl did YO\l illJ:lgilll':I'; yllll ,Ill.Jil" ',fllr)'?
I ' 111\'('11101.111.11111 '.tllI."III.IJii'
Revenge questions
18 Iftheinventorwasa Muslim,howmanywives wouldhehave?
19 Inwhatways,ifany, doyousympathisewiththeinventor?
20 Whatdidtheinventordointhetrams?
21 Whydidtheinventorgetangryinthecafe?
22 Wasthismana lunatic?
23 Howdidthestorybegin?
24 Didthestoryhappenfor youinEngland,yourowncountryor
somewhereelse?
25 Did.......... inthisgrouplikethestory?
26 Whatwastheinventor'sreactiontothenewthingshesawinthe
town?
27 Whichofthenewthings didheprobablyfind mostrevolu-
tionary?
28 Whydidthismanwanttoinventthings?
29 Howdid thestoryend?
30 Werethereanyrosesintheinventor'sgarden?
31 If,heinventorhadhadhobbies,whatmighttheyhave!been?
32 Whatsortofrelationshipdoyouimaginetheinventorhaving
hadwithhis parents?
.n Whatdidthemaninthecafeoffertodofortheinventor?
.H Howcouldtheinventorgetbywithoutearningasalary?
Whatis thesymbolicmeaningofthestory?
36 Didtheinventorgrowpotatoes? .
37 Whatdoyouknowabouttheauthorofthisstory,PeterBichsel?
R Whyaretheretrafficlightsintowns?
9 Whydidtheinventoroftentearuphisplans?
.H) Iftheinventorwasananimal,whatsortofanimalwouldhebe?
I Is this a children'sstory?
12 Doyouthinkthepersonwhotold usthestorylikedit?
., Whatwastheweatherlikewhentheinventorwenttotown?
14 Whatyearwastheinventorbornin?
I Doyoulikelisteningtostupidstoriesinforeign languages?
1(, W;lS rhe inventorwearinga tieonthedayhewentintotownor
his IlStdpyjamas?
I ' I)()yOll like:lIJswcringcomprehensionquestions?
l.\ \XIII:II did he S;lY 10 till'Ill'opkh'metin thetown?
I" 1111\0\' old wOllld dlt'111\'1'11(01' hl' j(he WLTC alivenow?
.11 \XlIIi, h i'.lIl1' 1I11,000f 11'11";1 ion ill theabovelist?
I
Stories and follow-ups
Preparation of this kind of quvstilll Ill,,ire lor subsequent classes
You willnoticethatche50C)u 'sIionsgiV('lt 1;,111 intoseveralcategories,
Forexamplequestions4, Ll, 2. and IJ. ;11'(' ;t11 todowiththereactions
tothestoryofpeoplethestudent knows. I!()w Illanyothercategories
aretherefor you?
Itis vitalthatyouwriteveryvariL'd qlll'Slio!1S, .so chatstudentsend
up by crossingoutverydifferentthings.
Belowyouwillfind a secondstory,with a ratherdifferentselection
ofquestions:
King Caliban
Fred, huge,strong,gentlebutratherslow
Earned80aweekin shop
Happy: kids, garden;wife Doreen,ambitious,unsatisfied
Fred metwrestling promoterin pub
Offered800 aweekas'fighter'-allfightsfixed
Fred unsure,dislikesviolence
Doreen pusheshim
Fred becomesKing Caliban,pairedwith Billythe Crusher
In rehearsal Fredslow,makesmistakes,workshard
Town Hall, Saturdaynight
Audienceoutfor blood
Bald manoutfor Caliban
Screamsat him
Fred nervous,makesmistakehurts Billy
Fightin earnest,18aldygoesmad
Fred knocks Billy unconscious,Baldyscreamsabuse
Fredlumbersoutofring, picks Baldyupandsmashes
himontoseats
Ambulance,police-Fredis charged
(afterJohnWain,Death a/the Hind Legs and Other
Stories)
QUESTIONS
I Howoldwas Fred?
2. Whydid FredmarJ'y Dorcen{
,1 Wh.!t ofC1I' did J)orL'I'n W:1l1t?
4 no Y()lIlhillk ill Ill('",J'UIJp Ilk('11 dli'.r,H'1 \
'I \,IIIIld,(.,110I' .1',',i,I.llll'.11 1 1111111 \ 111111' .
Revenge questions
(I Howtallwasthewrestlingpromoter'ssister?
-;- If Fredhad been to abetterschool,would.he have been happier?
X Wasthestorywell told?
) Howmanyfights hadFredhad beforetheTownHallfight?
10 Is wrc.)tlinggoodforthespectators?
11 WhatwasFred'smistake?
12 Haveyougota brother?Wouldhelikethisstory?
I) Shouldwomenwrestle?
WhatSOHofshopdidFredandDorecnworkin?
I' HowdidFrcdentertainills children?
I (, Whois thevillainofthestory?
17 Whowas theoriginalCaliban?
Whydidn'tFredlikeviolence?
It) ])0youthinkthewriterofchestorywas aneducated man?
'() HowmanypeoplewantedFredtowin?
HowmuchmorewouldFred havemadeas a wrestlerthanasa
shopworker?
I I DoesDoreenlikewrestling?
Did thestorytakeplaceinManchesterorLondon?
',1 WhathappenedtoFredin thepolicestation?
Did in thisgrouplikethestory?
Howdid FredspendhisSaturdaymornings?
Weretheremorementhanwomenintheaudience?
Wouldthestorymakea goodfilm?
fl so, \-"hieh actorshouldtakethepartofFred?
I )id thestorymakeyoufeel guilty?
\XIlLlt h:1ppenedtoBaldyafterFredthrewhim?
,> JII rrl,d',sshm's, whatwouldyouhavedoneaboutBaldy?
!: Whodol'S f)oreen blame:?
'\ I \X!hidl is morl''I1t)nest, wrestlingoreducation?
li I:r('d h;ldll'IIlHllle a l11israke, whowouldhavewonthefight?
I, IIll\\' IllIlcll 1l1OIley W:.lS lherefereepaid?
W.I, ,'0'%, ;l l'l':\son:lhlt.., Slllrl for thewrestlingpromoterto
I,',t'I\' l':'
11,1\\' .li,1 J)011'('11 voll' ill Ihl'!:''';! t'kctioJl?
I , ,tI I1 11' If' "/1111,1; ,
III I" II 11"III.Ji I"1IIIdl,.,lld,' /1)',1111'[',:'
I1 \"1111.'.."111 ,1111111',1 'JlW'IItIII'" wll.II willlt:lj1j1l'l1?
Ill, 11" '11'11\1,11, 11111,1, \'.1"""111I'\ltJrv?
1"111,1,. j I.",h I, ,. I ill 'Ill' t i I,'
'I,'11'"111 ,1,111' III ,1,,1 j I' .1,.1" . 1111111 1111" 111111'
111\ "'11' '11'"' ,1,,11. ,I "'11111111
46 Ifyourson wantedtobea wn:stll'r, wouldyoulethim?
47 WastheTownHalltherightplan'fora wrestliogmatch?
48 Whois thebest wrestlerin this WOIl)?
49 Howlongdid thestorytake to telI?
50 Whatmightyouhavebeendoinginsteadoflisteningtothe
story?
2.2 Theme pictures
Skeleton
Kacuy
Shelivedwith brotherincottageinforest
Didcooking,cleaning; he hunted
Shewasunhappy;cottagetoosmall,isolated
Onedayhebroughthomeanimal:
Shesaid: 'Cookityourself,' Hesaid nothing
He knewsheloved honey
Nextdaycamehome,toldherabouthugebees-
nestuptree
Askedhertohelphimgethoney-sherefused
'IfIgoalone I'llspillthe honey'
Sheagreedtohelp
Hetookhood and machete,theysetoff
Finallycametotalltreeinclearing
Sheclimbed aheadofhim,wearing hood
Neartophewhispered'Ssh,stoporthe bees'lI hear'
Hewentdowntree,10PiJed offbranchesabovehead
Leftclearing,thought: 'Nowshewillseesheneedsme'
Cold,nightfalling,shewasterrified,windrising
Begantogropeherwaydowntree
Herfootslippedintospace
Tookoffhood,lookeddown: nobranches
Herarm itched,lookeddown:feathers
Feltbackofhead: somethinggrowing
Herfeetonbranch:claws
Gustofwino knocked herofftree
Shewasflyillq; callt'!cl 0111 11,11111', 11l',1I&1 'I'.tnlY,
KllCllY'
Theme pictures
EversinceKacuy bird hasbeensearchingforestfor
brother
(afterKacuy,inSouthAmerican
FairyTales, ed,John Meehan)
IIp-foreclass
I ollecta lotofmagazinepicturesand details,cutoutfrom magazine
I 'I,-lures (theseshouldcomein useful for a wholerangeofexercises).
(!loosesomepicturesthat,foryou,areconnectedwiththethemesof
111l' storyand plentyofothersthatappear toyouto be unconnected.
I'lllureswiththefollowingfeatures mightappeartoconnecteasily
WilIt Kacuy anditsthemes: orphans I feathers I lonetrees I
i'llds I families I him-herscenes I sex-roleimages I
',.I(I,ICSS anger I 'I'llteachyoua lesson' I magictrans-
Illlmations I flying ! honey = thirst for love I marriageete.
t IIIlosingpicturesthatdonot seem to youtoconnecttotbethemes
'. 'll can see is important, aspeopleseedifferentthingsin a story.
III t:lass
I'dItheclass thestory,
prl':ld thepicturesandpicturefragmentsona tableatoneendof
till'room.Askstudentsropickpictures thattheyassociatewith
IIll' story. Askthem topairoffandexplaintheirchoiceofpicture
I.),1I}()ther person.
;\-,k rhl' students to find a newpartner. Continuethis untileach
h.I', '>pOlU'll with fourothers.
1
'
,\ I 11) N 1\ I F Thereasoll for proposingpictureassociationis tha t
11 11 j,'/I'III'1'l'("e,lll'S ;1 story vcry muchofhis orherown. Explaining
J' I \111'1' ,l'>';I)l'j:lliollS to:1 p,lITncr allows theindividualstudentto
I' i1I""lllIW,pn'j;ll;ll1d thestoryheorsheheardorinternally
,I' 1Il'd I',> hy di; ..'o\,(ril1gIt'IW differentlyotherpeoplesawthestory.
1'1,,11111' .1'.' ",i.lll'''!,11 ,lW', (1111 .... oft<.'11 otherwiseunsaid.
I'j
For heginners
2.3 For beginners
Skeleton
Mrs Peters
Mrs Peterswas80 and leantona stick
I usedtocarryherbasketbackfrom theshop
Onedaysheshowedmea bottleshehad bought
Thelabel said: 'Onesipofthiswill take20 years
offyourlife'
Shehobbled upthestepsinto herhouse
NexttimeI sawhershewaswalking ram-rod
straight. Her stickwasgone.Shewavedtome
ThatSundayI wentfor astrollin thepark
MrsPeterswassitting on bench nearthegate
wearinganelegantdressandscarf
Shefooked about40
Thefollowing weekI metherin theparkagain
Shewasdressedin tightjeansand asweater
I satdown nextto herandtook herhand
I askedhertothecinema
Shesaidshewantedtogoandchange, Shesaidshe'd
meetmein theparkin an hour'stime.
I camebackin an hour-nobodythere,
I wentto herhouseandhammeredonthedoor,
No answer
(we learntthisstoryfrom a telling byJanAspeslagh)
What sort of complete beginners?
Youcan nsefully tell storiestocomplete beginnersif theirmother
languagesarereasonablyclosetothetargetlanguage. 1 youare
teachingEnglishtoDutch,German,Scandinavian (barringFinnish)
speakersandtoa lesserextentfrench, Sp:mish,Italian slw:lknsthen
storytelling;1("'I.ero-st;\(t !t'v('] cmhe 1IS(' fll I. [t is 1lo1 111111 1111"1' 10 fry
stl1rytdlirl!', 10 I'Ir:I!,j,, (11" ./;III,IIll";(' "IH":lkilll',I'"lq.l'l' I" ,'1'1111"1',
Before class
ReadtheskeletonvetycarefullyamI decidehowtogetcertain
wordsacrosswithmimeanddrawing.From theabovestoryyou
CJngetacrosstheideaofleaningonCl stick,carryingbags,hobbling,
walkingstraight,wavingetc., by miming.Label, bottle,steps,
henchcaoall beverysimplydrawn.If youhaveneverrolda story
tocompletebeginners before,rehearsethestory toyourself, using
mime. 1 all yourstudentshavethesamemother-tongue,youmay
find youcantranslatetheoddwordoridea.
I Photocopythesplitsentences below,onesettoeveryfourstudents.
CutthepagesupsoyOll cndup with16halfsentencesfromeach,
whichcanbestoredinenvelopes.Inwritingyourown split
sClltences forotherstories,makesureyOll coverall thekey move-
tllentsinthenarration.If youcan't,the storyisprobablytoo
'oHlplexanyway. Morethanabouteightsentences canfeel
overwhelmingtothecompletebeginner.Inwritingyourownsplit
sentencespunctuatedearlyaspunctuationandlackofitare
11I<ljor re-combinationandsequencingmarkers.
III l:!ass
Tell thestory,slowly,measuredly, usingmimeandplentyofeye
, ('lltdCt. Inno waywilleverybody'understand'everythingthefirst
I iJlIC. Donotfeel badatthis 'incomprehension'- therehasto be
l'kntyofit ontbeway topiecingtogetherevenpartialcom-
Ill"chl'nsion.
J (;rollPthestudentsin fours. Giveeacha setofsplitsentences. Ask
IIWllI to jointhehalves upandsequencethem. Everynowand
I [WIJ ll10ve a personfrom hisorhergrouptotbenextgroup. Go
.'1111)(I :ll1swcringquestionsandhelpingwhere necessary.
'1',,11 IIll' qory;lgail1, still mimingand beingveryexplicit.Letthem
Illtlk 1l1l'ol'l,h thcirsequencingagain.
1('11 I Ill' slnr)' :1 third timc,with kssmimeandslightlyfaster,
1III ',1'1 11 1'11,
Oil :1';1ick"
III t. d, (. I(I \' C',11 '. ( ) 11 \' C1111 Ii f
1111111
I
Shewaswearinganelegant dressandshelookedabout40,
Isatdownnextto hnandtookherhand.
Iaskedherto withmetothecinema,
Ihammeredonthedoorofher buttherewasnoanswer.
VARIATION
Old Maid Thisis agoodstoryfollow-up ,lCtivityatpost-beginner
level.
Before class
Takeeightsplitsentencesandputeachhalfsentenceonaplaying
cardsizedpieceofpaperorcardboard,e.g.:
Isatdown herandtook
nextto herhand,
Youwillneedonepackof16cardsfor everyfourpeopleinyour
class,sofor agroupof20youwillneedfive packs.
In class
1 Groupthestudentsinfours. Giveoutapacktoeachfoursome
andaskonestudentto shuffleanddealthecards.
2 Explaintherules:
Aimofgame- tolaydownas manycompletesentencesasyou
can.
Playersmustnotshowtheirhandstooneanother.
PlayerAstartsthegameby randomlypickinga cardfromPlayer
B'shand. Athenlaysdownanycompletesentencesheorshecan.
Bthenrepeats theprocess,takingacardfrom Cetc.
Thegroupsequencesthecompletedsentencesoncetheyareall on
thetable.
The c\lllwJl1ade h;ndlT hy splitlilll',111(' '11 111!'111 I",illlo
t1Hl;(' hn'; l',lch Clr hy 111l11I,lill", 111011' ",'111'11'0 '.
, ,
Taking roles
( )Id Maid canwellbeusedfor revision ofsomeofthelanguagein
I :-.Lory weeksaftermeetingit,
I I VEL Theprincipleexemplifiedin this unitofmakingavery
Lhl(icultchunkoflanguagegraduallymoreandmoreaccessibleto
'1Illpletebeginnersbymime,drawingandthen aco-operativeor
,"lllpctitivereadingtask,followedbyfurthertellings, canwell be
IllpllCd tootherlevelsoflearner.So, forexample,youcouldtella
'.I
11
I
I
Pofelementarystudentsastorythatwouldonlybereadily
II1Idtrstoodbyupper-intermediates.Thisis veryusefulpsychologi-
"ily;,lS theelementarylearneris thus havinghis selfexpectations
I 11 "l'llbeyond theirnormallevel. Itis wonderfultoenduppretty
I,ll 'l1loerstandingsomethingoneatfirst feltconfidentonewould
11I
1
/IIJlderstand.
Taking roles
Thebearthatwasn't
Bearsawgeeseflying South,leavesfluttering down
Said to himself'It'stimetosleep'
Wenttocave, piledupleaves: soonasleep
October
111 DeCernl)ermencame,builtfactoryovercave
M<lrd1
B , I W k(-) lip,wenttocave mouth: nograss,no trees,
1:llilllrwys
rllllll!llltitWilS a dream,pinched himself,nochange
Inrr'rllllll'WIlV youworking?'
'1IIItl"II"hC:;II'
'Nc" /1111. YIlII'le:;, /lwnwhoneedsashaveand
1Nl' Ill, ,,1111 (,ll,II'
l,ljC.rII.lp 11111 I"','fIII(,(IIf:lirl Malll,f.lr: Jialeman,big
1I!".I',I',lld
1""'111 IIllo'li"il'
wltl'
'1'111 '1"1111111"", I, 11' Villi IILol Volt,'", /1;1/ ,IJO It'
, \
All drovetozoo 11l1'n;IJl, 11 1'1';; 'ndillac
Little bearsin 111:111 Iq,tH' -l:)ked 'Is hea bear?'
Little bearslaughed'I[ Ill. was LI bear,he'dbeinside
thecagewith us'
Beardepressed
Theywentto circus: same: with bearsonfunny bikes
Bearmoredepressed
Backtofactory,bearworked on machine
October
Oil crisis,factoryclosed,men backtofamilies
Bearin wood: sawgeese.leaves- saidto himself
'It'stimeto... no .. I'm asilly manwho needsa .. .'
Colderandcolder;whitestufffell, snow
Walkedtocave,wentin, piled upleaves,wentto sleep
saying
'I'mnota man, I'm abear'
(afterTashlin)
Inclass
1 Tellthestory.
2 Groupthestudentsineights. Writeupthefollowingeightroleson
the board:
zoobear Cadillac
foreman cave
wildgoose manager
Bear flutteringleaf
3 Explaintothestudentsthateachofthemis a film who
hastocasttheeightroles. Eachpersonmustcasttheeightroles
withinhisorhergroup,allottinga roletohimselforherselftoo.
4 Askthestudentstoworkindividually,withobtcommunicating
theirdecisionstoanyoneelse,
5 Whenthis hasbeendone,askeach personto workwith one
partnertoexplain howtheycasttheroles. I?o r'lotallowthe
studentstogroupintothreesandfours, whIchwdl happenunless
youexpresslystopit. .
6 WhenMOpartnershavefinished talkingaskthem (';H.:h tofmd ,1
n w partner. .
7 Ollly :d'llTSOll1l' Iill\(' :,llllwgrollpsoflllllrl' Ih,lll 1'\" I" l"rlll. It IS
(,:,',il'l I"dj',III','. illllJIl:I\l' t11l11j'," ,\'j,h ,,'1,1' "d)11 d, 111 \11111,1 )',1111111
Theme words
NOTES Thisis a ratherintimateexercisethatshouldnotbe
,lttempteduntilpeopleknoweachotherfairly well. Therearesome
!,roupswherethereis notenoughmutualtrustforittobeattempted
C1l all. lfyou tryittoosoonitmaygetdoneskittishly andsuperfi-
11:111y,
Thereis nowayofknowinginadvancewhichroleswill beseenas
1wgativebystudents. Cadillac,fromthesetabove,hasbeenseenby
I 'lIepersonina group as aninsultandbyanotherinthesamegroup
,I'. ;1 fair compliment.
Veryofteninanimateandanimalrolesarericherthanhuman
,"ICS, despitethe students'initialwondermentatthisnovel formof
11I11acy!
