The Reader: A Coordinated Approach

Katherine Lopez Medford (M) High School

Abstract Through a three-part method, fhe reader can be used to promote conversational and writing skills as well a reading. Variationr on the tradi- tional techniques of oral presentation and written summary provide a basis for student dialogue, an individualized approach to grammar review, and development of the ability to manipulate language.

A reader which is often the basic text of the fourth- and fifth-year student can be used to pro- mote conversational and writing skills as well as reading ability. By shifting the classroom focus from the teacher to the student and by providing a framework where the students can concentrate on their individual review needs, the reader becomes a more versatile instrument. This ap- proach is particularly well suited to facilitating the transition between guided question/answer response and free written self-expression.

The following multi-phase approach for the secondary level can be adapted to any action- oriented story or play. The choice of materials is very important since psychological dramas and descriptive prose d o not work well. The method is essentially divided into three parts: class presenta- tion, quiz, and written summary. Examples to il- lustrate this article are taken from a unit on Balzac’s Le Colonel Chabert. I

Class Presentation In preparing the unit, the reading assignments

should be divided into two- to three-page sections. All students prepare the assignment but only one student is responsible for preparing a presentation for which he or she will earn a grade. This person must understand the material thoroughly enough to answer any questions the class might have and prepare a written paragraph of seven to ten sentences in the foreign language summarizing the story development. Three sentences from this paragraph are to be written on the board, preferably as soon as the student enters the room. The written paragraph serves 8s the basis of the oral presentation while the sentences on the board are used for grammar review.

The first order of business is to correct the sentences on the board. In writing the summary paragraph students soon learn t o “borrow” cer- tain phrases from the book which they adapt to fit their needs. Wholesale copying from the text should be discouraged.

In attempting t o obtain a valid summary in a short paragraph, the students never seem to be satisfied with any one sentence taken from the book. On the other hand, borrowing phrases is a very useful way to locate pertinent vocabulary and to acquire standard expressions. The need to shorten, combine, adapt, and fill in the gaps with original sentences inevitably produces some errors. Correcting the sentences on the board IS, in effect, a short and practical grammar review.

Foreign Languoye Annals, 16. No. 2 . 1983 131

132 APRIL 1983

By way of example, I will cite a few lines from Le Colonel Chabert to illustrate subsequently how this passage reappeared on the board:

Au moment ou nous revenions vers l’empereur, aprks avoir disperse les Russes, je rencontrai un gros de cavalerie ennemie. Je me prbcipitai sur ces entctes-la. Deux of- ficiers russes, deux vrais geants, m’atta- qukrent B la fois. L’un d’eux m’appliqua sur la tCte un coup de sabre qui fendit tout, jus- qu’B un bonnet de soie noire que j’avais sur la tCte, et m’ouvrit profondement le criine. Je tombai de cheval. (p. 439)

This key scene was summarized by the student and corrected by the class and myself to read:

Le colonel a expliquk que quand ses soldats revenaient vers l’empereur apres (1) une bataille, un gros de cavalerie ennemie les (2) ont attaques (3). Deux officiers russes (4) lui ( 5 ) ont applique un coup de sabre sur la ( 5 ) tite, et il est (6) tombe de cheval.

The numbers indicate the location of original er- rors of agreement ( 3 , 4 ) , placement of object pro- nouns (2), superfluous words ( I , de), use of the possessive adjective instead of the pronoun (S), and choice of helping verb (6).

In the course of these corrections the student learns that certain grammatical and vocabulary er- rors create misunderstandings and others preclude all comprehension. Some errors such as the use of a participle rather than an infinitive, lack of agree- ment, or the absence of a subjunctive occur with sufficient frequency that the student learns to notice them quickly and eventually to avoid them. All students keep B copy of these corrected sentences in a class notebook.

After the sentences have been corrected and the student has read the full summary, the class is free to ask questions in the foreign language in order to have an unclear sentence repeated, to challenge ideas, or to obtain explanations of details which they missed or misunderstood. Fielding these ques- tions is a necessary part of the presentation and figures in the grade the student receives for the assignment. I occasionally pose one or two ques- tions if something essential has been left out or misunderstood. It is a mistake, however, for the teacher to become a large part of this question- and-answer period because the students’ role then becomes correspondingly smaller.

The question-and-answer period provides an in- centive to use new vocabulary, an occasion to ask questions as well as to answer them, and a realiza- tion of the importance of good pronunciation for communication. The story itself provides the con- text for conversation. With many types of instruc- tional materials the teacher must furnish a reason for communicating, whether it be an impromptu dialogue, interview, descriptions, or games.? However, if the reader contains adventure or mystery stones, these in themselves can provide enough incentive for discussion along with the quiz.

