PREVIOUSLY: In Unit 12.3, we discussed the
ways of teaching the sub topic “Writing argumentative compositions/essays”
in Form Three.
IN THIS UNIT 12.4, we will cover all
the ways on teaching the sub topic “Writing
narrative compositions/essays (of not less than 250 words)” in Form Four.
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TOPIC’S INFORMATION
Main Topic: WRITING USING APPROPRIATE LANGUAGE CONTENT
AND STYLE.
Sub Topic: Writing narrative compositions/essays.
Periods per sub topic: 8.
Class: Form Four.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SUB TOPIC
This sub topic is the
continuation and revision of the Part Two of sub topic "Writing
Narrative Compositions/essays (of not less than 200 words)" in Form
Three. Click this blue link to see the whole topic. This topic has the same
materials and teaching modality. However, the only difference is in the number
of words per composition or essay.
Sometimes students wonder how
they read wonderful stories in Primary School and in this level. But they might
not take a time to think about those who created these amazing stories. As a
teacher you have to tell them that some of these stories are imaginary, that's,
they are created by author's imagination. That the author just sit somewhere
and think of an idea and starts writing.
In this sub topic, students
will learn how to narrate the past imaginary events. They may be those they
create without involving themselves or those told with 'I' narrator, that's involving
them as characters.
Part 2: Writing imaginary events in the past.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THE LESSON
In this Part Two, the student
should be able to write imaginary events in the past. The student should be
able to think of some creative ideas and use these ideas to write certain
literary works.
- TEACHER’S PREPARATION STAGE
This stage is about
the preparation of the teacher before undertaking the lessons of the particular
sub topic. These are all activities, procedures, materials, teaching aids, and
games prepared by the teacher for teaching a sub topic:
- Putting heads together. Introducing
the topic/lesson properly. Organising how students will be able to get to
know what is the topic/lesson about. It is where teacher makes sure that
students are going to be in his/her train. It includes brainstorming and
familiarisation of the topic/lesson with the students.
This makes students
stay together with the teacher. It is at this stage students can understand
what is going to be discussed in the particular topic.
- Preparation of Materials. A teacher has
to decide on the teaching/learning materials he/she is going to use.
In this sub topic/lesson: A teacher is advised to apply
various pictures that tell stories and ask students to write the imaginary stories
by using these pictures that tell stories.
- Target Practice. At this
point, teacher shows/guides students how to the practice of the functions
of the sub topic. A teacher has to show or guide students to the target
practice of the grammatical functions of the sub topic.
In this particular sub topic/lesson; Students will be
asked by the teacher to start their imaginary stories with special expressions
such as; ‘Once upon a time, sometime in the past..., many years ago, long time
ago’, etc.
- Context-Based
Practice. A teacher leads students to the discussion on how the target
grammatical functions practised earlier can be applied or integrated into
the contexts and situations. The students are guided by the teacher to
apply the learnt skills in relevant contexts and situations like homes,
school, library and other literary settings.
In
this sub topic/lesson: Students can go in the library and find various
insights and prompts on how to write imaginary events or stories. Mostly, past
tense is applied in writing imaginary events/stories, and various narrative styles
are employed as well.
- Vocabulary
Building Practice. At this time, teacher discusses with the
students on the vocabularies and phrases to apply in the already mentioned
contexts and situations.
In
this sub topic/lesson: The most commonly applied vocabularies are: Imaginary, imagined, vivid, once upon a
time, long time ago, may years ago, and the similar vocabularies an
expressions.
- TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCEDURES,
ACTIVITIES AND GAMES
Guide the students to the full
lesson procedures, activities and games for better understanding of the sub
topic by following these activities:
Activity
One:
During this activity, the teacher guides and instructs students to think of any
imaginary event. For example, a teacher can give the students the various
examples of story prompts or story starters such as:
Imagining
you are alone in a dense forest.
You are
dreaming.
You are
on a certain funeral.
Imagine
you witnessed a terrible accident.
Then a teacher can ask
students to think of other story starters they have. It is good to let students
think about their own ways of starting stories. By understanding how stories
are started, students will definitely be able to write their own imaginary
stories.
Activity
Two:
Teacher asks students to be in pairs. In this pairs, students are guided by the
teacher to draft the composition in pairs. There various ways to make students
get started. For example; each pair may choose its own story starter and start
drafting the story.