\1 "NOWLEDGEMENT Theideaofroleallocationwelearntfrom
1''''l"ll:ud Dufeuwhohadworkedwithit inthe contextofpsycho-
,11,1111<1.,
Theme words
',/, It .. ton
Jack and the beanstalk
Jack livedwith motherin cottage,verypoor
Shesenthimtosell cow
He metbutcher- soH:! cowforbeans
MotherAngry- threwbeansoutofwindow
rnomingJack'sroomdark, Beanstall<rising tosky
I c:lillll>l!d totop- strangeland
MI,t W()lllHll shesaidland belongedtogiant. Gianthad
rli:; t;lttwrtltld stolen hismoney
,I Ic'!< w,dlald, 1110111 f(!II, came10 castle
l ,f,I1II", wilo1lllWillillfjlyrookhim in,fed him,hid him in
IIV.'11
1'1.111\ fl'llIlIf,itl. ',lJilll)il'llllllrl
'I "". rI, I." I, 11111 I
I 1111 11111II,I""d 101 ,1111111111' 11111.111
,.1'1/"1,1110' hi' 11" d
I'll 'JlllhlId 1",", I.. 11111, Ill, I", ,d'
Giantatehuge'Supp r, culled forhishen,roared: 'Lay!'
Shelaid 12eggs,Gi<:lllt wonllOsleep,snoresshookcastle
Jackstolehen,ran toIJ8811swlk, backhome
He andmotherrich
Jackbackupbeanstalk-
Taken inagain bygiant'swi.fe-- hiddenincupboard
Giantreturned: 'Feefi ...' Hugesupper,countsmoney,
snores
Jackstealsmoney,backdownbeanstalk
Buildsmothernewhouse
Newdisguise- backupbeanstalk
Takeninbywife,hiddenin wash-tub
'Fee,fi. ..' Hugesupper,giantcallsforharp: 'Play!'
Harpplays,giantsnores
Jackgrabsharp,harpcries'Master,Master!'
Giantwakes- chasesJack
Jackfastdownbeanstalk,giantclosebehind
Calls'Mother,Mother,theaxe!'
Chopsdownbeanstalk- killsgiant
In class
t Tellthestoryasfully asyoucan,
2 Writeupthewordsbelowontheboardandaskthestudents,
workingindividualty,toputtheideastheyfindmostrelevantto
thestoryfirstandtheleastrelevantlast.Be readytoexplain
unknownwords.
3 Pairthestudentsandaskthemtojustifytheirrankingtotheir
partner.Getthemtore-pairtwoorthreetimes,Theseexplanatiolls
re-cycle much otthelanguageheardinthestory widllllll IlI<1king
thestlldelllsrctdllhl'story ('0 '1 l)ersoll whoh.I', )11',1 III 11,1 Ill('
sdi slory,
't
Discussion
,6 Discussion
.' 'kti!leton
Peacocks
Peacocks
In parkintowncentre
Dozensofmagnificentpeacocks
Oneday10peacocksfound dead
Nextdayanother10
Outrage,Policeinvestigate
Noclues
Inspectorinterviewsallpeacockfanciers
Meetsoldmanwhooncebredpeacocks
Alone,houseneat,militarysouvenirs,oldsoldier
He cannothelpbutbe interestedincase,pleasedtotalk
Leaving,Inspectorseesphotographofyoungmanin
uniform
'Yourson?'
'Myselfwhen IservedtheEmperor'
Nextdayold mancomestopolicestation
Casefascinateshim
'Tokill apeacock is theperfectact,forapeacockisitself
perfection'
afternightpoliceinwaitoutsidepark
At lastInspectorseesfiguresapproaching: manwiththree
dogs
Mun cutsfence- dogsattackpeacocks
Manlunsoff
I c: in lightofstreetlamp
II .fir'torrecognisesfaceofyoungman inphotograph
(,11(/:1 YukloMlf.ihima)
, .'"",
1 1,1111, 0,111111 1110, 1Ill"'.1111\'.
,11,,\ I,,,li'11111'" 111\111111"/ 11'111'1 lilllllipH'aft'l'r telling, thenask
Ill. IInll,II'.In 11"lllj,1111 11 ofthl'storyIJl groups
III d".. 1I, iI'.' ".", 1I "1'1, ,I"I"\\'
Storiesandfollow-ups
EXAMPLES Ina lower-interlllnli:llt'groupinwhichtheabove
storywastold,almosteverystudl'1l1 had :1 differentinterpretation,
including:
1 Rosathoughtitwasa problemoj idelltificationaroundthephoto
andtheyoungmanwiththedogs: perhapsthekillerwastheold
man'sson.
2 Yannicksawthestoryas aversioll of.Jekyll andHyde.
3 Hans(whohadalsoseena film based Oil thestory)thoughtthatin
murderingthepeacockstheold m:lll was rediscoveringhisyouth,
whichforhimhadbeendestroyingthings:lIldpeopleinthewar.
4 Christoffelt therewasnorealfeelingoftimeinthestoryorthat
therewas'timecrossing'- thetimeofthephotoandthetimeof
thekiUing ofthepeacockswereblurredorthesame.
S Umbertothoughtthattheoldmanhaddiscoveredwhothepeacock
killerwasandhadphotographedhim: hehadthephotographin
hishousebecauseheidentifiedwith theyoungmanintheactof
killingthepeacocks.
NOTES Forthisveryopen,directexercisetobeeffective,thestory
chosenshouldbecapableofaverywiderangeofinterpretation,and
thetellingshouldbeclearandsimple: i.e. thecomplexityshouldlie
inthestoryratherthaninthelanguage,
Hereis anotherstory:
Freyfaxi
Hrafnkelwaspriestofgod Frey
Ownedsheep,herdofmaresandfinestallion
Dedicatedstalliontothegod: calledhim Freyfaxi
Sworeonlyheshouldride Freyfaxi
Einarcametoworkasshepherd
Einarpromised nottoride Freyfaxi
Einarlived in hutat headofvalley
Oneday30 sheepgone- searched- couldnotfind them
Decidedtorideoutafterthem
Wenttocatcha mare- all ran off
Freyfaxi stoodwaiting
Dare heridethehorse?
Mounted, Rode Freyfaxi all overmountains nosheep
Returnedto hut- sheeptherebleating
UnsaddledFrevfaxi
hlotllollltIll I" rhl'l
Shapesandcharacters
Hrafnkel understood- horse hard ridden
SetoffforEinar'shut
'Didyou ride Freyfaxi?'
'I did'
Hrafnkel raisedaxe
Einarstood- did notrun- did notdefendhimself
Withoutmalice,Hrafnkel killed Einar
(fromtheIcelandic)
Shapes and characters
Rumpelstiltski'n
Poormiller. Beautifuldaughter
He told king 'Shecanspinstrawintogold'
King locked herupwithspindleandstraw
Ifnogold by morning: death
Shewept
Dooropened: Funnylittle mansaid
'Whatwill yougivemeifIspinthestrawintogold?'
'Mynecklace'
Whirr,whirr- gold
NextnightKling locked herin largerroom- morestraw
hdrneseqL!enCe asabovewithring insteadofnecklace)
Illirdnightking promisedmarriageif she'dspinthestraw
Inquid
('"IIIW sequenceasabovewithfirst-born child insteadof
1ill!II
W,'ddil1!:1
tI'll" Vlld' 1:II'tl l:hild- Shehadforgotten little man
tI1 .1,1" 11 '.11,'c1 '( iivlI 11 le: VIlll Ghild'
',Ill'nit, wd1IlIIl t., lit:l'l'lused- herthreedaystofind
Ill'./I 1111"
',11. "1" 11111
1
1111 "I'l 1I'I'.\I.,ll,1t1
'.111'11'1.. 01 dll'1I11"hili 1111111'11'1111
1'1,1 It II1"f)',I"OlIIlI,I.IV '""11 I lid
'"
Thirddaymessengerrcporlodlittle manin woodsinging:
'Thisguessinggameslw'll Illlverwin, Rumpelstiltskin is
myname'
Shetoldthelittle man his n<Jrne
Rage- 'Awitchhastoldyou,a witchhastoldyou!'
Hevanishes
In class
1 Tellthestory.
2 Givethestudentsthegeometricshapesandadjectivesbelowand
askthemtoworkontheirown.Theyaretodecide
a) whichshapesrepresentwhichcharacters:miller,king,
daughter,Rumpelstiltskin,baby.
b) whichadjectivesgowithwhichcharacter.
Encouragethemto usedictionaries, toasktheirneighboursorask
you iftheydonotknowthemeaningofsomeofthelistedadjec-
tives.
3 PaIr thestudentsandgetthemto explaintheirchoicestoeach
other.
SHAPES AND ADJECTIVES
'11
Completion
IIIIlucent helpful astonished
Ilo;lStful poor stupid
1',1 '-dy childless worried
,,lred surprised cruel
IIIIJ ridiculous desperate
11'llItiful terrified little
,11,lnge amazed tearful
1,1, h
regal queer
1"ldly-dressed sleepless polite
1',II'II-working motherly angry
l\ 'I'r-joyed unusual odd
11. lighted ambitious empty-handed
I"('!c. llil nt cross enigmatic
I h NOWLEDGEMENT LouSpaventaandGertrudeMoskowitz
I,II1(I behind thisexercise. (Caring and Sharing in the Foreign
i Classroom, NewburyHouse,1978.)
Completion
Thetwo sons
Germany- towardsendofWorldWar11
A farmerdreamsthathersonis calling her
Wakes, gOS intoyard,seessonbypump
illlit i.; not herSOI'1 - oneofRussian prisonersofwarwho
work011 thefarm
Tllo..,amosequencerepeatedseveraltimesovernext
Will'!
I.11:11 UITU) :;l1r: realisesitistheRussianPOW
" secretly- theyareplanning
,,'.t Ill!'
'"IV',flldl 11 I 1l:'lp::1111)11 food, blankets
11,'I '.'111 .11 IIVI', ',Iy';1-111l :;j'tn;HrllY 20 ktnsaway- waris
1,,,"1
I11' W".II ,11 dtClI III ," I', I dIILI "
"'" I Ill, 1.1 /1/ \ '/ ' .. hilt'}
" I
Thirddaymessengerrcporlodlittle manin woodsinging:
'Thisguessinggameslw'll Illlverwin, Rumpelstiltskin is
myname'
Shetoldthelittle man his n<Jrne
Rage- 'Awitchhastoldyou,a witchhastoldyou!'
Hevanishes
In class
1 Tellthestory.
2 Givethestudentsthegeometricshapesandadjectivesbelowand
askthemtoworkontheirown.Theyaretodecide
a) whichshapesrepresentwhichcharacters:miller,king,
daughter,Rumpelstiltskin,baby.
b) whichadjectivesgowithwhichcharacter.
Encouragethemto usedictionaries, toasktheirneighboursorask
you iftheydonotknowthemeaningofsomeofthelistedadjec-
tives.
3 PaIr thestudentsandgetthemto explaintheirchoicestoeach
other.
SHAPES AND ADJECTIVES
'11
Completion
IIIIlucent helpful astonished
Ilo;lStful poor stupid
1',1 '-dy childless worried
,,lred surprised cruel
IIIIJ ridiculous desperate
11'llItiful terrified little
,11,lnge amazed tearful
1,1, h
regal queer
1"ldly-dressed sleepless polite
1',II'II-working motherly angry
l\ 'I'r-joyed unusual odd
11. lighted ambitious empty-handed
I"('!c. llil nt cross enigmatic
I h NOWLEDGEMENT LouSpaventaandGertrudeMoskowitz
I,II1(I behind thisexercise. (Caring and Sharing in the Foreign
i Classroom, NewburyHouse,1978.)
Completion
Thetwo sons
Germany- towardsendofWorldWar11
A farmerdreamsthathersonis calling her
Wakes, gOS intoyard,seessonbypump
illlit i.; not herSOI'1 - oneofRussian prisonersofwarwho
work011 thefarm
Tllo..,amosequencerepeatedseveraltimesovernext
Will'!
I.11:11 UITU) :;l1r: realisesitistheRussianPOW
" secretly- theyareplanning
,,'.t Ill!'
'"IV',flldl 11 I 1l:'lp::1111)11 food, blankets
11,'I '.'111 .11 IIVI', ',Iy';1-111l :;j'tn;HrllY 20 ktnsaway- waris
1,,,"1
I11' W".II ,11 dtClI III ," I', I dIILI "
"'" I Ill, 1.1 /1/ \ '/ ' .. hilt'}
" I
Skeleton B
Yvonne
Gloomytownin Amazonforest
Crocodilesin river
Men cometosearchfor gold: gringos
Raven-haired Yvonnein bar, meetsmen
leavingbar, manyneverseenagain
20thdisappearance
Policefrom laPaz crossAndesto investigate.. ,
(newspaperaccount,June1982)
In class
1 Tellthestudentsoneofthestories, breakingoffabruptly.
2 Askthestudents,inpairsorsmallgroups,toworkoutendingsfor
thestory.
3 Iftheclassisnottoolarge,askeachgrouptonominateastoryteller
totell thegroup'sproposedending.
2.9 Story to poem
Skeleton
Willow
In avi'llage- a greenwillow,centuriesold
Forthevillagers- shadefrom heat, meeting place
ForHeitaro,youngfarmer, placetositandthink
Onedayvillagersdecideto buildbridgeoverriver
Theycometo cutdownwillowfor itswood
Heitaro: 'No,takemytreesbutsparethewillow'
Villagersaccept
NextnightHeitarositsunderwillow- nirl
appears
Tlwynwc)!, ninlll ,If!HI Iliqlll
III!yIllOlfly
: j
Story to poem
Yearslater
Messengersarrive- announceEmperorwantsto build a
temple
Villagersfeel honoured- wanttogivewoodfortemple
Offerwillow
Heitaro hasnotreesofhisown now- cannotsavewillow
Thinks 'I will losethewillow-Istill havemywife'
Villagers chopdownwillow
Heitaro'swife isfound dead
In I,
I,,11 "ll' studentsthestory,
I t11\;til, workingalone, to respondtothestorywith a poem:
1,1.1111 thattheyarenotexpectedtoretellthestoryinpoemform.
11,'1 I A lower-inrermediate studentproducedthispoem:
I 'he WiLLow Tree
>,onlcrhingwemustlove
I
., lllll
.1 11"
I 1"II..IJ"ll loved ;1 tree
Ill'11\' 'J
i1ll'luVl'11l;1l!e life
ill'" lit" W,I";1 wife
1\ '" ,'hildn'lI..
,dW,I\'" In,'(
Il't'"IIII""I"'H kill,'dII1\' trcl'
I" 1ll,I,k,ljl:lhn'
, I,d.lll" w,llltHI! It)\'!'1s;1 dC:ld tTCl'
'I" I ,I 11011-.,'
I Ill'I I,',' h,I ' "" "I
1111 \l'd"I',I',,1",,1
1111 r 1t,,1 Ill" 1"\,,f" it'll,11'"
I 11, " Ill' "1.11 1I, 11.111),
11" d, 11" l,d,lr, I1 \\ dlll\' ri'
I 1,1 lit111 , '".," "Itit,
It , t ,d 11" ,11.. 11"1, I
Ill.llr , I I. 11111111111
OTHER STORIFS AllY III I1 llll'\'()\'arive scenes or actions will
serve well for rhi' excrciSL'. I kll" I', .1l1111hn you may like to try:
Skeleton
The singing mushrooms
A widow - three sons: Ogun, Oja and Little Brother
They go off to war. Each promises to kill seven men, take
seven captives
O,gun and Oja laugh at Little Brother
Each does as promised
Little Brother also kills enemy king and wins treasure
Ogun and Oja angry
On way home pass through desert
Thirsty
Little Brother fi nds strea m
Ogun drinks first, then Oja
Little Brother bends to drink - they cut off his head
Bury him in desert
Brothers
Tell mother Little Brother killed in war
She mourns
Life continues
One day she crosses desert
Sees mushrooms
Picks them - they sing story of Little Brother's death
Return to village - vengec,nce
Brothers hide in corners of house
They turn to bronze - become household gods
(after 'The Story of the Singing Mushrooms', in Folk Tales
and Fables, ed. p, ltayemi & P. Gurreyl
In new clothes
2.10 In new clothes
,...keleton
The piper of Rome
Cars everywhere, piazzas, streets, pavements, blind alleys
St Peter's Square - some parked on dome of St Peter's
Mayor - gold chain - called council together
'What can we do? It's impossible'
Council chorused 'It's impossible. What can be done?'
Enter Piper
Offers to free Rome of cars
Mayor offers all the deposits in the banks and daughter's
hand in marriage
Piper also demands freedom of streets for children to play
in
Agreed
Piper plays sweetly - everywhere motors start up
Piper leads cars, buses, lorries to remote spot on River
Tiber
Mayor's car first to plunge into yellow waters
Mayor and councillors cry 'Stop!'
Beg the piper to send their cars underground
And now the cars, buses, lorries in Rome go underground
Children play in the streets and piazzas
(after G. Rodari)
I 1./....
! 1I rill' :-.lory,
.1 1111' ',llIdcIIIS if rhey know any stories like this one. Someone in
,Ill .dV\";lVS knows the original story.
IIV. 1,,1. rlH' \;[TIc!I'II(S 1'0 work in pairs, bringing old stories back
11111111111 ,lllll, dl,'idil\.I'.ltoW to ll)od('f'llisc' them.
,""11' rill ',llld"II1s 11110 IOllI'S. '1"1)(' p:1irs r('por!.
111"1111" 1111I,lllIlIl.ll willII11l'11l'1)',ill:1I story, scc story (1)
Stories and follow-ut).'
Problem stories
2.11 Birthorder
, Askpeopletotakeapartnerfromanothergroupandcompare
'. 'xpenences.
Skeleton
()1'1:, Otherstoriesinthisbookwhicharesuitableforthisexercise
TheBillyGoatsGrlJ
\1" Three Pigs andKacuy.
Threegoatsinmountainvalley
\ i J'NOWLEDGEMENT Welearntthebirth-orderexercisefrom
Bridg1e overriver- underbrid(JQ troll- atepeople
I Moskowitz, Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language
Goatswantedtoeatgrassotherside- greenerand
sweeter
!oI",.room, NewburyHouse,1978.
Onedaysmallestgoatontobridge,trip-trap,trip-trap
Troll'suglyheadappeared
'Who'sthattrip-trappingovermybridge?'
'Onlyme,thelittlestBillyGoatGruff'
'ThenI'mgoingtoeatyouup'
'No,don'teatme,eatmybrother- he'sbiggerandfatter
thanme'
'Mmmm,OK, offyougo'
Littlestgoatcrossed bridge,begantoeatgrass
Nextdaymiddle-sizedgoattrip-trappedontobridge
(samesequenceas above,substituting'middle-sized')
Biggestgoat-longbeard,sharphorns
TRAPTRAPTRAPontobridge
'Who'sthattrap-trappingovermybridge?' Problemstories
'It'sme,thebiggestBillyGoatGruff'
'ThenI'mgoingtoeatyou up' ,'/1'11111 A I
'Ohnoyou'renot'
Thetwodoors
Biggoatloweredhorns- ran attroll- tossedhiminto
river
TIlH kingnevercondemnedcr,imjnalstodeath- thisis
whathedid:
Sincethenbridgesafetocross
1110 crilllindlwasled intoan arenawith2 doors
/lIJllirHI ollea ravenoustiger
thoothJr 'beautiful girl
Inclass
11,1 111.111 did'101 kr owwhichdoorwaswhich
1 Tellthestory. 11.,d IIIdlllCi . O I)'ltenormarrythegirl
2 Askwhoare: 1111'. W,I', 1.111 JJl.1II'H f It:in hisownhands
a) only children
1.111 ,Ii"dd,lllqlllol
b) firstborns
',Ill ",11111 IIlV(' wHir p'lll"
c) lastborns
11,111111111', yllllfl
d) between-borns
hi """,1111' I" Ill' " I<ll1q ,11111 r/:III!lhtl?f
Askthestudentstosplitlipilltotheirhirrh-ord('J'",141111'" :lIld
1', ",I '.'. I""Wwill, I1 01 I'"1Wol', wll" 11
what it'slikeb lirslhnl"lI,!:IstbOII\,('I'
VVII.l\ I'J/I.t! did',1'1- '111/1'111" I"Vl'lt
Stories and follow-ut).'
Problem stories
2.11 Birthorder
, Askpeopletotakeapartnerfromanothergroupandcompare
'. 'xpenences.
Skeleton
()1'1:, Otherstoriesinthisbookwhicharesuitableforthisexercise
TheBillyGoatsGrlJ
\1" Three Pigs andKacuy.
