1. art and entertainment
2. books and literature

Masaryk University in Brno
Faculty of Education
Department of English Language and Literature
TIPS FOR USING FANTASY BOOKS WITH TEENAGERS
Diploma Thesis
Brno 2009
Supervisor:
Written by:
PhDr. Alena Kašpárková
Kateřina Vařechová
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Acknowledgements:
I would like to give special thanks to my supervisor, PhDr. Alena Kašpárková, for her
kind help and advice. She willingly commented on my thesis.
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Declaration:
I declare that I worked on the thesis on my own and that I consulted and used only the
sources listed in the bibliography.
I agree that my thesis will be kept at the library of the Faculty of Education of Masaryk
University in Brno and be available for the purposes of study only.
April 15, 2009
Signature:…………………………
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CONTENTS
THEORETICAL PART
INTRODUCTION TO THEORETICAL PART……………………………………6
1. WHO ARE TEENAGERS?…………………………………………………..7
2. IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION…………………………………………8
3. CHILDREN´S AND JUVENILE LITERATURE AND FANTASY BOOKS IN
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING………………………………………11
What is children´s literature?………………………………………….11
What does fantasy mean?……………………………………………...12
Why to use children´s literature and fantasy books?………………….12
4. SELECTING AND EVALUATING SUITABLE LITERATURE…………..15
My criteria for choosing the text……………………………………….16
Selecting fantasy books………………………………………………...18
Authentic materials vs. Simplified materials…………………………..19
5. HOW TO USE CHILDREN´S AND JUVENILE LITERATURE AND
FANTASY BOOKS…………………………………………………………21
Reading as a purposeful process………………………………………21
Extensive and intensive reading………………………………………23
The three phases of reading……………………………………………24
6. DEVELOPING LANGUAGE-LEARNING SKILLS……………………….27
Vocabulary…………………………………………………………….27
Grammar………………………………………………………………28
Listening………………………………………………………………29
Speaking………………………………………………………………30
Writing………………………………………………………………..31
Learning about a culture………………………………………………31
7. HOW TO ORGANIZE A CLASSROOM READING………………………32
Organizing reading or storytelling…………………………………….32
Forms of interaction – pairwork or groupwork……………………….33
Using audio-visuals aids and multimedia……………………………..34
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Displaying students´ work…………………………………………….34
Organizing a literature self-access centre……………………………..35
PRACTICAL PART
INTRODUCTION TO PRACTICAL PART……………………………………..36
Tips for using Alice in Wonderland……………………………………………….38
Tips for using Moondial…………………………………………………………..46
Tips for using Charlie and the Chocolate Factory………………………………54
The Research………………………………………………………………………62
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………..63
RESUMÉ………………………………………………………………………….64
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………66
APPENDICES 1 - 26
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INTRODUCTION
“Let books be your dining table,
And you shall be full of delights,
Let them be your mattress,
And you shall sleep restful nights.”
St. EPHREM the Syrian (303-373)
Why should teachers use children´s literature, especially fantasy books, in TEFL at
basic schools?
Is it good or useful to use fantasy books and literary texts with teenagers at basic
schools?
Is there any relationship between literature and the study of language?
Are teenagers at basic schools able to read literary texts and fantasy books from British
and American literature in the original?
The aim of the thesis is to present the principles and tips of using fantasy books with
teenagers at basic schools, especially on the basis of my interest in this topic and
through my own teaching experience.
My diploma thesis is divided into two parts. In the first theoretical part it deals with
general questions relating to the use of children´s literature and fantasy books with
teenagers. It also gives some reasons why language teachers should include children´s
literature and fantasy books in English lessons. It demonstrates teachers´ motivational
strategies that can be used to support teenagers´ interest in literature. It also tries to
answer how teenage literature can help teenagers to develop their language.
The second practical part offers using teenage literature and fantasy books with
teenagers in practice. It provides examples of activities used with teenagers in English
lessons based on three famous fantasy stories.
The practical part also includes a short research with 7th, 8th and 9th graders which
provides the results of the pupils´ attitudes and interests in teenage literature and fantasy
books.
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1. WHO ARE TEENAGERS?
Teenager according to the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners
can be defined as “a young person between the ages of 13 and 19” (2002:1474).
Another interesting definition can be found on the Internet web site Wikipedia The Free
Encyclopedia: “Adolescence (lat. Adolescere, to grow) is a transitional stage of physical
and mental human development that occurs between childhood and adulthood. This
transition involves biological, social, and psychological changes.”
According to The Royal College of Psychiatrists during adolescence there can appear a
large gulf between parents and their children or between teachers and their students.
Teenagers can come across a lot of problems during their puberty, such as:
•
Physical problems – physical changes of the body
•
Psychological problems – people of this age start to think and feel
differently
•
Sexual problems – sexual ability and experiences are very sensitive topic
•
Behaviour problems – teenagers and their parents or teachers usually
complain about each other´s behaviour
•
School problems – teenagers often refuse to go to school for some reasons,
for example emotional problems, bullying, etc.
•
Eating problems – weight can be a big problem during puberty
•
Drugs and alcohol – many teenagers experiment with alcohol and illegal
drugs (2004).
Difficult times come and go, but most adolescents do not develop serious problems.
It is important to say that, not only parents but also teachers can have a positive impact
on teenagers´ lives.
Teenagers are probably the most interesting but also the most problematic students to
teach. Each teacher has to remember that teenagers are often very sensitive and brittle.
Teenagers are very sensitive about their identities, tired of school and bored with nearly
everything. They value love and friendship very much, they do not want to lose their
face in front of their peers, they are often undisciplined and difficult to motivate. For
most teenagers, the teacher may not be the person who wants to help, but rather the
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potential enemy. At this age, it is vital to get the level of challange right. Where this
level is low the teenagers are usually bored and not satisfied, where it is high they are
discouraged and de-motivated.
It is the teacher´s task, to make language teaching interesting for the students.
According to my experience, it is very important to find interesting topics for teenagers,
treat them like adults, encourage them to express themselves, and accept their own
views and opinions.
Literature is definitely a very good resource for the teenagers. It can help them to
develop their moral values, or to decide what can be the best way to go, what is right. In
general, it can help them to go through this difficult period.
Reading books, according to my opinion, belongs to one of the best hobbies. As far as I
can remember from my teen years, reading make you think. To think about moral
values, about relationships, about cultural differences, about differences among people,
or maybe to think about the whole world.
To take, for example, Harry Potter books, the teenagers can see and understand better
the relationships among each other. They can learn that it is very important to have
good friends who are always ready to help. Another example could be Roald Dahl´s
book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where the moral values of the characters are
described not only in the good but also in bad ways. The teenagers are not always
behaving in a right way and this book offers also one lesson, that such behaving does
not usually mean an award.
2. IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION
One of the most important thing in using children´s and fantasy literature is
motivation. Motivation is inseparable part of teacher´s job.
Further on to agree with Harmer that “motivation is some kind of internal drive that
encourages somebody to pursue a course of action. If we perceive a goal and if that goal
is sufficiently attractive, we will be strongly motivated to do whatever is necessary to
reach that goal” (1991:3).
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Goals can be very different, and individuality of a person plays a big part of it.
The useful distinction can be between:
•
Short-term goals – for example to pass a test; to read a book, etc.
•
Long-term goals – to communicate with people of a target language
community; to get a better job, to change the attitude towards reading; to be
successful, etc.
According to my teaching experience, short as well as long term goals are very
important for most of the teenagers. Even though most of them will never admit it, they
like to show off among their friends, they want to be successful and better than their
peers, and some of them want to be even better than their parents or teachers. Reading
books in English could be a big challange for them.
Harmer divides motivation into two categories (1991:3):
•
Extrinsic motivation
•
Intrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation is concerned with factors outside the classroom, and the factors
can be, for example student´s attitude to the language, parents´ attitude to the language,
student´s previous experience as language learner, student´s attitude to the reading in
general and important parts are also teacher and student´s peers.
On the contrary, intrinsic motivation is concerned with factors inside the classroom.
Such factors can be physical conditions, method, the teacher and success.
It can have a possitive effect on learning and using literary texts if the teacher tries to
make the classroom as pleasant as possible (e.g. pictures or students´ works connected
to the reading on the walls, board easily visible).
The methods the teacher is using are also very important. Interesting methods and
activities can surely be motivating for students, but if the method is boring the students
can become de-motivated. Still one of the well-known activity among the Czech
teachers is to read any English text chosen by the teacher, translate it into Czech and
answer some questions prepared again by the teacher. It does not take much time to
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prepare but it will definitely not motivate the students, especially teenagers to read for
pleasure.
One of the most important factor affecting intrinsic motivation is the teacher. For
students, according to researches, the teacher´s personality and relationship with
students are very important parts. Other things which students appreciate are interesting
and motivating classes, teacher´s fairness to all students and also teacher´s knowledge
of the subject. To motivate the teenagers to read for pleasure can be a difficult task for
the teacher, especially in the world of modern technologies and computers. As the
researchers say, the teacher´s personality is very important for students, and it can be a
big advantage in reading classes if the teacher shows his or her own enthusiasm for
reading.
The students´ success or failure can influence intrinsic motivation, too. All teenagers at
the basic schools are able to read, some of them are better readers and some of them are
worse. It is on the teacher how he or she sets the goals and tasks at which the students
can be successful.
Students, especially teenagers, need to see a point to working with literary texts.
Many of them have grown up with watching TV, playing computer games, chatting on
the Internet or reading magazines and comics popular among teenagers. But these
media provide a short-term satisfaction, they change topic and scene fast and do not
need full concentration.
On the contrary, reading books requires concentration and patience. Therefore, a lot of
teachers agree that using literature in English language classes can be very difficult and
demanding task. But what can be also very important for students is the teacher´s own
enthusiasm for literature.
It is necessary to agree with Carter and Long that “students will be better motivated
to read a literary text if they can relate it to their own experience” (1991:19).
As it has been already mentioned above, motivation belongs to foreground in the
classroom.
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3. CHILDREN´S AND JUVENILE LITERATURE AND
FANTASY BOOKS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
TEACHING
To use children´s or juvenile literature in language teaching is still not a common
practice at basic schools. This is partly because using literature in the lessons can be
time-consuming, and partly because some teachers feel that they do not know how to
use literary texts with children.
Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to explain what children´s literature is, what
fantasy books are, and why to use them in the English lessons.
3.1 What is children´s literature?
Children´s literature according to the Internet web site Wikipedia The Free
Encyclopedia “… is for readers and listeners up to about age 12. The term applies to
books that are actually selected and read by children.”
