5.

Materials design and lesson planning: Novels and short

stories
In this chapter, the author discusses material design and lesson planning of novels and
short stories. The author also explores some of the distinctive features of material design and
lesson planning of novels and short stories. By the features can enable a teacher to develop ways
of using short stories and novels to students in the learning and teaching process.

5.1 Writing your own story

This can be done by reading a few quotes or paragraphs from a story. then at each reading
stage ask yourself questions like (who, why, what, how) as a guide for making links between
separate paragraphs. Then ask yourself the questions, using your imagination to answer them
because writing your own story can increase your imagination in writing a short story.

5.2 Distinctive features of a short story

There are some distinctive features of a short story:
1. It's a work of fiction, so it involves the imagination.
2. A short story tells of one event in a very concentrated way.
3. It's about people who don't really exist.
4. It describes something at a moment of crisis.
5. It has a plot, and characters who are somehow connected with each other.

5.3 Students problems when using a short story

There are still many problems faced by students in writing a short story. The following
are some of the problems explained by the author.

1. Motivation: lack of motivation makes students insecure in writing and makes their own
ideas.
2. Comprehension: some things that still not mastered by students are understanding the
plot, vocabulary, characters, the role of narrator and understanding the cultural
background to the story.

5.4 Planning a lesson for use with a short story

In this section, the writer will consider what kinds of activities and tasks can be described
on when designing materials to use with short story. Keep in mind that many of these
assignments and activities are designed to help students overcome the difficulties in the stories
they have described.
5.5 Further tasks and activities for use with a short story

In this section the writer wants us to be able to see several other ways to do this and
classify them into three groups: pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading activities.

1. Pre-reading activities

- Helping students with cultural background

- Stimulating student interest in the story

- Pre-teaching vocabulary

2. While-reading activities

- Helping students to understand the plot

- Helping students to understand the characters

- Helping students with difficult vocabulary

- Helping students with style and language

3. Post-reading activities

- Helping students to make interpretations of the text

- Understanding narrative point of view

- Follow-up writing activities

- Follow-up fluency practice

5.6 Designing your own materials for use with a short story

In this section, the writer talk about how to design materials by using short story. This
section focussed on some of the typical problems students experience when reading a short story
and suggested some techniques and activities to help them overcome these problems.

5.7 Using novels in the language classroom

In this section, the writer talk using a novel with the language learner. This section aim to
pinpoint any problems specific to using a novel in the language classroom and tell activities can
help students with the more specifically literary problems of reading the novel, a number of
practical problems remain.