Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 2; March 03

Maps of stories, stories from maps

Ages 11 and up
Levels Intermediate–Advanced
Time 40-50 minutes
Focus Reading for gist and key information, oral storytelling, listening to another's story
Materials Two stories and a class set of each; (optional) at least one sheet of blank A3 paper for each student, (optional) coloured pens or pencils; scissors and scrap paper

This reading-then-telling activity is for use with stories which are easy to illustrate by means of rudimentary drawings. [See further below for example stories.]

Preparation
Make class sets of at least two stories.

Procedure

1. Tell everyone that they are going to get a story which they should first read and that then everyone should draw—
   • a picture-like map (on large sheet of paper) showing the important places and important things in those places. Add that the maps should be labelled.
   • all the important characters.
2. Hand out copies of the stories as well as A3 sheets and other materials. Start everyone reading. By looking at the sketches as they take shape, you can usually get a good idea of individual students' overall comprehension and help as necessary.
3. As students finish their maps and pictures, ask them to compare their work with others who have read the same story. If students' maps and drawings differ, they generally begin discussing the story without being told to, which tends to help them understand the story better. Have extra paper ready in case anyone wants to re-do their drawing.
4. As students from the groups with different stories become ready, pair them up. Stress that when they tell their stories, they should point to their maps and drawings as often as possible in order to help their partner understand what they are talking about.
5. Ask your earliest finishers to write a certain number of sentences (e.g., five) either from their own or from their partner's story. Ask those who finish a little later, to write three sentences. And so on. Do as much 'over-the-shoulder correction as you can while other students are still writing or reading. Students who finish last, write no sentences. Collect any writing you have not yet been able to correct.
6. Give each student a copy of their partner's story to be read either immediately or at home.

Variations

• Steps 1 and 2: Suggest making a moveable cut-out of any central character(s). For this, of course, students will need extra paper and scissors.
• Give different learners texts of different length and difficulty.
• Step 2: Form mixed proficiency teams. Two options are— --One strong and two or three weak students get the same text. Suggest that students not look up or ask about more than, say, three words but rather to read the text as quickly as they can just to get the general idea. The higher proficiency student, who finishes soonest and with the greatest understanding, makes a list of things that need to be drawn. Thereafter, the job of this student is not to draw but rather to check the others' understanding of the text, explain parts of it as necessary, and generally guide the drawing of the others.
  --Higher proficiency learners work alone on the longest of the two or three stories you decide to use. Ask lower proficiency learners to work in groups of two or three on a shorter story, with each student in a group taking responsibility for drawing just ½ (or 1/3) of the story.

Tips

• Step 1: Stress that you do not want beautiful pictures—say, for example, that even stick figures will do just fine.
• Step 4: Encourage tellers to periodically ask, "Any questions so far?"

Seth Lindstromberg