Practice and Application of Short Stories for Discussin, Guided Imagery, and Interactive Drama

Course: Oral Communication


Ⅰ. Introduction
“The examination of one’s method of teaching English as a foreign language can be an intriguing and a profitable exercise,” Edward Murtagh said (1978). He also mentioned that our students deserve the quality of teaching and we, as language teachers, have to try out new pedagogical methods and choose the best one. Inspired by the remarks, this instructor is going to adapt three activities provided by Dr. Phillips to her classrooms.
In this semi-formal reaction paper, the researcher will explore Stories for Discussion-true, false, don’t know (teacher provided), Guided Imagery, and Interactive Drama (teacher directed). In discussing each method adapted to the researcher’s classrooms, the researcher will explore the strengths of each method and how each method is adapted to the classrooms. In addition, some expected benefits will be mentioned at the end of each adaptation.

II. Practice and Application

ONE. Practice and Application Of Stories for Discussion-true, false, don’t know
Short stories are one type of literature which is the work of human art, emotions, and intelligence. The authors communicate their thoughts in the written form of language. For the target language learners, short stories are a good way for the low intermediate EFL senior high school students to learn the language and know the target culture more. It is because in reality, they have few chances to enjoy the written works in their life, except English textbooks. For foreign language learners, short stories could be a facilitator rather than a burden if the English teacher can provide properly selected short stories to read and a short discussion following the reading.
1.1 Selection of Short Stories Materials and the spending time in the EFL classroom
The selection of short stories materials needs considering learners' cognitive development, their background knowledge, their interests, and their linguistic level. Select short stories which are able to engage the interest of the learners. As for the proportion of short stories activities in language classrooms, they depend on students' interests, learning purposes, and the design of the curriculum.
1.2 Small Group Discussion Activities
There are always inactive students in the language classroom. Some of them are too shy to speak in front of a whole class. In large “group activities the weaker students frequently take a back seat to their more active classmates” (Agelasto, 1991). Some are afraid that they will be laughed at by the classmates if they make grammatical mistakes or do not speak English fluently. However, in small group discussion, three or four students get together and have a discussion which is based on the previous reading. There are two main merits in this kind of short story discussion. First, the participants have concrete things to talk to or to debate. Second, they are more willing to express their ideas for there are just four students together. They will not “lose face” in public. Moreover, from time to time, they are free to choose their own partners.
1.3 Subjects
The students are the first graders in Hou-Zon Senior High School. They are all 15 to 16-year-old native Taiwanese students. They have five English classes a week. All of them have studied English for at least three years.
1.4 Teaching Approach and Teaching Materials
Communicative approach will dominate the activity and a small group which is no more than four persons is necessary. The instructor’s selection bases on her students' English language proficiency and interests.
1.5 Goals
The target students can be more familiar with literature pieces. The exposure of authentic materials enhances and motivates their language learning.
1.5.1 Students' vocabulary is enlarged and their reading strategy is polished during the process.
1.5.2 Students' critical thinking is developed since there are no completely right answers to the questions.
1.5.3 Students' listening comprehension and speaking ability are improved because the process demands constantly clarifying and communication.
1.5.4 Samll group discussion lowers the nervous atmosphere when they speak English and renders chances and duty to each member in the small group.
1.6 Teaching Procedures
1.6.1 The instructor greets the target students.
1.6.2 The instructor leads a five-minute warm-up activity which is related to the topic.
1.6.3 Ask students to form a small group which are less than four persons.
1.6.4 Distribute the sheets of Stories for Discussion-true, false, don’t know.
1.6.5 Ask them to do silent reading and then have a fifteen-minute discussion. Second, the instructor rearranges the groups and the students have to discuss the questions again with new members and explain to new members why his or her group chooses the original answers if their answers are different.
1.6.6 After a ten-minute discussion, they return to their original groups and share their new results with their group members.
1.7 Expected Benefits
The activity “Stories for Discussion-true, false, don’t know (teacher provided)" is an application of literature in English teaching in Hou-zong senior high school. The instructor selects short stories for the students to discuss because the target students are busy studying, so that they hardly have extra time to find the materials. The researcher hopes that through this activity the target students are much more willing to speak English, know how to discuss questions with others, and have more understanding about the target culture. The researcher hopes this application will arouse the students’ motivation and promote their discourse competence. Through the small group discussion, they can develop their English communicative ability and individual potentiality. English will be not only a tool but also a magic torch which might light up their life because they get to know more about the world.


