CHAPTER 8

LESSON DESIGN IN TEACHING PROSE

Module Introduction/Rationale
This module introduces the teaching of prose which enables the students to understand
the passage, to read fluently, to enrich their vocabulary and to enjoy reading and writing. It
enables the learners to extend their knowledge of vocabulary and structures and to become
more proficient in the four language skills. It develops students’ ability of speaking English
correctly and fluently.
Module Outcomes
This module aims to acquaint the learners with the knowledge about Prose, Lesson design
emphasizing the strategies to be used and other concepts about prose.
Lesson Title
LESSON DESIGN IN TEACHING PROSE
Learning Outcomes: At the end of the course, the students must have:
1. demonstrated appropriate skills on how to design a lesson in teaching prose;
2. discussed thoroughly important concepts concerning prose;
3. enumerated examples of prose; and
4. recorded a video showcasing a demonstrating teaching about prose or any literary
type.
Activate:
Ponder on the questions:
What are some examples of prose that you could remember? What are some of the qualities of
the prose which made them pass the test of time?

ACQUIRE

What is a prose?

Etymologically the word "prose" is derived from the Old French "prose" which in turn
originated in the Latin expression “prosa oratio” which means "literally straight forward or direct
speech."
Prose is the written in words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs and chapters. It utilizes
punctuation, grammar and vocabulary to develop its message. Prose is made up of fiction and
nonfiction. Fiction includes novels, Mystery stories, detective stories, romance, short stories,
historical fiction etc. whereas Nonfiction writing includes essays, autobiographies, speeches,
journals and articles.

Teaching Prose
The main aim of teaching prose is to develop the language ability of the learners. It is the
intensive study of a language. The language ability helps the learners to use the English
language without any problem. Prose is meant for learning a language. Teaching prose means
teaching reading with comprehension. The learners are taught the skill of reading. The next step
is to teach them reading with comprehension. Reading with comprehension helps the learners
to acquire new vocabulary and content words. The power of comprehension can be promoted
through reading and listening.
Types of Prose
Prose includes fiction and non-fiction items. Fiction includes novels, mystery, detective,
romance, short stories, historical fiction, and narratives. Nonfiction writing includes essays,
autobiographies, speeches, journals and articles. We can divide the prose into the following
types according to function. Narrative: Narration is generally called as story-telling. It is narrated
in chronological order of events. Narrative questions like what happened, how did it happen?
Who did it? Where was it done? Personal experiences, accidents, reports etc. belong to this
category.  Argumentative: It persuades to believe something. It examines different facts and
opinions and arrives at a conclusion.  Descriptive: It describes prose, and focuses on
significant details. This description could be related to persons, places, processes, and objects.
 Informative: It communicates information; generally, it is seen in newspapers, reports,
textbooks, etc

The main aims of teaching prose are

a) literary and
b) content

GENERAL AIMS OF TEACHING PROSE:

To enable the students
1. To understand the passage and grasp its meaning.
2. To read with correct pronunciation, stress, intonation, pause and articulation
of voice.
3. To enable students to understand the passage by silent reading.
4. To enrich their active and passive vocabulary.
5. To express the ideas of the passage orally and in writing.
 6. To enjoy reading and writing.
7. To develop their imagination.
8. To prepare the students for world citizenship.

The specific aims of prose change according to the subject matter like biography, play, story
and essay.
SPECIFIC AIMS OF A STORY:
1. The learners learn a few facts through the story.
2. To teach morals.
3. To mold one’s character.
4. Exposure to the style of story writing.

SPECIFIC AIMS OF AN ESSAY:

1. The learners learn a few facts through the essay.
2. To make students curious about the subject of essay.
3. Exposure to the style of essay-writing.
4. To arrange ideas in an organized manner.
SPECIFIC AIMS OF A BIOGRAPHY:
1. The learners are exposed to the lives of great men.
2. To mould one’s character.
3. Aspiration for better things in life.
4. To inculcate in them desirable sentiments.