Another interesting definition is given by Pokrivčáková: “Children´s and juvenile
literature is a notion used for a set of literary texts (fiction, drama, poetry, and some
non-fiction) written especially for children between the ages of one and
sixteen”(2003:9).
It is clear that most of children´s literature is read by children, but many classic
books that were originally mentioned for adults are now thought of as works for
children, for example Daniel Defoe´s Robinson Crusoe or Mark Twain´s Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn.
On the other hand some works originally written for children are also read and enjoyed
by adults, for example J. K. Rowling´s series of Harry Potter.
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3.2 What does fantasy mean?
Fantasy according to the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners can
be defined as “a story that shows a lot of imagination and is very different from real
life”(2002:503).
Undoubtedly, children of all ages like to read fantasy books and enjoy watching
fantasy stories, including fairy tales, animal and toy fantasies or sword and sorcery
stories.
Further on to agree with Pokrivčáková that fantasy is a genre that has become very
popular in these years, especially because of J. R. R. Tolkien´s Lord of the Rings or
J. K. Rowling´s Harry Potter (2003:99).
According to her: “fantasy is a form of speculative fiction, which is an
internationally recognised term for non-mimetic literature (it is not built rigidly on a
mimesis principle; on the contrary, it includes both realistic and fantastical elements).”
As she also mentions, there are some differences between the “real” and fantastic
world.
Fantastic or the secondary world is strange, bizarre or marvellous and it usually has its
own rules; the ordinary logic or law of nature is inverted or subverted; frequently the
imaginary kingdoms can appear; time is shifting regularly; some different ways can be
used to enter it; and it is usually inhabited by strange creatures (2003:99).
3.3 Why to use children´s literature and fantasy books?
Literature has always had a great influence on each language; both literature and
language have in general undergone a lot of important changes throughout the centuries,
influencing each other.
There are many reasons for using children´s literature and fantasy books with
teenagers in English lessons.
Fantasy books are great for young children and teenagers because they show
imagination and suspension of reality, the things that children, especially teenagers, are
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good at. Fantasy literature is popular among children and teenagers because it
introduces them the pleasure of reading from young age. Children´s fantasy stories can
help to build positive reading habits in children and teenagers.
As Pokrivčáková says “quality fantasy literature is generally considered to be a
good exercise of children´s imagination and creativity. It also bears a serious deal of
morality in itself: the struggle between good and evil, questions of loyalty and devotion
to friends, problems of decision-making and personal responsibility are probably the
most frequent motives in fantastic stories” (2003:100).
Carter and Long offer three reasons for the teaching literature:
•
“The cultural model: “Teaching literature within a cultural model enables
students to understand and appreciate not only cultures and ideologies that
are different from their own but also their own cultural roots.”
•
The language model: One of the main reasons for a paying teacher´s
attention to a language model is, “to put students in touch with some of the
more subtle and varied creative uses of language.”
•
The personal growth model: One of the main point for teachers is “to help
students to achieve an engagement with the reading of literary texts”
(1991:2).
According to Duff and Maley there are three other reasons for using literary texts:
linguistic, methodological, and motivational.
•
Linguistic – literary texts offer a lot of “samples of wide range of styles,
registers, and text-types at many levels of difficulty.”
•
Methodological – literary texts offer various interpretation and interaction
among students.
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•
Motivational – literary text can be a motivator because “it often touches on
themes to which students can bring a personal response from their own
experience” (1992:6).
Fenwick gives more universal reasons for using children´s literature in the English
lessons: “We should teach it, for instance, because it can help to improve children´s
reading. Equally important, it can help to improve their attitudes to reading. And by
studying literature it is certainly possible for children to become more effective writers.
Then there is a social factor. The majority of teachers who have much to do with either
adult or juvenile fiction are probably aware of its civilising potential. Used sensitively,
literature can help children to come to terms with the real world. It can also allow them
to fantasise in a harmless way. It can even be a form of escapism and, provided it is not
overdone, there is little harm in that” (1990).
To sum up this chapter, we can agree with Halliwell that: “Children delight in
imagination and fantasy. …It is more than simply a matter of enjoyment, however. In
the primary school, children are very busy making sense of the world about them. They
are identifying pattern and also deviation from the pattern. They test out their versions
of the world through fantasy and confirm how the world actually is by imagining how it
might be different. In the language classroom this capacity for fantasy and imagination
has a very constructive part to play” (1992:7).
Children´s fantasy literature can be an important part of English language
classrooms. The right choice of the book can offer students new vocabulary, provides
repetition of key words and phrases, and it can be a pleasure for the student to finish a
piece of literature written in English.
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4. SELECTING AND EVALUATING SUITABLE
LITERATURE
To choose the right book may be the most difficult and important part of teaching
literature.
If the level of the text or the content of the story are too easy, the students become
bored, on the other hand, if they are too difficult, the students feel frustrated. The
teacher, dealing with the teenagers at the basic school, should not choose, for example, a
simple story as The Cat in the Hat can be, but Ulysses by James Joyce is also not the
right decisions.
Many teenagers say that reading in English is very difficult. They often complain
that they do not understand the text and that is why they do not read.
As Lazar says, there are three main areas the teacher should think about:
•
type of course – the teacher should think about for example, level of students;
how intensive the course is; what kind of texts will be the most suitable
•
type of students – here the teacher should include age of students; students´
interests or hobbies; cultural and ethnic background
•
factors connected with the text itself – for example, availability of texts;
length of text; exploitability; fit with syllabus (1993:48).
What can be very difficult for the teacher is to apply these categories to the whole class.
According to my teaching experience, most of the English classes at the basic schools
are heterogeneous. It means that the level of the students is different, and also students´
interests and hobbies are not usually the same. Nowadays, it is also normal, that
teachers meet students from various cultures and ethnic minorities, and what is usual in
one culture, in other can be totally different. The teacher needs to find a text which is
suitable for most students in the class.
Lazar designed a checklist (app. 1) which can help to summarise these criteria
(1993:56).
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As Brown writes in his article for The Internet TESL Journal, when evaluating
potential books, the teacher has to bear in mind the length and complexity of the story;
the level of vocabulary; illustrations which can help students to understand both the
vocabulary and the text; and his or her own enthusiams about a story (2004).
For comparison with Lazar or Brown, Ellis and Brewster provide a detailed criteria
(app. 2) which deal with five major objectives of language teaching. They are then
expanded into questions that the teacher can ask him or herself when choosing a book.
Linguistic, psychological, cognitive, social and cultural objectives are mentioned here
and they are related to criteria used for selecting storybooks (2002:11).
4.1 My criteria for choosing the text
When I am deciding which text would be appropriate for my students, I
have to consider several factors.
Level
Choosing the right level of the text belongs to essential factors I have to bear in mind.
Teachers should be careful not to choose the text which would be either too difficult or
too easy for their students. If the level of the text is too high, students get confused and
lose interest in reading it. On the contrary, if the text is too easy, there is no challange
for students to work and think about language because both grammar and vocabulary
are clear and they get bored. The most appropriate level of a chosen text is the one
where students have enough language knowledge to understand the main idea of the text
but, at the same time, are encouraged to look for the meaning of unknown words and
structures. This guarantees students´ sustaining interest and concentration. Moreover, at
the end of the lesson they should have the feeling of accomplishing something –
mastering new vocabulary items or grammar structure.
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Content
Based on my personal experience, considering the content is important especially when
dealing with young children or teenagers. We need to get them interested in the story
and maintain their concentration and enjoyment to ensure a good learning atmosphere.
Content plays a vital role in choosing the right text and it also influences students´
enjoyment of the lesson. As far as I can remember from my teen years, my favourite
genres were books for girls, fantasy stories and adventure stories. According to my
experience, fantasy books are still very popular among teenagers especially thank to
Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings series. It can be very useful and interesting to
provide the teenagers with some samples of different books and give them the chance to
choose one by themselves.
Illustrations
Basic school teachers know the importance of illustrations and pictures in the text
because they are familiar with children nature and necessity of play in lessons.
Illustrations support childrens´ understanding, attract their attention and enable their
interaction with the story.
Motivation
Motivation is closely connected with the content of the text. The more interesting
content, the more motivated students are to read the story. It should arouse their
curiousity and make them want to find out more about English language and also
culture. The story has to provoke a desire to continue reading and learning from it.
Motivating students by a good choice of the text can be important and interesting even
for those, who regard books as useless, to changing their negative attitudes towards
reading. Once they start building their confidence in reading, they take it up as their
hobby, which is the main objective of every language teacher.
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4.2 Selecting fantasy books
Further on to agree with Zaro and Salaberri it is necessary to state that it can be very
difficult to find the main topics or areas of interest for teenagers. They may prefer to
read contemporary stories which relate to their world, but we can say that fantasy stories
are still interesting for them, even though they like more modern adaptations, for
example science fiction (1995:4).
Fantasy has a long history which begins in Greek and Roman mythology. According
to Pokrivčáková there are these sub-genres of fantasy:
•
Animal and toy fantasies
•
Fantasies with eccentric characters and superhero fantasies
•
High fantasy
•
Comic fantasy
•
Dark (horror) fantasy (2003:100).
Animal and toy fantasy
According to Pokrivčáková stories about animals are very popular among children
and teenagers. “… the attractiveness of fantastic animal stories results from children´s
view of life and the world in which the ability of animals to act as human beings is
absolutely realistic” (2003:101).
One of the most famous authors of classic animal fantasies was
R. J. Kipling and his Jungle Book. Other authors who should be mentioned are Helen
Beatrix Potter and her book The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and American writer Elwyn
Brooks White and his Stuart Little.
Toy fantasy is a sub-genre of animal fantasy, where the character is a humanised
toy.
The most well-known toy story is Winnie the Pooh by Alan Alexander Milne.
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Fantasy with eccentric characters and superhero fantasy
There are a lot of books in children´s and juvenile literature where in the main part
is an eccentric hero. Some of the most famous are Peter Pan written by Sir James
Matthew Barrie, Marry Poppins by Pamela L. Travers and nowadays probably the bestselling Harry Potter by Joanne Kathleen Rowling.
High fantasy
It is another sub-genre of fantastic literature and its main features are spatial and
temporary setting in parallel, or completely invented worlds.
As Pokrivčáková says “high fantasies are always serious in tone, often dealing with the
theme of the struggle between good and extreme evil” (2003:116).
Some of the most popular high fantasies are J. R. R. Tolkien´s The Lord of the Rings
and Clive Staples Lewis´s The Chronicles of Narnia.