TWO. Practice and Application Of Guided Imagery

2.1 Purpose
Most of the Taiwanese teenage students are not confident in their speaking ability and furthermore, they dare not speak with a foreigner. In addition, they have trouble dealing with their school life or with the relationship between their classmates, friends, teachers, and families. The instructor hopes that through this Guided Imagery, the students can be hinted and therefore, they are more cable of coping with their difficulties and weaknesses.
2.2 Subjects
The students are the first graders in Hou-Zon Senior High School. They are all 14 to 15-year-old native Taiwanese students. They have five English classes a week. All of them have studied English for at least three years.
2.3 Teaching Approach and Teaching Materials
As far as the tight teaching schedule is concerned, the instructor will use only fifteen minutes of one class time to do the Guided Imagery. This will be a teacher-dominated activity because the main purpose is to help students overcome some learning obstacles and some minor psychological problems. Teaching materials will be adapted from some of the Guided Imagery which Dr. Phillips provides or be written by the instructor according to the target students’ needs.
2.4 Teaching Procedures
2.4.1 Prepare period Know students’ problems and select or create a proper Guided Imagery.
2.4.2 Almost at the end of one English class, the instructor informs the target students to do the activity.
2.4.3 The instructor leads a standard induction, imagery, and emerging/return to awareness.
2.4.4 Ask students to form a small group which are less than four people and share their reflections related to the Guided Imagery with their group for five minutes.
2.4.5 The instructor asks them to go back to their seats and leads a class discussion. Through the whole class discussion and interaction, the students probably will find out they are not alone for there are others having the same trouble, too.
2.5 Expected Benefits
The activity “Guided Imagery (teacher guided)" is an application from Dr. Phillips’ class, Oral Communication. The instructor hopes that through this activity, some students’ problems will be lessened and even solved. Besides, they can strengthen their listening and speaking abilities spontaneously. If the students are highly interested in this activity, they will be asked to write their own Guided Imagery and this activity is transformed into student-guided Imagery.

THREE. Practice and Application Of Interactive Drama
3.1 Purpose
As a language teacher, how to promote students’ motivation to learn English is very important. If we can provoke students’ intrinsic motivation, students will learn English more eagerly and joyfully. Brown (2001, 59) stated that “the most powerful rewards are those that are intrinsically motivated within the learner. Because the behavior stems from needs, wants, or desires within oneself, the behavior itself is self-rewarding.” Most of the foreign language learners have a language ego which prevents them form learning the target language faster and better. The instructor hopes the students will play the new roles whole heartedly and enjoy the process of speaking English.
3.2 Subjects
The students are the third graders in Hou-Zon Senior High School. They are all 16 to 17-year-old native Taiwanese students. They have five English classes a week. All of them have studied English for at least five years.
3.3 Teaching Approach and Teaching Materials
Since all the third graders are going to have two entrance exams in January and in July, they are highly stressed. The instructor wishes that they can relax for a while by acting a role in an Interactive Drama. The instructor will provide them scripts of an Interactive Drama which is adapted from the work written by the students in ETMA program.
3.4 Teaching Procedures
3.4.1 The instructor will explain the simple rules to the students. The rules will be made by the instructor according to the students’ need, language proficiency level, and so on.
3.4.2 In general, a class consists of forty-two to fifty students, and during the activity, a lot of noise will be made as a result of the students’ enthusiastic participation. So before the activity, the instructor will find a proper classroom or an open space. Then the students will be divided into five groups. Ideally, each group consists of less than 12 persons. The instructor distributes the scripts randomly to the target students. It means there are five groups performing the Interactive Drama at the same time, but kept apart in proper space.
3.4.3 The instructor will supervise the progression of each group and evaluate them. The grades will be recorded.
3.4.4 The time limit is forty minutes. When time is up, the instructor will comment on their performances and the whole class have a short discussion.
3.5 Expected Benefits
The target students will benefit from the activity by relieving their study stress and love to speak English in a group. They have to listen to and respond to others. This is like a real conversation although they are acting.

