9 Narrating Stories

Narrating Stories

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: recall and narrate a past event or a past experience read and comprehend a folk tale use the simple past tense appropriately describe a personal experience

1. Speaking: Describing actions in the past 1.1 Think about three things you did yesterday. Ask your teacher for help with words and expressions if necessary. Pairwork: Now in pairs, tell each other what you did yesterday. 1.2 Next, tell the class what your partner did, changing I to his or her name in the first sentence. Change I to he or she in the following sentences.

I went to see a film yesterday. I had rice and curry for lunch yesterday.

Kavitha went to see a film yesterday. She had rice and curry for lunch yesterday.

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9 Narrating Stories

1. Reading Comprehension 2.1 Pre-reading

1. Are you familiar with the stories about Mahadenamutta? a. If yes, tell the class what you know about the stories. b. If not, try to guess what kind of stories they are. A clue is in his name: it means the great wise man. 2. Look at the title and the picture of the following story. Can you guess what the story is going to be? a. tell your neighbour, I think the story is about.. 3. In what kind of situation would anyone want to buy a well, in your opinion?

Mahadenamutta buys a well

Illustration by Sybil Wettasinghe

Mahadenamutta and his disciples went on a trip one day. This was long ago before there were cars, when most people travelled on foot. They walked for a long time. On their way home they felt very thirsty. After a while they came across a house by the road. They went in, and spoke to the housewife. They said that they came from far, that they were very tired, and asked for some water. At that time there was no drinking water in the house. So the housewife gave them some sweet toddy to drink. The men drank the sweet toddy very happily. They thought it was the best water they had ever drunk. They praised its sweetness. On their way back, they could not stop talking about it. That water tasted delicious! declared Rabboda Aiya. It didnt taste like water at all! said Indikatupancha. I wanted to have more and more of it! said Puwakbadilla. Oh, if we only had a well like that in our village too!! said Pol Be Moona. Yes, then we can always drink delicious water!! they exclaimed. Even after they reached home, all they could talk about was the sweetness of the water. We must somehow get a well like that for our village, Mahadenamutta decided. They collected money and they all contributed generously. When they had enough money, they started their journey to the village with the delicious well-water. They walked many miles and they finally reached the house.

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9 Narrating Stories We came to buy your well, Mahadenamutta told the housewife. Look, we brought you enough money to buy it with, he said, and he offered her money. The housewife realised how foolish these people were. What a set of idiots, she thought. She decided to teach them a lesson. She said, Yes, you can buy the well. Mahadenamutta gladly gave her the money. The woman took them to the back garden and showed them the well. Heres the well, she said. You have paid me so it is yours now. You can take it away. The foolish men brought ropes and tied them around the well. Then they pulled and pulled. They tried hard to take the well away, but it did not move. You didnt try hard enough! shouted Mahadenamutta. Pull harder!! He ordered. The men worked from morning till night. They tried, and they tried and they tried. But the well did not move. Then the housewife made a suggestion. Why dont you go back to your village, and bring another well? Then you can take them away together. What a good idea! said the men. They went home happily.
Adapted from Mahadenamutta, The Old Man Who Knew Everything, Comical Tales from Old Sri Lanka, retold by Vijita Fernando, Melbourne: Typeforce, 2002.

2.2 Reading the story 1. Read the story once or twice to yourself, quickly. Now, find a partner to work with. 2. Comprehension: Find out the meanings of difficult words by following the steps in the previous reading comprehension exercises. a. Read the sentences with these words again, and try to guess their meaning. b. Check your answer with your friends. c. If you cannot guess correctly, refer to a dictionary. 3. Narrating: Start telling the story in your own words to your partner. Stop halfway in the story and ask your partner to continue. Help each other to relate the story if either of you get stuck. Start this activity by reading the story again. 4. Summarising: In point form, or in a flow chart, write down the main events of the story. You should not write more than six or seven points. 5. Identifying good summaries: Now get into groups of six, by joining three pairs. Read each others story. Select the best one. Make this selection based on the following considerations: which one is the most complete story? which one has the least number of language errors? 6. Creative extension: Discussion In the same group, discuss a modern ending to the story. You can make it as absurd and as humourous as you like! 57
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9 Narrating Stories

