Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Group Activities: Strip Stories Part 1

Hello all, Chris here. Today I would like to discuss a specific activity type which has several applications and variations in language teaching - Strip Stories. First off, what are Strip Stories? A Strip Story is a story which has been separated into smaller segments from beginning to end. These story segments do not have to contain much or any text at all. In fact, a Strip Story could insist entirely of pictures similar to what one would find in a comic book. The name for these stories comes from that fact that the various segments of the story are often given to the students out of order by cutting them into little strips of paper.

There are numerous formats in which one could present a Strip Story, for example:
  • A story which has been separated into either individual sentences or groups of shorter sentences
  • A story with pictures and limited text
  • A story consisting purely of pictures (comic style)
  • An audio text with several short tracks
  • A video which has been cut into its individual scenes
This activity provides a fun and useful way of introducing new texts and/or new vocabulary and grammatical items. There are several parts to a Strip Story activity including pre-, during, and post-reading activities. This is not purely a reading activity however, and there are several supplemental activities that can be done to enhance a Strip Story which will lead students having a greater command of the vocabulary, as well as improving their reading, writing, and oral skills.

I will now outline a basic Strip Story for you including various supplemental activities.

1. Pre-Reading Activities (Activating Background Knowledge/Preparation)

Before simply diving into a new text it is helpful to activate background knowledge that the students have and to prepare them for new vocabulary and grammatical structures they are going to encounter in a text. To do so, there are several possible activities. These include but are not limited to:
  •   Vocabulary Bingo
  •   Matching with vocabulary pictures and words
  •   Drawing pictures of important vocabulary and playing a Pictionary/Memory type of game
  •   Short interview activity to activate background knowledge of the subject area (partner or small group)
2. Reading Activity (The Strip Story)

The actual Strip Story can be done numerous ways and this will largely determine the types of activities you will do before, during, and after the reading. For this example, I will discuss two of the formats mentioned above:  
  • A story which has been separated into either individual sentences or groups of shorter sentences
  • A story with pictures and limited text
A story consisting purely of text works as well as any of the other formats. I have found that texts which feature some sort of riddle or puzzle typically add a good challenge for students as getting the order of the story right becomes all the more imperative in order to solve the puzzle. However, virtually any narrative text will do. First off, the story will have to be separated into various 'strips'. Depending on the level of the students, these can be limited to single sentences or slightly bigger chunks of text. As the teacher, you will have to determine what works best with a given text. It is helpful to create a digital version of the text you will use in order to make it easier to use as a handout later. I typically create a table in MS Word (any word processor will do) which has one column and several lines for the text. A 1x10 table is a typical size. Once a text is broken down into 'strips' you can then type these into the table. Whenever you wish to do the activity, simply print as many copies as you need. It is best to do this activity in small groups. Each group should receive a copy of the story which has been cut into its various strips and mixed up so as not to be in chronological order. Students should be made aware of the riddle or puzzle (if used) which needs to be solved. This can even be listed on one of the strips you provide the students which will require them to recognize it as the riddle to be solved and not as part of the story sequence.

Once each group has their materials they may begin by trying to place the story in the correct sequence which will not only test their puzzle solving skills but also their ability to correctly read and process information in the L2.

I will discuss the other formats for the strip story in Part 2 of this post along with the various post-reading activities that can be done. Stay tuned!