4.3 Authentic materials vs. Simplified materials
What is the difference between authentic and non-authentic texts?
Simenson classifies materials for extensive reading into three types: “‘authentic’
(not written for language learners and published in the original language); ‘pedagogic’
(specially written for language learners with various types of control placed on the
language); and ‘adapted’ (adapted for language learners from authentic texts according
to various principles of control set out by editors and publishers in guidelines for
adaptors)” (1987:41-57).
As Hedge suggests “for teachers of students with more advanced levels of language
proficiency, especially those working with ESL learners in an English language
environment, there may well be authentic material to hand. However, for EFL teachers
with learners at lower levels of language proficiency, the choice seems limited to
pedagogic or adapted readers. In choosing such material, the teacher is following the
same principle as when choosing a textbook of appropriate language level” (2000:218).
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According to Harmer authentic texts are designed for native speakers and nonauthentic texts are written especially for language students (1991:185).
The advantage of using authentic texts is that the students can see a language as the
author used it in the book. On the other hand, some of the authentic books may be very
difficult to read and understand for students.
On the contrary, there are specific books in which the language is simplified and
abridged to make the book easy for language learners to read and understand.
The book market offers a wide range of simplified readers at all language levels.
Learners may choose classical literature or contemporary literature in different genres,
e.g. detective stories, fantasies, adventure stories, science-fiction, etc.
Harmer suggests three reasons for using literature in language teaching – to become
better readers, to acquire language and to achieve some success, and therefore he
recommends to use authentic as well as non-authentic materials in language teaching
(1991:186).
Dealing mostly with the heterogeneous classes I have to agree with the experts that not
only authentic but also non-authentic or adapted texts can be very useful in language
teaching. For example, for some really clever pupil is the major success to read
Tolkien´s The Lord of the Rings in original but on the other hand for a weaker student
reading a simplified version of e.g. The Jungle Book can be also very successful and
motivating.
Is is necessary to agree with Carter and Long that “learners of a language cannot be
expected to read major prose works in the target language when they are still at
elementary or intermediate level. It is for such learners that a very wide selection of
readers is available. The purpose of these texts is to improve reading skills.
The principle of selection is that the work selected has a good story line, and has
continued to be enjoyed by readers” (1991:146).
The Longman Simplified English Series, which has a wide variety of titles, explains
the aim as “to enable thousands of readers to enjoy without great difficulty some of the
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best books written in the English language, and in doing so, to equip themselves in the
pleasantest possible way, to understand and appreciate any work written in English.”
5. HOW TO USE CHILDREN´S AND JUVENILE
LITERATURE AND FANTASY BOOKS
Widdowson states that “reading can be seen as a kind of dialogue between the
reader and the text, or even between the reader and the author” (1979a).
Another interesting definition is written by Harmer: “Reading is an exercise
dominated by the eyes and the brain. The eyes receive messages and the brain then has
to work out the significance of these messages” (1991:190).
The advantage of reading is that the reader can decide how fast he or she wants to read a
text, in comparison with listening, where the listener has to do his best with a text
whose speed is chosen by the speaker. During reading the book the reader can think,
make connections, agree or disagree with the author or find out better solutions than the
writer. Reading literature is definitely a source of pleasure and it helps to develop a
person in general.
5.1 Reading as a purposeful process
Pugh (1978) and Lunzer and Gardner (1979) described different styles of reading in
their reading research project, and their terminology is used in ELT methodology:
•
“Receptive reading – is undertaken, for example, when a reader wants to enjoy a
short story, follow a line of argument in a newspaper editorial, or understand the
main stages in a textbook description of a manufacturing process.
•
Reflective reading – involves episodes of reading the text and then pausing to
reflect and backtrack, for example, when a reader wants to check whether a new
21
line of argument in a political text is consistent with opinions expressed earlier
in the same article.
•
Skim reading – is used to get a global impression of the content of a text. An
example would be previewing a long magazine article by reading rapidly,
skipping large chunks of information, and focusing on headings and first lines of
paragraphs.
•
Scanning – involves searching rapidly through a text to find a specific point of
information, for example, the relevant times on a timetable, items in a directory,
or key points in a academic text.
•
Intensive reading – involves looking carefully at a text, as a student of literature
would look at a poem to appreciate the choice of words, or as a solicitor would
study the precise wording of a legal document.”
The main point of making these distinctions is that different purposes for reading
determine different strategies in approaching texts and also different rates of reading.
Nowadays it becomes standard practice in ELT methodology to consider real
purposes for reading outside the classroom and to include them in reading activities.
Rivers and Temperley, for example, make the point that: “Reading activities, from the
beginning, should have some purpose and we should concentrate on the normal
purposes of reading” (1978:187).
The purpose can be of different kinds, for example, to get information; to answer the
curiosity about a topic; to follow instructions to do a task; for pleasure, amusement, and
personal enjoyment; to keep in touch with friends and colleagues; or to know what is
happening in the world.
It is necessary to say that these purposes for reading can be easily adapted to using
children´s and juvenile literature and fantasy books with teenagers. Because in our
society English becomes part of language learners´ environment, these purposes may be
real-life ones for most of them. They can get information from the books, fantasy stories
usually evoke curiosity and since fantasy literature is very popular among teenagers,
they can keep in touch with their friends what is usually very important for young
22
people. Also reading and using fantasy books and stories can be enjoyable and amusing
for them.
Even where it can be difficult to identify any needs, there still may be some
motivational reasons for giving teenagers a range of purposes for reading and presenting
them with a variety of texts, for example, articles, poems, or short stories.
Not many coursebooks provide classroom activities to slow, intensive study of texts.
Fortunately, it is now common for most teachers to find and use activities which
encourage different speeds of reading, and different degrees of pre-reading and rereading, and searching through the text.
As Hedge explains “more importantly, however, it is now recognized that one text
may be read in a variety of styles, and that readers will have different purposes at each
stage of the reading process and will apply the appropriate strategies” (2000:196).
5.2 Extensive and intensive reading
There are two main reading styles which can be defined as extensive and intensive
reading.
McRae says that: “Extensive reading implies that students read outside the
classroom fuller texts than the passages examined in class for purely language-learning
purposes” (1991:43).
The materials used for extensive reading can be anything, for example, from short
stories, or newspaper or magazines articles, to full-length fantasy books.
Another interesting definition can be provided in the article by Bamford and Day
that “extensive reading is generally associated with reading large amounts with the aim
of getting an overall understanding of the material. Readers are more concerned with the
meaning of the text than the meaning of individual words or sentences” (1997).
Further on to agree with Hedge it is necessary to state that the characteristics of
extensive reading may change with student motivation and institutional resources, but it
might include the following:
•
reading large quantities of text, such as short stories and novels, newspaper and
magazine articles, or professional reading
•
reading over time on a frequent and regular basis
23
•
reading longer texts (not only a few paragraphs)
•
reading for general meaning, usually for pleasure, curiosity, or professional
interest
•
reading longer texts during class time but it is also important to engage in an
individual, independent reading at home, ideally of self-selected material
(2002:202).
Extensive reading is usually a matter of enthusiasm and generally it must be
transferred from the teacher to the student.
On the contrary, according to Bamford and Day “intensive reading often refers to
the careful reading or translation of shorter, more difficult foreign language texts with
the goal of complete and detailed understanding” (1997).
Activities used for intensive reading mostly involve close study of texts and present
students the features of written English.
Hedge says that: “Teachers can train reading strategies by using intensive reading but it
is only through more extensive reading that learners can gain substantial practice in
operating these strategies more independently on a range of material” (2000:202).
The relationship between intensive reading lessons and extensive reading programmes
is demonstrated in (app. 3) (Hedge, 1985:70). It provides the main and the most
important differences between extensive and intensive reading.
5.3
The three phases of reading
Ur´s definition of reading is that: “Reading means ‘reading and understanding’. A
foreign language learner who says, ‘I can read the words but I don´t know what they
mean’ is not, therefore reading, in this sense. He or she is merely decoding-translating
written symbols into corresponding sounds” (1996:138).
It becomes now normal practice in creating the reading tasks to use a three-phase
procedure, that means pre-, while-, and post-reading stages. Nowadays many publishing
houses, for example, Macmillan Heinemann ELT, Oxford University Press or Pearson
Education Limited, offer all of their simplified versions of Readers with pre-, while-,
and post-reading activities. On the contrary, the publishers, such as, Dover Publications
24
offer their unabridged versions of books without any activities. It is because these books
are usually read for pleasure and enjoyment not for further study.
When the teacher is using literary texts, the three stages can be very important for
students. The stages are related together and they have their specifics and
characteristics. Going through all reading stages, it can help the reader to understand the
text better.
“The intention is to ensure that reading is ‘taught’ in the sense of helping readers
develop increasing ability to tackle texts. This is in contrast to more traditional materials
in which reading would be ‘tested’ through a procedure in which learners would read a
text with or without an introduction, possibly with some pre-teaching of vocabulary,
and then would be required to answer comprehension questions. Many contemporary
materials reflect this three-phase procedure” (Hedge, 2000:209).
Pre-reading
The pre-reading task or instruction is the most important part of working with any
text. It can include some brief presentation or introduction the teacher prepares, but also
from the student´s point of view, the reader is able to indicate what he or she is going to
do with the text.
Hedge suggests that “during the pre-reading phase, learners can be encouraged to do
a number of things: become oriented to the context of the text; tune in to the content of
the text; establish a reason for reading; express an attitude about the topic; review their
own experiences in relation to the topic; activate existing cultural knowledge; and
become familiar with some of the language in the text. In this way the teacher can
prepare them in terms of both schematic and language knowledge, and ensure
proposeful reading” (2000:210).
There are various types of activities that teacher can use with the students, for example,
to talk about illustrations from the text; to predict from the title; to answer some
questions or a quiz; or to discuss the topic.
The pre-reading stage is very important because using only the small selections
from the text, the reader becomes interested in and curious about characters, places, plot
and action. The pre-reading activities force pupils to continue the reading, and to
25
complete a task or confirm an idea. It can also help the learners to understand that there
can be some possibilities in answers, not only right or wrong ones.
While reading
As Greenwood mentions: “in recent years students have been encouraged to respond
more subjectively to Readers. Unfortunately a large number of teachers still consider
the Reader to be simply a longer text for comprehension questions or an oportunity to
practise reading aloud. Reading is not a passive skill. When we read we search for
meaning, drawing upon the complex network of associations which native speakers
have at their disposal. Students should be actively engaged in negotiation for meaning.
