Humanising Language Teaching
Year 4; Issue 6; November 02

By Caty Duykaerts, English Teacher,
I.E.P.S.C.F.- Uccle, Belgium
(m5julia@yahoo.com)

Years ago a book called “Values Clarification” was published in the USA. The first aim of the book was to give teachers and students (teenagers and young adults) practical strategies to clarify their values, but it also offered numerous activities leading to intensive discussion and interesting oral practice in the language class.  

Level : upper-intermediate +
Materials : one role card (per character)
Time : 60 minutes
Focus : listening (input), convincing, discussing moral issues
Preparation : story telling / selecting a film (variation)

One of my favourites, (it has never failed!) is the Alligator River (strategy nr 50, page 290) that tells the dramatic love story between Abigail and Gregory.

I quote :

“Once upon a time there was a woman named Abigail who was in love with a man named Gregory. Gregory lived on the shore of a river. Abigail lived on the opposite shore of the river. The river which separated the two lovers was teeming with man-eating alligators. Unfortunately, the bridge had been washed out. So she went to ask Sinbad, a riverboat captain, to take her across. He said he would be glad to if she would consent to go to bed with him preceding the voyage.
She promptly refused and went to a friend named Ivan to explain her plight. Ivan did not want to be involved at all in the situation.
Abigail felt her only alternative was to accept Sinbad's terms. Sinbad fulfilled his promise to Abigail and delivered her into the arms of Gregory.
When she told Gregory about her amorous escapade in order to cross the river, Gregory cast her aside with disdain.
Heartsick and rejected, Abigail turned to Slug with her tale of woe. Slug, feeling compassion for Abigail, sought out Gregory and beat him brutally. Abigail was overjoyed at the sight of Gregory getting his due. As the sun sets on the horizon, we hear Abigail laughing at Gregory”

After having heard the story the students are asked to privately rank the five characters from the most offensive character to the least objectionable, and then to share their thinking and discuss the reasons for their choices with the others either in small groups or with the whole class. An optional follow-up can be : the five groups (as there are five characters) pick up a paper with the name of one character (so that they can't choose the character they want) and then prepare a moving speech to defend their character's attitude in the story. In turns, one member of each group delivers the speech in front of the whole class – a sort of jury in the circumstances – and pleads for understanding…
This can of course lead to a new ranking of the characters.
Alternatively, the most creative groups can be asked to write different endings to the story.  

Note : Several versions of Abigail's story exist. Phil Dexter used a similar strategy in his 2000 training in Canterbury (which I attended with great interest). In the story, he told us each character represented a value (as a clue, the first letter of the characters names = first letter of the words) (If you readers know other versions, please send them to me, I'd be very grateful)  

Variation : I once adapted this technique to a film follow-up activity. My upper-intermediate class had gone to the cinema with me to see “The Piano”, directed by Australian filmmaker, Jane Campion. This enigmatic love story set in XIXth century New Zealand has few characters: the heroine, her husband, her daughter, her student/lover and her…piano. I asked the students to rank them on a moral scale (as in Abigail's story) and to try to convince each other. Then, they role-played the characters (the piano included!) in amazing pleadings. This follow-up lasted longer than the film itself and everyone participated with much interest. And on top of all, it resulted in a very intensive and natural (!) drill in the “if-structures” (“if a character had done this or that, another character would have acted differently”, etc).  

I think this strategy is adaptable to any film, theatre play, fiction story, as long as it hasn't got too many characters and it provides lively and intensive discussion on values and moral issues – without any preparation (except a few role cards)  

Acknowledgement :
Values Clarification, A Handbook of Practical Strategies for Teachers and Students, revised edition, by Sidney B. Simon, Leland W. Howe & Howard Kirschenbaum, A Hart Book, A & W Visual Library, New York, 1978