Threegoatsinmountainvalley
\ i J'NOWLEDGEMENT Welearntthebirth-orderexercisefrom
Bridg1e overriver- underbrid(JQ troll- atepeople
I Moskowitz, Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language
Goatswantedtoeatgrassotherside- greenerand
sweeter
!oI",.room, NewburyHouse,1978.
Onedaysmallestgoatontobridge,trip-trap,trip-trap
Troll'suglyheadappeared
'Who'sthattrip-trappingovermybridge?'
'Onlyme,thelittlestBillyGoatGruff'
'ThenI'mgoingtoeatyouup'
'No,don'teatme,eatmybrother- he'sbiggerandfatter
thanme'
'Mmmm,OK, offyougo'
Littlestgoatcrossed bridge,begantoeatgrass
Nextdaymiddle-sizedgoattrip-trappedontobridge
(samesequenceas above,substituting'middle-sized')
Biggestgoat-longbeard,sharphorns
TRAPTRAPTRAPontobridge
'Who'sthattrap-trappingovermybridge?' Problemstories
'It'sme,thebiggestBillyGoatGruff'
'ThenI'mgoingtoeatyou up' ,'/1'11111 A I
'Ohnoyou'renot'
Thetwodoors
Biggoatloweredhorns- ran attroll- tossedhiminto
river
TIlH kingnevercondemnedcr,imjnalstodeath- thisis
whathedid:
Sincethenbridgesafetocross
1110 crilllindlwasled intoan arenawith2 doors
/lIJllirHI ollea ravenoustiger
thoothJr 'beautiful girl
Inclass
11,1 111.111 did'101 kr owwhichdoorwaswhich
1 Tellthestory. 11.,d IIIdlllCi . O I)'ltenormarrythegirl
2 Askwhoare: 1111'. W,I', 1.111 JJl.1II'H f It:in hisownhands
a) only children
1.111 ,Ii"dd,lllqlllol
b) firstborns
',Ill ",11111 IIlV(' wHir p'lll"
c) lastborns
11,111111111', yllllfl
d) between-borns
hi """,1111' I" Ill' " I<ll1q ,11111 r/:III!lhtl?f
Askthestudentstosplitlipilltotheirhirrh-ord('J'",141111'" :lIld
1', ",I '.'. I""Wwill, I1 01 I'"1Wol', wll" 11
what it'slikeb lirslhnl"lI,!:IstbOII\,('I'
VVII.l\ I'J/I.t! did',1'1- '111/1'111" I"Vl'lt
Stories and follow-UIJS
Skeleton B
Unexpected
Monday:
Teachersaysshewillsprinutotallyunexpectedtestany
daybetween nowand Friday
Studentssaythisis impossible:
IftestnotgivenbyThursday,thenFridayitwillbe
expected
Iftestnotgiven byWednesday,onsubsequentdaysitwill
beexpected,etc.
Therefore,nowayshecan springunexpected test
Thursday:
Testcomes
Whowas right?
(afterWatzlawick)
In class
1 Telloneofthestories.
2 Askthestudents,workingindividually,toconsiderpossible
solutionsto theproblem.
3 Askthestudentstofind apartneranddiscusstheirproposals.
2.13 A serial story
Skeleton
Thesignofthebrokensword
Dayone
Wheredoesawisemanhideapebble?Onthebeach
GeneralStClare:successful soldier,hadwonmanybattles
Olivierwasagreatleaderandagreatgeneral
StClareattacked Olivier'sgreatarmywithtinyforce
Hismenoutnumbered,manykilled, resttaken prisoner
Allthensetfree. Olivierfamousforhonourand chivalry
But
StClarefoundhangp.d ontree- broke:n ',WillI I11111fHI neck
Whyt
A serial story
Day two
Wheredoesawiseman hidealeaf? Intheforest
StClare hadcommitted manycrimesin hislife
Secretlyhehadraped,tortured,pillaged
Hisdoctorknewthis; blackmailedhim
TogetmoneyStClaresoldsecretstoenemy
Hisaidediscoveredthis - threatenedtoexposehim
StClaredrove swordintoaide'sbody- pointsnappedoff
Wheretohidethebroken sword?
Wheretohidethebody?
StClare attackedOlivier'sgreatarmywithtinyforce
Menoutnumbered,manykilled, resttakenprisoner
Allthensetfree
But
AlonewithStClaresurvivorsguesstruth
Hang himfromtree- broken sword roundneck
Wheredoesawiseman hideapebble?Onthebeach
(afterG.K. Chesterton,The Innocence of Father Brown)
II1 , 1,1:;";
1
/
,1\ lllll') Tell the firstpanofthestory.
1
/
,1\' 1\..... 0) Ask theclass togetintosmallgroups.Askeachgroup
, Willk11111 ;Ill explanation andcontinuationofthestory.
I l.1 I, group10 appoint';1storyteller,whowillthentell hisor
III I /'.I'"IJl\vcrsiOll ofthestoryto thewholeclass.
I"I ,1\ h"tlllylcllt-rtoIl'lI his orher group'sversion to therest.
I I 11 rill' ',I' 1111 d 1':1rt (,I' d1L' storyin theversiongivenintheskeleton
J \ I
Il' \':\1I J ,\ I11) "
I [Ill., .1.III1I.II.1hll!<ll",1 tlf ',111111'111 ',lmYlL'llillg(Daytwo,2) is high,
,,1'"11 1'''11111111 11', \1',11 \'I',,iellJ.
I, 't ,,10111.11111 ' "11111 ,., i',lIIll IIIlilt' Wllllll'd:lssIt,ll it to :111y
"i1'I' d.1l Ill" I" 11.1 Ill!,. ,Ill'"1111\
,11, I11 I1 \ I" I ",11'1'","1111/', \'11111 ""I',illll,I', lilt",llln'(I'
Stories and fulloUJ-1f I),'
FURTHERWORK Onct' lilt' )',It 11q' I', 1,lllLll';l!"with the methodused
above, it maybedevelopt.:d InliLt! Will I( texts,evenofnovel
length, byspreadingthetelliJlg11\;\'1' ,1 111111111('1' ofdays.
2.14 Storytopicture
Before class
Chooseananecdoteabout yourselfIh;11 f()('lIsst's rhelistener's
imaginationona singlescene. We OIlC:
I was9
Earlymorning - a fourth floor hotel room in Genoa
Parentsnotaround
Wenttowindow,looked down
Headsandhatsscurryingtowork
I spat: hit a baldone
[)rewback- fear,thriJlI, guilt
Peepedoutagain
Spat
Again... again...
I feltfearuntil we left
In class
1 Telltheclassyouranecdote.
2 Askthemto drawthesceneyouevoked,ora previousorlater
scenein thestory.
3 Askthem tocomparedrawingsinsmall groups.
4 Ashomework,askthemtoprepareto tellanecdotesaboutthem-
selves. Explainthattheseshould be one-sceneanecdotes.
In the next class
S Getthosewhohaveanecdotes readytotell them toa smallgroup.
6 Asktbehstenerstodrawthescenesevoked. Lctthetellers
andlistentoeachother'sstorieswhile rhis is goingon.
7 Usingthedrawings ()s () centrepoint,askthestudentswhowere
listeningtotell thestoriesthey have learnttootherswhoh()vG not
yetheard them.
tion 3 Retelling
Parallelstories
, "/r'fOIl A
Seguin'sgoat
MrSeguin.Iived atfoot ofmountains
He had hadsixgoats: eachhadjumpedoverfence round
field and run into mountains
[,Jeh eatenbywolf
WhitewasSeguin'sseventhgoat
Icthered herin field
At firstshewas happy- he movedstake round-
..liwaysfresh grass
H,Q milked her
,uldheraboutothersix: howsixth foughtall nightbutstill

I w(H-)ks laterWhitebecamerestless
l'lillt-)d 011 rope- kicked at milkingtime
:;()llllill nskerJ why
'1l1dtu lhis Iwanttogoupintothehigh mountains'
Ill:II)(;/wtl Iw!in shed
1/,11 Iflllflott nwindowatbackopen
WIIIII'II!oIIl1 llut upintohigh mountains
/\,1,' t 11 W !I clr;:mkhornstreams,ju mpedfrom rocktorock
1111' ".1nl, IH!;IIc1I1( wlinH ill mountainsabove her
'd11' 1101' II;IWi,y l:llLi!ej fiO 110 further- precipicebehind
1"'1
(,"", w1dll'1. y,,i1wlll1 ;dlllighl
.,Ill r l'f,1i"lldI.'11 ''-11111' "i 11 lJuill huttedandstamped_
I" pi\J 011"f f
,I 'litI WII'!I'''",.,",
.. 11 I" 111'1 .111 IWI,III.IIIII1',1
Retelling
Skeleton B
The cat that walk I by itself
Once upon a time all allilll.Jis together in forest: lion, tiger
etc, and cow, dog, gOClt, Crlt - all wild
Man lives with Woman and Baby in cave - outside forest
One day dog hungry - nQthinn to eat in forest - goes
hunting outside
Comes to Man's cave - smell of meat - warmth of fire
Dog sniffs, comes closer
'Do you want something to eat, Dog?'
Dog shy, but comes closer - man repeats question
Man tempts Dog with meat, then proposes bargain
Man to give Dog food and warmth, Dog to help man hunt
etc,
Dog agrees
Later, same with Cow - milk etc.
Later, same with Sheep / Goat etc.
Very much later, Cat very, very hungry and thin, comes
along
Cat sneaks into cave, Man absent, looks for mice, curls up
nearfire, plays with Baby
Man comes back - very angry - throws rocks at Cat
Cat leaves
Later, Woman calls out into darkness
'If you will come around now and again, hunt mice, keep
Baby amused, I'll let you have scraps, a little warmth-
but if Man is angry he will throw rocks at you'
Cat agrees,
(after Kipling, Just So Stories)
Before class
Tell one of the stories to a tape-recorder. As you tell imagine you
have a real aud.ience, as you would have to do if you were making a
radio recording for transmission. Prepare to tell the other story 'live'
Parallel stories
11 I I, I:"
Ilgg two ways of tunning this exercise.
IIII lANGUAGE LABORATORY
" 1111 (JIlt the story yOll have taped to half the booths. Half the
11,1"llts listen to this in their own time. In the meantime you
l'II',IL!;lst the other story to the other half of the group.
.1 I Ill; 'srudcnts if they want to listen again. As soon as some of
1I J, I11 ,\ I'e ready them to take off their headphones and pair off
iI, ',(II(Jcnts who listened to the other storv. Thev tell each other
, I 11 ',I () I'll'S. ' I
11 I I!\SSR OOM
I 11.11 f I he cbss to listen to the tape you have made. Make sure
"'1' I,d d1('1l1 call work the machine.
I 11, Ihe' 1I1ht:r half of the group to another room, into a corridor
, '11'11'1'11 'r"CC and tell them the other story,
I' 1111'. IIll'St' sllldents back and ask them to pair off with members
101 11" ',1111'1' group. The partners tell their respective stories.
I1 \1111 ,,,ish to gmerate discussion after the telling around
IJlld,lI'Illl'S \'011 could brainstorm a theme word such as
'lI,r,':lliij
1
fl/"/I'" ell' J )011I lsticatio!'1 or Freedom prior to the listening
'1111"" <,I"rie':,; ;1 W"ly of doing this tS to ask students to
11" rJ' ',1 l! 1111)' 1h;11 COli1CS in to their heads on hearing the
""I lj',.II:;siol1 of the dmwings then naturally provides a
1
1
!'"11 Illl di'7(ll.s"ioJl of the theme,
'I ',1111< 111\, S(lIril';; IIOS('11 for this exercise should be
I, ,11,,, I III illllllW" ,IS ,dlll\'(', or ill slIpcrtici:ll cOlltent. The
I", 11' III.I} t',i\(' ;111 it/L'a of Ihe rallge.
11 I" 111/ ' ,11,,11"1 wiill i11l' Ir,t.liliolla] C;oldilocks story (sce
I" tllII'! t (',-11
I'
Retelling
Theymakeporrid!Jl: '11) (lilt forwalkwhileItcools
Littleoldwoman 10 ge
Shelooksthrough1,11e; kllyhull'!
Sheliftsthelatch
Notniceoldwoman didll'tknock
Threebowlsofporridgeuntllble- shetastesthem
big bowltoohot- she badword
middlebowltoocold- says badword
littlebowljustright,eatsitall,notenough- shesaysbad
word
Threechairs- shetriesthem
bigchairtoohard- badword
middlechairtoosoft- badword
littlechairright- sits,breaksit- badword
Threebeds
samething
fallsasleep insmallest
Bearsreturn
See bowls,see chairs,see beds,seeoldwoman
Shewakes- jumpsoutofwindow
Whathappenedto her? broke neck? lostinforest? Arreste
asvagrant?
Bears never sawheragain
(afterRobertSouthey)
(b) Tell'Theriver'p.l2(inparallelwith'Twofriends' (3.2).
(c) Divideyourclass intotwo,threeorfourgroups,thentelltwoor
moreofthefollowinginparallel:
Skeleton A
Jesuswasacrosstheriver
He heardthatLazaruswas ill
Hewaitedtwodays,then returnedtoBethany
Lazaruswasdead
He foundthehousefullofpeople
'Ifyouhadbeen herehewouldn'thave died'saidMartha
TheysentforLazarus'sand Martha'ssisterMary
'Ifyouhadbeen herehewouldn'theWO dj""" Id Mary
.JII 'IH; rli'f!n', kllnwwll 11 tndn
I I
Parallel stories
Andsomesaid
'You madetheblindsee,whydidn'tyousave Lazarus?'
JesuswenttoLazarus'grave
Asked peopletoremove thestone
Called
'Lazarus,comeforth['
Thedeadmanwalkedoutofhisgrave
(St John's Gospel)
Hecamestillwrappedin graveclothes
Staggered,blinkedinthelight
He stank
fleopleshrankfrom him
led himhome
Wi;lshed him
Hc;) stillstank
Sistersgaveafeastforhim
came
Tllllsrncll gotworse
I','pp!/-) 1I nabletolookathisface
Nu spoketohim
11,: Idltileroom
111111 !fi1fden
MlllHllinllt,fresh air
I "Xl rJlo/llillg Mart/lafound him
11.111 ",11 on tree
(,lIlt:1 11,,":; I uilmr, AllJumente fur Lazarus)
I'f l I
'IIIIIH.I"I"I, I,1.,.1/11:, W I' ',lll"'!1dthomenewscame:
1"11.1 "I/"',ld"III JI1III' .l'It III
,11 ,M.lIl"",,,,,"ill1101 ,11'" ,,/',,111111
11" I I"I I I1I 1111 I,
I,
Retelling
Lazarus
Doesn'tfeel well
Cold outside: afraid WL:l achill
hasn'tfelttoogood ,
'" sincehewas,,' 'soill'
'Lazarus,comewith us'
'I will."only".
I'mso afraidofdyingagain'
(after KarekCapek, Lazarus,Apocryphal Stories)
Skeleton D
JesuslookedatLazarus
LazaruslookedatJesus
Bothsmiled
Lazaruswenthome
Threemonthslaterhe wasmarried
Jesusstayedbythegraveforafewminutes
SpokeaboutGodand eternity
Then left,backacrosstheJordan
LazaruswasinJerusalemwhenJesuscrucified
thenewscame: Jesus'graveempty
Laza ru s we nttosee
He lookedintotheemptygrave
Andthelightwentoutin hiseyes
(afterDavid Kossoff, The Book of Witnesses)
BothCapekandKossoffare goodsourcesforvariantstories.Inthe
areaoftraditionalfairystories,werecommendIonaandPeterOpie,
The Classic Fairy Tales, OUP1974andBrunoBettelheim,The Uses
of Enchantment, Penguin 1978.
Storymaking and retelling
Story-making and retelling
Two friends
During wartwofriends meetin street
BeforetheyusedtofishtogethereverySunday
Nowwarhasstoppedthis- battleveryclose
Theydrinkin cafe- decidetogofishing
Collecttackle- walkintocountrythroughownlines
Persuadeofficertoletthemthroughinto no-man'sland
Acrosstherivertheenemy
Gunsstart'up- theyignorethem,begintofish
Theyfish,theytalk,theyfish
Mensurroundthem- theenemy
'Whatisthepassword?'
Theydon'tknow
heyshakehands- areshot
'nemyofficerhas fish cookedforhissupper
(uftorGuyde Maupassant)
I 'w"I,I.rclSl' fro!1l the story,e.g.
friends
no-man'sland
IHT'ill:ldl' Sunday
officer
Fairy stories in the news
Retelling
rothers cleare of NOTE WhenpreparingyOIJl" nWIl wo!d roses,you shouldbe
carefultochoosewordsthat,Ire 11("ltlll']' loo generalto glVe a
thestory,nortOospecific: 'keywords'tend to robtheexerClseofitS
urder
variety. 'd f f cl Two brothers who killed their sister's husband in a knife
Bysettingthewordsina 'rose' yon the1 ea 0 a lxe,
fight were found not guilty of his murder at Huddersfield
sequenceofideas,andallowthe thell1es ufthestorytobeseen1I1
Crown Court yesterday after the prosecution withdrew all
greaterclarity, charges,
Peter Finnist?n, 19, Ibody in then:, He was strange
Cl corporal In the Pnnce of that way,' saId Mrs Barber.
Wales Regiment, and his Later, when her husband
3.3 Fairystoriesinthenews hrotherLewis Finniston, 23, a retumed and found the key
guard, had acted in missing, Mrs Barber told him
Ihe only way they could to de- what she had done, 'He
Skeleton
fend their sister, said the picked up the kitchen knife
judge. and came at me like a mad
Bluebeard
instructing the jury to find thing. If my brothers hadn't
Ugly man,bluebeard- rich castle Ihe defendants not guilty, Mr arrived, he'd have done me
Hasalreadyhadsevenwives
\ Justice Holmroyd said that in,'
hut for their intervention Mrs Giving evidence, Mr Peter
Marriesa young
JlIli\!. Barber, 19, of Halt Finniston described how he
Onemonth later . Manor Farm, Woodley, would had been home on leave from
Giveswifeall his keys- shemayuseall exceptlittlekey
ll.sslll'edly have been killed by the Army, and had decided to
Thisopensroomintower ,I wr husband. ride over to Woodley to visit
He leaveson business- sheexploresthe the court was told his sister.
Opensroom in tower- blood,heads,bodiesofseven how Mrs Barber had married 'We heard the screams as
111(".t1 farmer Jacob 'Bluey' we came into the yard. When
wives
11.111)('1, il widower of 53, 'out we got to the back door we
Terrified- dropskey, picksitup,locksdoor
"f (I il'llllship' in July last year. saw Bluey bending over Julie
Keycoveredin blood- will notwashoff
'11.' was Cl qui t, gentle man,' with a knife in his hand. ]
Bluebeardback: shegiveshim all keysexceptbloodyone
'.. lid l\1rs narblT, 'and ] kicked down the door and
Ill" wOllld take care of grabbed him while Lewis tried
'Whereis it?'
Ill" .lfl,', Ill\' f;llhvr died.' to get the knife off him.
Shetellshim
1111 till" .Ifl('rno()1I of the Somehow the knife must have
'Thenyoumustdie.'
1'1111 {), lobL'l, Mrs Barlwr was gone into him.'
Shebegs15minutestopray
,oI"llC" III Ill' IltlllSL' whilt: her Superintendant Roderick
Callstosisterstandingonbattlements 11I1')1.111l1 W;\S oul Oil the C..rimstone, ofWest Yorkshire
7'
'Anne,sisterAnne,whatdoyousee". , 11''''''', 'IlllIulillj( 11]1 slray I'lllice, refused to comment to
'Onlythegreengrassandthesunshining . 11' "1' n.-porters about persistent ru-
'.11l dl"ld,d ICI lIlt, l11()urs in the district that hu-
'Anne,sisterAnne,.,. '
Ill" "I I I., I /111 l'C'llllII' 111;,11 ITmaills had been found
'Onlythegreengrass...'
