A Novel Approach to Novels – TV Night
- workshop by Nicole Caissie, teacher, College Charles-Lemoyne.
T.V. night is an oral interaction in which students have time to think up a story (producing texts) based on a novel studied (reinvesting the understanding of texts).
This was an end of year project that touched on all aspects of literature covered in class.
This project was done with ESL-LA secondary 1 students.
Prior to doing the activity, students covered the following information:
The following should be taken into account:
Evaluation : (This may vary)
TV shows – as seen fit
Holes by Louis Sachar
This was an end of year project that touched on all aspects of literature covered in class.
This project was done with ESL-LA secondary 1 students.
Prior to doing the activity, students covered the following information:
- Basic parts of a story
- Setting
- Characters and how they are presented (developed in a story)
- Plot
- Theme/Moral
- Conflicts
- How different mediums present the same story
- Different grammar and vocabulary notions from Secondary 1 curriculum
- The reading assignments from the novel Holes by Louis Sachar and discussions
- Knowledge of the above information
- Cultural references from TV
- Imagination
- Teacher's helping hand to direct students when necessary
- A working video camera
The following should be taken into account:
- Take into account the number of students in the class (each student had a different part to play so as to not have to listen to four of the same presentation).
- Break down the novel to “fit” into certain types of shows found on TV
- Figure out which characters from the novel or which story line fit into which kind of show
- Pull out particularities of the novel that stand out (e.g. Holes has three story lines)
- Have a pre-conceived notion on how it might go but remain flexible if the students find their own way. This last part is necessary for the teacher to be able to give examples of what could be in case students are stumped.
- 'As my story turns' (a soap opera). In this show I chose the story of ‘Kissing Kate Barlow' that occurred more than a century ago. I had a group of students rewrite the part of the tale by changing the setting (now and in a big company) and they had to remain as true as possible to the story line but had to change the parts that were no longer appropriate for our time. This group had certain characters played by two actors because of the ‘juiciness' of the role.
- A ‘Jerry Springer' episode: I had two pairs of characters that had an unequal relationship face each other on Jerry Springer. [In this case I had Mr. Sir face the Warden and Zero face the counselor from the camp].
- Weather reports (Since weather played an important, outstanding role in the story)
- A ‘Judge Judy' episode where Mme Zeroni sues Stanley's great grandpa for a contract that was not fulfilled.
- A ‘PBS debate' where three people sitting at a round table argue which theme of the three story lines will have more impact on your people.
- ‘Commercials' dealing with products that played a role in the story or products that could have been used in the story.
- A ‘news break' dealing with important news in the story.
- The ‘reunion show' where characters meet after many years.
Evaluation : (This may vary)
- CONTENT: How relevant are the stories to the original text? How logical is the text? Does the student stay in character? /40%
- LANGUAGE LEVEL AND ACCURACY /40%
- LENGTH OF TIME SPOKEN: approximately 90 seconds each (the use of the video camera is essential (but use judgment not a stopwatch) /10%
- DELIVERY /10%
TV shows – as seen fit
Holes by Louis Sachar