MASARYKOVA UNIVERZITA V BRN PEDAGOGICK FAKULTA KATEDRA ANGLICKHO JAZYKA A LITERATURY

THE USE OF LITERARY TEXTS IN PRIMARY CLASSES Diploma thesis Brno 2006

Supervisor: Mgr.Svtlana Hanuov, Ph.D.

Written by: Pavlna Dymeov

I declare that I worked on my thesis on my own and that I used the sources mentioned in the bibliography.

I would like to thank Mgr. Svtlana Hanuov, Ph.D for her kind help and valuable advice, which she provided me as my supervisor.

Content:

Introduction 5 I Part one 1.1 Literature 1.1.1 1.1.2 1.1.3 1.1.4 1.2 Skills and literature 1.2.1 1.2.2 1.2.3 1.2.4 1.3 Roald Dahl 1.3.1 Dahl s Life.27 1.3.2 Dahls work 28 1.3.3 Dahls view of the world ... 29 1.3.4 Quentin Blake 31 II Part two 2.1 Activity book 32 2.2 Listening via audiocassettes 42 2.3 James and the Giant Peach across curriculum 48 Conclusion .. 59 Bibliography 61 Summary.. 66 Appendix ..I XI Listening.20 Speaking.22 Writing23 Reading25 Literature for children..7 Literature in ELT approaches9 Literature across curriculum ..14 Literature at primary stage..17

Introduction
I have chosen literature as a subject of study to find out how it benefits children if of primary age utilizes literary texts that are suitable for their age. Suitable for the precise age means that children of 10-11 years do not work with texts that are for 6-7 years old (as I saw in some basic schools in the Czech Republic). It is obvious that an eleven year-old boy is not interested in picture books about the very hungry caterpillar or the little puppy Spot but he wants to follow Harry Potter throughout exciting and humorous adventures. Exploring new texts comes closer to the students personal experience and to their personal life. Some criteria should be followed while choosing the suitable book. I studied several handbooks for teachers and read instructions how to choose the best book. The most challenging part was the level of readers. Differentiation in learners attitudes, motivation, cultural background, and even learning skills influences teachers preparation and work that should be covered in lessons. For the English language teachers the difference in the level of English amongst children in any one class is even more remarkable. Many teachers still think that literature cannot be used in English classes because it is thought to be too difficult for pupils but they do not think about the variety of work and many ways of using stories in ELT. I have found literature as a rich source for English language teaching. Literature can be used in classes of English according to the age, the language level, the cultural background, and the tastes and interests of the learners.

The practical part of my diploma thesis is based on Roald Dahl s book James and The Giant Peach and activities related to this marvellous book for children.

Otherwise, this book from the 1960s contains examples of modern problems miserable and lonely children seeking relationships and that are the strongest idea of Dahls book. On the other hand there is a cultural background that underlines Dahls stories (such as facts about New York, the Queen Mary ship), as well as social and moral values that belong to a common tradition, which bridge the natural differences between countries.

1.1 Literature in learning process

"Literature is, first of all, to be experienced, to be enjoyed, to be appreciated, to be loved. Each reader, in the process of experiencing a literary work, both brings meaning to and takes meaning from that work." (Vandergrift, 1995)

1.1.1 Literature for Children

There is a wide range of available books for children. Since the 1990s, literature for children has become an industry. There are specialist guides, specialist reviewers, publishers, and theories that offer a wide range of literature for children. It was a long way from John Newberry; a bookseller who issued a variety of illustrated works in 18th century, to J.K.Rowling, the well-known author of the Harry Potter books. The 18th century was famous for its verse, nursery rhymes, and ballads. From this point, the number of publications for children increased and lasts until now. Pokrivkovs Childrens and Juvenile Literature (Nitra, 2003) gives a summary of genres and a history of childrens literature. In this book nursery rhyme, fables, folk tales, fairy tales, picture books, nonsense literature etc. are described from various points of view and are supplemented with extracts from discussed books. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (J.A.Cuddon, 1999) does not use the term childrens literature or literature for children but childrens books. There is a brief history of books specifically for children from the 18th century until the 20th century with genres such as school stories, fairy tales, 7

animal stories, adventure stories, detective stories, and childrens verse. At the end here is a list of authors that have become enormously popular and have what is almost a cult following such as J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S.Lewis, R.Dahl, R.Briggs, and others. There is also a paragraph contributed to few prize awards for example: the Kate Greenway Medal for illustration and the Newberry Medal. Pokrivkov divides literature for children simply into four groups: childrens stories (both old and more recent stories that amuse the listener), traditional European tales (contains adaptations of classic stories), modern stories (new fairy tales with an aspect of fantasy), and fairy stories (traditional magical characters).