The use of classroom Readers should place emphasis only upon the recycling of facts
and key language. Students must be taught how to read and respond to books and not
simply to answer questions. During lessons students must be involved in activities
which enable them to respond cognitively, emotionally and imaginatively to
imaginative writing” (1990:59).
Some interesting and useful while-reading activities can be, for example, to follow
the order of ideas in a text; react to the opinions expressed; understand the information
it contains; ask themselves questions; make notes; or predict the next part of the text
from various clues.
Many teachers and researchers say that using while-reading activities is not always
absolutely necessary, because as they state, there should be some introduction before
reading and the main tasks and activities to complete after the reading.
I have to disagree with them because according to my teaching experience, many
teenagers report positively on the usefulness of while-reading activities and that is why I
try to compose these tasks into my reading lessons.
Post-reading
“Students should be able to enter the ‘inner worlds’ without the traditional teaching
method of comprehension checks. Instead they could be more actively engaged in
26
negotiation for potential meaning, both individually and with other students. Interest in
the activity can sustain interest in the text or be fuelled by interest in the text”
(Greenwood, 1990:89).
It is clear that the post-reading activities cannot be performed without the text or
they cannot replace the text. They usually involve the learners in detailed revision,
consolidate and summarize what the readers have read.
“Post-reading activities can be as varied as the texts they follow, but ideally will tie
up with the reading purpose set, so that students check and discuss activities done while
reading and make use of what they have read in a meaningful way, for example, by
discussing their response to the writer´s opinions or by using notes for a writing
activity” (Hedge, 2000:211).
After that, some activities which are focusing on the content of the text can be used, for
example, debate, role-play, reading of contrasting texts, or focusing on its language.
According to my teaching experience, when using these three reading phases,
teacher can help pupils to understand the content and to increase their reading
comprehension as well as the other skills.
6. DEVELOPING LANGUAGE-LEARNING SKILLS
Using children´s and juvenile literature, fantasy books or stories in the language
classrooms is very important not only for developing reading itself, but also to improve
the other skills, such as listening, writing, speaking, and to expand the knowledge of
vocabulary and grammar.
6.1 Vocabulary
As McRae states “vocabulary is one of the most vexed questions in the teaching of
reading and the use of reading materials” (1991:104).
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“Research tends to suggest that if inferencing is easy because the text is rich in
contextual clues or there is a cognate word, retention is less likely. The more active the
learner needs to be, the more likely the word will be remembered. Awareness of this
distinction will guide the teacher into exploiting texts both for reading strategy
development and for vocabulary acquisition” (Hedge, 2000:130).
It is true, that most of the pupils, when dealing with the text, usually tend to search
every single word which they do not know in the dictionaries. It is very important for
the readers to understand the text as a whole. For example, when translating any text, I
always say to my pupils that the text cannot be translated word by word. It can be very
useful for the readers to learn how to guess the word from the context. This technique
can help students to build up self-confidence so that they can work out the meanings of
unknown words and it will help them to remember the words better.
Nation and Coady suggest a five-point strategy for guessing unknown words in
texts:
a) “find the part of speech of the word;
b) examine the immediate context;
c) examine the wider context;
d) guess the meaning;
e) check that the meaning is correct” (1988:110).
There are also some other techniques which can help to introduce new vocabulary
from the text, for example, using pictures from the story can be very useful not only for
students to understand but also for teachers to explain the word easier; or translating
because some words still need to be translated and it can save time.
6.2 Grammar
“It has to be said that, although English grammar is a vast subject, the basic range of
structures and tenses is actually fairly small, and not unduly inaccessible to the willing
L2 reader, who might be quite unable to produce the structures he or she can passively
comprehend” (McRae, 1991:107).
28
As Harmer mentions “it is certainly possible to teach aspects of grammar – indeed
that is what langauge teachers have been doing for centuries – but language is a difficult
business and it is often very untidy and cannot be automatically reduced to simple
grammar patterns. Students need to be aware of this, just as they need to be aware of all
language possibilities. Such awareness does not mean that they have to be taught each
variation and linguistic twist, however. It just means that they have to be aware of
language and how it is used. That is why reading and listening are so important, and that
is why discovery activities are so valuable since by asking students to discover ways in
which language is used the teachers help to raise their awareness about the creative use
of grammar” (1991:23).
A good teacher should be prepared to use different kinds of techniques and methods
to help students, especially teenagers, learn and acquire grammar. Whether it means
involving teaching grammar rules or allowing students to discover the rules for
themselves.
6.3 Listening
As Ellis and Brewster say “… listening to stories is not a passive activity. As they
listen, the learners are observing the storyteller´s gestures, noticing the subtle
differences in his/her voice, matching any visuals shown to the language they are
hearing, building up their own pictures in their heads, trying to predict what comes next,
guessing the meanings of new words and so on. In short, a great deal of informationprocessing takes place in learners´ heads” (2002:27).
Surely, listening has many similarities with reading, but there are also some
differences. One of the point is that the text itself is different.
A written text is static. It depends on the reader how fast and how many times the text
will be read. On the contrary, spoken text, if it is on CD or DVD can be repeated, too,
but at this case the speed does not depend on the listener. In conversation a listener can
also ask the speaker to repeat some passages, but it is not probably possible of a lecture,
or the radio programme that flashes past.
Hedge states that “the most vital element in learning to listen effectively in a second
or foreign language is confidence, and confidence comes with practice and with
29
achieving success from an early stage. The role of the teacher is to provide as much
positive practice as possible by talking to learners in English, by exposing them to a
range of listening material in the classroom, and by encouraging them to use whatever
resources are available in their institution or community” (2000:255).
Nowadays, on the book market there are many simplified readers or unabridged
versions of books as well as course-books published with cassettes, CDs, video tapes,
DVDs or even with CD-ROMs, and these can be an invaluable resource.
According to my opinion, a teacher is similar to an actor. When a teacher stands in
front of a class, there is always some kind of performance. The more the teacher enjoys
it, the more the class will be interested in, curious and motivated. That is why listening
plays a vital part of reading activities too.
6.4 Speaking
“Most children equate learning a foreign language with learning to speak it and,
because learning to speak their mother tongue was a seemingly easy task, they expect it
to be the same with the foreign language. They want immediate results.
If children are to sustain this motivation, they need to be given opportunities to
speak English as soon as possible, and as much as possible, so they feel they are making
progress and fulfilling their expectations” (Ellis and Brewster, 2002:29).
Unfortunately, it can be more difficult with teenagers. They are often worried about
making mistakes, they are shy or feel stressed in front of the teacher and their peers. It is
even more difficult to force teenagers to discuss or speak about the story they have read.
Even though they understand the story, usually they do not like to talk about it. In my
point of view, speaking forms an integral part of reading activities.
Some activities which can help the students to develop their speaking are, for
example, discussing the story; the characters; preparing an interview; retelling a story;
dramatizing which involves students in learning lines for their role to practise English;
or role-playing which provides an opportunity for language that has been presented in a
story to be used in a different context.
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6.5 Writing
“Writing is a result of employing strategies to manage the composing process,
which is one of gradually developing a text. It involves a number of activities: setting
goals, generating ideas, organizing information, selecting appropriate language, making
a draft, reading and reviewing it, then revising and editing. It is a complex process
which is neither easy nor spontaneous for many second language writers” (Hedge,
2000:302).
A lot of parents still complain that teaching writing is not as necessary as teaching
speaking. For them the most important thing is that their children make themselves
understood in English in a foreign country. But usually it is not as easy. We use writing
in our every day life. For example, writing birthday cards or Christmas cards, they
contain some messages which are usually written in a special literary style.
Ellis and Brewster say that “to support children´s writing skills, it is important to
know which skills the pupils are practising in a writing task. Young children may be
learning to write, while older children who have mastered the basic skills may move to
use writing to learn. As learners develop, it becomes increasingly important for teachers
to create opportunities for children to have a specific context and audience to write for.
This is an important part of writing to communicate” (2002:34).
It is up to the teacher to encourage teenagers to experiment with texts. There are
various kinds of writing activities on the basis of reading, for example, to write simple
re-tellings of a story, to write descriptions, poems, dialogues, letters, invitations, etc.
6.6 Learning about culture
According to Ellis and Brewster “storybooks reflect the culture of their authors and
illustrators and therefore provide ideal opportunities for presenting cultural information
and encouraging cross-cultural comparison” (2002:39).
Literature written for non-native speakers usually provides some backgrounds, for
example, social, historical, or personal. It is usual that the publishers provide some
introduction of the book, information about the author, as well as glossary with difficult
31
words in the Reader. These information are usually not very long but they can be useful
for pupils.
As Carter and Long say “there are many texts which do not need an extensive
background, but which nevertheless reveal points which are curious, inexplicable at first
sight and potentially difficult for non-native readers because they have nowhere to turn
for explanation. For the teacher there is no way to prepare the learner for all possible
cross-cultural implications, although for a particular text some explanation in advance
of the reading or teaching would undoubtedly be helpful” (1991:153-154).
7. HOW TO ORGANIZE A CLASSROOM READING
As Harmer suggests “a teacher has a number of different roles (controller, assessor,
organiser, prompter, participant, resource, tutor and investigator) and that the adoption
of only one of these will be detrimental to a varied and interesting class. Teachers must
be aware of the different roles they can adopt and know when and how to use them”
(1991:253).
Classroom management does not include only the practical organization of the
classroom resources, but also students so everyone can work effectively. Good
organization can positively influence teaching process as well as the learning process. It
can be very important and useful in the reading classes because usually there are a lot of
pair or group activities, where the pupils can become a bit noisy.
7.1 Organizing reading or storytelling
When reading or telling stories the teacher should try to create a relaxed
atmosphere. To arrange desks or chairs in a semi-circle can be useful too.
It has been already mentioned that the physical conditions in the classroom should be as
pleasant as possible, the teacher, for example, can ask students to help with the
decorations in the classroom. The decorations can be connected with the reading itself.
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7.2 Forms of interaction – pairwork or groupwork
As Harmer says “pairwork seems to be a good idea because it immediately increases
the amount of student practice. It allows the students to use language and also
encourages student co-operation which is itself important for the atmosphere of the
class and for the motivation it gives to learning with others.
Groupwork seems to be also very useful. Just as in pairwork, we can mention the
increase in the amount of student talking time and we can place emphasis on the
opportunities it gives students really to use language to communicate with each other.
