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INTRODUCTION |
Once upon a time in a fare away land there lived a ……. How often have you not heard these words when you were a child? …..Words that you heard from a loved one, your mom or your grandmother, when you cuddled up at night next to her to share a moment of love and magic…..Words that introduced a fairy tale and that let your imagination fly into a world full of surprises, where good fought evil, with magical creatures, fairies and witches, princes and princesses encountered each other to solve a problem….. Words that let you picture images in your mind of the places and characters allowing you to be creative and thus become a part of the story. In the end, how often did you not, later in the night while sleeping and dreaming, become an active character in the story searching for new adventures, a different outcome, a special quest?
Although the events which occur in fairy tales are often unusual and most improbable, they are always presented as ordinary, something that could happen to you or me or the person next door when out on a walk in the woods. Even the most remarkable encounters are related in casual, everyday ways in fairy tales.
Bruno Bettelheim
So now it will be your turn to enchant others, to become a part of this magical world and to let others explore it with you.
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TASK |
Let’s consider this quote by Mark Twain:
To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.
Mark Twain was a wonderful writer who made his characters come to life in your imagination. He wrote about every day events, and yet even though he did not include magical creatures in his writing, there was always an element of magic present.
Now it will be your turn to become writers, to let your imagination flow and become a part of this magical world called the Fairy Tale Land. In the end, you and your team are going to publish your own illustrated fairytale book.
A fairy tale is a narrative. As any narrative, its main purpose is to entertain, to gain and hold a reader's interest. You know how difficult it is to manage this, and this will be exactly your challenge.
Now, what features does a narrative have?
• Characters with well defined personalities.
• Dialogue should be included to make the story more vivid.
• Descriptive language is necessary to create images in the reader's mind and enhance the story.
And, what language should you be using to show that you are proficient in the English language?
• Use action verbs: Action verbs provide interest to the writing and try to be as specific as possible…. Don’t use the ones every one knows. Be original!
• Either you write in the first person or the third person, though this last one is the most used.
• Usually use the past tense. Remember, it took place in the past.
• Use connecting words, linking words to tie your ideas.
• Use specific nouns as strong nouns have more specific meanings.
• Make nouns actually do something and be as descriptive as possible.
• Carefully use of adjectives and adverbs: Writing needs careful use of adjectives and adverbs to bring it alive.
• Use the senses: Where appropriate, the senses can be used to describe and develop the experiences, the setting and the character.
• Use a variety of sentence beginnings.
Finally, and this is the most important aspect – show… don’t tell your story as you have to create mental pictures for your readers and it helps him to become involved in the story and deducing things for himself instead of just taking in information passively. And this is again the advantage of reading to watching a movie. In the first one you can become creative, in the second case you let others be it
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PROCESS |
You will join together in teams of five students. Each team is going to choose one of the following characters:
Peter Pan
Goldilocks
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White
Rumpelstiltskin
Hansel and Gretel
Rapunzel
Aladdin
Belle/ The Beauty
Little Red Riding Hood
Frog Prince
Thumbelina
Pinocchio
Little Mermaid
Puss in Boots
Jack and the Beanstalk
Princess and the Pea
Each one of you is going to write his own version, fairy tale, considering the character chosen by the team. Individually you will follow certain steps.
1. First you must consider the elements of a fairy tale: What is it that makes a story a fairy tale? We know that they usually took place a long time ago and they include:
a. Special beginning of ending words like: Once upon a time…. and they lived happily ever after.
b. A good character.
c. An evil character.
d. Royalty and a castle are usually present.
e. Magic tends to happen.
f. There is a problem and a solution to it.
2. Next you are going to write an outline for your story including the previous elements. To start planning this you need to consider the following aspects:
• Plot: What is going to happen?
• Setting: Where will the story take place? When will the story take place?
• Characterization: Who are the main characters? What do they look like? How do they interact?
• Structure: How will the story begin? What will the problem be? How is the problem going to be resolved?
