Notes from Justin Bailey’s lecture “Collaborative Storyasking-Building Language Together”.
Story asking is a central element of TPRS. When we use this skill, we take advantage of:
1. The power of stories;
2. The power of formula (patterns or phrases that tend to repeat);
3. The power of students’ choice.
Preliminary Decisions
1. Are there any specific words or phrases that students are supposed to acquire? If so, make sure your story has these repetitions.
2. Does your story have a script? You can write by yourself or borrow scripts from Matava; OR you can create story with your students.
3. Are you going to use students as actors to act out parts of characters or elements on the stage? Students can get involved OR distracted, so you can also use toys, puppets as actors.
4. How long are you planning to create the story with the students? Justin recommends to start with 10 mins. As the students get more comfortable, teacher can consider extending.
Demonstration: Scripted Storyasking
Use a gesture to show teacher wants students to think of an answer.
Use prompts to help students be better immersed into the story.
Let each student use a small whiteboard to write down their answer of yes or no to help the development of the story.
In the 3 attempts to solve the problem, teacher repeats the previous plot, in order to repeat the words or phrases like, “Do you have scissors?” “He is afraid of boxes.” “He is afraid of my grandma.”
Comments on Scripted Storyasking
Things decided: a character who received a box, but he/she can’t open it, so he/she goes to a series of friends; the first friend would not be able to open the box because he/she is afraid of boxes; the second friend would not be able to open the box because he/she is afraid of the person who gave the box; the third person would be able to open the box; the 3 friends teacher prepared (toys).
Things teacher don’t know: the name of each character; teacher can let students choose the sequence of 3 friends.
2 Main types of questions Justin asked:
1. Verification questions: make sure students understand what is happening in the story or check if students have the same details in the mind. E.g., Is this a cat or a dog? What kind of animal is this?
For beginning learners, teacher can ask more verification questions and use the technique of “circling” to give students more comprehensible input.
2. Extension questions: give new information or find out more details of a character, a location or situation. E.g., What’s the name of the cat?
3. Personalization questions: ask questions about students themselves. Justin didn’t ask this type of questions in the demonstration, but teacher can also ask personalization questions. Teacher can ask general questions that are related to the topic. E.g., What is the best gift you’ve ever had? What kind of gifts have you decided to give to others? Teacher can also ask specific questions. E.g., Have you ever had trouble opening a box?
For advanced students, teacher can ask conceptual related questions. E.g., Have you ever wanted to help a friend but you could not? Have your friends ever wanted to help you but they couldn’t?
If teacher uses student actors, it is strongly recommended to give them specific instructions on what they are supposed to do. Otherwise, they can be very distracting to other students. E.g., for the character cat, tell the actor, you only hold this box, don’t do anything unless I tell you to do, don’t open it, don’t put it down, otherwise, it would be distracting.
Demonstration: Unscripted Storyasking
Things decided: a character (an elephant) is going to have a problem.
Justin asked a lot of questions about the elephant’s look, including its color, the size of its eyes and ears, its legs…
Justin let students decide the problem, “Peanut (the name) is hungry”.
Ask comprehension questions from time to time, to make sure students follow the story. E.g., What did I ask? Is the way far or near?
Use facial expressions and gestures or sounds to make students understand new words.
Comments on Unscripted Storyasking
1. Even without a script, teacher still makes sure students hear a lot of repetitions of certain words and phrases and be focused on the plot.
2. It is OK to have only 2 locations or even 1 due to time limit or other factors, but you can still have a good story. It’s flexible.
3. Teacher can have freedom on using students’ answers. Teacher can use some part and say no to other part to make sure it’s a good story. You can also make some variations from students’ answer, saying, you are almost right.
Closing Comments
1. There is no one right way to create stories with your students. It’s quite flexible.
2. Even simple stories have great power.
3. Students enjoy having a choice and deciding what happened in the story.
Enjoy making stories with your students!
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