3. Grammar 3.1 The simple past tense The Simple Past tense The simple past tense is one of the tenses in the English language. I. The simple past is used 1. when an action took place at a definite time in the past: ex: The train left at 12.15 p.m. 2. when an action was completed in the past: ex: I went to the bank on Monday. 3. to talk about past habits: ex: She always carried an umbrella. 4. to imply a gap between the time referred to, and the present moment: ex: His sister suffered from asthma all her life (i.e. His sister is now dead) In contrast, the present perfect, His sister has suffered from asthma all her life, indicates that she is still alive. II. The simple past is often used with the past continuous: He was reading a book when the phone rang. It was raining when we went home. III. ago is used with the simple past She went to Germany 25 years ago. She said that three days ago. IV. The negative form of the simple past is formed by adding did not (the past tense of the modal do and not ) to the base form of the verb: Subject + did not + base form of verb I did not go to the bank yesterday I didnt go to the bank yesterday (informal) V. The question form of the simple past is formed thus: Did+Subject+ base form of verb Did you go to the bank yesterday? 1. Usually, the simple past is formed by adding ed to regular verbs: Ex: live lived, walk walked, dance danced, etc. 2. But many of the most common verbs are irregular in the way the simple past is formed: I am - I was they see they saw you eat you ate I write I wrote she drinks she drank it makes it made he sits he sat they swim they swam Usually an adverb of time is used with the simple past. Ex: He went home yesterday. He left home last year. 58
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Definitions Uses

Points to note

9 Narrating Stories

3.2 Now look at all the verbs in the simple past in the reading passage. Read the passage again and note how the simple past is used to narrate a story. Also note how the negative form is used. 3.3 Grammar exercises 1. Make a list of verbs in the simple past found in the reading passage in the middle column of the chart below. Next, add the present tense form and the negative form in Columns 1 and 3. Verb simple past simple past: negative form go is went was did not go /didnt go was not / wasnt

2.

Which one is correct A or B, or both? Circle all the correct answers Ex: A. I losed your address. B. I lost your address. B. The rain stopped. B. You never visited me in hospital. B. I didnt knew the answer. B. Where did everybody went? B. When did John and his family arrive? B. Who did said that?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

A. The rain stoped. A. You never visiting me in hospital A. I didnt know the answer A. Where did everybody go? A. When John and his family did arrive? A. Who said that?

3. Put the beginnings and the ends together, using the past tense form of the verbs below: die forget learn like read speak stop 1. Shakespeare __died____ 2. I _______________my friends 3. Thats a really good book. 4. When we were children 5. I didnt __________ my piano teacher 6. When did you ___________ A birthday on Monday. B in 1616. C so I ____________ my lessons last week. D I _____________ it last year. E we always ____________ Hindi at home. F to speak Japanese so well?

Exercises 2 and 3 have been adapted from The Good Grammar Book, Michael Swan and Catherine Walters, Cambridge University Press, 2001, p41 and p46.

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9 Narrating Stories

3.4 Get into groups of five. a. Think about one of the following: The happiest day in my life. The best trip I have ever gone on. An interesting thing that happened to me. b. Take turns to tell your group about the topic. Describe everything as much as possible: When it took place Where it happened What happened What you did, what you thought, what you felt, what you saw, etc. Why it is interesting / the best / the happiest day for you c. When the others are speaking, listen well, and ask questions to get more information about their story. 4. Writing 4.1 Group writing activity In groups of five or six, discuss the story in the reading passage from the point of view of the housewife. a. Discuss the events and the dialogue (conversations) of the story from the point of view of the housewife. You can be as funny or as absurd as you like. b. After discussion, divide the events of the story among the group members. c. Then each student write an event each, in a paragraph. d. Now put the story together. e. Read the whole story through and make any corrections and improvements. Make sure the story flows properly by editing the repetitions and any inconsistencies. f. Now write a second draft, with each member of your group rewriting the part they wrote, putting in the corrections discussed in e. g. Put the new drafts together in order. h. Design a cover for the story and hand in your work to your teacher.

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