1.1.2 Approaches to using literature in ELT

Literature has been a subject of study in many countries at different levels, but until recently has not been given much emphasis in the EFL classroom. The use of literary texts in foreign language teaching has greatly increased over the last few years. The problem of using literature in English classes dates back to the early years of the last century when literature was thought of high prestige in language study ( Clandfield, 2005 ) The literature class consisted often of an enthusiastic teacher orator and passive students being too busy writing in translations of unfamiliar words to respond to the text (Long, 1987). Slater and Collie think that there was a decisive swing against literature in English as a foreign language not many years ago. Literature was supposed to be a static kind of language and that was why modern linguistics (appreciating more spoken language) distrusts a written form of English language. Besides, they found literature as an undesirable freight of cultural connotations. (Collie, Slater, 1987). The role of literature in the language classroom was interrogated during the period 1960 1980. The 1970`s and early 1980`s approaches were communicative and emphasised on practical functions of English language. During the 1980`s there was a comeback of interest in literature and language teaching. Linguistics and other contributors suggested that literature should be involved in classes of English for nonnative learners but in another pedagogical approachthe teaching of literature is an arid business unless there is a response, and even negative responses can create an interesting classroom situation(Long, 1987). The revival of literature is characterised by Maley as literature wearing different clothing.

In addition to reawakening of literature in ELT, there was also a boom in publishing books. For example Language for Literature (1983) by R. Walker, Reading between the lines (1984) by J. Mc Ray and R. Boardman, and many others. According to the aims of the previously mentioned books, emphasis has been given on students language development than on their literary development. Collie and Slater (1987) ask four basic questions: Why? What? And how? They give four reasons why should a language teacher use literary texts with classes: Literature is a valuable authentic material because readers have to deal with language intended for native speakers (different linguistic uses, forms and conventions) Cultural enrichment. The imagined world of literature reveals thoughts, feelings, customs, and other features of life of the country where English is spoken. Language enrichment. Literary texts offer many features of written language that can broaden learners' skills. Personal involvement. Engaging imagination with literature helps learners to change their attention from language system to the story itself. Sometimes the readers are drawn into the development of the plot." The language becomes 'transparent' the fiction summons the whole person into its own world.' (Collie, Slater, 1987: 8) What kind of literature to use? Texts should be chosen according to students' needs, interests, cultural background, and language level. Selected books must be relevant to the life experiences, emotions, or dreams of learners. Collie and Slater suggest choosing a work that is not much above the student's reading proficiency." Interest, appeal, and relevance are all more important." 10

How can the teacher and the students work with literature? In this part, some commonly used approaches are described. They want to refresh the conventional approaches and to stimulate learners' desire to read. The next following aims are mentioned to characterise Collie and Slater's approach (Collie, Slater, 1987: 8): maintaining interest and involvement by using variety of student-centred activities such as role-plays, improvisation, questionnaires, visuals and others. supplementing the printed page. They call a printed page as a fairly cold, distancing medium and they advise teachers to exploit as much as possible from the emotional dimension (that is an integral part of literature). tapping the resources of knowledge and experience with the group. Groups can support and control individuals' reactions and interpretations. Learners involved in a group help each other with difficulties that occur on a page of literary text. helping students explore their own responses to literature by activities shared in groups using target language by means that help to express their response either nonverbally or by limited language skills integrating language and literature.

Long and Carter (1992) describe the main arguments for using literature as three models: the cultural model, the language model and the personal growth model. The cultural model views a literary text as a product. Literature enables students to understand and appreciate cultures different from their own. Literature keeps cultural and artistic heritage. This approach tends to be quiet teacher-centred and is very traditional.

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The language model. Students are supposed to develop their language through some of the varied creative uses of the literature language. The approach may end up with demotivating learners because the readers' responses are ignored. It is normally based on language-based approaches with attention to the way language is used. The main aims are based more on learners and activities.

The personal growth model is based on students' engagement with literary texts. Students learn via literature how to appreciate and evaluate cultural artefacts. It is more student-centred model with motivation aims.

Each model represents different tendencies in methodology and in classroom practice. Carter and Long believe that literature should be a source of pleasure and a stimulus to personal development. Duff and Maley provide many interesting activities, which are addressed to teacher trainers, practising teachers, and teachers who are interested in using literary texts in ELT. The primary aim of Maley's approach is "to use literary texts as a resource for stimulating language activities." (Duff, Maley, 1992) They are interested in involving students in the text, in the group and in the tasks concerning literary texts. The main tasks that are outlined in this book are: o The central importance of the text and students as active agents. o Activities offer opportunities to share and express experiences and feelings. o No question-text stereotypical format of work with literary texts. o Presenting text in various ways so as cutting it into pieces, accompanied by other media or texts. o Texts are not the only part in the activity but they should be preceded by pretasks, and followed by involving interactive work

