Post on 24-Mar-2020
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Connecting stories in the classroom: fables, Halloween and Pokémons
Nathalie Kappke
Introduction
In the present days, many teenagers and children have been
hooked by the revival of the Pokémon fever. The coming of
Pokémon Go app connected a considerable number of people and
made they interact with each other. Having this in mind, I thought
working with Pokémons in the classroom would be a great idea. During
the observation period, I asked the students what topic they would like
to study in the project. I wanted the students to feel engaged in the
project and I also wanted to have a democratic environment in the
classroom. I suggested working with Pokémons, some students loved
the idea, but others did not feel so excited about it. Then I asked them
to come up with their own ideas and we had a vote. The winning topic
was Stories/Legends.
The project was developed with the 5th grade group in Colégio
Estadual Barbosa Rodrigues, located in downtown Gravataí, RS. It was a
requirement from the discipline Estágio de Docência em Língua Inglesa
II and it happened in ten classes between September and November
2016. Each class was composed by two periods. The group I worked
with had 32 students who were between 10 and 11 years old. Although
they had basically the same age, the group was very diverse. As the
school is located downtown, it accepts children from many different
parts of the city. The English language is not in the 5th grades’
curriculum, so it was being offered as an extra course, in order to
prepare the students for the next year, in which the discipline would be
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mandatory. The group was very friendly and most of the students was
really excited about the English classes.
The Project
To start the discussion about legends and stories, I asked the
students in the first class if they knew the differences among the
concepts of myth, legend and fable. After listening to their opinion, I
clarified the meaning of each term. The discussion was lead in
Portuguese, because it was a warm-up activity. Subsequently, I asked
them if they knew “Little Red Riding Hood”, which is a fable. This story
was chosen because of its popularity among children. The idea was to
enable students to relate their version of the story with the version
brought by the teacher. Some of the students told me the version of the
story that is familiar to them and I gave each one a matching chart with
the pictures and the names of the four main characters of the version I
brought. Then, we read a version of “Little Red Riding Hood”.
Subsequently, the students had to answer (in English) some written
questions such as “What is the story about?”, “What are the main
characters of the story?” and “What did Little Red Riding Hood have
inside her basket?”. These questions were discussed and the students
enjoyed the opportunity to tell the group which version of the story
they know.
In the second class, we had two other versions of “Little Red
Riding Hood”: one was a short text and the other was a comic strip (you
can see it below). After reading the story, the students told me their
impression of the new version and answered some questions in their
notebooks, which were checked in class. This is a very important thing
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to do, because it helps the students to feel the activities they make are
being valued. When you take a look at their notebooks, they receive
some attention, you can solve their doubts (a considerable number of
the students are really shy to ask something in front of the group) and
also review their writing and misspelling mistakes. After we worked we
the text, we read the comic strip. We compared the two versions, the
differences concerning the story and the characters.
Before the preceding of the third class, the teacher of the group
and the school supervisor asked me to work with Halloween, because
all the English teachers of the school would work with the topic. The
school would have a Halloween party on October 31st and they wanted
the students to get in the mood for it. I agreed, because then I would
make connections between the Halloween symbols and their legends,
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beyond working with cultural elements of English speaking countries.
I introduced the new topic to the children in the third class. As a
pre-reading, I asked them if they knew what Halloween was, when it
was celebrated, if they enjoyed it or not. After that, we read a text
about how Halloween is celebrated nowadays. The vocabulary
presented in the text was new to some of the students, so I motivated
students to ask questions whenever they had doubts concerning the
text or some specific word. Finally, the students answered some WH-
Questions about what they learned.
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In the fourth class we worked with another text about
Halloween, but this time it was related to its origins. I wanted the
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students to know where this tradition came from. I believe this kind of
text helps them to expand their cultural knowledge. Furthermore it also
may help them to see how the things they are studying have an impact
on their lives. In order to prepare the students to play a Halloween
Bingo in the 5th class, I brought worksheets with the main Halloween
symbols and a crossword about the topic.
The Halloween bingo created by myself is composed by eight
different models of cards. Each card has nine Halloween symbols.