Groupwork is more dynamic than pairwork: there are more people to react with and
against in a group, and, therefore, there is a greater possibility of discussion” (1991:244245).
According to my teaching experience, there are usually a lot of activities suggested for
pairs or groups during reading classes. The activities are more interesting then, the
pupils can talk freely and share their ideas or opinions. It is usually up to the teacher
how he or she manages pair or group work so that all pupils can achieve their potential
and have feelings of success.
To manage pair and group work Ellis and Brewster suggest some useful ground
rules, such as:
•
“Independent learning in pairs or groups requires cooperation not competition.
Children should be encouraged to help each other understand and complete
tasks.
•
Children need to share materials so they all have access to the task. The teacher
must ensure, therefore, that there are enough copies and that visuals are clear
and large enough for all to see.
•
Children should be encouraged to listen to each other and to take turns in
speaking.
•
Children must not raise their voices or shout” (2002:45).
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7.3 Using audio-visual aids and multimedia
The use of visuals and other support for listening can be very important to the
students´ comprehension and enjoyment of the story. These might include, for example,
real objects, pictures, models, flashcards, cassettes or CDs.
“Despite certain fears or apprehensions about the use of technology as a language
teaching aid, there is no doubt that it can add a vital dimension to motivating students to
learn English and can contribute to their all-round development. When using video or
DVD recorders, or computers, the teacher needs to consider how they can be used and
how they can complement the classroom-based work so they become fully integrated”
(Ellis and Brewster, 2002:42).
Nowadays, many books and stories exist on DVDs or CD-ROMs. The Internet can be a
useful tool for students too, for example, to research topics for project work connected
to the book or story. There are also a lot of interesting and wonderful web sites which
are connected to books and stories, such as Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, etc.
where the pupils can find enjoyable activities and games. It is, however, important but
sometimes not very easy to protect the students from distasteful sites. Usually the
dangerous sites on the Internet are blocked at schools.
7.4 Displaying students´ work
“It can be very motivating for students to display their work and it often encourages
higher standards of output. Displays also make the classroom more inspiring and can
encourage a purposeful working atmosphere” (Ellis and Brewster, 2002:46).
According to my teaching experience, it is always very positive, useful and motivational
for pupils to display their paintings or drawings based on the reading round the
classroom. They can prepare them in their Art lessons.
Reading diaries or journals can be also very useful for pupils. They can share their
information and experience with the books.
At our basic school it is usual to prepare projects based on, for example, famous British
authors as William Shakespeare. The subjects involved in the project are usually
34
English, Czech and Art. The pupils prepare a notice board or posters with some
information about the author in English and Czech language, and pictures with, for
example, costumes from that period.
7.5 Organizing a literature self-access centre
The main reasons for taking the time and effort to establish a centre are to offer
pupils literary texts to listen to or to read; to develop pupils´ reading and listening skills;
to form the pupils´ enjoyment of and positive attitude to literature; and to facilitate
pupils to become more self-confident and independent as learners. It can be a good idea
how to encourage pupils to read and enjoy literature by themselves.
As Lazar states “a literature self-access centre is a library or small collection of texts
for students to read on their own with minimal supervision. The reading can be done
either in class time or for homework” (1993:179).
The self-access centre should consist of not only literary texts, for example, novels,
plays, short stories or graded readers from which pupils are encouraged to borrow
regularly, but also a collection of video or DVD recordings of plays or films based on
novels or stories, and audio recordings which can pupils use after reading the original
literary texts.
According to my experience, it can be useful to ask pupils´ parents to help with the
library. Many of them are usually willing to buy books or Readers, and CDs or DVDs.
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INTRODUCTION TO PRACTICAL PART
As a primary school teacher, I teach mostly teenagers between the ages of twelve
and fifteen years. Sometimes I teach also younger children from the fourth or the fifth
grade but it is not as usual. Mostly I deal with pupils from the sixth to the ninth grade. It
means that I usually work and meet with pupils who are at very difficult age.
Concerning the ages of the pupils in each grade, the usage of literature, especially the
level and the content, has to be adequate and has to respect pupils´ learning strategies
and abilities as well as their mental and character qualities.
I teach heterogeneous classes only – the pupils usually have different levels of
knowledge (there are strong but also very weak students in the classes), they have
different aims, interests and aspirations. That is why I have different demands on the
pupils too.
To take all the above mentioned facts into consideration, I tried to choose some
interesting, creative and reasonable activities for using fantasy books with teenagers to
practise all language skills, to encourage them to read more, and to change their attitude
to reading in general.
According to my previous teaching experience fantasy books correspond with
teenagers´ age and interests. There are many versions of fantasy books available in
libraries, bookshops and on the Internet too.
There are many web sites which are based on the well-known fantasy books, for
example, Harry Potter, Alice´s Adventures in Wonderland, and many others, with a lot
of interesting and creative interactive activities that can be very useful for both teachers
as well as students.
In this part of my diploma thesis I will suggest some tips and activities for using
fantasy books with teenagers. I concentrated on the 7th, 8th and 9th grades of the basic
school and I suggested a fantasy book for each of these grades.
The suggestions are for the seventh graders Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll in a
simplified version, for the eighth graders Moondial by Helen Cresswell in a simplified
version too, and for the ninth graders it is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald
Dahl.
36
This part provides tips of activities and reading used with pupils at the basic school.
Because there was no time to go through and read the whole books with pupils in the
lessons, I prepared the activities for some chapters only. To familiarize the pupils with
the plot of the story and with the other chapters, the pupils were usually asked to read
the chapters at home. Then we discussed the plot at school together.
According to my experience a reading programme has to be well planned and flexible.
That is why many teachers at our schools prepare their reading lessons just as – reading
and translating the text, possibly answering some questions related to the text because it
is very easy to find some texts, copy it and think up some questions about it.
My main aim of reading programme is to motivate teenagers to read and enjoy reading.
Therefore, I would think up some tips for using fantasies with teenagers that will be
based on modern methods like pair work, group work, role play, etc. And I will evaluate
them and give a feedback from my students.
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Alice in Wonderland
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898) under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll wrote
Alice´s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865. It became quickly very famous at that time,
and still it is one of the most popular children´s fantasy stories in the world.
The story is deeply but gently satiric, enlivened with an imaginative plot and wonderful
use of nonsense, as it relates Alice´s adventures in a bizarre, topsy-turvy land
underground. There she meets a lot of strange characters and fanciful beasts, for
example, the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Dodo the bird, the sleepy Dormouse, Cheshire
Cat, the Queen of Hearts and other unusual creatures.
Because the original book was written in 1865 and I would like to use it with the 7th
graders, I decided to choose a short simplified version of the book for the reasons of
slightly archaic vocabulary of the original that would, in my opinion, be very difficult
for pupils in the seventh grade.
Alice in Wonderland retold by Mary Tomalin in Level 2, which means Elementary level
with 600 words, was published by Penguin Readers in association with Longman. They
try to provide a step-by-step approach to the joys of reading for pleasure and each book
has an introduction and extensive activity material. The Readers are published at seven
levels from Easystarts (200 words) to Advanced (3000 words).
7th graders
It is a mixed-ability class of sixteen pupils, six girls and eight boys – five of them
are strong pupils, six of them are quite good but their performance is sometimes
inconstant, because of their abilities but mostly because of the fact that they do not
prepare regularly for the lessons. The last five of the pupils are rather weak.
One of the biggest disadvantage of this group is that they are always very noisy and
talkative, there is always some humming in the classroom. On the other hand, they are
very friendly not only to each other, but also to most of the teachers at school.
This group is using the old Project English II. by Tom Hutchinson and that is why,
they were curious and showed their interest in working on something different than their
old textbook is.
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Tips for using Alice in Wonderland
The first lesson started by asking pupils if they know any famous fantasy stories or
fairy tales. This short introduction was done mainly in the Czech language because it
could be easier for pupils to name titles of stories or fairy tales. I wanted to make the
purpose and aim of the lesson which is motivating pupils for further reading clear right
from the beginning.
Warm-up activities
There were two options that I could follow.
The first option could be – to read the Introduction to the book (app. 4) and then ask
´What happens in Wonderland?´. For this activity it is better if pupils work in small
groups. They can discuss it in their groups first, then they can talk and give some
possibilities and suggestions together in the class. The teacher can add more questions
according to the pupils´ suggestions.
The second option could be – to prepare copies with split titles of famous fantasy stories
and fairy tales (app. 5) and ask pupils to match the right halves of the titles together.
This activity is more general and it is not precisely connected with the story Alice in
Wonderland but it can be interesting and motivational for pupils to find out that they
know some titles which are not written in their mother tongue.
A tip for using Chapter 1 – Down the Rabbit-hole
The teacher and pupils read the first chapter ´Down the Rabbit-hole´ out loud
together (app. 6) because the chapter is short. I also wanted to know the reading abilities
of the pupils.
The activity is called ´Ordering Puzzle´ and the idea for this activity came from Jean
Greenwood´s Class Readers.
39
The main aims of this activity are ordering, revision, remembering what has been
read and summarizing.
This activity is similar to a puzzle or game and is, therefore, more attractive to the
pupils as a method of revision.
I prepared a summary of the first chapter written in short concise sentences. There
are 18 sentences, all of which are set down in the wrong order (app. 7). The pupils can
work in pairs or groups, it is up to the teacher. Their task is to put numbers next to the
sentences in the order in which they refer to the first chapter. We checked the correct
order all together.
Another possibility for this activity is to scissor the sentences and put them into the
envelopes. Each pair or group gets one envelope and their task is to arrange the
sentences in the correct order.
To continue this activity, the teacher can divide the pupils into small groups and ask
them to retell the first chapter. They can try and link as many of the sentences from the
copy (app. 7) as possible and make them flow, one into the other. They try to retell the
first chapter to each other in a round. Each pupil should take one sentence as a stimulus,
but any extra information or details they can remember are added in. The most
successful group will still be telling the first chapter when all the other groups have
dried up.
Comments and evaluation
The warm-up activities went off quite well without any problems because it
included simple tasks. We tried both activities and the pupils enjoyed matching the right
halves of the titles together more. It was not because the task was easier but because
they took it as a competition and they like to compete, they like puzzles and braintwisters a lot.
The activity ´Ordering Puzzle´ was more difficult and it took also more time. The
pupils sometimes had to look into their reading copies to find the right order. The group
of weaker pupils had the most serious problems with this activity and I had to help them
a lot.
40
For this activity I would recommend to make mixed-ability groups because stronger
pupils can help and encourage weaker pupils to try their best.