111110111011',.' ,Ilid l""h IIIl' l,,'v ill till' dttic of Holt Manor
'Anne sisterAnne,... '
1,,'"1 I 1111" II1 11\1" 1,11,IIl'11 ]0'.11111. '\\1(' dn' still making
'A ofdustfar awayin thedistance'
III ,dw,,\' h"pl Ill, .1111l', "'1l11111W into Ill(' III;lI\for,' he
'Anne,sisterAnne,... '
I I L. ,I "1111 \"1'010111'1 1.'1 11" '..11.1
'I seetwohorsernencoming'
0111111"'1111/1'1 /,',1 011,1",/ 'I I I;: ,)
Ilr!1 kiIII\IIII!II1,lld
Retelling
Fairy stories in the news
Before class
The state of mind of a Preparesufficientcopies oftill' itl'm for onequarterofthe
class.
mouse
In class
1 Dividetheclass into twogroups.
2 Askthestudentsinonegroupto forlll p:1irs.
3 Toeachpair,giveonecopyofthenewspaperarticle. (Students
co-operatemorecloselywhenworkingfrom thesamecopy.)
4 Askeachpairtolistona pieceofpaperthemainfact11al itemsin
thearticle.
S Taketheothergroupawaytoa quietplaceandtellthem thestory
oudinedintheskeleton.
6Askthestudentsinthisgrouptoform pairs, andtoworkoutin
eachpairhowtotell thestoryto thestudentswho havenotheard
thestory.
7 Bringtheclass backtogetherandaskeachstudenttoteam upwicll
onefrom theothergroup.
8 Askthestudentsineachnewpairtoexchangestoriesandfacts.
VARIATION Analternativewayto usethismaterialis to treatthe
articleasa norma] comprehensionpassage- useanymethodof
presentingthepassagethatiswithintheirexpectations.Don'ttell
themthatthearticleis onlya simulatedpiece.
Thenasktheclass,insmallgroups, todiscussthearticletofind
outifitremindsthemofanytraditionalstorytheyhavereador
heard.
Finally,tellthemhowthearticlewas composed- and tell the
story.
As a furtherexercise,in alatermeeting, theclassmight liketo
composetheirown'newspaperitems' fromtraditionalstories.
CHOICE OF STORIES/ARTICLES Ifyouwishtocreateyourown
materials,you canworkeitherfromstory to article,ortheotherwa
round.In the followingexample,wetooka newspaperarticleand
produceda storyfromit:
.11
Bloxwich pet-shop owner
mouse, unharmed, after about
Gurmit Singh walked free
five minutes,
from Walsall Magistrates'
Local vet Peter Barnwell
Court yesterday because two
said that in his opiniop the
veterinary surgeons could not
mouse would have been ter-
agTee Over a mouse's state of
rified at the very sight of the
mind.
snake, and should have been
Mr Singh, 53, a dealer in
removed 'after at most two
rare animals for over
minutes', view
twenty
but his was
years, had been brought to
contested by Dr WaIter
l:c>urt by the RSPCA for
Barnes, senior lecturer in vet.
iJlllj'cting unnecessary suffer-
erinary medicine at Aston
ing on the mOUse by puttingit
University: 'Ifthe mouse had
in a python's cage.
been terrified, it would have
Ile explained to the court made frantic attempts to es-
Ihat he had been very worried cape, which it did not.'
abuut thc python's state of
The python later died.
h alth. Ithad refused all food
I t}j over a week, and had even
! :Ilkd to respond when a dead
IIlOuse was put in the cage.
In d 'spt:ration, he said, his
0111\[ lIt'l hac! tried to tempt
rill" '11':Lt1Ife's appetite with a
11\" Whl'lI this also
11I1lll"ll, 01111101 to bl' to its lik-
111.', ,,11l' had removed the
1I JI' !lyt 11Oil
It,ll111111' 1101111 Iivl)l! ill p.liJl:(J in Bokhara
11, 11 I I I ""lit:! '. c:.lllfld I,iirlh. tanksofexoticfish
'11 'I I' .III 1111/1\
1o"II.IIIIII1I1I.!.lIl"jlll l ll w,/r (.fl1t1
I, ''1' 1"1111 liT r, 1IIIId"llIlI! hid from
1'''11
I I
.1111
11
11111". '.'1111" '.11.111 IIW' 1,,1
,'lor'lll I p/
, i
In old clothes
Retelling
One morning pedlarcametogate
Laid beautiful boxbeforemerchant
Inside- blue,green,goldcoils- pythonwith unblinking
eyes
Merchantaskedprice- pedlarvanished
Merchantbuiltpythongoldandivorycage
Gavepythonspecialservanttoservehim choicestfood
Merchantcaressedcoolcoils
Aftera weekmerchantnoticedsnake'scolourslessbright
Dismissedservant- preparedpython'sfood himself
Snakewould noteat- motionless
Daughterfoundfatherweeping- took pythontoherroo
Laid it in wardrobeon hersilkenclothes- it waslightnow
Oneofherpetmicedied- gaveit to python- noreaction
Offered himlive mouse
Mouseparalysedwithfear
Pythonstirred,raised head,eyedshivering mouse
Shuddered- collapsed- died
Enterfather- mousesniffedpython- jumpedoverhis
coils
Fathertold daughterto pack bags
Toldstewardto sell animals,house- divide money
amongservants
FatheranddaughterwalkedoutofcityofBokhara
3,4 In old clothes
Before class
Getholdofa differentEnglishlanguagenewspaperfor eachstudent
or use a classsetofoneormoreEFLcollectionsofnewspaper
articles (e.g. JaniceAbbott, Meet the Press, CUP 1981).
In class
1 Giveoutthenewspapersorbooksofarticlesandaskthestudeni
ashomework,toselectthesaddest articletheycan find. Tellthe!
to cometothelJcxt chssr':ldytotell :,110!11('1' IWI.1l1l i11l' c:onlclI
of 11)(' ;\I'I;dt :llId wllv tl1I'Y /IIH1 il ~ I d
I flu' next class
I' I11 1he studentsandaskthem totelleachothertheirstories, and
1,), tllq findthemsad.
I I hem toexchangearticleswiththeirpartners.Thenaskeach
,'111"111 togorhroughhisorherpartner'sarticle,andtowrite
I. 1\\'11 thelive mostimportantwordsinit,ona sheetofpaper.
I1 till' members ofeachpairtohandtheirsheetsofpapertothe
''''IldH'l'S of anotherpair.
1.111ht studentstoprepare,as homework,totell a storyinthe
I I11 ic 111:11 'Onceupona time... ' fairy-tale manner, usingthefive
I q ,I,. I hq. ha v'e beengivenaskeywordsintheirstories.
\ "111111(' d ~ \ s s in fours, sothateachgroupoffour containsthe
,,"1('1', of I he originalpairsinvolvedinstep4 above.
I . 11.11 11I1'mhCl' ofthegroupsinturntotellhisorherfairy tale.
Ill, I 1,1111 1I,Iling thememberwhooriginallywrotethekeywords
.,",d.1 '.lllll111;\risethearticletheyweretakenfrom.
I I' I I11S1I';l(.1 of askingstudentstopickthesaddestarticle,
111'".IIClos' themoststupid,themostimportant,ortheleast
., or .\. ,11 tIc 1(', l'1e. Theideashouldalwaysbetogetthem
111 .1" h.1 \\';1 th;lt theyarepersonallyinvolved andaware.
I I I It,11111 N'I Wl' Ie'unttheideaofemotionalselection
'.1110'> M;\l/,lll.
BeforeI-..".... n...
Section4
4.1 Grammarpractice
Ifvou areinvolvedinstructurete,lching, whetherstraightorcloake
in"notions',andwish tomovebeyondl11t'ch::ll1ical drillingyoumlgh
wanttotry this exercise:
Examplestructure X \ Ibeen -ingY
(presentperfectcontinuous)
Skeleton
Goldilocks
Little girl goesforwalkin woods- motherwarns her t
Comestohousein clearing,knocks- noanswer- goesIn
Triesthreechairs
Big onetoohard,middleoneratherhard,littleonejustrig
Breaksleg oflittlechair
Triesthreebowlsofporridge
Big onetoo hot, middleoneratherhot, littleonejustright
Eats porridgeall up
Tired- goesupstairs- triesthreebeds
Firstonetoobig, middleoneratherbig, little onejustrigh
Goestosleep
House belongstothreebears- theytrampbackthrough
forest
In turn,Father,Motherand BabyBearlookattheirchairs
'Who'sbeen sittingon mychair?'
BabyBearadds: ' ... andwho'sbroken it?'
Theylookatbowlsandsay, in turn
'Who's beeneatingmy porridge?'
B;:l!Jy B ilr ,IIH\ wl1n':. ,!;I\"1111 .11 '11'"
Grammarpractice
Theygo upstairsandlookatbeds
'Who's beensleepingin my bed?'
BabyBearadds: ' ..,andwho'sstill sleepingtherenow?'
Goldilockswakes,jumpsup,outofwindowand home
I 1'" '.('111 ;lnddrillotpractisethepresentperfectcontinuousinyour
111"111;11 way.Leadintoa situationin whichonestudentcan
"tll,I iL';dly' saytotheclass: 'Who's beensittingonmychairI
I11', 'hook?'Getpeopleeatingeach other'ssweets, biscuits etc,
'")'1CldIICC a situationfor: 'Who'sbeen eatingmychocolateI
I "Ill' .... idly-babies.'
, 1I I Ill' ory::ll1d getthe classtochorusthe'Who'sbeen.. ' bits. A
11 ',1111111 is tosplittheclassintothreegroupsandallotFather
I'.. I, '" \,.Irt to oncgroup,Mothet'sto thenextandBaby Bear'sto
I" 1.)'.1 Theycanbeaskedtochorus indeep, normaland
'1'1, ,,I \' voices.
III I .II{lICTllRES, OTHER STORIES Plentyofstories use
I. ,,'1"'111iOIl ofsequencesorsentencesas anessential device.
q " I 1,.1111\'11hr gra mmarstructurewill naturallyoccuraspartof
11111111, 1I11' n:pL'titiol1.beingcentralto thestory,andpleasur-
I .I,>IIo
c
.I,l'!o\o\';\reofthissorr:
" I ,.,j
I,ll",'wi"hes
11 L III witl. neithorrich
I11 V Iliql1hours richerthanthey
'11111,01111111\' wiull(!;. .' wife
I I 111111'1"
(.'11" wh;lles- goes
I, 11 1 ," I''
11" -1"1..1,,..111)1' \/..,111," Id. 11' 1,l.ly
Re("ore ]he,!!,;"'"
4.2 Theme sentences
NextmOll111111 11, II,d,1 ,.
Says 'I wi:;11111 "I., ,,!
Yardoft)l"ck I'lldolll1'1 '
HusbandfuriUII'.
'I wishitwollld,.tll f 1" ''I''''
Itdoes- shetrln.1(11'11111
1
,'11
'IwishitwereYUIII"
Itgoes
Theyrealisewhatlln:.lloI)'I' III ,I
1]' II , + infinitive
won t
Skeleton
Thethreelittlepigs
Amotherpig andthreelittlepigs
Shesendsthemouttobuildtheirownboil'.,,,. llilt mind
thewolf!
Firstpig begsstrawoffafarmer- buildsIlClil:":ut straw
Secondpig ... sticksfromwoodman
Thirdpig ... bricksfrombuilder
Wolfcomestofirstpig'shouse
'Littlepig,littlepig,letmein'
'No,bythehairon mychinnychinchin,
Iwon'tletyou in'
'ThenI'll huffand I'llpuffandI'll blowthehousedown'
Andhedoes,and eatsthefirstlittlepig
Secondpig- same
Thirdpig- same, butwolfcannot
Hegetsangry,triestocomedownchimney
Third pig is waitingwith potofboilingwater
Endofwolf
Skeleton
BrontshaTheSilent
Brontshadiedsilentandunremembered
ButinHeaventheyknewofhimandwaited
Histrialwaspreparedin GreatHallofHeaven
Brontshaarrived.Defendingangel stoodtospeak:
'Onearth Brontshanevercomplained
Circumcisingknifeslipped- hedidnotcryout
Motherdiedwhenhewaseight- hesaid nothing
Stepmothergavehimmouldybread- herselfdrankcoffee
withcream
Fathermadehimchopwood barefootinsnow
Brontshanevercomplained
Wenttocity- foundworkas porter
Bosssaid 'I'll payyounextmonth'- didn't- Brontsha
showednoanger
Married- wiferan off- Brontshabroughtupchild
When40 Brontsharun overbyrich man'scarriage
In hospitalfullofgroaningpeoplehedidnotgroan.He
died
Noonesad - 10peoplewaitedforhisbed,50forhisplace
inthemortuary
Prosecutingangelstoodtospeak:
Wordsdriedonhistongue,hesatdown
Judgewelcomed BrontshatoHeaven:
'Whatrewarddoyouwant- youcan haveanything'
Brontshasaid:
'YourWorship,could Ihave,each morning,ahotroll with
butterformybreakfast?'
Judgeandangelsbowedtheirheads
1,,-lY Wllreashamedtohavecreatedsuch meeknesson
,'.11111
Before I begin...
Before class
Puteachofthefollowingsl'IIII'IIlI' '0)1 '1 , ']'>11 wil.l need
a setofcardsforevery four licl.-111
Thepoorproducetherich
Beggarscan'tbechoosers
Heavenis tomorrow
Angerbegetsmeekness
In class
1 Groupthestudentsin fours.
2 GiveeachgroupthefirstsentencecaI'd.
3 Askthestudentstodiscuss the cd 1111' ',llill'llII' it
stands.Whendiscussionrunslowon ,]'.1' 1111'111 III reversethe
underlinedpartsofthesentence,as 'TheIit11 I" C IdIII c' I
thenaskthemtodiscuss thereversed s ntcrl'l'.
4 Thengiveoutthesecondsentencecardalld flop!':tl. puttingthe
sentencesoncards,youcanfeed innewthCllll:S :llld wheneach
groupis ready,
5 Tellthestory.
CHOICE OF SENTENCES FOR REVERSAL To k::ld ill1"0 a given
storythesentencesneedto be broadlyrelatedtorhed1l'Jlic(s) ofthe
story,andsemanticallyandgrammaticallyreversihle. 'lheyshould
besimple. Sayingsandproverbsarepowerfulmaterial forthiskind
ofexercise.
VARIATI0 NS Furtherexamplesofthisstyleofexercisecanbe
foundinFrank,Rinvolucri,andBerer, Challenge to think, OUP
1982.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Wefirstmetthe teversalideain the
writingofEdwardde Bono, butwesuspectitmayhaveanolder
history.
I:
A picture starter
4.3 A picture starter
Skeleton
Gelert
A man hadafavourite dog,Gelert
Dog devotedto man and his infantson
Dog guardedhousewhenmanaway
Onedayhegoes hunting- leavesdogonguard
Wolvesattackhouse
Dog defendschild- kills onewolf- woundsmany
Man returns- bloodeverywhere,cannotfind child
ThinksGelerthaskilled his son: kills Gelert
Too late- findssonpattingdeadbodyofwolf
Before class
Prepareto dra w ontheblackboarda pictureofanAlsatianorother
(frightening) dog,oraska studenttodoitforyou.
In class
1 Putupthepicture(oraskyourstudenttodraw)ontheblackboard.
Let thestudentslookatthepictureandaskthemtosharetheir
associations, feelings etc. aboutthedog.
2Telltheclass thatyouaregoingtotellthemastoryaboutthe
picture- invitethemtospeculateon whatform yourstorywill
take.
3 Tell thestOry tothegroup.
4 Allowa few moments'thoughtafteryouhavetoldthestory then
invitecommentfrom thegroup. '
NOTE Anotherstorythatlendsitselftothistreatmentis:
The pigeon
(If ':rrl:-lll, modern housein Montevideo
Hl'Il'l!,I,dflC:i.d
: ,'Ii" filii" c
1','/, ,",1.,11 first rbll:0
III j I 111.111,.1,1/111111;111111' ill tir',1 I
,'I
Before I begin...
He sees birdcirdillllllV"illl1,1I1 '1.1i1y 11 I Hl':ordI?
Heknows it is hishil d
Birdcircles- 1111 .... Ii.WII f'"1l1Io!t
Lateafternoon- sun"ll1klll'l
Birdhasspecialcylin1kr1111 I. 11 110: 11111',\ cylinderin
atimeclocktoprove'filiI
TriestolurebirddownInlofl: IHII:, 111111 .. 1h wearswhen
feeding birds
Rattlesfeedingtins
Whistles- nogood
Fetchesshotg un
Aims
Shootsdownbird- grabsit- fmlCl5 intoclock
Hisfirstwin- surely
Heclutchesbroken bird
Breaksdown
'WhathaveIdone?'
(afterCarlosMartinezMoreno,'La Palorna')
4.4 Pictu re rose
Skeleton
The quarryman
Thequarryman'sworkwashard- hewasn'thappy
Said:'IfIwasrich,Icouldsleepinabedwithsilken
curtains'
Angelappeared: 'Youare rich'
Manwas rich: sleptin bedwithsilkencurtains
King cameby- goldcarriage- horsemen infrontand
behind
Rich man nothappy. He said'Iwanttobe king'
Angelappeared: 'Youareking'
He was king
Sunshonedown- burntupgrass
Kingsawsunhlld morepowerthanhim- hewasn-\
happy
Picture rose
A big blackcloudcame betweensunandearth
Sun'srayscouldnotgetthrough- sunwasunhappyetc....
Cloudshutoutthesun- madegrassgreen
Cloudpoureddownrainonrock- it madeno impression
Cloudwasnothappy...
Rockstoodthere- mancamewithpickaxeandshovel
Hackedstonefromtherock
Rocksaid: 'Thisman is strongerthan I', Rocknothappy
'I wanttobethequarryman'
Angel appeared 'Youarethequarryman'
He was aquarryman,hackingstonefromtherock
Hisworkhard- hewonderedifhewashappy
(afterMultatuli,MaxHavelaar)
Beforeclass
Prepare to draw a number of images suggested by the story (say 4-6
pictures) or arrange for a student to do it for you.
Inclass
1 Put up the pictures on the blackboard as shown below, e.g.
1,1
,,11
Before I begill ...
Section 5 Co-operative telling
2 Telltheclass that yCl11 ,Ill' ,.,,111' I.. I 1101(. 'I' , '''I'.IICllllld the
picturesoO-the bo,lrd 11" ill I.. I"I filii' "" \\'li,ll torm
yourstorywilltake.
3 Tellthestorytothegmllp.
4 Allowafewmoments' tllDlI)',111 .ill'1',"111 h.', ",1.1 b'story,then
invitecommentfromtht:
5.1 Co-operative stories in the language lab
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Th:lllk',V,I I I" I Ill" 111,1 r.ll1d('cl1 Sionfor
translatingthisstoryoutoftheDrip,IILd 11111.11,
Skeleton
Theunicorn
Thehusbandwokeupand lookedoutofthewindow,
Describe the husband
Hesawaunicorneating alilyinthegarden,
Describe the garden
Hewokehiswifeupandtoldhertherewasaunicorninthe
gardeneating alily, Shesaid: 'Don'tbesilly,therecan't
be;theunicornis amythicalbeast.'
Describe the wife
Thehusbandwentdowntotakeacloserlookattheunicorn,
butithad gone, He satdownonabenchnearthe roses
andwenttosleep, He had adream
What did he dream?
Thewiferang thepsychiatristand thepolice.Shetold
themherhusbandwasgoingmad,Sheaskedthemto
comequicklywith astraitjacket.
Describe the psychiatrist
Shetoldthepsychiatrist: 'Myhusbandsaidhesawa
unicorninthegardeneating alily.'The psychiatristasked
thehusband: 'Didyou see aunicorninthegardeneatinga
lily?'Tothisthe husbandreplied; JOf coursenot,the
unicornis amythicalbeast.'
Finish the story
(afterThurberl
'hl' instrlll'li'III';ill ilalic:lretothestudent.)
I 1111"1 )'111 Id .\,1 I Ii ." 11,,' ',Ill 1"111 Ill' rnvillll;dll1ll'
\.\1111 Ill!' 111'\ 1",11,1'11.111, 11'"'.0,1""1,1'," i"llh 111,1',1"1 .lllil'.ll1c1l"1ll
1101' I,.
Before I begill ...
2 Telltheclass that yCl11 ,Ill' ,.,,111' I.. I 1101(. 'I' , '''I'.IICllllld the
picturesoO-the bo,lrd 11" ill I.. I"I filii' "" \\'li,ll torm
yourstorywilltake.
