English

S5
Lesson 2 of 2 Developed by Berthe K.FURAHA 2x 50 minutes

Narrative W riting

Practice

Class group and pairs

Overview
This lesson is about narrative writing, learners are going to write a narrative story to develop their writing skills.

Resources needed
Any articles that represents a topic that learners can write about.

Specific Objectives
Enable learners to produce cohesive and coherent short pieces of writing (narrative, descriptive, argumentative) as well as informal and formal letter and emails. Write coherently and concisely. Work confidently and freely on any kind of essay-type task. Assess the quality of a piece of writing in terms of accuracy.

Lesson Objectives
Write a narrative writing chronologically. Express clearly his/her opinions, feelings and emotions through narrative writing.

Evaluation
At the end of the lesson the learner will prove that he/she is competent by: s t La
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Write a narrative writing chronologically. Expressing clearly his/her opinions, feelings and emotions through narrative writing

Terminology
Terminology Writing Narrative Plot Characters Setting Grab Chronological Definition Writing is a good way to stimulate learning and critical thinking. A description of events in a story. Plot refers to the events that form the main story of a book, film, or play. Characters are the people or animals that take part in the event. The place or time where the events in a book, film etc happen. To get someones attention An account of events in the order in which they happen.

What other resources are available?

Books
Sitima, J, Maulidi, F et all 2009 Communication Skills, Book 1. Bunda College of Agriculture. Malawi University. Glencoe 2000 Grammar and Composition Handbook. McGraw-Hill. New York. Page342-346

Internet

eHOW: http://www.ehow.com/how_2095844_write-narration.html is a website with useful information on how to write narration. Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/fiction-writing.html has useful information on fiction writing. You can find also other kinds of writing such as Persuasive writing, writing skill, Essay writing, Business writing etc

Step 1: Introduction
Duration: 20 minutes Class organisation: Pair work As an introduction to this lesson, write a story on the chalkboard to be read and analysed by learners before learners write their individual story. For example, In 1961 the first person travelled into space. He was a Russian astronaut called Yuri Gagarin. He spent eight- nine minutes going round the Earth in a satellite. Since 1961 many other astronauts- both men and women-

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have travelled into space. But you may be surprised to know that animals travelled into space before people! Travelling into space is very dangerous because there is no oxygen or gravity. Scientists decided to send animals into space first rather than risk losing human lives. The first animal in space was a dog called Laika. It travelled in a satellite around the Earth. Unfortunately the dog died because there was not enough oxygen in the satellite. Ten more dogs travelled into space before Russian scientists felt confident enough to launch a satellite containing the first human astronaut. Many other animals have travelled into space since 1961. They include monkeys, chimpanzees, cats, rats, and even insects and worms. They travel in spacecraft with astronauts. They take part in scientific experiments to find out more about the effects of space on life forms. Animals have helped to make life in space safer for humans. Ask learners to read the story carefully and answer the questions which follow: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Possible answers 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The characters are: Yuri Gagarin, animals such as dog, monkey, etc. Yuri Gagarin spent in space less than two hours. Travelling into space very dangerous because there is no oxygen or gravity. the name of the first animal in space is called Laika First satellite went round the earth. The animals that have travelled into space are the following: monkey, chimpanzees, cats, rates, insects, worms, and dog. Run a discussion with the whole class about space travel in general. The purpose of this discussion is to help learners with a general understanding on how characters look and act, and what happened through a series of event in the narrative writing. Who are the characters in this piece of writing? For how long Yuri Gagarin spent in space? Why is travelling into space very dangerous? What was the name of the first animal in space? Where did the first satellite go in space? Name five different kinds of animals that have travelled into space.

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Depending on you, you can also ask a volunteer to tell a story to his peers. The rest of the class should pay attention to what he/she is talking about. Ask some questions to learners to make sure that they follow the story. Write down the main characters and some useful information on the chalkboard.

Step 2: Writing a narrative

Duration: 80 minutes Class organisation: Individual work Tell learners to write a short narrative telling what happened in a movie he/she watched before. Leave learners to write the first draft individually. Ask one person to write his/her draft on the chalkboard to be checked. Write a correction code to guide and encourage learners to think about their mistakes. You can use any code that you think is helpful. Here is an example: 1. T = wrong tense 2. G = wrong grammar 3. W = wrong word 4. MW = Missing word 5. WO = wrong word order 6. S = wrong spelling 7. ? = I dont understand Underline every mistake and use your code to show the type of mistake in the written story by the learner on the chalkboard. The learners should then try to correct themselves. Tell the learner to rewrite using the correction code and editing. Monitor the whole class to participate in the process of writing a narrative writing. Later, learners can copy the story in their notebooks.

Evaluation
Choose one title and then write a story or narrative about the chosen title: 1. Briefly tell about a movie you saw recently. 2. Tell about a time when you lost something. 3. Tell about one of your fondest childhood memories.

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4. Have you ever been involved in some serious wrongdoing? What lesson did you learn from the experience? 5. Tell about a terrifying experience that you had when you were young. 6. Who was the most influential person in your life? How did this person make you want to become better? The following criteria will be used by the teacher to evaluate your presentation: CRITERIA Content 3 All the required information about the narrative writing was given. The characters are stated clearly. Very neat with heading and transitions Less than x mistakes 2 The information about the narrative writing was given but not all was correct Not neat or transitions missing Less than x mistakes Less than x mistakes 1 Only 50% of the required information was given or most of it was incorrect Not neat and heading but still able to write. Need attention 0 None of the required information about the narrative writing was not included Not able to write. TOTAL 3

Neatness

Spelling

Grammar

Less than x mistakes

Need attention

Not acceptable. More than x mistakes Not acceptable. More than x mistakes

Conclusion
Make sure that when you are writing a story, or narrative, you answer the question: What happened? Your story will also need a setting, a conflict and solution, characters, and may be, dialogue if want to include it.

Additional Activities
Choose one topic and write a personal narrative of the chosen topic: Who was the most influential person in your life? How did this person make you want to becomee better? Tell about a terrifying experience that you had when you were young.

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References
Baker, J, Westrup, H, 2000. English Language Teachers Handbook. VSO Continuum. Page 75 Glencoe 2000 Grammar and Composition Handbook. McGraw-Hill. New York. Page342-346 Sitima, J, Maulidi, F et all 2009. Communication Skills, Book 1, Bunda College of Agriculture: Malawi University. Page 72

s t La

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December

2010