SPECIFIC AIMS OF A PLAY:

1. To provide opportunities for self-expression.
2. To play different roles.
3. To speak English in the conversational style.
4. To mold one’s character.
DIFFERENT STEPS INVOLVED IN TEACHING PROSE:
A prose lesson is not for memorization of questions and answers but for learning a
language. The prose lesson contains structure, vocabulary, grammar, views and ideas for
comprehension. The students read prose with comprehension and write sentences about the
lesson using the correct structures and content words.
The steps for teaching of prose may be summed up as follows.
1. Introducing the prose lesson
2. Teaching structures
3. Dividing the text into smaller units
4. Teaching vocabulary
5. Model reading by the teacher
6. Silent reading by the students
7. Testing comprehension
8. Testing application
9. Loud reading by the students and
10. Giving assignment
1. INTRODUCING THE PROSE LESSON
Introduction of a lesson is to fulfill two purposes.
They are;
a) To recollect the past knowledge.
b) To win student’s attention to the new subject.
Teachers should try to motivate the students to study the new lesson. The various efforts made
by the teacher to create interest or to attract the attention of the students is known as
preparation of the lesson. The teacher introduces the lesson by asking appropriate questions.
He uses models or pictures. The questions arouse the interest for the new lesson. The teacher
tests the previous knowledge of the students and links it to the subject.

2.Teaching structures:
A new structural item is presented by the teacher to enable the students to identify the new
structures. In introducing structures, substitution table is of great help. It highlights the elements
of the pattern and their order and nature.
Secondly, the teacher presents the structure in readily understandable
situations. It helps the students to cleat its meaning and use. This helps them not only to
understand the meaning of the new item but also its use in different contexts. Opportunities are
provided to the students to use the structures themselves.

3.Dividing the text into smaller units:

Reading long passages of a text may be tiresome for the teacher. So, the text will have to be
split up into smaller, more manageable units or sections. This will facilitate the teacher to
present the lesson interestingly and efficiently.

4.Teaching vocabulary:
The teacher uses an object, a model or a picture to give clear ideas about new words and their
meaning.
The meaning may be explained through ‘real situation’.
5.Model Reading by the Teacher:
The teacher reads the selected passage aloud. He should be careful about pronunciation,
words, phrases & intonation in his reading before the students. His reading is observed by the
learners and imitated. This model reading by the teachers helps the students for aural
comprehension. The teacher gives instructions regarding postures and attention. The teacher
should not be completely absorbed in his reading.

6.Silent Reading by the students:

The teacher gives time for the students to read the passage silently. Silent reading is helpful for
rapid reading, learning of new words and a quick understanding of meaning. A short time of five
to ten minutes for silent reading is followed in every session.
7.Testing Comprehension:
To check the students’ comprehension ability, the teacher asks questions to the students. The
questions are from the taught passage. The question should be direct, short and objective
based. The same procedure i.e. steps 4, 5, 6 & 7 can be followed for the other units of the
lesson.

8.Testing application:
The aim of application test is to evaluate the achievement of the learners. The questions may be
of oral or written type. After teaching of structure or vocabulary, the teacher normally asks the
students to do the exercises given at the end of the lesson.

9.Loud reading by the students:

The teacher asks the students to read the taught units loudly in the class one by one. To
develop clear pronunciation this loud reading is very much helpful. It improves the tone, rhythm
and fluency. Each student is asked to read a short passage. At the end of reading, the errors of
pronunciations are corrected. Students should be asked to keep the books 30 cm away from
the eyes. They hold their books on the left hand and the right hand is free. The teacher needs to
exercise more care at the time of students’ reading.
10. Giving assignment:
Assignments to the students are given by the teacher for the following purposes.
a) To remember the meaning and spelling of new words.
b) To use the words in sentences.
c) To write the gist of the passage.
d) To answer the questions.
e) To do the exercises based on the taught units.
Lesson Planning of Prose
. The lesson to be delivered in prose involves various steps. These various steps are called as
the components of a lesson plan. The steps are as under:
1. Motivation. Each and every subject or language demands motivation to attract the attention of
students. So teachers should motivate the students to study the lesson. Motivation in
introducing an English lesson includes all the tactics that a teacher applies to take the students
to that point where they are ready to learn the lesson. It may include the use of teaching aids
like flash cards, models, charts, posters, material aids etc use of previous knowledge of the
students and then a brief introduction about the lesson. The teacher can introduce the lesson by
testing the pre requisite knowledge assumed. He can ask a few questions in the beginning.
These are called as the introductory questions and are asked to arouse the curiosity among the
students for new lesson. The motivation or introductory session should automatically and
spontaneously lead to the point where the teacher can declare the day’s topic and move on to
the presentation part.