3 Tellthestorytothegmllp.
4 Allowafewmoments' tllDlI)',111 .ill'1',"111 h.', ",1.1 b'story,then
invitecommentfromtht:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Th:lllk',V,I I I" I Ill" 111,1 r.ll1d('cl1 Sionfor
translatingthisstoryoutoftheDrip,IILd 11111.11,
Section 5 Co-operative telling
5.1 Co-operative stories in the language lab
Skeleton
Theunicorn
Thehusbandwokeupand lookedoutofthewindow,
Describe the husband
Hesawaunicorneating alilyinthegarden,
Describe the garden
Hewokehiswifeupandtoldhertherewasaunicorninthe
gardeneating alily, Shesaid: 'Don'tbesilly,therecan't
be;theunicornis amythicalbeast.'
Describe the wife
Thehusbandwentdowntotakeacloserlookattheunicorn,
butithad gone, He satdownonabenchnearthe roses
andwenttosleep, He had adream
What did he dream?
Thewiferang thepsychiatristand thepolice.Shetold
themherhusbandwasgoingmad,Sheaskedthemto
comequicklywith astraitjacket.
Describe the psychiatrist
Shetoldthepsychiatrist: 'Myhusbandsaidhesawa
unicorninthegardeneating alily.'The psychiatristasked
thehusband: 'Didyou see aunicorninthegardeneatinga
lily?'Tothisthe husbandreplied; JOf coursenot,the
unicornis amythicalbeast.'
Finish the story
(afterThurberl
'hl' instrlll'li'III';ill ilalic:lretothestudent.)
I 1111"1 )'111 Id .\,1 I Ii ." 11,,' ',Ill 1"111 Ill' rnvillll;dll1ll'
\.\1111 Ill!' 111'\ 1",11,1'11.111, 11'"'.0,1""1,1'," i"llh 111,1',1"1 .lllil'.ll1c1l"1ll
1101' I,.
Co-operativetelling
In class
1 Explainanywordsin thesk\'k1"11 dl,ll rill' ,h,sis unlikely to
know.
2 Putthelabinto'broadcast (Will tIll',IlII',tlk' 1l10dt andexplain
thatyouaregoingtotell thelll ;1 :,111I y. I\t n'rt:lill pointsyouwill
pauseandaskthem to fill in thedl'l,.llls, 'pC:lkillgOil to theirown
tapes. Askthemtosettheirmachill\':.10 In( :ORD.
3 Tellthefirstsectionoftheskeletoll ;t!JllVl' :\IlJ givethemthefirst
instruction.Monitorwithearand eyt.:, ,11111 whcll everybody
hasfinishedspeakingbreakingently with 'jv1:IY I tell youthenext
part?'Thenrepeattheprocess untilrh, ('IIJ of thestory.
4 Askthestudentstowindbacktheirtapes:llld thcn to swap
booths.Invitethemtolistento thetapein rhl' Ilew boothandto
notedownona pieceofpaperthreelallgll;,ge Illistakes theyspot.
S Askthestudentstoswapboothsagain, Itavingtheslipsofpaper.
6 Repeatsteps4 andS.
7 Askthestudentsto returntotheiroriginal boothsanJtolistento
theirowntapeswhilenotingthemistakes noteddown by their
friends.
8 With earphonesoff; allowtimeforquestionsandcommentson
theslips.
VARIATlON If youdon'twanttoworkin alab theaboveexercise
canalso bedoneinwriting.In thiscase,thestorywill haveto be
read:
1 Explainunfamiliarwords.
2 Dictatethefirstsentenceandgivethefirstinstruction.Move
roundtheclass helpingandcorrectingasneeded. Thencontinue
with thesecondsentence,ete.
3 Attheendoftheexercise,putup thestoriesroundthewallsofthe
roomso thatstudentscanreadeachother'swork.
NOTES Thebestsortofstoryfor thisexerciseis onethatcaneasily
bereducedtofiveorsixsentencesI shortparagraphs.It shouldbe
unfamiliartothestudents.
Whenpreparingthestoryfor laboratoryuse,makesurethatat
leastS<)Il1C ofthedescriptions bystudentsare- ofmorethan just
individll:ll char:l tcrs, likt th drc:l1l1 desc;.rip,tiol1 (ahow).TIlt'
fnlluwiIll', :.tIII'}' I" ('1\ 11'1 i lie I bI',;
Groupstory
Two brothers
Amotherlefthertwoyoungsonsalone in thehutwhile
shewenttomarket.
Describe the hut
Whenshewasaway, raidersattackedthevillageand
carriedthe boysoffintoslavery.
Describe the leader of the raiders
Theboysaresoldtodifferentmasters, butpromiseeach
otherthatwhicheverfindsfreedomfirstwill buytheother.
Thefirstsonis lucky; hegetsa goodmasterandlearnsa
trade. Eventuallyhebuyshisfreedom.
Describe the first brother's master
Thesecondis soldto a bad master, He becomesill, andat
becomeshisown brother'sslave.His brotherdoesnot
recognisehim,andill-treats him.
Describe the i//-treatment
Theslave makesfriendswith his brother'slittle daughter.
Shebrings himfood from herown plate. Hetells herhis
story,
Tell the story the slave told
Thefirst brothernoticeshisdaughterslipping awaytothe
slave quarters,
Finish the story
(after'TheTwoBrothersOteteand More',in Folk Tales
and Fables, ed. P, itayemi & P. Gurrey)
5.2 Group story
Skeleton
The ghost
A YOI'llI[.j womanlayondeath bed
rIIld 'lId)Hnc! nottotakeotherwomanafterherdeath
11 ill' did, '.'111' Wtlldd comeand haunthim
11" 1"11'1 d.". f.,illtllil fill' tllr':rllo,ntht;
11, rll" I VI '"JllIl. 11,11' In I(lv,:, not flllq. q
---
Co-operative telling
Everynightwife'sghostblallwd11111' forengagement
Toldhimin detail abouthisCOIlVc:t.ationswith sweetheart
Ghostdescribedpresentshe nav
l
: 11 er
Young mandesperate .
Deci'dedtoconsultsage - sagelivud in mountains
Sagesaid'Tel.l yourwifethatif sh<.: answersonequestion
youwill breakofftheengagement'
Young manaskedwhatthequestionwas
'Takehandfulof beans,askherhoWmanyyou've got'
'H shedoesn'tknowyouwill realisesheis onlyin your
head'
Next nightyoung mantold ghostshekneweverything
abouthim
Ghost: 'Yes, Iknowyou visiteda wisemanyesterday'
Young man: 'How manybeanshaveIgotin thishand?'
..__....-
Therewasno ghostthereto answerthequestion
(afterWatzlawick)
In class
Invite threestudents to comeoutandsit behind you, facing the
class.Tell thethreethatwheneveryoustopinthetellingofthestory
youwantthemtospeakaboutwhattheycanseeintheirimaginations
atthepointreached.Duringthenarrationyoumay feel youwantto
replacetheoriginalpanelofthreewithanotherpanel.Intheskeleton
abovestoppingplacesaresuggested!butyou shouldbeawarebefore
youstarttellingastorywhereyou arelikely towanttostop.
5.3 Dictation
Material
HYPNOTISE
SEVEN ROSES
SCHOOLMASTER
BACHELOR
THROW AWAY
MOTIIP..R
IMPROVEMENT
DEATH
SUCCESS
( ~ SI:, SS)( ) N
FIJNERAI
p.II'rT()NHOI.F
I t\ I)F))
I".Y( 1111\'1'1< 1',1
,ot
Dictation
In class
1 Dictatethewordsin thelistsinglyandin theordergiven.
2 Appointonememberofthegroupas secretaryandaskhimorherto
standattheblackboard.
3 Asktheothermembersofthegrouptoreadoutthewordstheyhave
written down and to agree on spellings for each: the secretary
shouldwritedowntheagreedspellings,inorder,ontheblackboard.
Allowthestudentsto workouttheir versionsbeforeconfirmingor
otherwise.
4 Whenthewholelistisontheblackboard,askthestudents,working
aloneorinsmallgroups,toconstructastoryfromthelist,following
theordergiven.
5 Askthestudentstosharetheirstories.
Skeleton
Ifyouoryourstudentsfeel theneed fora'definitive'version,youmay
liketo use this:
The seventh rose
Aman,38,schoolmaster,self-contained
Motherdies
Though hehas notrealised it, veryfond of mother
Afterfuneral, breaksdown,cannotcope
Teaching,living- all goeswrong
Obsession,guilt,compulsivelyta'lks aboutmother
HarleySt- seespsychiatrist
Psychiatristhypnotiseshim
Giveshimsevenroses- tells himtothrowawayoneevery
dayfor aweek
Eachtimehethrowsawayflower, guiltwillllessen
With seventh rose, problemwill havegone
Man goes,doesaspsychiatristsays(wethink)- career
improves- becomesprofessorat University
But
In his buttonhole,always,isafaded,weedyflowerstalk
(nftor KenWhftmore, The Seventh Rose)
( '11< ) 11 I I 11 ~ J 11/ t \ I SlOrit,;s fonhis<;:xerciSl: should
!lJ'I!l'I.d,h I, ''''I''"11111 ,1. 111,1 rid! ill strong'(,Cltl\l'lll-words'.
IILlI' \'. (I. ! "tIII111
,.
VILLAGE
EMIGRATE
MARRIAGE
ABSENCE
PREGNANT
SHAME
ATTACK
DESTRUCTION
BIRTH
DEEP WELL
SUICIDE
A 'definitive' version of this might run:
Skeleton
No name woman
Village: poverty, emigration
Before leaving, young men marry
A year after husband left, girl is pregnant
Shame
When birth due villagers gather
Masked figures trample crops, open dykes
Kill animals, burn outhouses
White masks, lanterns, wild hair
Faces stare in at windows
She is silent in house
Villagers break in, smash everything
Smear house with animals' blood
As they leave, take oranges and sugar as blessing
She goes to pigsty (to deceive gods)
Gives birth
Feeds baby
Goesto well
Jumps in with child
What bitterness - so to poison the well
(after Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior)
Scene to story
5.4 Scene to story
Skeleton
The dragon of Nara
There once lived priest in Nara - ugly, long nose etc.
Everybody made fun of him: Bitter
Decides to play practical joke
He puts up notice by lake
ON MARCH 3 A DRAGON
WILL ASCEND
FROM THIS LAKE
TO
HEAVEN
Villagers read, rumours spread
Fisherman says he saw dragon asleep at bottom of
lake
Little girl has vision
Others dream of dragon's ascension
March 1
People begin to drift down to lake
March 2
Hundreds of people camped round lake, some from
far away
March 3
Thousands by lake - priest joins them - they wait, day
passes
No dragon - priest begins to regret his notice
Suddenly: rain, thunder, lightning
Dragon ascends
Priest is ashamed - confesses
No one believes him
Before c:lass
In[l:I'Il;lli' (0 Ill' '.1'11 \' seqllence, and prepare an initial picture in your
mind, Itl) '''"1.1, 1111' lilst picture below. Your aim should be to
('st.t1di'.I, 111" .... 1 "rIlill :lIld hcul'l' in I hI,' group, rather than
l"lq'l 11 , 1""'"1, '10 11I1J"""'on t1I('I',I't1I1P.
---
In class
1 Bringthegroupintoahalf-circlerOllnd the blackboard- try
throughouttheexercisetomaintainthe hlackboardas thegroup
focus, ratherthanyourself.
2 Beginbydrawingastrongcentralimageontheboard,tosetthe
scene,e.g.
.)
"4. -_/

3 Withoutspeaking,invitethegroupto translatewhatthey seeinto
words: allowasmanypeople tospeakaswish to.Donotblock
anyofthesuggestionsoffered.
4 Add afurtherimagetotheblackboardscene: try tomakethe
developmentfitthemoodofthestudents,as expressedinstage3
above,e.g
Scene to story
5 Continue still witho k' " b 1 'f
h ' lit spea lI1g, tolI1Vlte ver a suggestions ram
t e express theseinfurrherdevelopmentofthepicture
on e 11 af board.As theexerciseprogresses, thestorywill
gra ua y)utld up,bQth onthe boardandin themindsofthe
alsC), to agreaterorlesserextentthestotywill
epart.romtheskeletongivenabove: thiswilldependbothonthe
0
f
tfhe studentsand,in evenlatgermeasure, onthe
WI mgness 0 the tea . h" h
chertolI1terprett elrWIS es.
6 WhentheStoryha ' k d
k' 1 s teachedanaturalconcluslOn,as thestu ents,
lr:
g
on\toPtepareto retellthestoryas they understandit.
,a ceart at arefree to alterorexpandthestoryas they
h
wls ) spreparatJ()n, the'mumblingexercise'(6.1) may befound
usefu. l
NOTES TheaimoftL '. .
f exerciseIS to encouragetheco-operative
11
'
te lI1g 0 a story - the>-' bl" ' h f 11 d
' ., "'e IS no0 IgatlOn eH erto 0 OW orto epart
f
rom t
h
ethe ongmal' . 'd
'. If' StoryIme, butratherforthe teachertoprovl e
apotentia .ramem wL' b d
astory can econstructe .
5.5 A story from four words
In class
1 Askeachstudenttothinkofastory, Allow flllC'(' or fOllr minutes
forthis.
2 Pairthestudents and ask themtotdleach01hndwi[' sI lries. Ask
them to pickouttwokeywordsfrom each slory.
3 Ask thcpairs to taketheirfour keywords and trollllhe!'it builda
newstory.
4 The then form newpairsandtell th"storieshornfrom
thefour keywords.
EXAMPLE In onepairthegirl toldhowa boy hadshutheranda
girl friend intohiscar becausetheywouldn'tgo alongwithwhathe
wantedtodo. Hestoodandlaughedasthey frantically triedtoget
outofthecar.Finally theywounddownthewindowofthecarand
escaped.
Themanstudenttoldrhe storyofthetwowomenwhocameto
Solomonclaimingtheywere both mothersofthesamebaby. He
orderedaservanttosawthebabyintwo.Thisrevealedthe true
mother: sheaskedhimtogivethechildtotheotherwomanrather
thanseeirdie.
Keywords: ESCAPE BABY
CAR SAW
Aftersomehead-scratchingthispairdecidedthat SAWsymbolised
threat. Thegirl thenproducedthis tale:
Acouplehadwanteda babyforalongtime. Finallythey hadone.
Someweeksafterits birth threateninglettersstartedto arrive,
Desperateto keepthebabysafetheyonenightgotintotheircar
andescapedto anothertown,leavingeverythingbehindthem.
ACKNOWLEDCEMENT Wehaveadaptedthis technique by H.
Auge,M.F.Borot,andM. Vielmas,fromIe/.lx pour parler, Ieux
pour creer eLEInternational,1981,
Three item stories
5.6 Three item stories
In class
1 Givethestudentsthesewords:
BIRD FIRE
Tellthemthesewordsarekeywordsin astoryyouhavein your
head.
Tell themtheir task is to unearthyourstory by questioningyou.
You only answerYes orNo.
Onestorybehind thethreeitemsis:
[n thedrySouthAfricanVeldfires arefrequently caused when
vultures, havinglandedsafelyonoverheadpowerlines, try to take
offagatn. Bctn?very heavy birdsthey canonlytakeoffbymighty
flappmgoftheIrlongwings.Ifavultureprovidesacontactbetween
twohigh tensioncables, itis instantlyelectrocutedandfalls to the
gound belowin a ball offlames. Thisoftenstarts majorveldfires.
2 When studentshavehalfreachedyourstory through their
queStlOnlOg, stop themandaskthemtoworkin pairs makingupa
storythatcouldhave BIRD, METALand FIREas keywords. Tell
them to make uptheirstory quitefreely.
3 Ask thestudentsto re-paira coupleoftimes andtell theirstories
to eachother.
4 Usuallythey also wantto find outyourstory;if they ask,tell
them.
EXAMPLES In onegroupthefollowingstorieswereproduced:
A Amanwascaughtin a forest fire, Hcwascarryinga goldnugget
he hadfound whilepanning. Hehadwithhim a carrierpigeon,so
hetied thegold tothelegofthepigeonwhichcarriedhiswealth
tosafety.
B Adriverofa greattruckfell asleepashedrovethroughthe
mountains.Thetruck plungeddowna ravineandburstinto
flames, buthe wasthrowntree.
, rl'SCl1l'rs foundhimthreedayslaterthey foundhe had
diedollli illjlll'iand beeneaten by vultures.
(; 1\ p,111l11 111 ,I 11Il'1;d l'agl'saved his owner'slife by shriekingin the
llwl,II, ,.I 1111' lI'VIIl WIIl'I) rill'hOl\secaughtfire.
Co-operativetelling
5.7 Random story
In class
1 Tell theclass thatyou arcalJ g(lingto wlllk 1111 '"Illlles,
2 Takeonestudentoutsideand:Isk hilll orIIl'l'\\'11.111\'11(' ofstoryhe
orshewouldliketoworkon.OfferLht' tollowillg wdlclcfined
categoriesofstory:
Newspapercrimestory
Biblestory
Storyaboutunemployment
Football-starstory
Fairystory
Letthestudentchooseonecategory.
3 Leavethestudentoutsidethe classroom,whileyOll lell rhe restof
thegroupthatheorsheisgoingto trytodiscoverastorythat
'theyhavedecidedon'.In fact theyarenotgoingtodecideonany
storybutareinsteadtoanswerYesorNotoquest,ions, <lccording
towhethertheyendin a monosyllabicorpolysyllabicword.
4 Bringthestudentbackinto theroom. Tellhimorherthatthe
grouphavedecidedona storywithinthecategorychosen,and
thatheorsheis to discoverwhatthestoryis by askingyes/no
questions. Warnthestudentthattheremay beinconsistenciesas
thegroupcouldnotagreeoneverydetail.
5 Whenthequestioninghasgoneonfor five orten minutes askthe
group to tellthequestionerwhathasbeen happening.
VARIATlONS
1 Insteadoftherulegiven in step 3above,otherrules canbeused,
for example: Is thefinal soundofthequestiona vowel orconson-
ant?Doesthequestioncontaina particularword (e.g. 'is'or'are').
2 Insteadofusingstories,theexercisecanbebasedondreams: the
personcominginis todiscovera dreamheorshehashad,and
which thegroupknows,butwhichheorshehasforgotten. This
framecopesbetterwith theinevitableinconsistencies.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Welearntthedream versionfrom Chris
Sion.GiseJaMuellerhadthe ideaoftransferringtheideatoa story
frame.
Picturecomposition
5.8 Picture composition
(Inthis itis intendedthattheteachershou1ld function aspart
ofthegroup,J.e. thatheorsheshould participatein theactivities.)
In class
1 Drawthison the board,inthetopright-handarea:
2 Tellstudentsthatthegroupisgoingto filloutthepictureand
developstoriesfromit.
3 Invitestudentsto saywhattheywantto addtothepictureand
thenhand themthe boardmarker/chalk andgetthemtodrawin
whatthey havesuggested. Addthingsyoufeel youwanttoaddas
a groupmember.
4 Stoptheexercisebefore ,thedrawinggetstoocluttered.Askpeople
toworklI:dlVlduallyorrn patrstocreatestories. (Withan odd
ofst'lldcnrs, you canformpartofapairyourself.)
S Wlwfl IS l"('ndy, askpt:opletoform newpairsandtell
r111'1I ',1'11 11 ,,.,1',11 11 11111('1". Repeattheprocesstwicemore.
I, \ ..\ 1\1111 I
Dictog/oss
Thegroupproduced,amongothers,the followingstoriesfrom the
picture:
A Thethreepeoplein theforeground arefactoryinspectors,who
havecometocheckonworkers'complaintsaboutthepollution
in thefactory. Theyaresodisgustedthattheyarenowgoingto
crossthestreamandhave theirlunch underthetree,awayfrom
thefilth, amongthesheep,
B Agreatnewfactoryhas been built. Itis in anidealsituation,near
a river, rightunderpowerlineswitha roadrunningoutsidethe
frontgate. MtsThatcherhascometoopenit, butbecausesheis
very unpopularsheis beingsmuggledinto the factory under
water,soas toenter bythe backdoor.
C Thisfactoryis in Iran andthemiddlechimneydoublesas a
minaret, Thepeopl.einthe foregroundhavejustbeensummoned
to middayprayer. Suchis theirzealthatthey paynoattentionto
theirfellow-worker, whomyoucansee drowningin thepolluted
stream to theleft,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT SarahBraineshowedus thepoweroffree
picturecomposition.