A tip for using Chapter 8 – Inside the Garden
The teacher reads the first half of the eighth chapter ´Inside the Garden´ out loud
and the pupils listen to it. Then the pupils have 7 minutes to read the second half of the
chapter themselves (app. 8).
This activity is called ´Card Games´ and again it is adapted for our situation from
Class Readers by Jean Greenwood.
This activity can be very useful after finishing the whole book. The main aims of this
activity are revision of character, selection of key facts and awareness of what is known.
This game can take quite long time and it can be played in small groups or with the
whole class.
I prepared four packs of cards (app. 9) and divided class into four groups. It can be fun
for pupils to help the teacher to prepare these cards in the previous lessons or in the Art
lessons. Each pack comprises two equal sets of cards. The first set has the names of the
characters from the chapter or the whole story. The second set has either a quotation to
match one of the names, or an illustration, or a fact about the character. Each character´s
name has only one other corresponding card. The two sets of cards are combined and
shuffled, and the pupils can start the game ´Pelmanism´.
Pelmanism
The Czech expression is ´Pexeso´. The rules are the same. The cards are face down
in rows on the table. Each student may turn over two cards at a time. If the two cards
correspond in some way, for example, a character´s name and a quotation from that
character, the pupil can keep both cards. If the cards do not correspond they are turned
face down again and returned to exactly the same places, and then the next pupil takes a
turn. The winner is the pupil who has the most pairs of cards.
41
Comments and evaluation
This activity went off very well without any serious problem because the pupils
enjoyed it very much.
I prepared four packs of cards for four groups. At this time I divided the pupils
according to their level and knowledge, that means the strongest pupils together and the
weakest pupils together too. It was because also the weakest pupils had the chance to
win the game.
At the end of this activity the pupils wanted to prepare more cards not only for Alice in
Wonderland but also for different books they have read.
I think this activity really showed the pupils´ enjoyment and interest in reading. That is
why I showed and lent the volunteers some other books to read at home and to prepare
their own packs of cards. It could be done as a project.
More tips for using Alice in Wonderland
These activities are connected more with writing.
A poem
At the beginning of this activity I asked pupils to think and say some words which
are connected with our story Alice in Wonderland.
I wrote some of those words on the blackboard, for example, Wonderland, the White
Rabbit, a watch, a Rabbit-hole, mad, etc., and the pupils´ task was to write a poem.
They could use the words or not, it was up to them, and they could work individually, in
pairs or groups as they like best. Then I gave them the blank sheet of paper in format
A3, they wrote their poem on it and put it on the walls round the classroom.
The Characters
I wrote some of the characters from the story on the blackboard, ´The White
Rabbit´, ´The Queen´, ´The Cheshire Cat´, and ´The Caterpillar´.
42
The pupils´task was to write four or five sentences about each of these animals or
people. They worked individually but it was necessary to help the weakest pupils
sometimes. After they finished the volunteers were asked to read their sentences.
A letter
This activity could be done as homework. The pupils´ task is to write a short letter
from Alice to a friend about ´Wonderland´.
Comments and evaluation
´A poem´ activity went off quite well because the pupils enjoyed it. They were
really creative (app. 10) and what was important to me they had fun during this activity.
They were active because they could discuss and talk about it with me and also with
their classmates, they could use the dictionaries and most important fact for them was
that they wrote the poem for somebody to read it.
´The Characters´ activity did not go as well as the ´Poem´ activity because the pupils
had to work individually and it was not so enjoyable for them. Most of them had to look
at their reading copies to write some sentences about these characters.
The Internet Sources
There are a lot of web pages on the Internet connected with Alice in Wonderland
which can be very useful for the teachers as well as for the pupils.
I can recommend, for example:
Alice in Wonderland – An Interactive Adventure
(http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/wonderland/index.htm)
Here the pupils can enjoy activities with Alice and her friends, such as
-
Wonderland Word Search – to find the words from the word list in the
grid. Words are horizontal, vertical, diagonal, backward, and forward.
43
-
Alice´s Guessing Game – this game is similar to Hangman, but the pupil
can keep guessing letters until he or she knows the answer, with no
penalty.
-
A Long and A Sad Tale – the pupils can fill their own tale.
-
Wonderland Word Scramble – the pupils can help Alice unscramble all
of the words.
-
Queen Alice´s Quiz – here the pupils can go through a little quiz.
-
Send a Wonderful Postcard – here the pupils can choose a Wonderland
image for a postcard and they can send the postcard by email.
This web site is really wonderful and it can help to motivate pupils a lot.
Another interesting and useful web site is Wired for Books from Ohio University
(http://wiredforbooks.org/alice/). The pupils can listen to an unabridged, dramatic audio
production.
There are many others including, for example, A Study Guide for Alice by Elizabeth
Sky-McIlvain and John McIlvain
(http://www.leasttern.com/alice/alice.htm#introductory) or A Trip to Wonderland: The
Nursery ´Alice´ created by EDSITEment
(http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=292#01) that can be very useful
for the teachers. There can be found a lot of interesting ideas and tips for using the book
Alice in Wonderland.
The pupils´ feedback
After finishing the story Alice in Wonderland I gave each pupil a short questionnaire
to fill (app. 11). The questionnaire was anonymous, and I also translated it into Czech to
help pupils to understand it better.
For most of the pupils the story was interesting even though they have already
known the story because they read it in English now.
44
All the pupils agreed on the most interesting activity during the work with the book, and
it was ´Pelmanism´. They all enjoyed it very much. Another interesting activity for
about half of the pupils was ´A Poem´.
12 pupils would like to work with the literature in the English classes as often as
possible. The pupils also mentioned the pictures on their reading copies, because as they
said, it helped them to imagine the things better.
5 pupils borrowed some different books to read and to prepare the packs of cards for the
game.
According to the results of the short research (app. 12), the 7th graders showed their
positive attitude to literature and reading.
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Moondial
Helen Cresswell was born in 1934, and started writing stories at the age of seven.
She studied at London University, and was a teacher before becoming a full-time writer
of children´s books. Her early books were of two kinds: stories about magical worlds,
and funny stories about real life. Then in 1973, she was asked to write for the BBC
children´s television programme Jackanory.
In Moondial (1987), she returns to the world of magic, witches, and evil. The idea for
the story came from Belton House, a National Trust house and garden in Lincolnshire,
which can be visited by the public. A television adaptation of Moondial was filmed
there in 1988. In the book the garden is described just as it is in real life, with its paths
and yew trees, and the sundial statue of Chronos and Eros.
I decided to use this story with the 8th graders, that is why I chose a short simplified
version of this book.
Moondial retold by John Escott in Level 3 with 1000 headwords was published by
Oxford University Press in 2008. The Oxford Bookworms Library provides enjoyable
reading in English, with a wide range of classic and modern fiction, non-fiction, and
plays. It includes original and adapted texts in seven graded language stages, which take
learners from beginner to advanced level. Each book contains an introduction to the
story, notes about the author, a glossary, and activities. Additional resources include
texts and worksheets, and answers for these and for the activities in the books. Resource
materials are available on the website (www.oup.com/elt/bookworms). These resources
can be very useful not only for teachers but also for pupils and students.
8th graders
It is a mixed-ability class of twelve pupils, six girls and six boys – five of them are
strong pupils, four of them are quite good, they always try their best and three of the
pupils are very weak.
This group is very friendly and the pupils co-operate very well in all school subjects,
except one boy who is absolutely uncooperative in any way.
46
This group is using the old Project English III. by Tom Hutchinson, they do not like the
coursebook very much, and that is why, they were curious and showed their interest in
working on something different than their old textbook is.
This group likes reading very much and most of the pupils read books for pleasure.
Most of the pupils in this group also like learning English, so my main aim in this group
is to motivate them to read in English.
Tips for using Moondial
The first lesson started by asking pupils if they know any famous fantasy stories or
fairy tales. This short introduction was done mainly in the Czech language because it
could be easier for pupils to name some titles of stories or fairy tales in English. But
some of the pupils were able to tell the titles also in English. I wanted to make the
purpose and aim of the lesson which is motivating pupils for further reading clear right
from the beginning.
Warm-up activities
I prepared two warm-up activities for the eighth grade too.
The first activity could be ´I name this book´. I found the idea in Class Readers by Jean
Greenwood. The literary aim is the anticipation of plot and theme.
I wrote the title of each chapter on the blackboard.
It is midnight…
1) More than shadows
2) The sundial
3) Children from the past
4) Devil´s child!
5) Miss Vole
6) ´Someone walking over my grave…´
7) The end of the game
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I divided the pupils into groups of three and asked them to discuss each of the chapter
titles and suggest a possible title for the book. They must try to justify their decisions.
Then we discussed their possible answers together. The right answer is not important in
this activity, more important things are the pupils´ responses and discussions to the
chapter titles.
The second warm-up activity could be – to prepare copies with titles of famous
stories in one column and with the names of the authors in other column (app. 13). The
pupils´ task is to match the title with the correct name of the author together.
This activity is more general, and it is not precisely connected to the story Moondial,
but it can be interesting and motivational for pupils to find out that they know books as
well as their authors.
Tips for using Chapter 1 – More than shadows
The teacher reads the first half of the chapter one ´More than shadows´out loud and
the pupils listen to it, then the pupils have 5 minutes to finish the chapter themselves
(app. 14), but it is not necessary to read the text before this activity. This activity is
focused mainly on vocabulary connected to the story.
For this activity I used the glossary from the book. I prepared copies of words and their
definitions (app. 15). The pupils´ task was to match the words with the right definitions.
For example: Witch – 31st October when people say that the ghosts of dead people
come back to the living world.
Halloween – a woman who uses magic to do things (usually, but not
always, bad things).
The pupils worked individually and to motivate them and to make this activity more
interesting I said that the first five pupils will be marked if the task is correct. At the end
of the activity, I asked volunteers to read the word with the definition to check the right
answer, and then they put the copies in their vocabulary notebooks.
They were also asked to look at the copies at home to become more familiar with the
new words.
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Another activity which I found very useful is called ´The third degree about a text´
but I call it ´Hot seat´ because the pupils can better imagine what the activity is about. I
used the main idea from the book Language activities for teenagers by Seth
Lindstromberg.
The main aims of this activity are reading, asking questions about a resource, answering
questions in the limelight and under pressure.
First, the pupils were asked to read the chapter one ´More than shadows´ individually.