Ⅲ. Conclusion
The reason for the instructor to choose Stories for Discussion-true, false, don’t know (teacher provided), Guided Imagery, and Interactive Drama (teacher directed)is that they can promote students’ learning interest, develop critical thinking, relieve pressure. In addition, they are easily to be adapted. The instructor sincerely hopes that students will improve a lot both in English learning and in cognitive and emotional development. In fact, constantly examining one’s ways of teaching English can be fascinating and advantageous. Both teacher and students benefit from the process.

Reference
1.Brown, H. Douglas. Teaching by Principle, 2003
2.Murtagh, Edward. Developing a Method in English Teaching Forum, v.16, no.2, April. 1978 (p.16)
3.Phillips, Brian David. Guided Imagery.

Comment on Monica's "Am I Stupid?"

Dear Monica,
you are not stupid at all; moreover, you are a very excellent girl. Whenevery you give a persentation, a small talk , tell a joke, or do your homework, you absoluately do your best to make them an artistic form. Surely, your logic is no problem because it is extremely hard to find a “real murder” in an Interactive Drama. For me, it is a communicative Game for fun, but if we, actors and actresses, can prove a suspect guilty, it will be a big bonus. Do you agree with my viewpoint?

Comment on Selena's Feedback-- Well done!

Dear Selena, you really did a good job on the performances on Monday and Wednesday. (Clap, clap, clap) Do you hear the clapping sounds? No wonder, many classmates, including me, are giving you a big hand.
As for as the language proficiency and cognitive development are concerned, the elementary school students are not suitable to roleplay such complicated characters in a even more complicated plot. But the point is that we can creat a quite simple role play for young kids to play . Roleplay is so much fun that EFL learners forget their language ego and are willing to speak Egnlish in a unthreatening environment.

Reflection on Roleplay and Whodunit=>Interactive Darma

On Monday and Wednesday, Dr. Phillips introduced “Roleplay” and “Whodnuit?” to the class. Although these two activities were new to most of the members in Oral Communication class, we all had a good time playing the roles.
To my surprise, some shy classmates spoke English louder and faster than usual, and some prudent ones talked to one another without too much thinking about grammar. It seemed that almost everyone involved in the new roles and enjoyed them; interestingly, most of us became “changed” persons.
How wonderful the two “GAMES” are!
It occurred to me that if I could adapt this two activities to my classrooms, some wonder surely would happen: students wear big smiles on their faces when they speak English without thinking too much grammar or their poor English, for they have to provide a lot of information to other members in a short period of time. The following steps are what I am going to take to modify Roleplay to my classrooms. First, the characters in a Roleplay will be limited to 8—10 persons. That is, the whole class will be divided into 4—5 groups. As far as the speaking turns are concerned, there will be much more interactions between the members; moreover, some “silent” students will definitely encounter numerous occasions to offer some related information, and they will find it easier to speak English in front of people. Also others will consider the activity authentic, meaningful, and communicative so that they are more willing to take part in it. Second, the complicated and sexual plot, which we teachers roleplayed in on Monday and Wednesday, will be modified to simpler and healthy one. The main reason is that it is not suitable for senior high school students to contact with the “dirty” world. Third, in order to let students have more ideas about their roles in a roleplay, the scripts will be given to them in advance. In addition, the characters’ names will be familiar to them. That is to say, some common English names such as John, Peter, Mary, Helen, etc. will be used. On the one hand, these names are easy for the students to pronounce; on the other hand, these names are painless for them to memorize.
Finally, the most important part is that I will move my whole class to an empty classroom, if possible, or a playground so that this GAME will not disturb other students when they are studying. Up to now, all the above are what I think of how to adapt the Roleplay to my EFL classrooms. I sincerely hope that my students will enjoy the GAME when playing it.

comment on Joyce's "Finally I got in!"

