Actitudes

itself.) The child pretending to be the story character must invent and give her or his answers. Write each of the questions on the board. Here are the sort of questions the class might ask:

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What’s your name?

How old are you?

Have you got any brothers or sisters?

Where do you live?

Who are your friends?

What do you do with your friends?

What is your favourite food?

What are your favourite television programmes?

What is your favourite music?

What are your hobbies?

5 Ask the children to choose a character from any of the stories for themselves, draw their character in their exercise books, write down the questions you have written on the board, and to write their character’s answers.

6 Divide the class into pairs of different characters. Each child takes it in turns to be a reporter for the local newspaper, the Forest News, and the character being interviewed. The

interviewer can be guided by the questions on the board.

The interviewer must note down the answers to her or his questions.

7 Now show the children the copy of Forest News you have made. Point out how big the letters for the title must be. Also point out how it is arranged in columns: the pictures they draw and the lines they write must be the same width. (You might like to make this work part of a more general study of graphic design in newspapers and books.)

8 The children should now make their own copy of Forest News and write up their interview without referring to the questions.

They should give a title to their article. The children should also do a drawing of the most important piece of information. For example:

Wolf Eats Girls

'My favourite food is girls!' says Wolf.

'Most girls are nice. They wash. Boys are not very nice. They don't wash.'

Wolf is thirty-eight years old. He has twenty brothers and sisters and they all like girls. They live in the forest ...

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If this is too difficult, the children can just concentrate on copying out the basic answers they received to their questions.

You might even give them a model text on the board so they only have to substitute the special information which they have.

The children can write the text in pencil first then show it to you and correct it if necessary, before writing it up neatly in pen or typing it out. If your school has a computer, they can write and edit their text on this.

9 Let the children walk about trying to find someone else who has written about the same character. They should then compare the information.

10 With the whole class, compare information on the same character, so that the other children can hear what the differences are. If there are differences, ask the class, for example, Do you think Wolf is thirty-eight or sixty-four?

5.9 Asking questions

LEVEL___________ Elementary and pre intermediate AGE_____________ 10 to 14

TIME____________ 20 minutes

LANGUAGE______ Questions; oral fluency

PREPARATION 1 You need to choose a story which you don’t mind being interrupted! It should be a short story. Here are some stories which I have used: ‘In a dark, dark town’ (3.2, page 77);

‘Father, son, and donkey’ (3.5, page 88); ‘Ghosts’ (6.8, page 196); ‘The donkey and the little dog’ (6.4, page 193); ‘The fox and the crow’ (6.7, page 195); ‘The boy who cried wolf’ (6.6, page 194); ‘The travellers and the bear’ (6.16, page 204).

IN CLASS _______ 1 Tell the children the story. Then comment that it is a very short story and invite the children to ask you questions about it.

2 Tell them that you are going to play a game with them. Say you are going to tell the story again in less than five minutes, and they must try to stop you from finishing the story by asking questions.

3 Help the class to think of all the different kinds of questions they can ask in order to find out more information. Write some examples on the board. Here are some questions which could be asked about ‘In a dark, dark town’ (3.2):

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Is it very dark?

Can you see the houses?

What time is it?

Is it raining?

What day is it?

Where is this town?

What is the name o f the town?

Is it a big town?

Are there trees in the road?

Are there any cars?

Is it a big road?

Who lives in the house?

How old is he or she?

What are his or her hobbies?

What colour is the front door?

4 Tell the story, pausing at the end of each line to give the children a chance to call out a question. Encourage shy and less fluent children to ask questions. Give the impression that you are desperate to tell the story so try to give short answers.

The class win if they can prevent you from completing the story in five minutes.

FOLLOW-UP______ With higher-level classes try this game on another occasion, without helping the children to prepare questions beforehand.

COMMENTS This activity requires the children to think quickly and be willing to call out their questions. It is not easy but nevertheless gives an opportunity for the children to develop their willingness to ‘have a go’.