2. Presentation. This is the main and the lengthiest part of lesson plan. The teacher has to
present the lesson keeping in view the attention, retention and grasp of the students. It should
neither be very short nor too lengthy. Presentation part includes following subdivisions. a. Model
reading by the Teacher. In case of a prose lesson, the teacher should read out the material
loudly being sure that his voice is audible. He should be very clear about the pronunciation,
intonation, stress, rhythm, style etc. The teacher has to expose clear and explain the new
words, difficult words, structures, idioms, phrases and other grammatical items.

. 3. Recapitulation. The teacher may again sum up what was taught in the day’s lesson. The
teacher may clarify the student’s doubts, if any, and may explain few words or sentences again
and which he thinks need more repetitive and elaboration. Then the teacher proceeds on to the
last step of the lesson.
4. Evaluation. The main objective of evaluation is to test whether the set objective has been
achieved or not. At the end of each lesson, the teacher should put some application questions
to evaluate the success of the lesson plan in achieving the predetermined objectives. The
evaluation can be carried out by means of questions, assignments, blackboard work,
dramatization etc.
Some examples of evaluation are: a. Explain the passage either orally of in writing. b. Fill
in the blanks. c. Some simple and important questions from the prose lesson. d. Writing some
difficult words on the blackboard and asking individual students to read, explain, give meaning,
or frame sentences. e. Framing structures using substitution table. f. Dramatizing the prose
lesson. g. Some assignment given to student.

Prose Teaching Strategies

1. Effective prose teaching strategies may call for breaking a longer piece of prose up into
smaller sections. This separation of text allows for multiple close readings to ensure
students involve their own thinking in the text as they read Repeated reading helps
students build comprehension and become more comfortable with an author’s writing
style. To help students focus as they read prose, teachers provide a list of questions for
students to answer.
2. Prose Small Group Discussions
To ensure that all students participate, breaking the class into small groups helps in
discussing challenging questions. At the end of the small group discussions, reconvene the
whole class and have a member from each group report that group’s conclusions while inviting
feedback from other groups. The entire class benefits from hearing multiple perspectives in a
class discussion that involves a lesson plan for teaching English prose.
3. Create Found Poems From Prose
Prose teaching strategies can also include creating "found poems". Teachers encourage
creative thinking while also targeting comprehension skills by having students create "found
poems" based on prose they have already read. Provide students with a passage of prose and
have them highlight between 50 and 100 words or phrases that are the most interesting or
meaningful to them. Next, students list the highlighted words in order on a separate piece of
paper, skipping lines between each word. and present them to their peers.
4.The Five-S Prose Strategy
Teach students to analyze prose passages by introducing the Five-S strategy. After giving
students a prose passage, offer them a graphic organizer with the headings “speaker,”
“situation,” “sentences,” “shifts” and “syntax.” Guide students through the process of recording
their observations and interpretations for each heading of the graphic organizer, using
evidence from the prose for support. For example, in the “syntax” section, students would
record examples from the reading in which the word order seemed interesting or significant.
After the example, urge students to comment on how the syntax affected the overall meaning
of the passage.
Apply
Instructions: Accomplish the task:
1. Enumerate at least two Teaching Strategies and Two assessment Strategies that are
appropriate during these trying times where the threat of Covid 19 has greatly affected
the educational system globally.

Assess
FINAL PROJECT FOR THE SUBJECT
Assume that you are a teacher of high school students in a literature class. Come up with a
5-minute self-recorded teaching demonstration on any topic in the Teaching of Literature. The
lesson motivation, presentation, activity/ ies and assessment strategy/ ies utilized should be
clearly shown in the recorded video. The choice of the resource materials strategies and
evaluation or assessment strategies in the teaching demonstration may be applicable for either
face to face or virtual class. Proper attire and over-all look is a consideration as well as the
general quality of the video.
Note: Date of submission of the teaching Demonstration video will be announced later.