Dear Joyce,
I am Sonia . I strongly agree with you that through the practice of the GUIDED IMAGERY, students can learn English without pain and anxiety. First, this activity is fun, and students feel less nervous to express their feelings in English in a small group. Second, the Guided Imagery integrates games with English learning. Thus, students won’t feel that doing the Guided Imagery is a matter of waste of time for they can strengthen their listening and speaking abilities simultaneously. Moreover, if the students are sick of learning English, it is a good try to use the Guided Imagery to change their original opinions. Ha ha, we teachers can hypnotize them over and over, and fortunately their thoughts and actions can be influenced by our suggestions. Won’t it be a fantasy that all of our students love to learn English, do all of the homework automatically and much to our delight, they all get good grades without our push and disciplines?
By the way, let’s thank Dr. Phillips again for he introduced such a wonderful GAME to us.

Reflection on ILS

Dear classmates,I have taught English for 11 years since I graduated form National Taiwan Normal University. In the first ten years, I taught junior high school students. It is last year that I had the chance to teach senior high school students. I had never know that I love teaching so much until the first day I formally stood on the platform to teach those junior high school students. The longer I teach, the more I love to teach those teens. Those students are so energetic and are eager to know more. As hardworking as I am, I do everything I can do to promote my students’ grades and their motivation to learn English. Personally, I regard that besides teaching, we teachers should pay attention to students' learning performances; thus, the results of the tests they take will provide me a good avenue to examine my teaching and my students’ learning. Are my teaching methods and their learning strategies effective? After constantly scrutinizing these two points and improving them, most of my students can get satisfying scores; but there is one thing continuing bothering me.In a classroom, I am demanding and strict, so the atmosphere in my classroom is a little dull. Although being not humorous, I keep trying to find ways to improve the situation. I strongly believe that there must be a method which can make students love to learn and get good grades at the same time. Thanks to Dr. Phillips, through the activities of ILS (Improvisational Language Structure), a lot of inspirations occurred to me. Those activities can make the classrooms full of fun and do not damage my teaching principles, either.I can not wait to see how my students will respond to these new games and their big smiles on their faces. How I Apply Improvisational Language Structure (ILS) to My Classrooms?ILS is a good way to change the nervous atmosphere in my classrooms and improve students' listening and speaking simultaneously. For the first time, one hour is needed to introduce ILS and let my students watch the TV program “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Then in a following hour, they are required to do ILS. Hopefully, through one hour’s training, they will be familiar with ILS. The rest is going to be an easy part. Whenever some of my students feel drowsy, one of the activities I will use is ILS. To make sure that all the students will take part in ILS enthusiastically, their performances will be evaluated both by their classmates and the teacher.In the end of this reflection, I want to say THANK YOU to Dr. Phillips again for his providing ILS to us.

The ad "Keep Kids Fit"