Then, in groups of three, they had to prepare a set of questions about the text (I
suggested four or five questions). Then I asked for one volunteer to occupy a seat at the
front of the class. The other pupils had to fire questions at the person in the ´hot seat´ for
the next three minutes. When the three minutes were up the old victim selected a new
one. We continued until one person in each group had had a chance to answer questions.
Comments and evaluation
The warm-up activities went off quite well without any problems because it
included simple tasks. We tried both activities and the pupils really enjoyed the first one
´I name this book´. First, they discussed the title of each chapter and a possible title for
the book in groups, and after some time we discussed it together.
This activity really forced the pupils to think, to imagine and what was very important to talk. At the end of this activity there were really strong arguments about each group
title. When I told them the title of the book, some of the pupils were dissatisfied because
they thought that their suggestions were better.
The second warm-up activity went off very well and it showed that most of the
pupils in this class like reading and they read a lot. They matched most of the titles and
authors together without any problems.
The activity based on vocabulary from the glossary of the book was not very
difficult for this class. The pupils were also motivated by grading their copies so they
tried their best.
49
In this class it is also normal thing to help the weaker classmates. So after the strongest
pupils finished their task they went round the class and help the others.
The activity ´Hot seat´ did not go as well as the previous ones. It was because some
pupils were not able to answer the questions as fast as possible, especially the weaker
ones, they sometimes got stuck in some point and I had to help them.
In this actvity, it was quite obvious that some pupils do not like working under the
pressure, and that is why, for example, testing could be a problem for them.
A tip for using Chapter 2 – The sundial
This activity can be called ´Put it together´. I found the idea in the book Games for
Language Learning.
This activity can be done with any appropriate texts. The main aims of this activity are
reading the texts and putting their component parts in the correct order. The pupils had
to read and listen to the variation.
I prepared the text from chapter 2 – The sundial (app. 16). I cut the text up in the
rectangles between lines, not through words. As the aim is to put the pieces together
again the teacher must not cut the pieces in an irregular way because this will help the
pupils too much.
Then I put the pieces of the text in the envelope. The activity can be done in pairs or
individually. Then the teacher has to prepare more copies of the text.
I chose group work for this activity. We arranged the chairs in a circle and each pupil
took one strip. Each pupil read out his or her piece of paper, and then they had a general
discussion to work out the correct order of the chapter 2. They changed chairs to sit in
the right order and read the whole thing as the original chapter.
Comments and evaluation
This activity went off quite well without many problems. The pupils liked new
aranging of classroom not only sitting behind their desks. They also liked changing their
places according to the right order of the text.
50
Again stronger pupils helped their weaker classmates a lot with their texts, and I had to
only sometimes step in the process of this activity.
This activity was mostly student-centred activity, my role as a teacher was an organiser
at the beginning and then a facilitator or a prompter for some of the pupils.
At the end of the activity I provided copies of the whole text of chapter 2 (app. 17) for
each pupil. They were asked to read the chapter again at home.
Tips for using Chapter 7 – The end of the game
I have learnt this activity from the book Language through Literature by Susan
Bassnett and Peter Grundy.
The activity is called ´Retelling Stories´ and involves listening comprehension and also
tests the way in which individual pupils can assimilate material. Its aim is to draw
attention to the ways in which we listen and how we hear only what seems most
relevant to us.
I divided the pupils into groups of three. It is better if the groups find a place for
themselves somewhere in the room, because in the first stages this exercise is very noisy
and each group needs its own corner in which to work. I also divided the text of the
chapter 7 into three parts, and each of the pupil got one part of the text.
Then each group has to decide who ´a story-teller´, ´a listener´, and ´a documenter´ will
be. The documenter needs paper and a pen and should write notes. The story-teller has
to read a text (in our case it was the seventh chapter of Moondial ´The end of the game´)
and then tells the other two in the group a story in simpler way. The listener does
nothing but listen while the documenter takes notes. The pupils have four or five
minutes to recount their part of the story.
At the end of four or five minutes, the listener has to tell the same story back to the
original teller, taking further four minutes in which to do it. The documenter now makes
notes about this second version of the story.
Finally, the documenter gives both story-teller and listener their version of their two
accounts of the same story. There are often some discrepancies between the versions.
51
To continue this activity, the members of the group then change roles and the process is
repeated. Finally, they change roles again for the third and last time, so each student has
a chance to be story-teller, listener and documenter.
Another possible activity is ´Gap-filling´. The pupils usually know this kind of
activity because they use it regularly in their English lessons.
We read the seventh chapter ´The end of the game´out loud together (app. 18), so the
pupils became familiar with the story of the last chapter.
I prepared a copy for each of the pupil. It was a part of the chapter 7 where some words
were missing (app. 19). To make the activity easier I provided the words they can
choose. The pupils could work in pairs or individually. To check this activity we read
the part of the text again and corrected it together.
Another well-known activity is ´True/False´.
The pupils were asked to read the text of the chapter 7 themselves. After that I gave
each of the pupil a copy with fifteen sentences which were either true or false (app. 20).
The pupils´ task was to tick if the sentence is right or wrong according to the story and
also to correct the wrong sentences.
In this activity the pupils were allowed to work individually. To check this exercise I
read the sentences out loud and the pupils gave their answers.
To make this activity easier I use the order of the sentences as they appeared in the
chapter.
Comments and evaluation
The activity ´Retelling Stories´ did not go as well as the previous activities because
it takes a lot of time to go through the whole process. At the end of this activity the
pupils were bored because it was too long for them, even though they changed the roles
during the process of this activity. Also the chapter 7 which I chose for this activity was
too long.
For this activity I would recommend to choose shorter chapters from the book or short
fairy tales, myth or folk tales.
52
It can be also useful and motivational for pupils to divide them according to their level
and knowledge, that means the strongest pupils together and the weakest pupils together
too. Because after the listening to one of the strongest pupils, the weaker learner could
be de-motivated and afraid of telling anything.
´Gap-filling´ and ´True/False´ sentences went off quite well without any problems
because the pupils know these kind of activities from their general English lessons.
They usually like these activities because they are not difficult for most of the pupils.
To make ´Gap-filling´ more difficult I would probably not provide the missing words
but this can be done only with the strongest pupils.
On the other hand, to make this kind of activity easier for the weakest learners I provide
the missing words and in the text I usually print exactly the right amount of dashes for
each word.
The pupils´ feedback
After finishing the story Moondial I gave each pupil a short questionnaire to fill
(app. 11). The questionnaire was anonymous, and I also translated it into Czech to help
pupils to understand it better.
For most of the pupils the story was interesting because they did not hear about the
story before.
Because this group likes reading a lot, the pupils showed their interest in the story and
they enjoyed it. At the end of the book they were proud of themselves that they read the
book in English and what was the most important for them that they understood it. 7
pupils asked me for recommendation of other books.
10 pupils checked ´I name this book´ and ´Put it together´ as the most interesting
activities and 9 pupils would like to work with the literature in the English classes as
often as possible (app. 21).
53
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was born in Llandaff in South Wales. He started to write
children´s books in early the 1960s, and became the most popular children´s writer of
the century in Great Britain and, through translations, all over the world.
“In his fantasy tales for children, violence and humour and controversial morals are
blended together to make a new form of modern fantasy for children referred to as a
subversive fantasy.
Dahl´s short stories for adults and his fantasy tales for children have some common
features, namelly, a tendency to exaggeration and caricature, subversive humour,
surprising plots, unconventional, unexpected endings and expressive language.
As Dahl writes in his autobiography Boy, he also had some more pleasant memories of
his stay at Repton as the school was close to Cadbury´s a famous chocolate factory that
used to involve school boys in testing new kinds of chocolate bars. This became one of
Dahl´s inspirations for writing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was first published in 1964 and it became the most
significant children´s book published between 1960-1979.
Stories of Dahl´s fantasy tales are set in the real world. The fantastic creatures and the
magic elements are parts of the contemporary reality of his child heroes. The fantastic
events happen ´here and now´, not in an indefinite time and location of the traditional
folk fairy tales” (Preložníková, 2003).
I decided to use this fantasy story with the 9th graders, and I chose an unabridged
version of the book. I used the edition published in 2007 by Puffin Books. The book is
full of Quentin Blake´s illustrations and it also includes a lot of other information about
Roald Dahl.
9th graders
This group is very small, there are only nine pupils in the class, four girls and five
boys. It is a mixed-ability class – five pupils are really strong, two of them are quite
good but their performance is sometimes inconstant, because of their abilities, but
54
mostly because of the fact that they do not prepare regularly for the lessons. Two of the
pupils are very weak.
This group is small, they co-operate very well and they are very friendly. Four of the
pupils are very ambitious, they like reading and they read for pleasure.
This group is using the old Project English III. by Tom Hutchinson, and they were
curious and showed their interest in working on something different than their
coursebook is.
Tips for using Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The first lesson started by asking pupils if they know any famous fantasy stories or
fairy tales. This short introduction was done mainly in English, but they knew some of
the book titles only in Czech, so I helped the pupils to translate them. I wanted to make
the purpose and aim of the lesson which is motivating pupils for further reading clear
right from the beginning.
Warm-up activities
I prepared two warm-up activities for the ninth grade too.
The first activity is called ´Documentaries´. The literary aims are anticipation of a plot,
connecting ideas, ability to perceive and respond to small details.
I prepared some visuals which are connected to the story. The pupils´ task was to
suggest the best title of the book we are going to use.
I brought a bar of chocolate, a picture of Golden Ticket, the headline prepared from the
newspaper which says: WONKA FACTORY TO BE OPENED AT LAST TO LUCKY
FEW, and a picture of some factory found in a magazine.
They worked as one group so all nine pupils together. First they were discussing each
thing and after some time they talked about some connections among those things.
The pupils saw the film based on the story so they guessed the right title of the story.
55
The second warm-up activity could be again matching activity.
I prepared copies with titles of famous stories in the first column, in the second column
there were the names of authors, and to make it different from the 8th grade, I added the
third column with some of the main characters from the books (app. 22).
This activity is again more general, and it is not precisely connected to the story Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory but it can be interesting and motivational for pupils to find
out that they know books, characters and also the authors.
A tip for using Chapter 1 – Here comes Charlie
Because I decided to use an unabridged version of the book with a small group, I
asked the headmaster to buy about five copies of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
The reasons were very simple: the size of the group, they can possibly share each book
in a pair and some of the chapters are quite long to copy.
The headmaster agreed and I bought five Roald Dahl´s books.
The pupils read the first chapter ´Here comes Charlie´ individually.
After the reading I asked pupils to discuss about the characters, their relationships and
their daily routine. After the discussion the pupils had to prepare 10 sentences about
their own families and then draw a family tree.
