Humanising Language Teaching
Year 1; Issue 2; April 1999

• Lesson 1: Leaving out a letter
• Lesson 2: Reacting to a story

by Simon Marshall

Lesson outline:

1. Ask the students to get up and move around the room. Ask them to pair off and sit in their pairs.

2. Ask each person to think of a story from their own life, from recent or early days, or to think of a story they have read or a story seen and heard on TV or in the cinema. Give them a couple of minutes introspection time for this.

3. Person A in each pair then puts these questions to his her partner about the story they have brought to mind. Person A takes detailed notes of the answers Person B gives:

   • What is the main character like?

   • What is the main character's name?

   • Is .......... active or passive in the story?

   • Is .......... an observer or a participant?

   • Is .......... giving or taking ?

   • Does .......... go forth or withdraw?

   • What is .......... 's physical posture in relation to what is around them?

   • Is .......... alone or with others?

   • Does .......... focus on people, things or ideas?

   • What relationship does .......... choose to be in with others?

   • Inferior? Superior?

   • What sort of emotions does ......... live through?

   • What feeling tone is attached to events in the story or the outcome?

   • Are detail and colour mentioned?

   • Do stereotypes emerge for the story, eg stereotypes of men/ women/subordinates/boss people etc....

   • Can you write a headline that captures the essence of the event?

   • Imagine the story in book form- design a picture for the cover.

4. In each pair A and B swap roles. Now B puts the questions to A about A's story and takes detailed notes.

5. Give the students l5 minutes to write whatever they wish in reaction to what they understood f their partner's reaction to the story their partner had in mind. A student could write:

   • the outline of what they guess their partner's story was about

   • three or four things they learnt about their partner, culled from their response to the battery of questions.

   • Things about their partner's text they found interesting etc....

6. Ask the students to read what their partners have written and let this lead on to a general discussion which may include each student saying more about the story they had in mind.

7. 5 minutes plenary time for feedback on the whole activity.

Variation 1:

Instead of asking each student to bring any story to mind, they come up with a story about an event in childhood, from the period before they were 8. Suggest that this should be a story that they have not gone over a million times before, but a fresh one.

Person A tells their story to B. Person B then asks A the questions and notes down the answers. B gives A the notes and asks to what degree A feels s/he does things today the same way as in the story. So, if in the early childhood recollection A was more of an observer than a participant, does A reckon this is still her case today?

Do the same exercise, but this time with Person B telling their pre-8 story.

The Variation just outlined requires a higher level of trust in the group and could embarrass some people or force them into censorship.

Variation 2:

Instead of telling a genuine recollection of something that happened in early childhood, invite the student to INVENT a story from early childhood.

The rest of the activity is as in Variation 1.

Acknowledgement:

We wish to thank Penelope Williams who introduced us to the book from which the above two exercises have been modified:

ADLERIAN COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
Dinkmeyer, Dinkmeyer and Sperry.

Thanks also to Dierk Andresen for his help experimenting with the exercise.