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A Story Telling Contest Task Description and Procedures
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TASK OBJECTIVES, OUTCOME AND POTENTIAL LINGUISTIC OUTPUT: • Task Objectives: - Students will be able to write a story to participate in a “Story Telling Contest”. - Students will be able to use the digital tool “Project Poster” to publish their story online. • Task Outcome: A written story published on line as a poster • Potential Linguistic Output: - Narrative tenses: simple past, past progressive, used to - Cohesive elements: expressions for beginning (This all happened about . . . years ago / One day, when I was . . .); telling (Suddenly / After a while / So, anyway / Then) and; ending the story (So, eventually / In the end) - Past Perfect in more advanced levels. THE TASK WITHIN THE COURSE FRAMEWORK: The objective of module 2 (Memories) in this course aims at enabling you to tell a story about your past. Towards this objective the lessons will be organized to provide you with different opportunities to listen to, read, write and talk about our and other people’s memories: a time when we met someone important/famous, a childhood memory, what our neighborhood used to look like, etc. We will also talk about our memorable “firsts” and “lasts”: our first/last kiss, our first/last boyfriend/girlfriend, our first/last trip abroad, our first/last job, our last birthday, our last holiday etc. Through these class activities you will not only have a chance to talk about your memories but also to get input on important linguistic features and vocabulary for telling stories in English. TASK DESCRIPTION: In order to achieve our objective and to make our learning more engaging you are invited to participate in "A Story Telling Contest”. The contest will consist on writing a story of your own and being able to publish it online using a free digital tool called “Project Poster”. The contest will take place at the end of the module so you can have time to prewrite, draft, review, improve and edit your story. Prizes for different categories will be awarded. Let your peers know about you, show your talent as a writer and make yourself an award winner! PROCEDURES: PRE-TASK (CLASS WORK AND USEFUL LINKS) • Start this module by writing a draft of a personal story you would like to share. Think of the characters, the setting, the introduction, the conclusion. Hand in your draft to your teacher and keep a copy for yourself. • Throughout the following lessons you will listen to and read about other people’s stories. Pay attention to the lexical, linguistic and text construction elements which may improve the quality of your story and which will make it more appealing. • Reread your story and incorporate the elements you notice in your classes. • Your teacher will guide you through the identification of narrative tenses (simple past, past continuous, past perfect, used to) you need to write stories. Ask any question you may have. • If you need further practice on narrative tenses click on the links "Narrative Tenses Review" and "Practice on Narrative Tenses". • In the link “Include a quote in your story” you will find famous quotations that may fit the content of your story and will add a special touch to it. Look for one and include it! • In the link “Story Sample” you will find a sample of the kind of stories you may write. This story was written by one of your peers in a previous course.More samples will be provided in your class. TASK (PROJECT POSTER) • On the date specified by your teacher, you and your classmates will publish the final version of your stories using project poster. • Click on the link “Project Poster” to follow the instructions on how to use this tool. • You may publish the same story you handed in to your teacher at the beginning of this module (with the corresponding improvements) or you may decide to write a completely new story. • Since it is a contest, no direct corrections to the final version of your story will be made by your teacher. This does not mean you will not receive teacher's guidance. So, consider reviewing your class notes and the useful links provided in this lesson. Peer correction and feedback is highly recommendable. • Project Poster is a tool which allows you to illustrate your stories either with a personal picture or with the pictures available in the web. Use the link “picsearch” to find the adequate image for your story: • Make sure you read the "Six Traits for Effective Writing" link and go over the checklist in the " Use this Checklist" link before you publish your story. Other very useful links have been included to help you write your story. POST-TASK (CLASS BLOG) • Everyone’s stories will be available in our virtual class. See instructions on how to find them in the class blog. • Read the stories and use the class blog to make comments on your peers’ work and send your vote. • Make sure you send your vote before the deadline specified by your teacher. • The award ceremony will take place in your class. • After the task completion, answer the evaluation questionnaire in the link attached to this lesson. |
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