Experience Sharing on the NSS Short Stories Elective Module Language Arts Network Informal Gathering 15 th January 2010

Language Arts Network E-group Instructions available on request

This afternoon ’ s programme 4:00 – 4:20Ice-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 – 5:20Group discussion and sharing 5:20 – 5:30Conclusion and introducing resources

School Sharing: United Christian College Kowloon East Mr Michael Leung (S4 Coordinator)

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 workAdditional 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 stories British Council East 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 Wong Ss 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

put his hand gently on her shoulder, Reluctantly,

Reflections on students ’ performance Gap between appreciation and production Students need greater exposure to short stories before they can write anything of quality Their vocabulary needs to be enriched Students 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 story Peer evaluation and sharing SS find the material motivating, but it needs to be chosen carefully Some 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 taken Designing a suitable assessment task HKEAA-style question modified to apply skills taught in class

Challenges encountered and steps taken Designing a suitable assessment task HKEAA-style question modified to apply skills taught in class SBA arrangements Ensuring students ’ exposure to good writing – finding suitable materials use websites eg East of the Web, students ’ work from previous years / other classes work 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 Sharing: TWGHs Wong Fung Ling College Ms Theresa Lo (member of English curriculum team)

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, 2 nd term It 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 unit Different stories of various text types Stories that can be used to illustrate the targeted literary elements Some examples of stories chosen …

Design of the student portfolio The 5 main parts in the student portfolio Introduction Part 1: the basics Part 2: story appreciation and review Part 3: story writing Part 4: story telling

The basics Notes and exercises on the targeted teaching points: Setting Plot Point of view characters

Story Appreciation and Review compulsory texts texts at students ’ choice story review forms

Writing a story vocabulary building materials mind maps and graphic organisers drafts end product peer assessment teachers ’ feedback and rubrics

Telling a story Speaking skills – verbal repetition projection of voice pace pauses Presentation skills – non-verbal audience participation body movements hand gestures sounds Speech content and organisation Making 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 resources East of the Web: Short Stories Teaching Resources: BBC/British Council Teaching English: BritLit: Merlyn ’ s Pen: American Folklore: Story Arts: Storytelling Activities and Lesson Ideas: Language Learning Support Section Project Gutenberg

Thank you!