Quiz After the boards have been erased, a short (three-

question) quiz is given to reward those students who have read and understood the assignment and to encourage participation in the question-and-answer period. Students who have not done the homework are rarely able to answer all three questions since not every point in the reading may be covered in class. Occasionally a review of the quiz answers will spark a continued discussion of the events in the story.

Written Summary The third phase of this method, the written sum-

mary, should occur every two to three weeks. The assignment is to write 150 to 200 words summariz- ing what has been read. Students should be en- couraged to refer to the corrected sentences which they have copied in their notebooks although they must write a logical, cohesive paragraph. Since they often have thirty or more sentences to deal with in their notebook, they must once again reorganize, combine, and edit some of the material as well as introduce important details which never appear on the board. I penalize as heavily for summaries which are too long or too short so that the students are forced to rework the sentences.

The students can write reasonably correct paragraphs by relying on their notebook and the text for support although there will still be several errors. As an incentive for students to locate and correct their own errors, I do not grade this first draft. Instead, I use the following symbols to in- dicate where corrections must be made:

sp-spelling WW-wrong word gr-grammar VF-verb form G-gender &omission A-agreement Restate-choose another way T-tense to say this

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS 133

I also cross out superfluous words and draw ar- rows to correct word order. The students correct their summaries using dictionaries and grammar books given to them as reference tools. While cor- recting careless mistakes is easy, eliminating errors in word choice or sentence structure is a more dif- ficult task. Nevertheless, relatively few students are unable to find a solution by themselves. It is this final draft which 1 correct and grade.

The passage that we saw earlier reappeared in a few summaries. One version of the same passage in its first and second draft forms appears below.

First Draft: A A Chabert et son group d’armie a CtC attaque

4- . A par l’ennemie et deux officiers r u s e ont ap- pliquC un coup de sabre dans la tCte de Chabert.

w w

Second Draft (corrected): , Chabert et son bataillon d’armee ont Cte at- taquks par I’ennemi et deux officiers ruses ont applique un coup de sabre sur la t&te de Chabert.

NOTES 1. I will refer to the version which appears in Nouvelle

Anthologie Franpclise. ed. Albert Schinr, Osmond T. Rober and Pierre F. Giroud (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1943).

2. There are many such articles, several of which have appeared in Foreign Lunguuge Annuls: Ilse Klempcrer Evans, “Bridging the Gap Between Pattern Drills and Communication Exercises,” 13 (1980). 35-38; Timothy M. Scanlan, “Another Foreign Language Skill: Analyz- ing Photographs,” 13 (1980), 209-13; Paul F. Dvorak, “Communication, Small Groups, and the Interview in the FL Classroom,” 11 (1978), 581-85.

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The unnecessary “d’armee” reappeared in the sec- ond draft but the sentence is substantially more ACTFL Series correct, the student having made alterations and ACTFL Membership found the new word “bataillon” in the dictionary. A.P.S.A.

Classified Ad Conclusion Command Performance Language

Once the daily presentation is set into motion and the students understand what is expected of them, Educational Electronics Corp. the procedure works smoothly. Although cor- EMC recting the composition twice may seem to double Estudio Imrnational Sampere the teacher’s workload unnecessarily, I do not find Georgetown Summer this to be so. The first reading is done very quick- Houghton Miff l in

Independent Educational Services ly. I note errors but do not correct or evaluate the ,nternational Language Village ‘summary. These time-consuming procedures are International Film Bureau, done only once, on the second, more correct, draft. ~i~~~ F ~ , , , lnc. I have found that with continued use, this method Linguametrics Group produces compositions which are increasingly more Longman, Inc. correct and often stylistically more appealing. Writ- Macrnillan ten tests arid even conversation show improvement Manhattanville College/Spanish because the students find appropriate speech pat- terns more easily. In addition, each student receives Textbook ‘20.

the benefit of dealing with his or her particular Newbury House P/H Electronics problems rather than reviewing whole grammar Regents Publishing Co. chapters where what needs to be learned appears st, Michael,s College with material which the individual may have Tandberg of already mastered. The advantage of this method ~~l~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ i ~ ~ ~ j ~ ~ ~ , lnc, is that the reader provides a context for conversa- Unjuersiry of Louisville tion and grammar review as well as material for Unkersity of Northern Colorado reading and writing. C & J Willenborg

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