The Biggest Fish Ever Caught

Level:Intermediate

Time required:90 minutes

Goals:To become familiar with the “fish story”genre, in which the storyteller exaggerates his or her accomplishments; to tell an original fish story and build spoken fluency

Materials:scratch paper and a pen or pencil

Optional materials:a picture of a person fishing,a chalkboard and chalk, a large piece of paper and markers

Optional Preparation:Draw pictures to illustrateparts of the provided fish story that contain vocab-ulary that might be difficult for your students.

Procedures:

1. Activate students’ background knowledge around the subject of fishing. You can show a picture of a person fishing and have students write down as many words as they can to describe what they see. Or you can mime the action of fishing and ask if anyone can guess what verb you are act-ing out; then give students two minutes to write down fishing-related vocabulary they know.

Have students share their vocabulary lists with a partner and explain in English the meaning of terms their partners do not know. After a few minutes of discussion, the pairs can report their combined lists to the class, and you can clarify terms and meanings as needed.

2. Read or summarize the following information for your students:

Today we are going to listen to a fish story, and then each of you will have a chance to tell one of your own. Fish stories are enter-taining because the storyteller uses a lot of exaggeration.

3. Ask if anyone can define the word exaggera-tion. If no one can, share example sentences that incorporate exaggeration to lead the class to the meaning:

the history of the world!’

tonight. It will take me 10 years to finish it.”

If the class still needs help, have a student look up the meaning in the dictionary and share it with the class, or simply explain that exaggeration is a statement that makes something or someone seem to have much more of a characteristic or quality (for example, seeming larger, or better, or worse) than it/he/she really does.

4. Tell students you are going to read them a fish story called “The One That Got Away” (see page 48). The first time they listen, they should simply try to identify the main idea. To focus their atten-tion, you can write Wh– question words on the board and ask students to identify the main char-acter, the setting, and the main events. Remind students that they don’t have to listen for every detail this first time.

5. As you read, use miming and gestures to act out parts of the story with challenging vocabulary. Be dramatic and have fun! You can also draw pic-tures on the board or on a large piece of paper to illustrate parts of the story (e.g., a fish nibbling on bait at the end of the line).

6. After you have read the story once, ask for student volunteers to share their answers to the Wh– questions. If necessary, read the story a sec-ond time. Once your students demonstrate basic comprehension of the story, you can move on to more critical thinking about the language used to tell the tale.

7. Read the story again and have students focus on parts that seem untrue or unbelievable. Ask students to remember them or write them down as they listen.

8. Have students share with a partner or in a small group the exaggerated elements they identified. If you hear a student correctly identify an exagger-

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ated element, ask him or her to share it with the class later. When you review as a class, make sure the students identify the following exaggerations:

when the story happened.

days.

it weighed more than everyone in the room combined.

the fish into the boat.

bye to each other.

9. Read the following information to your class:

In a fish story, the storyteller exaggerates his or her own accomplishments. In other words, the storyteller makes it seem that he or she did something better than he or she actually did. Fish stories do not always have to be about fishing, though. Think about your proudest achievement, or something you would like to accom-plishÑlike running a marathon, or writ-ing a novel, or becoming the president of your student government. Imagine that you have achieved this goal. Tell a fish story about your real or imagined accomplishment. Take 10 minutes to out-line your story and make notes about the details you plan to exaggerate. Then you will tell your story to a partner.

10. Circulate the classroom as students are brain-storming. Provide guidance as necessary. Make sure students are not writing complete sentences. Remind them that this is a chance to practice speaking with fluency, not writing!

11. Have students share their fish stories with a partner or two. When students are listening, they should try to identify elements that seem exagger-ated or impossible. Afterwards, they should check their understanding with the storyteller. Then students swap roles and repeat.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 778