Comments and evaluation
The warm-up activities went off quite well without any problems because it
included simple tasks. We tried both activities and the pupils enjoyed both of them.
They were happy and proud of themselves that they guessed the book.
At first, they were surprised and a bit confused about the book because as they said ´It is
for small children´, but all of them admitted that they have seen the film and they liked
it.
The second warm-up activity was also very successful because they like puzzles,
matching activities or brain-twisters a lot and they took it as a competition.
56
Tips for using Chapters 5 – 12
This activity is connected with the characters of the book.
The pupils´ were asked to find and read as many descriptions of characters in chapters 5
– 12 as possible. This activity is called ´Matching´ and again the main idea came from
Class Readers by Jean Greenwood.
The main aims of this activity are to revise and emphasize associations between
characters and to describe the characters.
This activity can be useful especially if the story has rather a large number of characters
and the pupils are becoming confused about these characters.
I prepared copies for each pupil (app. 23) with the names of the characters on one side
of the paper and a brief description of the characters on the other side. The pupils´ task
was to match characters´ names with their corresponding description.
Role-play
This activity also concerned with the characters of the story. I divided the class into
pairs, because there are nine pupils in this class, there was one group of three.
I prepared the small cards of the childrens´ characters from the story and each pair
chose one of the children. Then they had to decide who is going to be the journalist and
who is the child.
Their task was to role-play the interview between the journalists and the child who has
just found a golden ticket.
They had to prepare the interview and acted out to the whole class.
Comments and evaluation
The ´Matching´ and the ´Role-play´ activities went off very well without any
problems because the pupils enjoyed them very much.
57
The matching activities are popular in this group a lot because there are some ambitious
pupils in this class and they like to compete very much.
The ´Role-play´ activity was very successful too because they enjoyed it, they had a lot
of fun and it created relaxed atmosphere in the class. After this activity, they told me
that they do not remember such fun in some of their school subjects.
More tips for using Chapters 5 – 12
This activity is based on reading and writing summaries.
I divided the class into three pairs and one group of three pupils again. I asked each pair
to write a short summary: Group 1, chapters 5 and 6; Group 2, chapters 7 and 8; Group
3, chapters 9 and 10; and Group 4, chapters 11 and 12.
The summaries should be about one page long and the pupils had to include ten errors
in their summary, five errors in each chapter. When they finished, I made three copies
of each of the summary. Then each group gave a copy of its summary to the other
groups who had to read and find the errors without reffering back to the book.
Another activity is called ´Balloon Debates´.
The main aims of this activity are revision, reassessment and discussion of characters.
I wrote some names of the characters on the blackboard. They included: Mr Willy
Wonka, Charlie Bucket, Augustus Gloop, Mike Teavee, Veruca Salt, Violet
Beauregarde and the Oompa-Loompas.
Then I asked the pupils to imagine that these characters from the story are placed in the
basket of a hot air balloon.
But the balloon has a small hole in it and air is slowly escaping, causing the balloon to
fall. One character must be ejected to keep the balloon aloft. Who will be the first?
Which character will be saved and the last one left in the basket?
The criteria the pupils employ for ejection can be purely subjective, that is, how popular
the particular character was as far as they were concerned. However, their criteria could
also be based on how essential to the plot or to the theme each character is.
58
The activity could be improved upon by giving groups special responsibility for
ensuring the survival of one particular character and encouraging them to present
arguments in favour of the survival of that character against the survival of the others.
The discussion during this activity was full of excitement and there was a lot of arguing
but at the end the group agreed on the Oompa-Loompas characters to be saved.
The Internet Sources
There are a lot of web pages on the Internet connected with Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory which can be very useful for the teachers as well as for the pupils.
I can recommend, for example:
Roald Dahl´s official website (www.roalddahl.com), here the pupils can find a lot of
interesting facts about Roald Dahl and all of his books.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Quiz created by Kristine Howard in 1996-2008
(http://www.roalddahlfans.com/games/quiz.php?quizID=5). There are quizzes based on
the books, not the films. This website can be very useful for teachers as well as for
pupils. There are a lot of sections, for example, Dahl´s life, Dahl´s work, In the
Classroom, or Fun Stuff with games, greeting cards, etc.
Activities for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
(http://www.mce.k12tn.net/CHOCOLATE/charlie/charlie_and_the_chocolate_factor.ht
m) where quizzes and activities are available for each chapter.
And according to me a really wonderful website created by ThinkQuest
(http://library.thinkquest.org/J0113211) where the teachers and pupils can find a lot of
interesting things, facts and activities including Chocolate Recipes, History of
Chocolate, Word Search, Chocolate Links, Crossword, Charlie´s Trivia, Mystery,
References, and Roald Dahl.
To show pupils some interesting activities from the Internet, I printed out one of the
word search for each pupil (app. 24).
59
Their task was to cross out all the words and then use dictionaries to find the meanings
of the words.
I also provided them with some web pages to look at. They went through some of the
quizzes and they enjoyed them.
Comments and evaluation
The activity of writing summaries did not go as well as the previous activities,
because it takes a lot of time to go through the whole process.
For this activity I would recommend to prepare summaries at home as homework and
the next lesson to go through the summaries in the class. It could be also better to
provide only one summary for each group, so each group has a different summary to
correct.
´Balloon Debates´ went off quite well without any problems because they like to talk
and discuss. The discussion during this activity was full of excitement and there was a
lot of arguing but they enjoyed it.
Creative activities
The pupils were divided into three groups.
Their task was to invent some special sweet and prepare a poster for it. This activity
took place mostly in their Art lessons, and then the posters were placed on the walls in
their classroom.
Their class teacher also organized a visit to a sweet factory in Rohatec for the pupils.
Then they wrote essays based on their own imaginery factory. This activity was part of
their Czech language subject.
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The pupils´ feedback
After finishing the activities based on the story of Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory I gave each pupil a short questionnaire to fill (app. 11). The questionnaire was
anonymous, and I also translated it into Czech to help pupils to understand it better.
Because there was no time to go through the whole book, seven pupils wanted to
borrow the book and finish it.
It was very important for them not only that they read it in English, but also that they
understood it well.
It was very surprising for me that all pupils in this class found the story interesting.
Maybe because I also like this story and I showed my enthusiasm to them.
The most interesting activities were ´Balloon Debates´ and ´Role-play´, followed by
matching activities and ´Documentaries´.
Another positive thing was that seven pupils would like to work with literature in the
English classes as often as possible (app. 25).
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The Research
The small research took place in the 7th, 8th and 9th grades of the basic school. It
lasted two weeks.
The main aims of this research were to motivate teenagers to read and to enjoy reading
in English, or maybe to change their negative attitude to reading in general.
There were 37 pupils involved in the research. The results of the research were very
positive (app. 26), it showed that most of the pupils, about 84%, enjoyed the stories as
well as activities.
About 76% of pupils would also like to work with literary texts more often in their
English classes.
For me, as a teacher, the most positive thing was that some of the pupils asked for
recommendations of other English books to read.
Even though the research was really short, it showed the pupils´ positive attitude to
fantasy books and literature in general.
As teenagers, they are mostly at their difficult age, but there were not any problems with
their behaviour during our lessons, maybe because they were really interested in our
short project.
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CONCLUSION
The purpose of this diploma thesis was to demonstrate the concept of including
fantasy books in English language teaching at the basic schools.
Through only some chapters selected from famous fantasy stories various tips for
activities were developed and presented in English lessons.
My intention was to prove that fantasy literature can be included in teaching and it can
be useful and interesting topic for teenagers at the basic schools.
One of the biggest advantages, taking into account teenagers, is developing their
imagination. While reading some fantasy story, teenagers try to imagine the scene and
characters. This helps them to keep interest in the story. Due to teenagers´ imagination,
there can be invented so many stories with differences in scenery, characters´
appearance, etc. Thus, teenagers can tell their own stories based on their own
imagination, which enables further discussion about the story and sharing differences in
perceiving it.
The most important benefit of literature in general is, in my opinion, developing the
habit of reading and appreciation of literature. Even the teenagers who hated reading
and promised themselves they would never read books finally realized all advantages of
literature and became, in some cases, passionate readers. Even though it can be tough
for many of them at the beginning, gradual teacher´s implementing literature into
lessons can help them gain a more positive attitude towards it.
The results of the short research proved that using fantasy stories can create teenagers´
positive attitude not only to reading, but also to language teaching.
Literature is an excellent resource for all teachers and their students, which enables
developing reading skills and increases language awareness.
We, teachers, should try to foster a sense of reading enjoyment in our students and
achieve it by implementing interesting reading activities.
Based on my personal experience, most teachers have already proved their ability to
entertain and, at the same time, teach their students and provide them with meaningful
English lessons. Students are having fun without actually realizing they are learning a
language.
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RESUMÉ
The diploma thesis “Tips for Using Fantasy Books with Teenagers” is based on both
theories of using literature and fantasy books in language teaching in general and my
own experience.
The theoretical part deals with various aspects of using children´s and juvenile literature
and fantasy books with teenagers and also developing language-learning skills.
The issues of selecting and evaluating suitable literature and fantasy books, and some
criteria for choosing the texts are also discussed here. How to organize a classroom
reading is mentioned at the end of the theoretical part.
The practical part is divided into three parts and it includes some tips and activities
based on the fantasy books chosen for the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. The practical part
provides not only teacher´s comments and evaluation but also pupils´ feedback of the
activities. The results of short research are also mentioned here.
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RESUMÉ
Diplomová práce „Tipy jak používat ´fantasy´ knihy s mládeží“ je založena na
teoretických studiích využití literatury a ´fantasy´ knih ve výuce jazyka obecně, ale i na
mých vlastních zkušenostech a poznatcích.
Teoretická část se zabývá různými oblastmi využití dětské literatury a literatury pro
mládež a ´fantasy´ knih a také rozvojem jazykových schopností a dovedností.
Práce se také zabývá výběrem a hodnocením vhodné literatury a ´fantasy´ knížek, a
předkládá některá kritéria pro výběr vhodného textu.
V teoretické části je také zmíněno jak připravit a zorganizovat práci a třídu během
aktivit založených na čtení.
Praktická část je rozdělena na tři části a součástí jsou tipy a aktivity pro tři knihy, které
byly vybrány pro 7., 8., a 9. ročník. Praktická část neposkytuje pouze komentáře a
hodnocení učitele, ale také zpětnou vazbu od žáků. Jsou zde také zmíněny výsledky
krátkého výzkumu.
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