I
5.9 Dictogloss
I
Stories
A Solomon's judgement
I
I
(Twowomenhadquarrelledoverpossessionofababygirl
andbroughttheircasetotheking'scourt,)
Theking heardtheirtwostoriesoutbeforeordering his
servantstosawthebabyin two,which promptedthetrue
mothertocryout: 'No,no! Givehertotheotherwoman!'
B The forced burgl1ar
I
(On tleingquestionedbyhiswifeabouthisfrequent
.dl',('/Ie ~ from thehouseatnight,Johnthoughtquickly,
I
f
111111. 11111,,,,:; ~ r l to beingaburglar.)
Will 11 Ill',VIlli" 1111:11 sti:lrtecl tonskwhereallthestolen
ll'''''' I. 11 W"', fllrced actlliJllytobccornc~ [J1Jrnlarill
1I ." It,, II" I' h 1111' I'VIclc 11 (; I: 11I :; 11 ppllr t Ii I', " tll Iy, 11111 t1,
unabletostandthestrainanyIOnUIII, 11: lotthometolive
withhislover,atwhichpointhiswife :,llowuclthe police
everythinghe hadstolen.
In class
1 Tellthegroupthatyouaregoingtoreada vnyshort storyto
. themonceandonceonly,andthattheywill h;tve to reconstruct
whatyouhavereadout: they will beallowl'llt
o
writeduringyour
reading,buttherewill not betimefor themtowrixl'everything,
i.e. they shouldfocusonkeywordsand thenattempttoreconstruct
therestafterwards.Banshorthand.
2 ReadstoryA, oranequivalentsingle-sentence talc.:. Readat
medium-slowpace, butnot atdictationspeed.
3 Whenyou havefinished, askt'he studentstoamplifythenotes
theyhave made,workingin pairs. (Ifthisis thefirst timethey
havedonetheexercise,youmightwishtoreadthestoryagam.)
4 Whenthestudentsworkinginpairsseemtohavegotas far as they
can,allowthemtomixandhelponeanother. ,
5 Thenappointonestudenttoactas secretary,andaskhImorher
towriteup thestoryontheblackboard,takingdictationfromthe
restofthegroup.
6 Finally,as acheck,givethetexttooneofthestudents (notthe
best)to readtothegroup.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Wetearntthisfromanaccountby Diane
FittonofworkdoneatSydneyUniversity by CharlesTaylor.The
originalideais tobefoundin anarticle by O. Ilsen in Language
Learning 12,4 (1962).
Section6 Students'stories
6.1 Mumble,listen,tell
Before class
Gettoge,ther a wide choice ofstoryskeletonsandlorstories.Ifyou
have 20IIItheclassmakesureyouhavc atleast20storiesorskeletons.
Makethreeorfourphotocopiesofeachskeleton,sothereis genuinely
plentyofchoice.
In class
1 Spreadthetextsona flat surface.Askthestudentstotake any
storytheywantandgoanywherein theroomtheylike toreadit.
Explajnthattheywill be askedtotell eachothertheirstories (not
read themaloud),
You shouldmoveroundandvery quietlyhelpwithunknown
words.Be availableas a whisperingreadingaid.
2 Tellthestudentstheywillbetellingeachothertheirstories but
thatfirsttheyshould'mumble'thestorytothemselves, tomake
suretheyhavegottheEnglishthewaytheywantit. Agoodway
tomumbleIS toshutyoureyes andsay thewordsquietlytoyour-
self.
3 Whenthefirststudentshavefinishedmumblingaskthemifthey
areready to tell. Doall thisvery quietly,soas notto disturb those
s(illpreparing.When,studentsareready, pair themoff, making
sureeachpaIrhas a differentstory.Askthemtotelleachother
the,irstoriesin lowvoicesorwhispering. Goroundlisteningand
wnteupsentencesyouheardgoingwrongontbe blackboard. (It
IS bestIf, dunngyourwriting,theblackboardcan beangled away
from thegroup.)
4 Whenthefirst pairs finish, c1sk themtosetaboutdecidinghow
the)' ''''Old.! ~ O T l c t thesentences.
'.
unabletostandthestrainanyIOnUIII, 11: lotthometolive
withhislover,atwhichpointhiswife :,llowuclthe police
everythinghe hadstolen.
In class
1 Tellthegroupthatyouaregoingtoreada vnyshort storyto
. themonceandonceonly,andthattheywill h;tve to reconstruct
whatyouhavereadout: they will beallowl'llt
o
writeduringyour
reading,buttherewill not betimefor themtowrixl'everything,
i.e. they shouldfocusonkeywordsand thenattempttoreconstruct
therestafterwards.Banshorthand.
2 ReadstoryA, oranequivalentsingle-sentence talc.:. Readat
medium-slowpace, butnot atdictationspeed.
3 Whenyou havefinished, askt'he studentstoamplifythenotes
theyhave made,workingin pairs. (Ifthisis thefirst timethey
havedonetheexercise,youmightwishtoreadthestoryagam.)
4 Whenthestudentsworkinginpairsseemtohavegotas far as they
can,allowthemtomixandhelponeanother. ,
5 Thenappointonestudenttoactas secretary,andaskhImorher
towriteup thestoryontheblackboard,takingdictationfromthe
restofthegroup.
6 Finally,as acheck,givethetexttooneofthestudents (notthe
best)to readtothegroup.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Wetearntthisfromanaccountby Diane
FittonofworkdoneatSydneyUniversity by CharlesTaylor.The
originalideais tobefoundin anarticle by O. Ilsen in Language
Learning 12,4 (1962).
Section6 Students'stories
6.1 Mumble,listen,tell
Before class
Gettoge,ther a wide choice ofstoryskeletonsandlorstories.Ifyou
have 20IIItheclassmakesureyouhavc atleast20storiesorskeletons.
Makethreeorfourphotocopiesofeachskeleton,sothereis genuinely
plentyofchoice.
In class
1 Spreadthetextsona flat surface.Askthestudentstotake any
storytheywantandgoanywherein theroomtheylike toreadit.
Explajnthattheywill be askedtotell eachothertheirstories (not
read themaloud),
You shouldmoveroundandvery quietlyhelpwithunknown
words.Be availableas a whisperingreadingaid.
2 Tellthestudentstheywillbetellingeachothertheirstories but
thatfirsttheyshould'mumble'thestorytothemselves, tomake
suretheyhavegottheEnglishthewaytheywantit. Agoodway
tomumbleIS toshutyoureyes andsay thewordsquietlytoyour-
self.
3 Whenthefirststudentshavefinishedmumblingaskthemifthey
areready to tell. Doall thisvery quietly,soas notto disturb those
s(illpreparing.When,studentsareready, pair themoff, making
sureeachpaIrhas a differentstory.Askthemtotelleachother
the,irstoriesin lowvoicesorwhispering. Goroundlisteningand
wnteupsentencesyouheardgoingwrongontbe blackboard. (It
IS bestIf, dunngyourwriting,theblackboardcan beangled away
from thegroup.)
4 Whenthefirst pairs finish, c1sk themtosetaboutdecidinghow
the)' ''''Old.! ~ O T l c t thesentences.
'.
Students' stories Spoof stories
6.2 Comprehension questions
In class
1 Takeoutyourstoneandholditinyourhandsothatthegroup's
In class
attentionis caught. Calmlyandseriouslybegintotell thegroup
1 Givethestudentsthequestionsbelow. Ask 1111'111 10 decide o ~ the
aboutthestone.Explainthatitis a Cambodiansoupstoneand
storytheyseelyingbehindthequestiolls.Tlwv 11I;\Y dllthiS eIther
thatyouboughtitin anopen-airmarketinCambodiamanyyears
individuallyorinpairs.
ago.Thestonesimplyneedstobesimmeredforhalfanhourvery
2 Askeachstudenttotell theirstory tooncnllllTpcrsllll.
gentlytoproducethemostexcellentsoup. Explainhowyou
refused to believethiswhenyouacquiredthestonebutnowyou
QUESTIONS
havenochoice, sinceyouhavehadsomanygoodsoupsfrom it.
Ifyoutell thestoryconvincinglyenough,takingtheirincredulity 1 Wherewasthegianttortoise?
as somethingyouexpect,somestudentswillwanttobelieveyour 2 Whatwastheboydoingtoit?
story.Handthestoneround,letthemfeel it, lickit andsmell it. 3 Howdidthemanhelpthetortoise?
4 Whatdidthetortoiseoffertodofortheman?
2 Nowasktheclassifthey knowtheword spoof. Askthemif they
canbringtomindspoofstoriesthey haveread inthepapersorif
5 Howdidthemangetthere? theycanthinkoftimeswhenthey orpeoplethey knowhave
6 Whatsortofplacewas it deep belowthesea? trickedothersinto believingsomethingfalse orabsurd,e.g.
7 Whataremermaids? aroundApril 1st.
8 Whywashehappythere? .
3 Dependinghowmanypeoplecomeupwith spoof,pracricaljoke
9 Whydidhewanttogo backtothelandt etc.storiesgroupthestudentsinsmallgroupssothatacoupleof
10 Whatwashegivenas a farewell present? tellers haveagroupoflisteners.
11 Wheredidthetortoisetakehim backto?
12 Whatwashisvillagelikenow?
VARIATION Ifthestonestoryabovedoes notappeal toyou, try
13 Heopenedthetiny box- whatcameout?
thIS newspaperspoofstory: 'LastSundayIread this amazingstory iu
14 Whywashis facewrinkled?
anEnglish newspaper....'
CHOICEOFSTORIES Forthisexerciseyouneedto~ o o s s.tories Skeleton
withasimplestructure,theoutlineofwhichyoucanImply faIrly
BritishAirwaysto revolutioniseairtravel clearlywitharelativelysmallnumberofcomprehensIOnquestIOns.
London-Sydney: 55 mins
Passengerswillbesentby30-footrocket
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Thetortoisestorywelearntfrom a
Research team in Nakaburoworkingonpigs,has
Japanesestudent.Theideaforthetechniquecamefrom.lean Paul
discoveredwonder'shrinking'drug
Creton. Passengers miniaturisedat LondonAirportregain normal
sizeatSydneybytakingreverserdrug
Schemenot yetperfectbecausenoway toshri nk
passengers'luggage
(AfterSundav Times spoofstory)
/\c:K \I O\'X' I I 1)(; F;\-II:.!\iT WeowetheCambodiansoupstonestory
6.3 Spoof stories
to ,) ll'i1illJ'. hv ( .trlo.., rv1:11.:ZrLI.
Before class
Find;\',nIlHllh, illl\'ITSlillj',!llokilll','ilOIH' Inl:lkl'into,1.1.. \\illl\'!lll
Students' stories
6.4 Story of the film
In class
1 Bringa studenttotheblackboardas thegrc1l11"" '.(', IlI.I1'V'. Getthe
otherstudentstoshoutoutfilm titles tohilll111 hll,.II.11. The
secretaryshouldwritethetitles downindisurdl'l ,dl (l\'!T the
board. . '
2 Askeach studenttochoosea film heorshelu... 1l.111 LU1Lu'Iy liked
andmakea posteradvertisingit. . ,
3 Pairthestudentsandget each persontoCXrLl111 hI'orherposter
andtell thestoryofthefilm behindit.
NOTE Itis, ofcourse,possi bletodispense wi rh step 2.:1hoveand
simplyaskthestudentstotellthefilm stories.Wchave(mind,
however,thatthetimespentdrawingis pleasurable [orthestudents
(as a changeofactivity) andprovidesvaluablerhtnkl11g space,
6.5 Love stories
Skeleton
Rapunzel
Manandwifelivedincottage
From bedroomwindowwifecouldsee lettucesin
neighbour'sgarden
Shewantedone- manunwillingtosteal one- neighbour
awitch
Hefinallydid - wifedelighted
He wentagain- caughtbywitch
Shemadehimpromisehertheirfirstchild
Rapunzel born- mangavehertowitch
When12,witchtook hertotowerinforest- nodoor
Rapunzel had long,longhair,doneinplait
Hung herplaitfrom highwindow- witchclimbeclllpitin
morning
R;\(:k down;lq;linin
From beginnings...
Princecame,heard Rapunzel singing
Watchedwitchclimbplait
Nextdaydidsame
Rapunzel shy- theybecamefriends
He cameeveryday
Onedaywitchfoundthemtogether
Chopped offRapunzel'splait- threwPrincefromhigh
window
Hefell onthorns- blinded- wanderedearthforthree
years,begging
Rapunzel escapedtower- wanderedeverywherelooking
forhim
Foundhimindesert
Wept- tearsfellon hiseyes
He sawagain
Theywenttohisfather's palace, marriedand hadmany
children
In class
1 TellthestoryofRapunzel.
2 Askthestudentstoshuttheireyes fora coupleofminutesand
thll1k backtoa lovestorytheyknowandfindimportant.
3 Askthem tomovearoundandfind a partner,Theyshouldthen
tell theirstorytotheirpartner.
6.6 From beginnings ...
In class
1 Seta scene,..somethinglikethis:
Afrog- deepdownin aweU -livedtheresinceshewasatadpole-
knows crackandcrevice- knowsnothingbeyondexcept
P::ltd1 Cllllght!llghupabove.
Olll'd.I\' ,1 '1ILlil f1il'1\ ;lLTOSS the patch(flight- sets frog
1h111" Ill!'.
I AJ .111,h Ill', 11' \\.,,1. '1IIIhl'iro'l"'Il,or
\\(','\1 I .,,\ "'"11 work ,.10111' ,\1)'1'( ... 1 till'\'
I ,. ,I t I" I " ,
Students' stories
3 Whenstudentshave finished t11L" prL'Jl.tr.llI
11
ll Wllr!' (different
peopletakedifferenttimesto dothis) :\,,1- dll'Il1 III... 11111 theireyes
andmumblethestorytothemselves ill piillrtotellingit
tosomeoneelse, Thisproduces 1111H'h 1111111' (ohL'rl'llt telling.
4 Ask thestudentstotell theirstory toSOIlH'OIH' they !l;\Vl' not
previouslyworkedwith.
EXAMPLES Theabove beginningprompted dL'nJ<::lltary
studentstowardsthestoriesskeletonisedhere:
A Prettyfrog- climbedoutofwell - w.alked andvisitnlall day- at
nightafraid- triedtogetbacktowell- lost- spL'nt nightin
fear - jumpedata butterfly- butbutterflyW;lS hunteroffrogs-
endedupin Frenchrestaurant. .
B Sunnyday- frogwalkingby river- plentyoffood - OK,Boy
cameto river- waterwarm- swam- sawfrog- caughther.
Tookherhometohis garden- shewasfree there- thenfell
downwellatendofgarden,
C Froghappyin wetwell- Twochildrenlookeddown- asked frog
whysheliked thedark- frogaskedwhatworlduptherelooked
like- Theyinvitedfrogup- sun'srays toohot- hadtogo back
to wetnessofwell.
CHOICE OF STORY STARTERS Thescenesetmustimplya
continuation- thesymbolofthebirdsuddenlyenteringthefrog's
confined worlddoes justthis.
Herearetwootherscenes:
Grandpaalwaysintheway- peopletakehischairoppositetheTV
set- noonelistenstohis views- hisdaughter-i.n-Iawneverputs
sugarin his coffee- hehasenoughofbeingignored- onedayhe
goes toTrafalgarSquare..,
(afterRodari)
'Here'sonethathasto beputoutofcirculation.'
'What's'is job?'
'MP,'
'Youwantmetousethe three-wheeler?'
(afterVassilisVassilikos,Z)
.. ,to endings
6.7 ... to endings
In class
1 Dictatethefollowingstoryending:
Thewoman on his right begantotug,crying: 'Letmego,it's
mornIng,'
Butherefused,
Sheturnedintoa wildcat,bithis handand ranoffintothewoods.
2 Ask thestudentstoworkontheirown,orin groupsoftwo or
three,tomakea storythatleadstothisending.Iftheyworkalone
suggesttheytakenotes.
3 Whenpeopleh,ave finished thepreparationwork (differentpeople
takedIfferent tlmestodothIS) ask themtoshuttheireyes and
mumblethestorytothemselvesin English.Thisproducesa much
more coherenttelling.
4 Askthestudentstotelltheirstory tosomeonetheyhavenotyet
worked WIth.
NOTE Ifstudentsask for the 'original'story,yOll mayliketouse
this:
Wild cat
Scholarandwife lived outsidecitygate
Very poor, He studiedfar into night
No foodforaweek- senthertowoodto pickchestnuts
Shecamebackwithsevenshrivelled nuts in basket
Suddenlydoorflewopen- womancamein with seven
shrivellednuts in basket
Shelookedexactlythesameaswife. in everydetail
Twolookedateachother
Both 'Whoareyou?'
Scholarpulledboth to him - grippedeach byan arm
Sotheysatall night
Cockscrowed
Thewomanon his rightbegantotug.. ,
(Kore,mtraditionalstory,collectedby101 Bangl
Ulnlcl II1 '.llll'Y Otherclldingsyoumighrlikcto
1111.1 ',Iill',(ood11l,.,idL' hilll, hellll111'1'
1111. 1111' .11111111 (111... 11,., '
Students' stories
2 ...washedoverboardanddrowned. But YO\l ;\lld 11, liP\\'different.
3 And Peter?Well, hestilllives inthevillage, Illllonger in
thegreathouse. Hekeeps thepubnow, w'hG"(' till' wltlllestory
started.
4 Thefarmerand thecowlooked areach olh"1', Thell,\Tl'y slowly,
theyboth began tolaugh.
6.8 Objects tell stories
Before class
Choosethreeobjects thatdo not makeanobviousset,e.g. a bra,a
lightbulb,a kipper.
In class
1 Takein the objectsand letthestudents lookatthem, passthem
roundand speculateaboutthem.
2 Askthe studentstogroupin fours andtouse theobjectsas the
startingpointfor a story.
3 When thegroups havefound theirstories, askeachpersonto
workwithsomeonefromanothergroup.Ask them to tell the
storyas one of the ohjects, e.g. 'I'ma lightbulb.WhenIlooked
down,I...'Donotgivetime for furtherpreparationofthetelling.
NOTE Switchingnarrativestandpointtothatofanobject in the
story hasa powerful'makingnew'effectandcanconsiderably
modifythe story agreed onin thegroupsoffour.
VARIATJON lfyourstudentsalreadyknoweach otherquitewell,
thefollowingexercisehasa morepowerfuleffect:
1 Pairthestudents.
2 In each pairAnamesthreeobjectsthatheorshethinksaretypical
ofB, andBnamesthreeobjectstypicalofA.
3 Atells the first partofa storyahoutB, hringingin thetlH\'t'
objects. Rthen finishes thestory,
4 p, tells the p:\1'1 of:lslmy:dHl\l1 i\, \vhil\! f\ lilll"III'
Doodlestrips
ACKNOWLEDGEMEl"T Theideaoffittingthestoryto theperson
comes IndIan therapypractices,and morerecentlyfrom the
workotMiltonErickson.
6.9 Doodlestrips
Before class
Prepareandduplicateabstractcartoonstripslikethoseillustrated
below:
/
o
1/1
1\,,1 d.
Students'stories Triplestories
2 Giveoutthedoodles trips,Olll' In ,';111111,1111\'11111.11 CII group.
3 Askeach individualorgroup to \"'lllk11111 .1 '.1111)' by
theirstrip,andto preparetotelltlH' ICI ill theclass.
4 Askthestudentsto circulateand1(,lll';llll ClIbt'! dll'lrstories.
VARIATION Askstudentsto 'COll1pklL" till' ',Irip by ;lddingan
extraframe beforeproceedingtostep3 :I!Jo\'!'.
FOLLOW-UP Whenstudentshaveworkl'lllbrollghslIch anexercise
onceortwice,itis a good ideatogetthel1l drawiqgdoodJestripsfor
eachother.
N01ES
1 Wefind thatworkingfrom abstractdrawingssuchas these
producesa very differentexerciseandgroupdynamicfrom work
onconventional'picturecompositions'.Thelatteroftenlead to
rathermechanical,uninvolvedstorytellingwitb d high priority
given to'gettingthestoryright'.Whenabstractrather than
concretepicturesare used,studentsareencouragednotonlyto
give theirimaginationsfree rein, butalso to attempt(andsucceed
at) moreadventurouslanguage.