This advertisement “KEEP KIDS FIT” http://www.keepkidsfit.com/perfectly fits the Motivated Sequences written by Monroe & Ehninger. Furthermore, Hogan’s Laws of Persuasion and Maslow’s theory of five basic human needs are applied to this ad.First, it is the Attention step. The question “Do You Want to Help Foster a Healthy Lifestyle for Your Child?” arouses the readers’ attention because all parents hope that their kids are healthy, wanting them to win at the starting point. Then, the ad moves to the Need step by saying “Keep Kids Fit addresses the needs of families who want to teach their children to embrace a healthy, fit and active lifestyle.” Very quickly the ad goes to solution and visualization steps by saying “We provide solutions for those who want healthy children in body and mind! So, what do we do about it?” Finally, here comes the Action step. In the ad, it tells the readers how to get its products. So technically, the ad “Keep Kids Fit” is a good example of the Motivated Sequence, and thus without a doubt while reading this ad, the readers have a incentive to purchase the products.
But one interesting thing is that this ad author constantly uses Kevin Hogan’s Laws of Persuasion, such as laws of friends, consistency, and power. From Hogan’s point of view, if we regard one person as our friend, we are very likely to fulfill his or her request. So the author skillfully shifts his or her position from an advertiser to a friend of the readers by using the words “WE , US, or LET’S” in this ad. We can see this from the examples below.Our children need us more than ever today to help grow both physically and mentally.We all need to do our part to get the message out about the importance of providing our children with both physical and social activity. Rather than just putting our children in after school programs that just baby-sit them, let’s get them involved in both their physical and social well being by addressing those with exercise, writing, drawing, speaking activities. Let’s teach them the social graces of working with others. Let’s also teach them it is not “all about winning” but how you play the game…… so that we can offer a bright and fruitful future for our next generation. Let’s make today the start of a healthy plan for all of us, and most importantly for our children.Another law of persuasion, the law of consistency, is cunningly used by asking six continuous questions. While answering them, you have no choice but just say YES. See the following examples.

Do you want to help your child eat better, look better and feel better about themselves?
Would you like to run your own home based business, doing something you love?
Would you like the satisfaction of providing children the skills to become a healthy adult?
Would you like to make a difference in the obesity epidemic?
Wouldn’t you like your child to be more excited about learning?
Wouldn’t you like your child to get along with others?

After you have said SIX YES, it seems very hard for you to say “no” to the seventh question. Therefore, the ad author says, “If you answered YES to any of the above, you owe it to yourself to get “Keep Kids Fit” so you can make those YES answers a reality.” We can see evidently how the ad author tricks readers into a trap by means of Hogan’s law of consistency.Besides, Hogan’s Law of power is obviously used, for it says “we can all agree that the biggest risk to today's child is obesity. Studies have consistently demonstrated this.” At this point, this ad tries to convince the readers the seriousness of children’s obesity by some studies.To make this ad more effective, the theories of Maslow’s five basic human needs are applied. In this ad, it says, "the needs of families who want to teach their children to embrace a healthy, fit and active lifestyle,"“to grow physically, mentally and socially.” In these sentences above, the author tries to connect kids’ physiological needs and social needs or even higher needs.Generally speaking, this ad is successful in motivating the customers’ interests to buy its merchandise. Frankly speaking, I, as a mother, have an impulse to buy it. Ha ha, the ad works.

comment on Megan's "Good news for me"

Dear Megan,
I know exactly how you feel about teaching the third graders in senior high school. For the first ten years of my teaching career, I used to cram my students hard with lots of tests, too. Just like what you said, there were few laughers in this kind of classroom. I don’t like this stressful atmosphere, either.
But last year, I realized that for the recent years, students have had more chances than before to go to colleges or universities; that is, I do not have to push them so hard. I do not mean that I become a lazy teacher, but the students can have a more colorful and interesting school life. Frankly speaking, up to now, although having changed my teaching styles a lot, I am still not satisfied with the interactions between my students and me. Thanks to Dr. Phillips, a lot of ideas occurred to me when he provided some materials, such as ILS or the Guided Imagery, to us. Perhaps I will modify ILS and the Guided Imagery to adapt to my classes.
What I want to say is that just relax, and treat your students NICER no matter what graders they are. All of them should have less tests and more communicative activities than those five or ten years ago. Relax! Breathe in and breathe out!

I am happy to have my own blog

I'm really happy to have my own blog. This summer I hope there are lots of good articles to post in this blog. Moreover, all of you can share your ideas with me.