12 minute read
Unit 2 Fantastic short stories
• Explores fun and personal anecdotes. • Analyses how to talk about anecdotes. • Tells anecdotes.
How can you tell an anecdote is funny?
1. Look at the pictures and discuss with your class what you think about each one.
What does each one tell you? Are they funny or strange? Why?
2. Work with a partner. Read and listen. Which of the pictures above is the anecdote about? How can you tell?
Group
Track 6 Pairs
Shelly: Guess what happened to me last night. I was in the kitchen at home making pancakes for supper when suddenly my hair got stuck in the mixer!
Brian: Ow!
Shelly: Fortunately, Mom disconnected the mixer very quickly before I lost all my hair! I’m never making pancakes again!
3. An anecdote is a short story about a person or incident that usually makes people laugh. Think and share an anecdote about you or someone you know with your group. Listen to others and check if all anecdotes are funny.
Read Pairs
4. Work in small groups. Read about what you need to tell an anecdote.
Look at the words and expressions in bold and complete the statements with your own ideas. Check with other groups in your class.
To tell an anecdote you need to: a) Get the attention of the listeners: Guess what happened to last night. b) Set the scene:
in the kitchen at home pancakes. c) Describe the most important event of the anecdote: Suddenly hair got stuck in the mixer! d) Make a loose or funny comment: never making again!
Group Read
5. Listen to the anecdote and write notes under the headings. Then, think about Group the anecdotes: Do you find them funny? Do you or someone you know has had an experience like this? Share and discuss your experiences with your group.
Listen
Get the attention of the listeners
Set the scene
Describe the main event
Make a closing comment
Step 1
Suggestions to record or tell an anecdote
• Recording an anecdote -when possible, or telling it, is a fun way to let others know something interesting or funny that happened to you. So, let's start!
In this unit, you will tell or, if possible, record an anecdote.
Decide how many classmates in your team, but remember that you will work with the same team until the end of this unit to either tell or record an anecdote. Browse through the lesson and talk with your teammates about the expressions or phrases you find that express surprise. How can you tell or identify these expressions? Ask your teammates what can make someone feel surprised? Make notes about these expressions and ideas and include other you and your team might remember or know in your notebook. Save your notes for the next Create session.
Reading
Time
Stories
Track 24 You'll never believe what happened Read pages 19 to 23. Have you been invited to something similar? What do you think will happen next?
How can you tell an anecdote is interesting?
1. Look at the people in the pictures. What kind of anecdote do you think each child is telling? How can you tell? Share your ideas with your class and say which anecdote you would like to listen to and state your reasons.
2. Listen to Patricia tell an anecdote. Do you find it interesting or funny? What called your attention? What do you think about her voice and tone when telling the anecdote?
Exchange ideas with a partner on how important or not it is for people to use a correct tone and stress when telling an anecdote.
3. Now, read the anecdote. Is it more interesting to read it or to listen to it? What makes the difference? Find words that express what kind of anecdote Paty is telling and use them to share your ideas and findings with your classmates. Do they feel or think like you?
Look
Track 8 Pairs
Group Read
Patricia: Something ghastly happened to me last night. Herman: What happened? Patricia: I was on my way to the movies. My granny had just given me an umbrella. It was raining so I had my umbrella with me. There was a stiff wind. Suddenly my new umbrella blew inside out! All the spokes broke! My mom and dad and my brother roared with laughter, but I was very upset. I had to dump my umbrella into a trashcan. I don’t know what I’m going to tell my granny!
4. What really makes an anecdote interesting for you when listening to it? Number the following characteristics from 1 (least) to 4 (most) according to how important each one is for you. Then, exchange points of view with your group stating your reasons.
What do others think?
Group
a) Using different tones of voice when telling an anecdote.
b) Words that express what the anecdote is really about.
c) Stressing words to emphasize important moments in the anecdote.
d) Facial gestures to accompany the message of the anecdote.
5. Work in teams of 4. Exchange ideas on what an interesting anecdote is for each one of you. Think of an anecdote about you or someone else to tell your team and make it as interesting as possible and remember to consider the elements in activity 4. Listen to each member in your team and when finished, write his/her name and what characteristic made the anecdote interesting. Share your opinion with your team, does everyone think alike?
Group
NAME CHARACTERISTIC
Step 2
Suggestions to record or tell an anecdote
Get together with the same teammates you worked with last session. Bring out the notes you wrote in your notebook.
Taking turns, think and tell your teammates a personal and funny anecdote you can think of. In agreement with your teammates, decide on one anecdote and analyze each element in it and how you can make it more interesting and fun when telling it to others. Make notes and save for the next
Create session.
Reading
Time
Stories
Track 24 You'll never believe what happened Read pages 24 to 27. How does Liam feel? How does Dale feel? How do you think you would feel?
How can you attract people’s attention when you tell an anecdote?