2 Whenconstructingyourowndoodlestrips,youmightfind thatthe
mostproductivemethodis toillustrateanabstractorvery general
idea,ratherthan any particularstory-line.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Thisexercisewassuggested bythework
ofMoStrangeman (Magi-pies, PilgrimsPublications,Canterbury
1982) in thesymbolicdepiction offairy stories.
6.10 Triple stories
In class
1 Ask thestudentseach towritethreestoriesthatmustnotbemore
thanfive sentenceslong,thefirst abouta boy and a gun,the
secondabouta teenagegirl and a teacher,and thethird abouta
youngman andhis employer.Askthemro writethemonthree
differentpiecesofpaper.
2 Ask thestudentstostick theirstoriesup roundthewallsoft1w
classroom: useoncwall for thefirst.story, OllC for the <111,1,111.1
OJlC fordJ(' Ihird.
Askthestudents ro read thestoriesandtocorrecranylanguage
mistakesthevscc in anvofrhem.
, ,
EXAMPLES Herearethreeofrhe uncorrected boyandgunstories
wegotfrom olderteenageelementarystudents.
Iknowa boywholikeda gun. HegOt a gunwhenhewas fifteen. He
joineda marksmensociety. Helearnttoshootwithhisgun. Hewas
a verygood marksman,buthebecamedangerousand began tokill
people.
Therewasi pleasantboy with hisgunin a sittingroom.The boy
was playingalonebecausehe hadno brotherorsister. Suddenlyhe
brokea vaseandhewasverysad.
Hewasaboy. Hewantto hadagun.Hegota gun-shopand bought
a gun. Afterhegotinthewoodandshouthirds. Hewasvery happy
tohavea gun now.
VARIATION You canask thestudentstowritetriplestoriesabout
otheritems/peoplethan thosegivenabove, e.g.:
soldier woman woman
.woman child lorry
ACKNOWLEDCEMENT Thisideacomesfrom D.I.MalamudandS.
Machover,Toroards S'elfUnderstanding, CharlesC. Thomas,
Illinois, 1965.
"I' .,,\,\
Students' stories
2 Giveoutthedoodles trips,Olll' In ,';111111,1111\'11111.11 CII group.
3 Askeach individualorgroup to \"'lllk11111 .1 '.1111)' by
theirstrip,andto preparetotelltlH' ICI ill theclass.
4 Askthestudentsto circulateand1(,lll';llll ClIbt'! dll'lrstories.
VARIATION Askstudentsto 'COll1pklL" till' ',Irip by ;lddingan
extraframe beforeproceedingtostep3 :I!Jo\'!'.
FOLLOW-UP Whenstudentshaveworkl'lllbrollghslIch anexercise
onceortwice,itis a good ideatogetthel1l drawiqgdoodJestripsfor
eachother.
N01ES
1 Wefind thatworkingfrom abstractdrawingssuchas these
producesa very differentexerciseandgroupdynamicfrom work
onconventional'picturecompositions'.Thelatteroftenlead to
rathermechanical,uninvolvedstorytellingwitb d high priority
given to'gettingthestoryright'.Whenabstractrather than
concretepicturesare used,studentsareencouragednotonlyto
give theirimaginationsfree rein, butalso to attempt(andsucceed
at) moreadventurouslanguage.
2 Whenconstructingyourowndoodlestrips,youmightfind thatthe
mostproductivemethodis toillustrateanabstractorvery general
idea,ratherthan any particularstory-line.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Thisexercisewassuggested bythework
ofMoStrangeman (Magi-pies, PilgrimsPublications,Canterbury
1982) in thesymbolicdepiction offairy stories.
6.10 Triple stories
In class
1 Ask thestudentseach towritethreestoriesthatmustnotbemore
thanfive sentenceslong,thefirst abouta boy and a gun,the
secondabouta teenagegirl and a teacher,and thethird abouta
youngman andhis employer.Askthemro writethemonthree
differentpiecesofpaper.
2 Ask thestudentstostick theirstoriesup roundthewallsoft1w
classroom: useoncwall for thefirst.story, OllC for the <111,1,111.1
OJlC fordJ(' Ihird.
"I' .,,\,\
Triple stories
Askthestudents ro read thestoriesandtocorrecranylanguage
mistakesthevscc in anv
,
ofrhem.
,
EXAMPLES Herearethreeofrhe uncorrected boyandgunstories
wegotfrom olderteenageelementarystudents.
Iknowa boywholikeda gun. HegOt a gunwhenhewas fifteen. He
joineda marksmensociety. Helearnttoshootwithhisgun. Hewas
a verygood marksman,buthebecamedangerousand began tokill
people.
Therewasi pleasantboy with hisgunin a sittingroom.The boy
was playingalonebecausehe hadno brotherorsister. Suddenlyhe
brokea vaseandhewasverysad.
Hewasaboy. Hewantto hadagun.Hegota gun-shopand bought
a gun. Afterhegotinthewoodandshouthirds. Hewasvery happy
tohavea gun now.
VARIATION You canask thestudentstowritetriplestoriesabout
otheritems/peoplethan thosegivenabove, e.g.:
soldier woman woman
.woman child lorry
ACKNOWLEDCEMENT Thisideacomesfrom D.I.MalamudandS.
Machover,Toroards S'elf Understanding, CharlesC. Thomas,
Illinois, 1965.
Photos
Section7 Fromthepast
7.1 Photos
Before class
Findalargequantityofold family photographs,preferablynot
featuringyourself.Try to achieve awidetimespan overthephotos.
Youwill need atleastonehundred fora groupof25 students.
In class
1 Putthephotosoutona flat surfaceandinvitethestudentstolook
throughthem andpickoutonephotoeachthatbringsbacka
memory,story,orsceneoftheirown.
2 Ask thestudentstomovearoundtheroomand tell each other
whattheirchosenphotoevokes.
'J I
From the past
7.2 Yesterday
In class
1 DrawthreescenesonthebO(1(d ill which VClll Wl'I'l' involved
yesterday,Theworseyoudrawthl'Iwttc'l.'fill"Ill(,xl'I'cise, as your
baddrawingwill makethestudt:ntsmorel'(lIl1lnrtahlewhenthey
cometodraw.
2 Ask thestudentsto makedrawingsillustrallngduct: momentsthat
springtomindfrom yesterday. Askthem 10 ;ldd times.
3 Pairtl1e studentssotheycanexplain tht:irdrawings.Thenask
themtosharewiththeirpartneraB the'SCt'I1l:S' fromyesterday
thattheycaretorecall. Explain yourownscenes if
NOTES Akindredexerciseis tobefound onp.HS ofViolaSpolin's
Improvisation for the Theatre, Pitman, 1964,though heraimis very
differentfromours. As withmanypairexercises, theteachercan
choosetotakepartasa pairmemberifthereis anoddnumberof
students.
7.3 Time-travel mirror
In class
1 Askastudentwholikesdrawingtocomeoutanddrawalarge
ornatemirrorframeontheboard.Ask theotherstocopythe
student'smirrorontolargesheetsofpaper.
2 Suggesttothestudentsthatthesearetime-travelmirrorsin which
eachofthemcanseeascenefromhisorherpast.Askthemto
drawthescene.
3 Askthestudentstogetupandmovearound.Thenaskeach
persontofind a partner,sitdownagainandexplainthestory
behindthescenetheyhavedrawn. Let themre-pairseveraltimes.
(Thepointofgettingupandmovingis thatitallowsstudentsto
chooseapartnertheywant,unobtrusively.)
NOTE Youmayreassurestudents whofeel thattheycannotdraw
bytellingthemthatbaddrawingimprovestheexercise; thegreater
theinformationgap,themorenecessaryand productivethe Ol";t!
comll1tilli<,;aliO!l.
'I.'
It happened to me
EXAMPLES Here'arethreeorfourexamplesofthesortofthings
peopleinonegroupdrew anddescribed.
Elena, a Mexican,drewpeoplesittingroundanidyllic placeoutside
MexicoCity. Shedescribedthisveryhappyperiodofherlife when
shewasatUniversity.
Marco, fromFlorence,drewadramaticsceneinfrontofthegoalposts.
This was themomentofhisfirstgoalforhis town'sprofessional
under-18 team.Thisledhimontotell thestoryofhis collar-bone
injurythatinvalidedhimoutoffootball andcondemnedhimto
bored book-keeping.
Nicole, fromGeneva,drewa 16th-centuryladyina greathall. Her
dream,sheexplained, wastobe anobserver,an uncommitted
person,atthecourtofHenriIVofFrance.
fromIstanbul,drewa manfishinginthesea. Hethentold
thestoryofhowhisfriendtaughthimto fish in theSea ofMarmara.
VARIATION Anotherwayofhelpingstudentstorecallstorieslinci-
dentsfromtheirownpastis toaskthestudenttodrawanempty
boxingring.Thestudentscopytheringandputin itanybodythey
feel orhavefelt angrywith.TheypairoffandtellthestoryJincident/
feelings behindthedrawings.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Wegotthe'emptypicture'ideasfrom
S. StrikerandE. Kimmel,The Second Antz-colouring Book, Scholastic
Publications,London1980.
7.4 It happened to me
Before class
Chooseananecdoteareasuchas'stupidthings I'vedone'. Prepare
ananecdoteofyourowntotell theclass.
In dass
'1.11111, .11 .'J \'11111 .llltnlull'.
\I I' I, ,. "I",'.. 11"11 .1.111'. lLII"I'"'i in IWoPh''s 1H';lds, hy rllt'clldcd
''',,1 1.11 H 01 . I' '" Id,"11,1,(, ,t."vll'.d jl/l'lpl .. ill fill' ,1'.11111(' \villl
'11
From the past
wantto tell anecdotesoftheirOWII. (,('1 tlll'lll Itllilll-'; their stories
to thewholegroup.
POSSIBLE ANECDOTE AREAS
losingthings: documents,passp< rts, h<ll1dh:ll',s, childrell ...
runningaway: from home,one'sjob,awkw.\rd Silll;lLions...
nearaccidents: in thehome,on theroaJ ...
fear: ofthings,people,places,imaginary horrors...
ifonly... stories
7.5 Fire stories
Before class
Geta largepictureofa fire oroftheresultsofahre. It should bein
colourifpossible. Preparetotell a firestoryofyourown.
'1.1
If"'lr . I rll
In class
Displayyourpictllre- allowtimefor thestudentsto look .11 I1 111
silence.
2 Tellyour fire story.
3 Invitestudentsto bringtomind firestoriesoftheirown,<lIHI1c l
preparetotell them in Englishby mumblingthem through.
4 Putthestudentsinsmall groupssothestorytellers have
5 Askthelistenerstotellthestoriestheyhaveheardtoother
students.
7.6 Hiding things
Before class
Preparetotellthestudents astoryfrom yourownexperienceof
peoplehidingthings. Forexample,myson,whenhewassix,hidhis
Christmaspresentsfor thefamily sosecurelythateven hecouldnot
find themonDecember24!
In class
1Tellyourstory.
2 Askthestudentsto thinkofstoriesofthingsth;}tgothiddenand
topreparetotell them.Discouragethemfrom writingthemdown.
Suggesttheymumbletheirstoriesthroughto themselves.
3 Put thestudentsinsmall groupssothatpeoplewhohavecomeup
with storiescantell them.
4 Askthelisteners to tell thestoriestheyhavel1eard to peoplefrom
othergroups.
7.7 Heroes and heroines
1'1, I' I I I. \. 11 i1'1 ,1.1" i111' '.1 or\, of',OIIH'Olll' VIllI rl')\:lrtl ;\.,<;j hero.
Ill' I Ill. 1,1 U "Pl' 111 ",ll I.IIIIII\' III ,ll111lllf', >'1111 Ili"Il<I" '.Clllll
\. .. ,I ., ,,' I 111111 ,d rill' 1'.1'.1
J.
From the past
In class
1 Tellyourstory.
2 Asktheclasstothinkoftheirownherolberoinestories. It is quite
agoodideato allowthisto bedoneas homework,sothatstu-dents
havea chancetogetthedetailsright. Youshouldmakeitclear,
however,thattheyshouldnotproducewritten accounts.
3 Groupthosewhohavecome upwithstorieswiththosewhohave
not.
4 Askstudentsto tell theirstoriestotheothersintheirgroup.
5 Askthosewhowereonlylisteners totell whatthey haveheard to
peoplein theothergroups.
EXAMPLE mygrandfather- a miner- duringa strikehewaited
forthepolicevans to arrive- rolled rocksoffa bridgeontothe
vans- when thestrikewasover hecould notfind workin anypit
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This idea camefrom Paul Davis.
7.8 Stories from jobs
Before class
Preparetotell a story involvingan experienceatwork,eitherabout
yourselforabouta closefriend orrelative.With urban,middle-class
studentgroups,stOries drawnfromexperiencesas anunskilled
workeroftenhavea powerfulshockvalue: theyaresurprisedatthe
richnessofjobstheyhad consideredemptyormindless.
In class
1 TellyourstOry.
2 Askthestudentsto respond with job-relatedstoriesoftheirown,
oroftheirfriends orrela tives.
EXAMPLE a carparkattendant- satin hutcollectingmoney - a
windowontheworld- businessmenwouldlingerin rheircars
heforetnkingrhem Ollt: theW'lstt"pap<:r hillS werefull oft1H'
t hev 11;1<1 he('I] !"l'ad,ill/!, - rid] peoplewould ;11 riil'l 1,'1' ,Iy
11 vI'I Il.ll' i 11) I nI' I' 11 ,I d d Ii"\ .1, 1\'\'.1 .1 lc'\\' IIIi 11111 \' ,d I. I ""II III .1
Shame
hour-,somewouldsitintheircarsfor 55minutes justtogettheir
moneysworth- peoplecomingfrom thedivorcecourtnextdoor
wouldtell himall abouttheirmarriages: hewasthefirst human
beingtheymetaftertheirdivorce
ACKNOWlEDGElvlE0JT Paul Davissuggestedthisexercise.
7.9 Shame
Skeleton
The orchard
Boy asksfathertotake him towork
Fatherrefuses:worktoo hard
Boy begs, insists
Fatheragrees
Theywalkoutoftowntoorchards
Fathertells boytoshoutifanyonecanseehim
Climbsoverwall and up tree
Father's handtouchesapple
'Someonecanseeyou,Father'
'Who?'
'God.Whatyouaredoing is shameful.'
(Jordanianstorytoldto us by LindsayBrown)
In class
1 Tellthestory.
2 Askthestudentsifthestorycalled tomindanysituationin which
theywereinvolved.
3 Groupstudentsin fives toexchangestories, reactionsandideas.
Section8
VanishingStories
In class
1 Writethefollowingstoryonthe board:
'Godis everywhere,absolutelyeverywhere'thelittle boywastold
by hisserious, grey-beardedelders,andso, reachingupon tiptoe,
hegrabhed ahalf-openmatchboxfromoHthemantelpiece,
snappeditshutandcried: 'Got'im!'
2 Explaintothestudentsthattheyaregoing toreducethissentence
as muchas theycan. Givethemtheserules:
(a) Youmaytakeonewordout.
(b) You may taketwoconsecutivewords out.
(c) You may takeOllt threeconsecutivewords.
(d) You mustnotaddanything.
(el Youmustnotchangeotmodifyanywords.
(fl Youmustnotmove anywords.
(g) Youmay delete, change,ordeletepunctuationasneeded.
(h) Aftereach deletionthestudentwhohasproposeditmustread'
theremainingsentence aloud: this mustbe grammatically
correctandmusthavea meaning,thoughrhemeaningmay
changeastheexerciseprogresses.
3 Assoonasastudentsuggestsa deletion,rub itoutatonce,without
hesitation. Itis thestudent whomustjustifythedeletion,notyou.
Oftenasrudentwhowantstodeletea word thatmakes the
sentencenon-grammaticalornonsensical, realisesthisforhimself
orherselfin the' processoftryingtoreadit aloud.Iftheresultant
sentenceis wrongandthestudentdoesnotrealiseit,turnsilently
totheothersandasktheir opinionwith yourface. Ifno one
realisesitis wrong,putbacktheword(s)deletedwithoutcomment.
NOTES In this exercisethereis noneedfor youtospeakatall. You
candemandre-readingsorindicatedoubtby gesture,Thismakesthe
studentsconcentratemuchharderonthe boardandleavesspacefor
themtothink.Givetimeforthestudentyou areworkingwithatany
glvenmomenttodecidefor himselforherselfwhctlwIthe
dl'iclioll k:1V('S thes('11I('ncl' acceptahleorIlut.
'I'h<' ",1"(1111' 1l1.ly \\,<,111)(' ;d,!t-I(lI,',IIlt'l"lw(Hi)'.il1.1i
Vanishing stories
word (thoughthisshouldnotbeanabsoluteaim),ashappenedin
theexamplegiven below.
VARIAnON Ifyouhaveaccesstoanordinarydomesticmicrocom-
puter,youmayliketowritea programtohandle thetextdisplayand
deletionprocess. A featureofyourprogram,whichwouldbean
advantageoverblackboarddisplay,could beasub-routinetorecall
thevariousstagesoftheexercises: detailedgrammaticaldiscussion
could thenbepostponed!to a moreopportunemoment.
'Godis everywhere, ,the htrle boy was
told byhisserious,grey-beardedelders, andso, reachingupon
tiptoe,hegrabbed ahalf-open matchboxfromoffrhe manrel-
piece,snappedit shutandcried: 'Got'im!'
'Godis everywhere, ,the litrle boy was
told byhis elders, andso, reachingupon
tiptoe, he grabbeda half-openmatchboxfromoffthemantel-
piece,snappeditshutandcried: 'Got'im!'
'Godis everywhere, 'the little boy was
told byhis elders, andso, reachingup on
tiptoe,he grabbedahalf-openmatchboxfrom rhe manrel-
piece, snappeditshutandcried: 'Got'im!'
'Godis everywhere, 'the littleboywas
told ,andso, reachingup on
tiptoe, he grabbedahalf-open nyHchbox from rhe manrel-
piece, snappeditshutandcriecY:'Gor'im!'
'Godis everywhere, 'thelittleboywas
told ' ,andso, reachingup on
tiptoe, he grabbedahalf-open matchbox' ,
,snappeditshutand cried: 'Got'im!'
'Godis everywhere, ,thelittle boywas
told ,andso, reachingup on
tiptoe,he grabbedahalf-openO1archbox
,snappeditshut ;'Got'im!'
'Godis ,the boy was
raid ,and so,reachingup on
tiptoc, he grabbedahalf-open matchbox
, itshut :'Gor'im!'
'( .,I, IIt, (-he hoy was
I',1,,1 ,:Jt1d so, rt':ll-hill!!,Ill'Oil
I1lil",1 11' 1'1, d.I",,,I h,d! 111"'11 Ill.1l\.;hl ... \
11 '1'1'. ,I '( ;,,1 'IIII!'
,11,
'Ill
Vanishing stories Vanishing stories
'God is the boy was
told , and so, reaching up
he grabbed a half-open matchbox
,snapped ; 'Got 'im"
'God is ' [he boy was
he grabbed a matchbox
, snapped : 'Got'im!'
'God !' the boy was
,snapped : 'Got 'im!'
'God!' the boy was
told; reaching up
, he grabbed a matchbox
, snapped ; 'Got'im!'
'God!' the boy was
told;
snapped ; 'Got'im!'
'God!' the boy was
told;
he grabbed a matchbox.
'God was
told;
'God was
He grabbed a matchbox.
Matchbox!
RATIONALE This is an excellent exercise to do with tired students
as it requires and gets high concentration. Perhaps this is because so
many skills and operations are happening almost at once:
silent reading for mean,ing
l"t'ading aloud - intonatiol! - rhyllll11
checking inflectional possibilities
checking syntactic possibilities
listening very closely for meaning
CHOICE OF STORY The story you start out with must be one
sentence and no more. (It sometimes breaks into two or more during
the reduction process.)
Here is an example of a traditional story compressed into one
sentence;
The greedy mayor and bloated aldermen refused to pay the Pied
Piper the gold they had promised him for luring the rats of HameJin
into the fast-Howing river, which made him so angry that he led
away the children of the city, who vanished for ever into the
mounrainside.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We learnt this exercise from our exposure
to Silent Way, though we do not know whether this form of reduction
was invented by Caleb Gattegno, thought up by people round him or
indeed incorporated in Silent Way practice from earlier thinking by
others.
