Using+Narratives

=Innovative Take on Using Narratives for Development of All Skills= Presentation PowerPoint: by Kristi Reyes The technique of dictocomp can be transformed from a listen-remember-write dictation activity to an engaging communicative task by using narratives from movie clips, online video, and slideshows.

Dictocomp or dictogloss is a listening and writing lesson activity by which students listen to a text that is about a familiar topic or that has a previously-learned grammar structure or set of vocabulary words and recreate the text from memory, this practicing aural/oral and paraphrasing skills. The benefits are that there is a focus not only on accuracy and meaning but also on meaningful communication in the retelling of the text through writing. Dictocomp tasks are a helpful way for teachers to gauge students’ attainment of course learning outcomes in listening and writing. However, by including visual clues through a variety of media, teachers can transform a dictocomp activity into a practice exercise whereby all skills -- including speaking, grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary – are integrated. An appropriate end/evaluation activity is writing a summary, whereby students use words and structures they have studied and know, as well as target vocabulary, and paraphrasing skills.

__**Process**__ 1. Find a text appropriate in length, content, vocabulary, interest, and grammar focus for your class, your current instructional focus, and learning objectives. (If you plan to use a silent video, prepare your text/script). The text should short (one or two pages max) and not be i+1. It should be at or even slightly below students' current comprehension level for better success rates in reproducing the text by memory, orally and in writing. Short stories that have a twist/unexpected outcome are especially good because they can be used to include a problem-solving activity to the lesson. 2. Prepare visual clues -- a PowerPoint slideshow, a series of images saved in a folder -- for pre-teaching vocabuarly essential to the comprehesion of the text and for students to view and use as a basis for note-taking while listening. 3. Prepare an opening/introductory activity: conversation questions, a whole class survey, interview questions, a question to the class, or a personal anecdote related to the content. 4. Deliver the lesson:
 * Warm-up / Review: Review previous content to which the text is related (grammar, vocabulary, theme, etc.)
 * Introduction: Introduce new vocabulary, the theme/topic, conversation questions, etc.
 * Presentation: Students listen to the text/script with visual clues two or three times, and take notes. At the end, teacher asks or provides written comprehension questions to guage students' understanding. * Note: For more speaking practice for more advanced students or with an easy text, you can choose to pair up students with a "listener" and "speaker" in each pair. Speakers stay in the classroom to hear the text read by the instructor. Listeners go out of the classroom (with a task) during this time and then return to hear the text recounted by their partners. The instructor asks questions to make sure that listeners got the main points, and then all listen again as the teacher reads the text again.
 * Practice: Students can do teacher-made cloze, verb tense, vocabulary exercises based on the text. Students reconstruct the text by retelling the story to a partner, using the picture clues and notes. Volunteers can be asked to tell their versions to the class. Individually, in pairs, or in small groups, students rewrite the text.
 * Evaluation: Teachers provide feedback for revision on student drafts when key elements of the text are omitted, not in correct order, or student misinterprets main or supporting ideas from the text.
 * Extension: Students write or present about their own experiences related to the topic or gather information for a project related to the theme.

__**Examples**__ 1. Do What Your Heart Asks For (from //Stories with a Twist,// Natalie Hess) - Intermediate Level -- appropriate for use with Education/Employment, EL Civics 2. The Artist (from //Stories with a Twist,//Natalie Hess) - Intermediate Level -- appropriate for use with Education/Employment, EL Civics 3. The Most Precious Diamonds (from //Stories with a Twist,// Natalie Hess) - Intermediate / Advanced Follow-up writing assignment: Write about a prized possession.

4. A Man with the Right Attitude (from //Stories with a Twist,//Natalie Hess) - Intermediate/Advanced -- appropriate for use with Accident/Crime Report, EL Civics 5. At the Plaza []

6. Les Miserables - Advanced

7. [|Superchill Monkey Goes Hollywood] - Beginning/Intermediate

8. The Brahman's Wish (from //Stories to Solve,// George Shannon) -- Intermediate 10. The Test (from //Stories with a Twist,//Natalie Hess)

__**Good Sources for Content:**__ //Stories with a Twist,// Natalie Hess //True Stories in the News// (series)//,// Sandra Heyer [|Aesop's Fables] //[|English, Action, Pictures],// Alta ESL Book Center Any folk tales, legends, myths, fables [|ESL Jokes] [|Funny Lessons](based on mistranslations in Spanish) Commercials such as [|this one] Short Animated Films Online such as Your own funny, interesting, intriguing, provocative stories -- or your students'
 * [|"Cat's Moew"]
 * [|"Distraxion"]
 * [|Awesome Summer Vacation]

__**Dictogloss and Dictocomp Resources and Information**__ Speaking and Listening Across the Curriculum [] Gen 1.5 Speaking Writing Connection [] Dictation, Dictocomp, and Related Techniques []