experience sharing on the nss short stories elective module language arts network informal gathering...
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Experience Sharing on the NSS Short Stories Elective Module
Language Arts NetworkInformal Gathering15th January 2010
Language Arts Network E-grouphttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/languageartsnetwork/
Instructions available on request
This afternoon’s programme4:00 – 4:20
Ice-breaking activity
4:20 – 4:35
Presentation by a teacher from UCC Kowloon East (now implementing the module)
4:35 – 4:50
Presentation by a teacher from TWGHS Wong Fung Ling College (at the planning stage)
4:50 – 5:20
Group discussion and sharing
5:20 – 5:30
Conclusion and introducing resources
School characteristics and choices made
• DSS school: Great diversity among ss
• Some near native speakers• Experience of Literature in junior
forms• Strong culture of reading in school
Students
Teachers • Some teachers have extensive
experience of LA through Seed project and junior forms
• Some teachers also teach English Literature
Other factors • Christian ethos
Textbook “Star Summit”• Select additional
materials to stretch more able learners
• Build on ss knowledge from literature lessons
• Seed project and LA teachers take up the elective modules initially to develop scheme of work and supplementary resources
• Integrate values and attitudes and “Habits of mind”
• Make judgments of characters from this perspective
Designing the scheme of work
Elective textbook
EDB Scheme of work Additional materials
Relationship with materials in theme book
Examples of materials used for enrichment
Other short stories taught The Crane Wife, After Twenty Years, King Midas and the Golden Touch, The Lost Son, Emma and Sylvia…
Websites of short storiesBritish CouncilEast of the Web
Make use of current news as the theme for a story or story extract:
Example for practising the use of dialogue:Ss read the news about the scandal involving the legislative councilor Mr Kam Lai Wai and his former assistant.Ss then wrote a storyboard and made up dialogue for some encounters between Mr Kam and Ms WongSs finally wrote a story extract using the dialogues
Benefits: current and more authentic, cater to ss interests, motivating, interactive, teaching moral values
Ss responses: active, creative in creating the storyboard and the short story
Ss performance: interesting story plot but not skillful in making use of the dialogue in depicting the characters
Reflections on students’ performance
Gap between appreciation and productionStudents need greater exposure to short stories before they can write anything of qualityTheir vocabulary needs to be enrichedStudents can listen to the teacher read short stories, or audiotapes of actors or writers reading stories. This helps them to appreciate the style and meaning of the storyPeer evaluation and sharing
SS find the material motivating, but it needs to be chosen carefullySome students are very exam-oriented and may not take the module seriously
Assessment may motivate some students - but teachers’ goals are more long term
Challenges encountered and steps takenDesigning a suitable assessment task
HKEAA-style question modified to apply skills taught in class
Challenges encountered and steps takenDesigning a suitable assessment task
HKEAA-style question modified to apply skills taught in classSBA arrangements
Ensuring students’ exposure to good writing – finding suitable materials
use websites eg East of the Web, students’ work from previous years / other classeswork of ss from other schools (more achievable)
For future improvement…..How can we make the reading in the module more student-led rather than teacher-led?
School characteristics and choices made
• weak• low motivation• lacking knowledge in
the elective modules
Students
Teachers • see the need of making
coherence among teaching materials
• have some experience in teaching short stories
Other factors • co-planning has been
started in the curriculum team established last year: S1, S2 – short stories
• make adaptations to the course book materials
• more scaffolding for the tasks
• design student-centred tasks
• start from the basics• choose simple short
stories• adopt the TBL framework
in the core• integrate the Short Story
elective and the core• make use of prior
teaching experience and materials
Link between core and elective
The Short Story Elective is an extension to the core unit
The elective is implemented in S4, 2nd termIt is thematically related to the core unit
Core part(Animals)
Short Stories
(Animals)
Selecting suitable short stories
Simple stories Stories that are thematically linked to the core unitDifferent stories of various text typesStories that can be used to illustrate the targeted literary elementsSome examples of stories chosen…
Design of the student portfolio
The 5 main parts in the student portfolio
IntroductionPart 1: the basicsPart 2: story appreciation and reviewPart 3: story writingPart 4: story telling
Writing a story
vocabulary building materialsmind maps and graphic organisersdraftsend productpeer assessmentteachers’ feedback and rubrics
Telling a storySpeaking skills – verbal
repetitionprojection of voicepacepauses
Presentation skills – non-verbalaudience participationbody movementshand gesturessounds
Speech content and organisationMaking use of storytelling aids, e.g. storyboards and note-cards
Group Sharing
1. What materials will you use for the module? (eg textbook, school-based materials)
2. When designing the module, what are the most important considerations for your students and your school situation?
3. How will you assess the students? What problems do you anticipate with this?
4. What can you take from the two schools’ sharing to apply in your own teaching of the module?
8 minutes
Sharing stories
Refer to the form and story you brought with you
Share your stories/extracts with the group
Each group chooses its favourite piece of material
12 minutes
Check out the
recommend-ations on
the LA Network E-
group!
Useful resourcesEast of the Web: Short Stories Teaching Resources: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/teacher.html
BBC/British Council Teaching English: BritLit: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/download/britlit/britlit.shtml
Merlyn’s Pen: http://www.merlynspen.org/
American Folklore: http://www.americanfolklore.net/index.html
Story Arts: Storytelling Activities and Lesson Ideas: http://www.storyarts.org/lessonplans/lessonideas/index.html
Language Learning Support Section http://cd1.edb.hkedcity.net/cd/languagesupport/article/index_e.htm
Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page