1/111 1111
Music
Section9 Revision
9.1 Astoryyou reallyliked
In class
When the students have done half a dozen story activities over a
period of time, ask which stories they can recalL Ask students each
to pick one story they like and come to the next lesson ready to tell
it.
In next class
Pair students and ask them to retell the story of their choice. Make
sure they do not work with a neighbour who is a habitual partner.
TELL NOT REPEAT In this type of revision exercise the students
are not simply repeating a story they have heard or told or both.
They are rejecting stories they didn'tldon't like and reworking the
story of their choice. Providing they have not been asked to do
written telling of stories, they have no frozen record to refer back to.
They have to re-invent the story from the fragments they recall which
may well include a mixture of plot strands, memorable sentences and
their own reaction at the time of first hearingltelling. As important
as all the above is that they tell the story to a person to whom they
have not told this story before - stories change a lot in telling them
to different audiences.
9.2 Music
In class
When a nUllIlwl Id ,.IOl'll'S h,lve heen worked on in class ask the
students, EOI hlllJII'Work, [0 choose a story and find a i ~ of music
they feel gOl'S willl 11. Thl' musical passage, snatch of song, etc.
should not he (HOrl' LlLltl two minutes long; ask them to come with a
cassette ready ,Il lIll' start of the bit chosen,
In next class
Find Ollt how m:l1lY people have done the homework. Ask one of
them to play his or her piece on the class tape-recorder. He or she
then tells the story to the whole group. Repeat with other students.
RATIONALE Even if the student told his or her story to someone
when he or she first worked with it, this second telling will be very
different from the first. The telling will be affected by the passage of
time, by the recall work involved in choosing story A rather than
story B, by the thought entailed in choosing the music, and finally by
telling the story to an audience under the influence of the music.
NOTE This exercise may not be feasible if the students are away
from their own collections of music.
V A R [ATI 0 N The exercise can be done in the Ianguage lab if yours
has a group-work facility that allows one student to speak to three or
four others and that allows them to listen to his or her machine. In
the lab, a student who has brought a cassette plays his or her music
to a small group and tells the accompanying story while the same is
~ o i n on in other groups in different parts of the lab.
11' I
Revision
9.3 Doodlestripreview
In class
In order to encourage students to recall and rcteU stories they have
heard earlier in their COurse:
1 Ask the students to think back over the stories they have heard
and to draw any images that come to mind.
2 Ask them to choose one image and to develop it as d doodJestrip
(see 6.9).
3 Invite them to show ea-ch other their strips and toexplain how
they reflect the story.
In one group, a student produced this strip to convey the story of the
Pied Piper (see p.10l).
~
(j)
, " I
" J' '
,,," , , f'r
, ,,' -+
"""
,"' I ,
,
..
,
'-"., ~ J')
'I r
, I ; .
7 ,
t j "
.
,
NOTE Before asking the group to try this exercise, you should have
worked through one or more sessions of Doodlestrips (see 6.9).
Section10 Storypool
A Snow
The typist in the office was happy
'SnowI Snow
l
'
Everyone except him crowded to the window to see
'All you want is to be on your own.'
But this was not true
Leaving office, he told typist she had a hair on her coat
He didn't go home
He walked through the snow
He went to a bar, had a brandy
Didn't know how to start conversation in bar
Left, walked on through snow
Round a corner he saw man in the shadow, bowler hat
on head
At first afraid
Then saw other was all alone, like him, in the night
His heart opened to stranger - he told everything bottled
upforsolong
Told everything to snowman with bowler hat
(after Antonis Samarakis, ZititeElpis)
B Thepulllover
David's gran gave him pullover with flowers on
He hated it
'Lost' it - parents always found it
Left it in garden - dog brought it in
Put it in washing machine on 'Hot' - would not shrink
Out walking one day
Found loose thread in sleeve - pulled it
Crow swooped down - grabbed end of thread
Crow flc;)w into tree - w'ound pull,over off David
M.ut" 111'1
I J 101 1',1\1111 '.h'IWf'i1 '11.111111'011'''.1
J III
Revision
9.3 Doodlestripreview
In class
In order to encourage students to recall and rcteU stories they have
heard earlier in their COurse:
1 Ask the students to think back over the stories they have heard
and to draw any images that come to mind.
2 Ask them to choose one image and to develop it as d doodJestrip
(see 6.9).
3 Invite them to show ea-ch other their strips and toexplain how
they reflect the story.
In one group, a student produced this strip to convey the story of the
Pied Piper (see p.10l).
~
(j)
, " I
" J' '
,,," , , f'r
, ,,' -+
"""
,"' I ,
,
..
,
'-"., ~ J')
'I r
, I ; .
7 ,
t j "
.
,
NOTE Before asking the group to try this exercise, you should have
worked through one or more sessions of Doodlestrips (see 6.9).
Section10 Storypool
A Snow
The typist in the office was happy
'SnowI Snow
l
'
Everyone except him crowded to the window to see
'All you want is to be on your own.'
But this was not true
Leaving office, he told typist she had a hair on her coat
He didn't go home
He walked through the snow
He went to a bar, had a brandy
Didn't know how to start conversation in bar
Left, walked on through snow
Round a corner he saw man in the shadow, bowler hat
on head
At first afraid
Then saw other was all alone, like him, in the night
His heart opened to stranger - he told everything bottled
upforsolong
Told everything to snowman with bowler hat
(after Antonis Samarakis, ZititeElpis)
B Thepulllover
David's gran gave him pullover with flowers on
He hated it
'Lost' it - parents always found it
Left it in garden - dog brought it in
Put it in washing machine on 'Hot' - would not shrink
Out walking one day
Found loose thread in sleeve - pulled it
Crow swooped down - grabbed end of thread
Crow flc;)w into tree - w'ound pull,over off David
M.ut" 111'1
I J 101 1',1\1111 '.h'IWf'i1 '11.111111'011'''.1
J III
Story pool
C Honour
Teenagerlostherjob
Fatherpoliceman- didn'ttell
Leftforworkeach morning
Returnedeach evening
Severalweekslikethis
Fatheraskedforrent
Shestole
Policeinvestigated
Fatherhadcase hushed up
Then hethrewherout
(newsitem)
D Thefigtree
Mukami,young,beautiful
Muthogaalreadyhasfourwives,manychildren
Shefallsin lovewith him
Fatheragainstmatch- saysMuthogabeatswives
Reluctantlyfatheragrees
Marry
Otherwivesjealous- Muthogabeatsthem-lovesher
Firstyearfine
After2yearsMukamistillchildless
Husbandcools
Afterthreeyears he beatsher- seemstowanttokill her
Mukamileaveshouse
Cannotreturntofather
Walksintobush- to wheredeadareburied
Owls,hyenas,windhowls,skydark
Comestoclearingofholyfigtree belongstogod
Murungu
Sheltersbeneathit,sleeps
Dream - god'swifetouchesher
Wakes- realisesshe is pregnant,several months
Walksbacktohusband'shouse
Acowmoos
(af!HrNUllO! Wi) ThiollllO, inMnrn M()r!I.'rn Ar,il',lI/ :,f"I/'''.}
E Ivar
IVBI' greatpoetofIceland
Sailed to Norwaywith brother
King madehimcourtpoet
Ivarsentbrotherbackwith messageforSWfotl" III
Asked hertowaitforhim
Sweetheartfell in lovewith brother
Theymarried
IvartoIceland
Discoveredtruth
Backto Norway
Each daymoremiserable
King: 'Angrywithsomeonehere?'lvar: 'No'
King: 'Morehonours?'Ivar: 'No'
King: 'Awoman?''Yes'
'Shall Isend forher?''Married'
'Another?''Nohelp'
'ThenwhenIam free,you can talkto meofhm
sadnesslessenswhenyou can talk'
'You honourme, myLord'
(:nrom theIcelandic)
F Inthecellar
Armyretreat
Hidingin basement- verytired,nofood,dark
Suddenly:TICK-TACKin nextcellar
Again
Terror
Grippedmachine-gun
Friendwithtorch
TICK-TACK
Tiptoedto door
TICK-TACK
Burstin
'wnflnns onasee-sawin corner
III.
Story pool
G The donkey
Two thieves see idiot leading donkey along road
Decide to steal it
One slips collar off donkey - takes donkey's place
Other takes donkey, s.ell in market
After a mile, idiot sees thief in donkey's collar
Thief explains:
Under curse for drinking, beating mother
Now curse lifted - mother must have forgiven
Idiot gives him money - sends him off
Idiot to market to buy new donkey
Recognises old one
'Aha! Been beating your mother again! Shan't buy you
again !'
(from 1007 Nights)
H Oogledeboo
'Make a penny go away, Granddad'
He took penny, blew, it disappeared
'Again'
He did
'How?'
'I say "oogledeboo" and it vanishes'
She tries, it vanishes, Granddad leaves, puzzled
Next day she goes shopping with Mummy
Fat lady in way
'Oogledeboo'
Lady vanishes
Then she vanishes furniture, lift full of people, neighbour's
son
Parents ca II doctors, psych iatrists, conju ro rs
No effect
One day Granddad comes
Tells her to bring things and people back
'How?'
Must say 'oogledeboo' backwards
She does
Tllinns iJ rt
11 ) l
Story pool
She tries to vClnish things again
Fails
'Pity, Granddad'
(after Will F. Jenkins, in Saturday Evening Post Reader
of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
The man, the snake, and the stone
Man lifts flat stone by road
Snake comes out - says will kill man
Man begs for one chance
Snake: 'We'll ask next creature we meet to decide'
Meet sheep - against man - mutton
One more chance
Meet horse - against man - slavery
One more chance
Meet fox
Asks them to take him back to stone
Tells snake to lie where he was
Fox replaces stone on snake
Fox asks payment
Go to man's house
Man gives chicken in sack
Says open sack away from house - neighbours won't like
him helping fox
'Go to that clump of trees, it's quiet there'
Fox goes
Hunters in trees
Shoot fox
Matter settled
And man? His turn still to come
(after Idries Shah, Caravan of Dreams)
111'1
Story pool
J The baby
Village family: 14 children
very poor
father places eldest daughter, 12, in service in town
one less mouth to feed
she works 15-hour day
mistress has baby
she looks after baby while mistress works
half day off per week - gets pregnant
mistress discovers - sacks her
nowhere to go
she meets a pimp...
K The husband
Cold night
Traveller crossing moor
Knocked on farm door
Woman by corpse - candle light
'He's just died in my arms'
Wept
Asked traveller to watch corpse
Fear
Came back with young man
Gave the two men tea
Young man into bedroom
She too
Corpse opened eyes
Looked at traveller
(after JI.M. Synge, The Aran Islands)
L Enkidu
Goddess pictured Enkidu in her mind's eye
Took water, clay -let it fall in desert
Enkidu made
I I ()
Story pool
He ran with gazelle -long hair like woman - hair matted
on body
Trapper's son saw him at water-hole - froze with fear
Told father 'This man is strongest in world - tears up
my traps. Help me'
Father told him to go to city and get woman
Trapper's son to city
Brought woman to waterhole
They waited there three days
Then Enkidu came with gazelle
Trapper's son to woman: 'show yourself naked, teach him'
She did
Enkidu spent seven nights with her
He went back to gazelle, they bolted, his knees gave way
He came to her
Sat at her feet
Said 'Take me to the city'
(From the Epic of Gilgamesh)
M Ophir
Fifteenth-century Venice
Old man, tattered, dirty, askl? to see doge
Tells how he visited fabled land of Ophir
Asks doge for ship to return and bring back treasure!
Doge, Bishop question him
Tells them - sailed round Africa
Flew inland on winged horses
People of Ophir traded iron for gold
Shipwreck - treasure lost
Bishop: 'Are there centaurs there?' No
'Birds of bronze with steel beaks?' No
'What trees?' Palms
Bishop says man is liar
"Iore are centaurs, birds of bronze
III I", r8
I I 11' I I 'I"" ,1/"" '1'1,/1./1. ;,,,",''.)
I11
Story pool
I\J A horserace
Merchanthad twolazysons
Theygambled,raced horses
Lefthisfortunetoone ofhis sons- no division
A horseracetodecidewhoinherits
Sonwhosehorse reachesLondon Bridgelast willwin
Merchantdied
Sonsbeganrace
Sixmonthslatertheyhad gonetwomiles
Anoldmansawthem-laughed
'Youcan endtheracetodayif.. .'
Advicewas?
o Thewisdomoftheworld
Tortoisedecidesto collectall wisdom in world
Doesso
Putsitingourdandsealsitup
Goesto hideituptree
Puts roperoundgourd,hangsitroundneck
Startstoclimb,findshe cannot
Huntercomesalong
'Hang gourdon back'
Tortoiserealiseshe cannotcollectall wisdom
Throwsgourd away
Itbreaks
Bitsflyall overworld
Youwantwisdom?
Go andtryto findsomeofthebits
(after'Tortoiseandthewisdomoftheworld'in
Folk Tales and Fables, ed. P, ltayemi& P. Gurrey)
Story /I( 11,1
IIH'plllH andthepea
01111 01 1'111111'
W 1111,"II" IIHII'Y;1princess
[111111 1{I,d1'11111
Ill'wIII !Hld'
()III',1.111. III Ihl
: ;1111 ) Il I ,1111 Ii 11 t ni n9 tl1under
Know 11 (lilt)!"
Killl1 Wlllll downstairs,openedup
11 princess
l)IIPPlllqwet
Kill[J hasidea
Invitedherin- food,clean clothes
Becl fornight- specialbed!
20 mattresses,20featherbeds
And underall: one pea
Princesstobed
Notawinkofsleep
Bed toolumpy
Aha! areal princess
Princefell in love
Married
Happyeverafter
Andthepea isinthepalacestill,unlesssomeone has
walked offwithit
So itwasatruestory
(afterH.C. Andersen)
I I I I
Story pool
Story pool
Q The poem
Great battle - victo ry
King to poet: 'Celebrate my victory in song'
A year passes - a great poem
King gives poet silver mirror
'Now make a greater poem'
A year passes - second poem is mag nificent
Much shorter
King gives poet golden mask
'Now a third - the greatest'
A year passes - poet whispers poem to king
Single line of verse
'True poetry'
King gives poet dagger of iron
Poet leaves palace - kills himself
King leaves palace - a wandering beggar
(after J.L. Barges, The Mirror and the Mask)
R An old man
West of Ireland
Film location
Sea, moorland
Director meets old man - wants him to act in film
'You should see my father'
Father lives in hut by sea
Doesn't speak English
Unbelievabllyold
Son translates - father agrees to act
Filming takes two weeks
Final scene: old man looks to sea, as family leave for USA
Director whispers to son
Son translates
Retake of'scene- S<lITH:, bllt old rntJ ~ ~ y e s It 1111 r I. )1'1"",1
hllJe with 11:;11 :;
End of film
Photographer takes pola roid of old man
Hands it to him
He looks, snarls, tears up photo
Storms of muttering in Gaelic
The son translates:
'This is a picture of an old man'
(after Harry Towb)
S Ants
I saw a family of red ants - stamped on them
But I had stamped on other children
I walked on
Looked back - ant following me
Saw where I lived
Next day ants big as people came to our house
We ran away
Moved to better house
(Deborah, aged 10)
11,
I I I
Story pool
T The magic barrel
New York student: to become rabbi
Needs wife
Calls matchmaker
Photographs: widow, lame girl, schoolteacher
Ag rees to meet teacher
Disaster - he is shy
Matchmaker returns - more photographs
He has a barrel full of them, he says
Student sends him away
Photos left on table - packet with six in colour and one
in black and white
Black and white photo shows girl with deep eyes, a girl
who has suffered
He falls in love
Goes to matchmaker's home - bare, no furniture,
no barrel
'Who is this girl'
Matchmaker turns white: 'my daughter - an error, not
for you - dead'
Student doesn't believe him - demands to meet her
'She disgraced us'
Insists - meeting under streetlamp
A thin, pale girl, gaudily dressed
Tart?
In the shadows, her father chants prayer for the dead
(after Bernard Malamud, The Magic Barrel)
I 1/,
Story !JOol
Notes and sug "_ ions
The stories coIl '('ll'd ill Ill' Story pool are intended as a supplement
to the stories to Iw hlllnd ill the body of this book, and as a starting-
point for te;H.:!ll'rS who \vant to build up their own storytelling
repertoire. We havl', therefore, not provided lesson notes or exercise
materials for them. As an example of how the stories in the pool
might be nseJ, the following is offered as a suggestion:
Story Exercises
A 2.5 (you will need to write your own theme words)
2.9
3.1 (parallel with story E)
B 2.3
2.14 (in place at the anecdote given)
C 2.2
3.1 (parallel with story J)
5.3 (you will need to select your own 'content words')
7.9
D 2.5 (you will need to write your own theme words)
5.4
E 2.7
3.1 (parallel with story A)
3.2 (you will need to construct your own 'word rose')
F 2.8 (e.g. tell astar as penultimate line only)
G 2.10
H 2.4
I 2.2
2.13 (break at line 13)
4.2 (try finding your own theme sentences, e.g. 'Death before
dishonour')
J 3.1 (parallel with story C)
3.4
K 6.7 (start ate.g.line 11)
L 2.5 (you will need to write your own theme words)
M 2.6
2.7
1.2 (you will need to construct your own 'word rose')
N ) I)
( I
, I
(' I 1 \' Illwl It'\'\'1 ill' rill' 'i1()l'y >'Olll''iI'H 'in new dollll''i' 01' gl'l
I1,1 t I i . I' I \ "1'/' 11 I, 111
I I
Story pool
Q 2.6
2.9
4.4 (pictures of e.g. crown, mask, dagger, beggar)
R 3.2 (you will need to make your own 'word rose')
4.2 (you wiJ[ need to write your own theme sentences)
6.2 (this story provides a good opportunity to try writing
'comprehension questions' ohhis sort)
5 2.6
4.3 (ant)
T 2.1 (either write the questions yourself, or get one class to
write the questions for another group)
2.7
11,
Posts ript
Books like this have no real business to finish, ThL' rl',ltkl '()ldd
usefully and excitingly go on into the following ;lI'e;1S:
1 Guided fantasies. The group leader, after Cl relaxatioll
talks the participants through the outline of a fant;lsy so cOllsrnlClnl
as ro leave the whole filling-out of the situation to the expcrienn:
and imagination of the listener. A well-conducted guided biHasy
leaves the participant more with the sense of having lived through
a novel or dream than a short story, though the time of the tdlillg
is perhaps no more than five minutes, excluding pauses for inller
imaginative work.
2 Recall of buried stories from childhood. Everybody has stOries
heard in childhood and of great significance then, which resist
being dug up. They seem often to surface only in fragments, ami
areas in and around them are often blocked.
3 Childhood fantasies. The waking dreams people wove for thelll
selves as children, before reaching sleep. They may have b'cn
influenced by elements from such SOl,lrces as adult tellers, TV,
radio and books. They may had to do with atc;1S like fears,
omnipotence, sexuality.
4 Dreams. There are a number of non-judgemental, l1ol1"<:1nalyric
ways of working with dreams as stories variously understood hy
different people in a group. There are, too, the Gesralt ltchlfiqlll'S
for exploring a dream from the point of view of objects and
people within it.
':lle have not included exercise material in the above areas bCGII1Sl.'
our teaching situation did not allow us to reach the depth of 111l1tlLli
truSl required 10 enter such delicate and fraught territory. PCOpll'
interested in guided fantasies might find these two books of illtcn's(:
G. Moskowitz, Caring and Sharing in the Foreip,n J.i7Il'.;l!dkl'
Classroom, Newburv House, 1971'\,
John O. Stcvcns, Au/(/rc!'/c.:;s: I I'Xjll'rill/('lltin,l!., 1',\'/JI'ril'/I, III,r:,
l{",d l'l'upk 1'1'",,\, 111;\11, I !,
011 11, 1111" h", I", I III ',1 Cl 1 \ Will I, 11' III I ,11 l \ Ill', I 111'11 ( .11.1I111 'I I 1,,j
! >1 ,,111' ,11" I: I ,,11'1.11 .Ill "',11. 1 11,1
1.,1 I'''' ,,I i III
I I

Once Upon A Time

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CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOKS H1R IANGt:i\GE TEACHERS

GeneralEditors: MichaelSwanandRoger Bowers

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