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We are Story-Makers!
Creative Story-Based Activities & Effective Strategies to Build Comprehension
By Grace Bertolini • [email protected]
Teachers, Educators and Parents are always asking students to read: they continually ask them to read and
write all sort of materials: instructions, e-mails, newspapers, tests, web sites, notes, reference books, etc…
And we all know that “understanding a text” in a foreign language is hard work!!
So…the question is: How can we help our students to understand a text? And the answer can be: “not only
giving definitions of words but making them “work” with the words!
WORD STUDY:
Prepared with Strategies, students can approach new vocabulary with confidence. CONTEXT CLUES.
CLUES FROM ILLUSTRATIONS and CHARTS help students to figure out a word’s meaning.
VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT encourages students to talk about words that might be similar in meaning,
words that might be opposites and how they have seen the word in a context.
ACTIVITY: “WORD CUBING”:
Students retell 6 different word features or
associations: An illustration - A synonym –
An antonym- The word in a sentence – The word in
different forms (ness- ly) - Part of the speech
(noun, verb, adjective)
RESOURCE: “POCKET CUBE”
ACTIVITY: “WORD STRIPPING”
Use a sentence strip for each word:
1) Write the word.
2) Make an illustration of the word.
3) Write synonyms.
4) Write antonyms.
5) Write the word in a sentence.
ACTIVITY: “WORD BANKING”
Similar to SENTENCE STRIPPING
1) Use index cards divided into 4 sections:
- The word.
- The synonyms / the antonyms.
- A drawing.
- A sentence.
ACTIVITY: “VOCABULARY MAP”
To learn new vocabulary words.
For each new vocabulary word students write: the
word, its definition, its part of speech noun, verb,
adjective, adverb, etc…
A synonym, an antonym. The student draws a picture
that illustrates the meaning of the word and writes a
meaningful sentence using the word.
NARRATIVE FAN
ACTIVITY: “COLOR-CODED BASED
ANNOTATION”
Students use different markers to differentiate
MAIN IDEAS – SUBTOPICS DETAILS- NEW WORDS
Students freely mark up the text in the following way:
-
MAIN IDEAS: might be boxed in red.
SUBTOPICS : enclosed in parentheses in green.
DETAILS : Could be underlined in blue.
NEW WORDS : could be circled in brown.
ABS International • Phone (5411) 0348 4441541 • [email protected] • www.abs-international.com.ar
Ruta 9 km 42,5 • Colectora Oeste Nº1080 • Edificio Blue Office • 1º piso • Oficina 10 • Ing. Maschwitz (1623) • Argentina
ACTIVITY: “FIRST LINE…LAST LINE”
- Choose a key passage in which an unexpected
event occurs.
- Give students the first and last line of a
chapter.
- Ask them to predict and write down what they
think will happen in this part of the story.
ACTIVITY: “PREDICTING WITH A STORY BOARD”
Give students a “STORYBOARD”, a cartoon strip, of the
main events in the story already in the correct order (do
not include the ending!).
1) Ask them to predict the story.
2) Ask them to guess and write how the story ends.
RETELLING is the oral reconstruction of the key elements . After reading or listening to a piece of
FICTION or NONFICTION.
¾ With fiction: elements are retold in order.
¾ With non-fiction: students retell in terms of structure & categories.
The student tells the story in his own words and rebuilds and integrates the parts
The process reveals not only what students remember, but also what they understand.
The point is not to memorize the exact words, but to recall: SETTING (When & Where)- CHARACTERS –
PLOT (Dialogues – Information) - CONCLUSION
ACTIVITY: “FINGER RETELLING”:
Students begin to visualize the proper chronology using their fingers:
They use their THUMB for the SETTING
Their INDEX FINGER for the CHARACTERS
Their MIDDLE FINGER for the CONFLICT
Their RING FINGER for the attempts to solve the conflict
Their PINKIE FINGER for the CONCLUSION
ACTIVITY: “RETELLING ROPE”
Use a thick piece of rope with icons
signifying the 5 elements of the
story. Each image represents one
element in general, for example: a
clock for the setting, a key for the
solution.
TEACHING TIP: “Moving through a box!”:
Students create STICK PUPPETS and insert them in a shoe box while retelling the story.
ACTIVITY: “RETELLING VEST”
Students arrange the 5 elements into the 3
sections of the vest:
On the left panel: illustration of settings and
characters.
On the back panel: illustrate the conflict and the
attempts at resolving it.
On the right panel: illustrate the story resolution.
ACTIVITY: “TRIARAMA”: a Foldable, three
dimensional, three sided triangular displays.
Make the Triarama display. Use it to retell the
parts of the story:
- 1st side: Setting & characters.