For instance; the pair that
might have chosen the story starter like: ‘I Survived a Crocodile’ may draft their
story in the way it happened by just imagining the events and characters that
can suit to their story starter. At this stage, teacher encourages students to
think and write down anything that comes out of their minds without considering
their grammatical errors and the content of the story. These skills will help
students to possess some creative writing skills.
After, drafting their imagined
stories, the teacher encourages students to revise and edit their work, and
this time, by keenly focusing on the relevant content of the story.
As they edit, students should
not leave them alone; he/she should assist them when necessary by moving around
from pair to pair encouraging interaction among the students and finishing up
the works.
Activity
Three: Editing is the best way to make a work looks smarter. Thus, in this
situation, a teacher asks students to work in pairs to improve their work by
checking spelling errors, punctuation, capitalisation, and other mechanical
errors.
Activity
Four: After checking students’ works, the teacher can display the best compositions
for students to read in their own time. These best compositions can be
displayed on the school or classroom noticeboard.
The finished work of pair of students that chose the story starter "I survived a Crocodile" can look like this:
The finished work of pair of students that chose the story starter "I survived a Crocodile" can look like this:
I
Survived a Crocodile!
My name is Pascal. I have
lived in Karema village for many years now. Swimming to me is like a daily
bread.
One day I was swimming on the
famous beach of Lake Tanganyika, Kasomo Beach. I was enjoying all sorts of
swimming styles like backstroke and others.
Suddenly, I saw one object
approaching me. At first I thought it
was a piece of buoy or any light object. But
when I dived deep into the water, I realised that it was a big crocodile
swimming towards me. I came up the water and started swimming and screaming. I
panicked. But what amazed me about that crocodile is that it was not moving. I
left it some distance.
My friends came and helped me
out.
"I have seen a
crocodile", I told them. Then they took a canoe and rowed towards the
crocodile. I stayed back on the hot sands of the beach.
I heard them laughing in a
distance. It was realised that that object was not a crocodile. It was a piece
of wrecked boat. People started thinking that there might be a water accident
somewhere in the lake.
I was relived and regain my
happiness again. I put on my clothes and went back home.
As I went home, I still
thought alone,
"Today, I survived a fake
crocodile. Tomorrow I will swim again. This is my place. This is my life".
For full Narrative compositions, read Writing Imaginary Events in Form Three!
Also on how to write an essay with less than 250 words, you can read HOW TO COUNT WORDS IN A COMPOSITION/ESSAY
For full Narrative compositions, read Writing Imaginary Events in Form Three!
Also on how to write an essay with less than 250 words, you can read HOW TO COUNT WORDS IN A COMPOSITION/ESSAY
GRAMMAR & LITERARY PRACTICE
Past
Tense
To narrate the past imaginary
events, students have to be equipped with the English tense skills, especially
past tense.
Literary
techniques
In narrating, most imaginary events
contain some elements of an art or literary techniques that make works more
creative and interesting.
The following are the most
important literary elements to consider when writing works of art like these
imaginary events that happened in the past.
- Plot
- Conflict
- Characters
- Setting
- Theme
- Style
- Language
For more details about these
literary techniques, click Elements
of any Literary Work to read more.
REFLECTION
Ask students to think of
imaginary events they know. Obviously, these events may range from
grandparents' stories, primary school stories to Secondary School stories.
These are stories from our societies. From that point, students now have the
experience that or the knowledge that imaginary stories and events are found in
our societies.
ASSESSMENT
A teacher should design an
evaluation for students by using appropriate assessment tools like oral
questions or assignments so that to see if the students are able to write the
imaginary events in the past.
Even after finishing the sub
topic, ask students if they can write imaginary by giving them writing
assignments and checking their understanding by marking their works.
SUMMARY/CONCLUSION
The importance of writing
imaginary events is that students will be able to improve their writing skills
especially creating writing skills. These skills are not only necessary for
school writing purposes but also for student's personal growth in terms of
critical judgment and improving creative writing career in the future.
NOTE: These stages
explained above are not necessarily covered in a single lesson of single or
double period. Remember that this is the guide for teaching the whole sub topic
which has periods ranging from 6 to 20. So, the teacher's task is to divide
these stages according to the total number of periods for a particular sub
topic.
Resources
https://www.kibin.com/essay-writing-blog/how-to-write-a-narrative-essay/
Tags
'O' LEVEL ENGLISH (OLE)
Elements of Literature
Form Four
How to Teach
Make Your Literary Skills Applicable
Writing Tips
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