Before we start playing the bingo, I made a review of the vocabulary the
students would need to play the game. I wrote on the blackboard all the
words I would draw from the bag, and we practice the pronunciation of
each word a lot of times, until the students show some confidence to
play the game. I believe I also must add that this class was attended by
fewer students, because we had a rainy weather. In general, the
students seemed to have really liked to play the Halloween Bingo.
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Besides playing Bingo, we also worked with a short text created
by the teacher. Its title is Fred, the vampire:
Fred is a vampire. He is 12 years old. He is very white. He lives in a haunted house and sleeps in a coffin during the day. He is happy, because he has two friends.
This text gives us a basic description about Fred and his life. It is
shorter than the “Little Red Riding Hood” and Halloween texts with the
purpose of serving as model for the final production. Besides the
vampire text, we also worked with two other texts with similar styles in
the sixth and seventh classes: Johnny and Carl, the ghosts and Jane, the
witch. The students not only read the text, they also had to answer
questions about it and True or False exercises.
In the sixth class the students painted drawings related to Halloween. This
activity was planned with the intention of providing funny moments, in
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which the students feel free to express themselves. We used the
drawings to decorate the classroom, as you can see in the pictures
below:
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The Halloween Party happened on October 31st, 2016. In this
class, each student brought a dish or a drink and we had a group snack.
After the snack, I asked the students to organize themselves in a circle,
because it was time to share some Halloween legends. I told them the
legend of Jack O’Lantern and The Halloween Haunted House. Then, all
the children groups of the school went to the playground. Most of them
were wearing a Halloween costume. Some of the children asked the
teachers “Trick or Treat” while others played soccer, ran or danced.
It was really nice, because the children were able to interact with children
from different grades and they all seemed really happy.
Final Production: Product:
The three last classes were used to produce the final product. In
the eighth class, I started preparing the students to think about their
production. Since the students were very excited by Halloween and
Pokémons we decided to mix both topics and create a Halloween
Pokémon card. Each student had to draw his own Pokémon, name it
and write a short description about it. The students also had to think
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about what abilities they would like their Pokémons to have.
First, I asked the students how many of them were used to play
Pokémon cards and if they enjoyed it. Most of them said they knew how
to play it and like it very much. Then, I distributed a Pokémon card
model for each one (you can see it below). I explained how the card was
structured and I asked the students to pay attention in the details,
because they would have to describe the Pokémon in the card. I read
the card with them just as I do with texts, solving their doubts and
focusing on new vocabulary and pronunciation. They also answered a
True or False exercise about it.
After that, I gave the students another card model. This time
created by myself. The card (as you can see in the picture) has a space
for an image of the Pokémon, its data, such as name, age, description,
power, damage, health points and resistance. Next to the card, there is
a worksheet made in order to help the students to schematize their
Pokémons. The plan was to start thinking of the Pokémon and writing
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something about it. Some of the students could do it without making
much effort while others faced some difficulties, but I tried to give all
the students as much support as possible.
In the ninth class they produced their Halloween Pokémon
cards. Unfortunately, some of the students forgot their scheme at
home, which made they spend more time in their production. There
was also the case of students who did not have the scheme, because
they missed the last class. The students who brought their scheme to
class and did not have difficulties in the final product help the others.
Most of the students were able to finish the cards; others would finish
their Pokémon cards in the first moment of the next class. I asked the
students to give me the cards, because I wanted to make sure they
would not forget their cards at home.
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Finally, in the tenth class, the students finished making the necessary
adjustments in their cards and we made an exposition inside the school.
Other groups came to see the Pokémon cards and my group was really
proud of showing their production.
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Conclusion:
When you work with children, you have to try to make things
interesting. Bringing something they like to the English class helps them
enjoying studying. During my internship I tried to give all the students
the same amount of attention, because I wanted all of them to feel how
important they are. I learned that the clearer you are in your
instructions, the faster the students understand the activities. By
making an exposition with the students’ final products, you value what
they are doing. Their self-esteem increase and they feel more motivated
to study. They start to believe that it is possible to use the foreign
language to produce something connected to their reality. As teachers,
we must encourage the students and always nourish this belief.