1. Listen and number the pictures in the correct order. Then, check and compare with your classmates. Which picture is the funniest for you? Why?
2. Listen again and pay close attention to the words in the anecdote. Which words tell you the sequence of actions in the anecdote? What words express surprise? Write them on the lines below. Are there any other words that attracted your attention in the anecdote?
Does the speaker change the tone or volume when using these words? Share your ideas and words with a partner.
3. Work in pairs and use the pictures in activity 1 to tell the anecdote. Remember the elements that you need to make it really interesting for others. Have fun!
Track 9 Listen
Track 9
Pairs
The three children went on a picnic with their family…
4. When telling an anecdote, do we refer to present or to past experiences? Read the following sentences and continue the anecdote but give it a different ending. Read
Go back to the previous page and look at the pictures in activity 1 for help.
Exchange with a partner and compare your anecdotes.
During the picnic, we went running and hiking.
Then we went away to play.
And then we went to paddle in the river.
• Can you identify the words that tell us that the anecdote already happened? • Can you identify the words that tells us what happened next in the anecdote?
5. In small groups, agree on a topic from the box. Taking turns, organize what you're going to say and who is going to say what. Make notes in your notebook and tell the anecdote to each other.
A funny thing happened… … on our picnic. … when we went to the movies on the weekend. … on our way home from school yesterday. (or something else of your choice)
Group
6. Share the anecdote you and your group chose in activity 5 and retell it to the rest of the class.
Step 3
Suggestions to record or tell an anecdote
Get together with the same teammates you worked with last session. Bring out the notes from the last Create session.
Use them to write an anecdote and to plan what each member will say. Taking turns, rehearse telling the anecdote to your teammates. Think about how you will make it interesting.
If possible, think about how, where and when you will record your anecdote. If you can, record the anecdote, listen to it and check for it to sound interesting. If you can’t do the recording, rehearse again and decide when and where you will present the anecdote. Put your recording away for the last Create session.
Links
Access the web page to increase your knowledge and practice on creating anecdotes. https:// learnenglishteens. britishcouncil.org/ exams/speakingexams/tell-story-orpersonal-anecdote
Reading
Time
Stories
Track 24 You'll never believe what happened Read pages 28 to 32. Were you expecting the ending? What other unexpected ending can you think of for this story?
1. Imagine you want to become a professional anecdote teller. What would you do to make people laugh or be interested in your anecdote? Exchange your ideas with a partner.
2. Work in teams. Read and try to complete this anecdote with your own words. Write them on the blanks and check with your class as you take turns to read it aloud.
Pairs
Read
I must you about the time there was a mouse in my house. I was in the living room with my family watching television. , I saw something out of the corning of my eye. I looked again. It was a small mouse! My brother Eduardo saw it too and up from the sofa and ran out of the room. He came back with a broom and started trying to hit the , which was now behind the television. Then Jack hit a vase of flowers with his broom. It and broke. Now Eduardo, Mom and Dad were nervous and . In all the chaos, the mouse ran out into the yard. I’ve never seen such a fuss about a tiny, little mouse!
3. Number the sentences in the correct order. Check with a partner and retell Pairs the anecdote in the correct order. I was crossing the road when I dropped my schoolbag. You’ll never guess what happened to me yesterday. All my notebooks, pens and pencils fell out onto the road. He picked up all my things and gave them to me. A car stopped and a man got out. It reminded me how very kind people can be! Then he drove away before I had time to thank him properly. 4. Work in teams. Agree on a topic and write the funniest anecdote you can create Group in your notebook. Organize the team for everyone to participate at telling the anecdote to your class. Which anecdote was the funniest? Write it on the lines below.
Record or tell an anecdote
Show &Tell 2
• Let's present your work to your classmates.
Work with your team. Bring out the recording of your anecdote. If you couldn’t record it, remember to tell it in front of the group as you and your teammates take turns. Listen respectfully to others as they present their recording or their anecdote. When going back home, share your anecdote with your family and friends and invite them to think about an anecdote and to share it with you. You can even help your family and friends learn some words in English. Have fun!
Finally, in the space below, draw or paste a scene to show the anecdote you recorded or told your class about.
Extra Product Evidence
If you want to work on another project related to anecdotes, go to page 110, Extra Product Evidence 2 Story Telling Show and have fun!
1. Let's reflect! Answer the questions to assess your learning progress. a) What elements make an anecdote funny and interesting?
b) Which element that makes anecdotes interesting do you like the most? Why?
c) What do you think anecdotes can teach people?
d) Write down surprising elements you can include in an anecdote.
e) With a partner, take turns sharing the surprising elements you wrote down while using an appropriate tone of voice. Have fun! 2. Think about the elements that are important to make an anecdote interesting and fun and reflect on how you can use these elements in other daily speaking activities; for example: can you use them when presenting something in front of your class?
Or maybe, in a phone conversation? Exchange ideas with your partner and think about all possibilities where this learning is useful. You will be surprised!