- 2nd side: Conflict and attempts to solve it.
- 3rd side: Conclusion.
MORE RETELLING PROPS:
RETELLING APRON - MAGNET BOARD
FELT BOARD – RETELLING CUBESRETELLING STICKS – RETELLING STONES
ACTIVITY: “FLIP-FLOP CHART”:
Foldable for Fiction Texts to retell the Setting,
Characters, the Conflict, the attempts to solve the
conflict and the conclusion.
For Non-Fiction Texts: Students write 4 problems about
a topic on each of the FLAPS and illustrate the solution
inside.
ABS International • Phone (5411) 0348 4441541 • [email protected] • www.abs-international.com.ar
Ruta 9 km 42,5 • Colectora Oeste Nº1080 • Edificio Blue Office • 1º piso • Oficina 10 • Ing. Maschwitz (1623) • Argentina
ACTIVITY: “BOXED- RETELLINGS”: Students make their “STORYBOARDS”: They decide how many
pictures they will need to retell the story and take a long, thin strip of paper and section off a number of franks.
Then. they illustrate each major event in the story on the strip of paper. They cover a box or tin with plain
paper, cut a slit in one side and introduce the story in the can. Students perform the retelling with a partner
ACTIVITY: “RETELLING MOBILES”:
Assign geometric figures to various elements: TRIANGLE: to setting and characters. RECTANGLE: to conflict
and attempts to solve them. CIRCLE: to conclusion & message.
Select illustrations and glue them to the geometric shapes. Tie the string to a coat hanger to make a retelling
mobile. Students retell to their partner / to the whole class.
RETELLING PROPS for LITTLE KIDS:
STORY NECKLACES - STORY STICK - STORY CAN - STORY HAT
GOING FROM RETELLING TO WRITING: OPTIONS:
Students can more easily begin to write: a summary, a composition, a compare-and-contrast essay using a
similar story, an alternative ending for the final retelling, a detailed time line on a historical event, a
dramatization of an event based on the retelling, a mock interview with information from the retelling.
ACTIVITY: “ONCE UPON A TIME”
CLASS ORAL STORYMAKING: The teacher tells the
traditional opening of a classic fairy story:
“Once upon a time there was a little boy called Jack
who lived with his mother in a little cottage in the
countryside. They were very poor”…
Ask students what information they have been given
in these opening sentences. Give them questions to
work with by writing on the board:
WHEN? Unspecific, in the past: Once upon a time…
WHO?
A little boy (Jack) – His mother
WHERE? In a cottage in the countryside
WHAT? Mother and son live together and they were
very poor.
ACTIVITY: “WORD BY WORD STORY”
Write “A…” on the board. Elicit a NOUN to follow:
Teacher: “A WHAT…?” Write what they offer:
“A MAN…“A man DID WHAT? : “A man walked…
A man walked …WHERE? WHEN? WHY? …
HOW DID IT END?
ACTIVITY: “CREATE A STORY CHARACTER”
Create the character: personality, abilities,
concerns. Use descriptive words: extrovert,
clever, etc…
How the person: dresses, speaks, walks, etc…
MORE SUGGESTIONS: “Make a person out of magazine’s pictures”- “Brainstorming of a place” –
“Working with a photo” – “Using a writing Prompt” – “A special object of yours”- “An object in a story”
GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS are excellent Strategies!: STAR DIAGRAM - STORY MAP 5 W’s DIAGRAMS – KWHL CHART – VENN DIAGRAM – “T” CHARTS – “Y” CHARTS -
SOME CONCLUSIONS: To get the most out of Reading & Writing, teachers should help students learn
Strategies to: Activate Prior Knowledge, Make predictions, Preview texts, Retell, Ask questions, Sequence
events, Make connections, Compare and contrast, Identify cause and effect, Determine main idea, Build
vocabulary.
REFERENCES: “Retelling strategies to improve comprehension” (Darla Shaw)Scholastic - “Learning
through story” (Val Emblem) Scholastic - “The storytelling handbook for primary teachers” (Penguin)
“Quick & creative Literature response activities” (Jane Fowler) Scholastic - “ 25 terrific Literature Activities”
Scholastic - “Writing stories” Andrew Wright – David Hill. Hebling Languages
THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WITH ME!!
[email protected]
Grace B.
www.gracebertolini.com.ar
ABS International • Phone (5411) 0348 4441541 • [email protected] • www.abs-international.com.ar
Ruta 9 km 42,5 • Colectora Oeste Nº1080 • Edificio Blue Office • 1º piso • Oficina 10 • Ing. Maschwitz (1623) • Argentina