Category: writing

10 Tips for Teaching Short Stories: Part 2

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page43_SybilMarcusSybil Marcus, Author of A World of Fiction series

Last month, I gave you 10 tips for using short stories in an ESL/EFL class.  This month, we’ll examine brief excerpts from both levels of A World of Fiction, looking closely at how short stories may be used to teach critical thinking and language.

Although each of these excerpts could be used as a discrete classroom activity, you’ll have many more teaching possibilities when using the complete stories – and your students will have the extra satisfaction of knowing what happens next.  What we’d like to show here is that even a few paragraphs of a fine story can afford numerous possibilities for learning and discussion. Continue reading →

10 Tips for Teaching Short Stories: Part 1

Posted on | by Pearson

page43_SybilMarcus Sybil Marcus
Author of A World of Fiction series

Teachers often hesitate to use literature in the classroom. That’s a pity since short stories are perfect for teaching language and critical thinking skills. Good stories engage both teachers and students. Best of all, they can be used to enrich all language skills in imaginative and unexpected ways. The ten tips below are designed to help teachers create and implement an exciting, relevant short-story course.

1.  Enthusiasm is contagious.
When you believe in literature as a meaningful and fun way to build language skills, you can persuade even skeptical students to take it seriously. I’ve had students begin the semester thinking literature might be an inefficient use of their time, but in 40 years of teaching I’ve almost never seen one who felt that way after a few weeks of class. Continue reading →

Hitting the Right Note:
Extending the Theme of Your Song Activity #5

Posted on | by Pearson

 

2013_Heyer_SandraSandra Heyer

One way to extend the lessons in True Stories Behind the Songs and More True Stories Behind the Songs is to follow up each unit with a supplemental song that connects to the theme of the unit, plus an activity to go with the supplemental song. Each month I’ll share a song-based activity that has worked well with my beginning and high-beginning students. This month, let’s look at some examples of song choices and Writing New Song Lyrics.

How to Write New Song Lyrics in 4 Easy Steps:
Step 1: Choose a song that is easy to sing and copy the lyrics from the Internet.
Step 2: Students listen to the song while reading the lyrics.
Step 3: Working individually, in small groups, or as a class, students personalize the lyrics to fit their own experiences, replacing some words in the song with new words, or replacing an entire verse with a new verse.
Step 4: The class sings the song with the new lyrics. Continue reading →

Background Check: Taking the Mystery Out of “Background Information”

Posted on | by Pearson

colin_ward

Colin Ward

As I write the introduction to this article, I think of my students, who so often struggle with that beginning paragraph of the essay – that mysterious chunk of ideas that is supposed to accomplish so many important tasks at the same time, from getting the reader interested, to providing essential background information, to stating the main idea in the thesis statement.

Continue reading →