• Theme: What is the message?
Now fill in the story map:
http://www.geocities.com/miwm_esn/FairyTaleStoryPlanner.doc
which will be your outline.
3. Once your outline is approved by your teacher, you start writing your first draft for your story. It must include a beginning where you set the time and place – remember that the introduction for a narrative should capture the reader's attention - the body, were the conflict or problem develops and you finally reach your climax, and then the conclusion where everything reaches a happy ending. This draft must be typed, with Arial 12 and double spaced. Check yourself for any spelling, grammar, capitalization and punctuation mistakes there might be. Answer the self-assessment questionnaire (the link is bellow in evaluation)to be sure you have done everything you need. You have to hand this in to your teacher. You are also going to hand in one copy of the draft to your teacher and two others to two members in your team.
4. Now it is your turn to proofread. You are in charge of two stories from members of your team for you to check to correct any spelling mistakes, grammar usage, and capitalization and punctuation mistakes. If you consider changing a vocabulary word or correcting the structure of the writing as such, as you might consider that the paragraphs and not written well enough, or the introduction and outcome are incomplete, you are free to make any suggestions. Once finished with correcting, you are going to photocopy your work, hand in the correction to your teammate, and the copy to your teacher.
5. Next, based on the corrections and suggestions, you are going to write your second draft, again with Arial twelve and double spaced. This you hand in again to your teacher for final corrections.
6. Finally, you will be able to publish your booklet. Each person in the team is responsible for writing the final draft, this time Times New Roman 12 and double spaced again. You will add some illustrations to your story which you either draw by hand or with the help of your computer. You can use existing images, but you have to be creative and produce something of your own with these images. As a team, you include all your personal stories with the corresponding illustrations, define on a cover with the title….. example: Goldilocks stories…. and have your fairy tale book bound.
7. Last but not least, for you to read or tell your story to others as a team you will construct a diorama for one of your fairy tales. And, how do you construct this?
Choose a scene from the story. To make a diorama get a shoebox or a box of similar size. Cut out paper to fit the inside walls. Decorate the background as your setting and paste something inside of box. Cut out the figures and place them in the box as you desire and make them stand up. The idea is to get a three dimensional effect. Add any props you might consider useful. And that is it.
Check out the following points to see if there is nothing missing for you to get an excellent grade!
Personal Checklist:
_____ Heading in drafts and Outline
_____ Outline
_____ Title
_____ Draft 1
_____ Draft 2
_____ Interesting Plot
_____ Satisfying Ending
_____ Descriptive Writing
_____ Vocabulary
_____ Paragraphs
_____ Complete Sentences
_____ Spell checked
_____ Conventions Punctuation and Capitalization
_____ Neatness {Presentation}
_____ Proofreading of two drafts
_____ Cover Page
_____ Final Draft in Booklet
_____ Illustrations
_____ Diorama
_____ On Time
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RESOURCES |
This time you don't really need resources as all the writing process is your job. If you want some aid on this use the following site.
Writing Gym - http://www.will-ludwigsen.com/gym/nouns.htm
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EVALUATION |
Before staring to evaluate your work, it is important that you complete the self-assessment form after completing your first draft.
Self Assessment: http://www.geocities.com/miwm_esn/St-Te-Assessment.doc
Different aspects will be graded based on the rubric which includes many aspects of your overall work throughout this quest. For this you must have handed in all of the following:
Outline
Draft 1 and 2
Self assessment
Proofread drafts
Final draft with illustrations
Diorama
If you want to check out the rubric of the fairy tale go to the following link: http://www.geocities.com/miwm_esn/Rubri-Fairytale.doc
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CONCLUSION |
Now you have discovered the job of a writer. It is not only about creating, having a wonderful idea, and putting this on paper. It is also about editing and proofreading. These last aspects are what give quality to your work!
CONGRATULATIONS
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CREDITS |
Many ideas, especially in relation to the writing process as well as some templates were taken form the following site.
http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/units/between/home.html
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