Followers

Teaching Topics

A1 (1) AAFLT (1) AATG (15) About LTT (1) Abroadways (1) Accusative Prepositions (1) Achievement Gap (1) ACTA (1) ACTFL (18) Activities (1) Adjectives (3) Advanced Learners (11) Advanced/intermediate Learners (4) Adventskalender (2) Advertisements on TV (1) AEPE (1) Afghanistan (1) African-American English (1) AITLA (1) Alabama Immigration (1) Algeria (1) All Languages (11) Alphabet (2) Alsace (1) Amazing Race (3) Anglicisms (3) Animals (1) Animoto (1) App-Gap (2) Applied Linguistics (1) Apps (11) Aprendizaje Movil (1) Arabic (4) Argentina (1) Argentine Culture (1) Armored Penguin (1) articulation (2) Assessment (5) Asterix (1) Audacity (1) Audio (1) Augsburg (1) Australia (1) Avatar Software (1) Aventa (1) AZCALL (1) Baalbek (1) Bairisch (4) Ballet (1) Ballinstadt Museum (1) Balloons (1) Battleship (3) Bayerischer Rundfunk (1) Bayern (7) BBC (1) Beginners (4) Belgium (2) Berlin (5) Berlin Wall (2) Berufe (1) Bier (1) Bilingual Education (3) Bilingualism (11) Bing (1) Bingo (4) Birthdays (1) Blancanieves (1) Blended Learning (3) blog (2) Blog Carnival (1) Board Races (1) Body Parts (2) Bolivia (1) Brazil (1) Budget Cuts (24) Bundesländer (1) Bunny (1) Business (5) BYOD (1) Cafe Press (1) CALL (1) Call for Papers (7) Caperucita Roja (1) Carissa (18) Carissa Peck (19) Carnaval (1) Carnival (2) CELE (1) Cell Phones (1) Cenicienta (1) Cheating (2) Chicago (1) Child Foreign Language Acquisition (2) China (28) Chinese (56) Chinese Culture (1) Chinese Grammar (9) Chinese Music (1) Chinese Video (1) Chinese Vocabulary (8) Christmas (1) Chronicle of Higher Education (1) CIEFE (1) Cities (1) CIVTRALFE (1) Class Size (1) Classroom Management (1) CLEAR (1) Clipart (1) Cloud Computing (2) Cloze Activities (1) CLTA (1) Club Digital (1) Cognates (2) Collaboration (2) Colombia (3) Colors (4) Commands (1) Commas (1) Commercials (5) Common Core (1) Condicional Simple (1) Conditional (1) Conferences (279) Confucius Institutes (1) Conjugation (7) Conjunctions (1) Content Language Integrated Learning (1) Conversaçãos (4) Conversaciones (8) Conversation (3) Cooking (1) Corpus linguistics (1) Counterfeit goods (1) Cousteau (1) Crime (1) Crossword Puzzles (4) Cuba (1) Culcha Candela (1) Culture (17) Current Events (2) Curriculum and Instruction (1) Curriculum Innovation (3) Currywurst (2) Da- Compounds (1) DAAD (3) Dalai Lama (1) Dance (1) Das Erste (1) Dative (1) Dative Prepositions (1) Days of the week (1) DDR (1) Delaware (1) DELE (1) Denglisch (1) Description (2) Deutsche Welle (63) Dialects (10) Dias de la semana (1) Dietrich (1) Digital Classroom (6) Digital Content (1) Digital Curriculum (1) Digital Leadership (1) Digital Literacy (2) digital tools (2) Directions (3) Discover Languages Month (2) Discussion (3) Documentary (5) Don Quixote (1) Dos dias en la vida (1) Downloads (25) Drawing (1) Dresden (1) Dual Language Programs (12) Duolingo (1) E-reader (1) Easter (2) ebook (1) ECLL (1) Ed-Tech (48) Education (2) Education Issues (14) Education Reform (3) Educational Technology (5) EFL (43) EFL Video (11) Einstein (1) El Reino del Revés (1) ELE (7) Elementary Levels (4) ELL (22) ELT (12) Emotions (1) Enfoque (2) engagement (1) England (1) Engleutsch (1) English (42) English Grammar (8) English Vocabulary (22) ESL (94) Esskultur (1) Estar (4) Être (1) Events (3) Expressions (1) Fairy tales (5) Fall (1) False Cognates (6) Family (1) Farsi (1) Faust (1) FCLM (1) Feelings (2) Festival Cine Latinoamericano (1) Films (4) First Day (1) FLAME (1) FLE (3) FLENJ (1) Flipped Classroom (1) Flipped Instruction (5) Fluency (2) Focus Online (1) Food (5) Forbes (2) Foreign Languages (9) Foreign TV (1) France (28) France Cuisine (1) France Region (6) Frankfurt (2) Free Speech (1) Freebies (2) Freiburg (1) French (270) French Accent (6) French Art (5) French Chic (5) French Cuisine (8) French Culture (48) French Documentary (11) French Expressions (2) French Fashion (1) French Film (2) French Food (5) French Grammar (15) French History (2) French Humor (11) French Karaoke (1) French Lifestyle (14) French Music (37) French Politics (1) French Slang (1) French Soccer (1) French Songs (3) French Video (106) French Vocabulary (33) Funny (1) futbol americano (1) Futur II (1) Future (1) Games (25) Gangnam Style (1) General Education (3) ger (1) German (691) German Art (2) German Commercial (7) German Culture (62) German Dialects (4) German Food (10) German Grammar (63) German History (10) German Idioms (5) German Linguistics (1) German Literature (1) German Movies (4) German Music (45) German Philosophers (1) German Politics (1) German Proverbs (3) German Science (1) German Slang (1) German Soccer (4) German States (1) German TV (4) German Video (109) German Vocabulary (125) German World (2) Germany (14) Gespräche (14) Getränke (1) Ghetto Culture (1) Global Kidz Lab (1) Globalization (2) Glogster (1) Goethe-Institut (6) Good Grade Pills (1) Google (4) Google Docs (1) Google Input (1) Google Translate (2) Gossip Game (1) Grammar (10) Grammar Exercises (2) Greece (1) Grimm (1) Group Activities (35) Guessing Game (2) Gustar (3) Halloween (2) HALT (2) Hamburg (5) Hashtags (1) Heidelberg (1) higher education (4) Hispanic (7) History (2) History of the Mediterranean Countries (1) Hoja de Coca (1) Holidays (1) Hong Kong (1) Houston (1) http://jalt.org/conference (1) iBooks (1) Ice breaker. EFL. Beginner (2) Icebreakers (6) ICL (1) ICLCC (1) ICLDC (1) ICLEHI (1) ICLEI (1) ICLLA (1) ICLT (1) ICoLLT (1) Idioms (6) IFLTA (3) IICLL (1) Illegal Downloading (1) Immersion Education (2) Immersion Programs (25) imparfait (1) Imperative (3) Imperativo (3) Imperfect (2) Imperfecto (1) Indiana University (1) Inferencing (1) Infographics (3) Intensive Language Programs (1) Intermediate Learners (6) International Education Week (1) International Exchange (2) Interview Activities (6) Intonation (1) Introductions (2) IOLC (1) iPad (10) IPhone (4) IPhone App (4) Irregular Verbs (7) ISeLT (1) Isla de Pascua (1) ISLC (1) ISLS (1) Italian (30) Italian Geography (1) Italian Grammar (5) Italian Idioms (2) Italian Music (4) Italian Video (1) Italian Videos (1) Italian Vocabulary (14) Italy (1) J (1) J-SLA (1) Japan (18) Japanese (162) Japanese Culture (22) Japanese Dialects (1) Japanese Food (2) Japanese Grammar (21) Japanese History (2) Japanese Music (22) Japanese Soccer (2) Japanese Video (21) Japanese Vocabulary (40) Japnaese (2) Jarabe de Palo (1) JLLL (1) Jobs (555) Jorge Drexler (1) Kaffee (1) Kaffeestunde (1) Kaiwa (6) Kaleidoskop (1) kanji (4) Karneval (1) Keigo (1) Khan Academy (2) Kiezdeutsch (1) Kindergarten (1) Knowmia (1) Koenji Awa Odori (1) Köln (2) Konjunktiv I (1) Korea (2) Krampus (2) Krashen (1) L2 (1) L2 writing (7) L3 2013 (1) La historia de Juan (1) La infidelidad en la era de la informatica (1) Lang-8 (1) langchat (1) Language Acquisition (2) Language Advocacy (25) Language Certification (1) Language Change (3) Language Development (5) Language Diversity (1) Language History (6) Language Immersion (13) Language Learning (32) Language Policy (26) Language Radio (1) Language Teaching (15) Language Teaching Technology (41) Language Testing (6) Language Training (1) Latin American Spanish (2) Latvia (1) Le Mot Du Jour (2) Learner Age (1) Learning Apps (1) Learning Myths (1) Learning Styles (4) Lecture Series (1) Leipzig (6) Les Guignols (1) Lesson Plans (4) LFLTA (1) Life in London (1) LILA (1) Lineas de Tiempo (1) Linguafolio (1) Linguistics (23) Listening (12) Listening Comprehension (25) Literacy (2) LLC (1) Local Events (8) LOL (1) Loopster (1) Lyon (1) MadLibs (1) magazine (1) Make Me a Story (1) Mandarin (8) Manga (1) Maps (2) Märchen (2) Marrocco (1) Marseille (1) Matching (1) mathematics (1) MATSOL (1) Mauerfall (1) Mayas (2) Me gusta el futbol (1) Media (4) Media Markt (2) Medical German (1) Mercedes (1) Mexican Culture (2) Mexico (2) MIAM (1) Microsoft (1) Military (1) MindSnacks (1) MIT (1) Mnemonic (7) Moai (1) Mobile Devices (2) Mobile Learning (1) Modal Verbs (2) Monsters (1) MOOCs (3) Morocco (1) Movies (3) Mozart (2) Multilingualism (2) München (6) Museumsinsel (1) Music (9) Names (1) Nertherlands (1) Netflix (1) New Releases (14) New Year (1) News (787) NICCIELTL (1) NNELL (1) Nook (1) Number Bingo (2) Numbers (5) October (1) OFLA (1) Oktoberfest (3) Old English (1) Olympics (1) Online Activities (1) Online Alternatives (6) Online Courses (5) Online Language Learning (4) Online Languge Learning (2) Online Translators (5) Oral Evaluation (1) Otaku (1) PALA (1) Paris (2) parts of speech (2) Passé Composé (2) Passiv (1) Past tense (1) pbl (1) Pen Pals (1) phonetics (1) Photos (3) Phrasal Verbs (1) Phrases (1) Pictures (14) Piñatas (1) Pinterest (5) Play (1) Playing Dice (1) Podcasts (2) Politics (1) Poll (1) Portuguese (7) Portuguese Videos (4) Posadas (1) Possessive Pronouns (1) Pre-school (1) Prepositions (3) Present Perfect (1) Preterit (2) Preterite (5) Preterito Pluscuamperfecto de Subjuntivo (1) Priming (1) Processability Approaches (1) Productivity (1) Products (3) ProfELE (2) Professional Development (1) Program Development (2) Program Funding (1) project-based learning (3) Pronouns (3) pronunciation (6) publication (1) Publishing (1) Pumuckl (1) Purdue (5) Puzzles (1) Qatar (1) Quest-Based Learning (1) Question and Answer (2) Quizzes (1) Rabbit (1) Radio Bilingue (1) Raytheon (1) Reading (4) Reading Activities (7) Reading Comprehension (5) Reading practice (3) Recuerdos (1) Recycling (2) Reflection (1) Reflexive Pronouns (5) Reflexive Verbs (7) Refranes (7) Relative Pronouns (2) RELC (1) Research (1) Retire in Morocco (1) Review (1) Riddles (6) Robin Williams (1) Role-Play (8) Role-Playing (1) Role-Plays (7) Romance Languages (1) Rosetta Stone (2) Russian (4) Sachsen (1) Salzburg (5) Sanskrit (1) Sapporo (1) SCFLTA (1) Schwarzfahrer (1) Scientology (1) Scotland (1) Second Languages (2) SecondLife (1) Sentence Builder (1) Separable Prefix Verbs (1) Ser (4) Service-learning (1) Shakira (1) Shanghai (2) Short Films (3) SIUS (1) Skype (3) SLA Methods (3) Slate (1) Soccer (3) Social Media (6) Sociolinguistics (2) Song (28) Songs (23) Songs for Children (7) Sony Virtuoso (1) Soo Meta (1) Spain (1) Spanish (258) Spanish Culture (21) Spanish Dialects (5) Spanish Grammar (33) Spanish Idiom (1) Spanish Idioms (1) Spanish in Contact with Other Languages (1) Spanish in the US (1) Spanish Music (23) Spanish Song (1) Spanish Songs (6) Spanish TV (1) Spanish Video (83) Spanish Vocabulary (22) Speaking Activities (18) Spelling Bee (1) Spring (1) Spring Break (1) Staatskongress (1) Standards (2) Stationen (1) Statistical Tests (1) Step Into German (1) Stereotypes (4) Stories (2) Stories for Children (12) Story Chains (1) Streaming (1) Study Abroad (10) Subjunctive (6) Subjuntivo (1) Subordinate Clauses (1) Superbowl (1) Surrealist (1) Sushi (1) Switzerland (5) Symposium (8) T-Test (1) Taiwan (1) TALGS (1) Tanger (1) Tangier (1) Task Based Learning (1) TCCRISLS (2) Teacher Tip (2) Teaching Approaches (4) Teaching Challenges (2) Teaching Commands (5) Teaching Issues (4) Teaching Materials (3) Teaching Methods (4) Teaching Skills (1) Teaching Strategies (17) Teaching tips (12) Teachnology (5) Techlandia (2) Technology (125) Telenovelas (1) TELL (1) Templates (1) Tener (1) Tenses (2) TESOL (23) Test-Taking (1) Texting (3) tipping (1) TL Variations (1) TOEFL (5) Tongue Twisters (10) Total Physical Response (1) Tourism (3) TPR (7) TPRS (1) Trabant (1) Transition Words (2) Translation (8) Travel Opportunities (2) TSLL (1) Tübingen (1) Tunisia (3) Twitter (9) U-Bahn (1) Understanding (1) UNESCO (1) University of Montana (1) Urban Architecture (1) Urlaub (1) Useful Websites (186) Vacations (1) Verb of the Week (41) Verbling (1) Verbs (12) Video (45) Video Games (1) Video Lesson Plans (1) Video Star (2) video-bilinguisme- enfants (1) Videos (9) Vienna (4) Visas (1) Vocabulary (25) Voz Pasiva (1) VW (1) Wartburg (1) Webcams (1) Webinars (12) Welcome (1) Werbe-Deutsch (1) Wetoku (1) Whiteboard (1) Wien (4) Will Ferrell (1) Wine (1) Wo- Compounds (1) word (21) Word Acquisition (3) Word Engine (1) Word Lens (1) word problems (1) Word Searches (7) Wordle (6) Wordle™ (1) Workshops (13) World Cup (3) World Englishes (5) World Languages (1) Wort der Woche (1) Wortschatz (1) WOW (1) Writing Activities (7) Yabla (1) Youtube (1) Zungenbrecher (3) Zürich (2)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...