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The whys and the wherefores for using literary texts are set in three levels: linguistic (texts are full of new styles, register, and types of text at all levels of difficulty), methodological (literary texts are open to interpretation and interaction among learners), and motivational (the feeling of literary texts as a no-trivialized experience is a strong motivator). On contrary, David A. Hill represents his approach in three stages that are summed up in the following points (Hill, 1993): 1. Awareness-raising. Topic, cultural background, language etc. make learners much more sensitive and help them understand the text accompanied by interesting activities. 2. Text contact. Presenting texts to learners in different ways (as originally written, gradually or in an altered form) is an inseparable part of learner-text interaction. 3. Aftermath. Any follow-up exercises, which are appropriate, relevant, and necessary for a group of learners. To sum up the previous models there are some important reasons for using literature in English classes (Clandfield, 2005): Literature is authentic material. Literature encourages interaction. Literature expands language awareness. Literature educates the whole person.

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1.1.3 Literature across the curriculum

Like a great journey, literature can show you things you have never seen before and will never forget. (http://www.learner.org/exhibits/literature/)

Now more and more teachers of young learners use stories from the wide range of children's literature. The recent interest in using stories with lower level learners is for a number of reasons. According to Zaro and Salaberri's Handbook of Storytelling (1995) children's desire to tell a story and listen to is the best indication of how much they like and enjoy it. The reasons for using stories in foreign language teaching are: o the development of listening skills o the acquisition of new vocabulary o the development of the child's literary competence o the communicative exchange involved in stories o motivation o stimulation and development of the imagination Apart from these reasons, there is a great need to use and create activities, which lead to better involvement of learners in classes. According to Vandergrift (1995), one of the keys preparing young people for successful lives in the 21st century is to integrate literature across the curriculum. The need is based on new forms of resource-based instruction and changes in contemporary schooling. Integrating English into the curriculum has become a present problem of ELT. This teaching approach aims not only to teach English language as a subject, but also to

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use the target language as a method for learning subjects. They use English as a medium for teaching other school subjects such as maths, biology, history, and P.E. Combining English and other academic subjects has many advantages. First, the acquisition of any language is based on input that is easy to understand and meaningful to most of learners. This goes hand in hand with growth of students interests with themes and it provides meaningful basis for understanding and acquiring new language structures and patterns. Second, language, cognition, and social skills develop concurrently among young learners. Language is a crucial medium that social and cognitive development proceeds. By learning core subjects in English, learners can obtain core concepts and develop social skills. Third, the integration of English and content instruction emphasizes the specificity of functional language use. (Chien, 2003)

The integrating of English childrens literature into the curriculum can stimulate content-based academic learning for English language learners. (Smallwood, B., 2002). This systematic approach is particularly beneficial to young ELL ages three through eight because it provides background knowledge and cultural information along with opportunities to hear, speak, and interact with carefully crafted language in thematic and story contexts. It also develops literacy in an engaging and playful context (Ghosn, 2002). According to Ghosn, books suitable for use in classes should be selected after consideration of few questions. Teachers should find out if the book helps meet curricular objectives and thematic units that cover the topic or if the content is appropriate to learnersinteligence and age. On the other hand, the question of language level, the amount of text and clear illustrations is considered important as well.

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Traditional curricular topics have emphasized basic communicative skills such as talking about food, sports, music, and family. However, in past few years, the demands on learners academic language have risen and learners get in touch for example with the food pyramid, animals, and insects in the field of science. On contrary their attention is also focused on more social problems such as cultural diversity of the neighbourhood, as is said above literature can develop social skills. (Smallwood B., 2002) To compare Vandergrift suggests intellectual freedom as a factor in dealing with controversial topics or issues. This is more problem of secondary education where fiction is accompanied with more sophisticated treatments of human strategies and relations. (Vandergrift, 1995) Young learners share a remarkable variety of personal experiences, values, and ways of understanding. Personal involvement of young learners is more based on emotions and strong feelings. In words of literature theory, literature illuminates or instructs actual life experiences. With literature teachers, build emotional, social, and intellectual responses to the natural responses to the natural language of engaging stories linked with attractive illustrations. (Smallwood B., 2002) So why should teachers use English literature across the curriculum? First, they should integrate English language into other subjects, into learners everyday school life. This way of non-violent in-put helps learners accept English literature as a part of other school subjects such as history, geography, and biology. The world of literature can bridge the gap between school, family life, relations etc. Teachers can show objects of learners interests in other world, in the world of literature. Both learners and teachers free their minds, fantasy, and imagination.

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1.1.4 Literature in primary classes

Children like stories of everyday life, stories full of fantasy and magic. Every single day of a childs life is a kind of story. Children were born as atabula rasa. As they grow up, go to school, play with parents, or other children; young children keep the good and the bad experiences in their little heads, the life story is written and hidden or open to teachers, parents or schoolmates. Especially at primary schools, teachers surround young learners with stories from the first class. For young learners the word literature brings to mind books with unknown words piled in the library. They have no idea about what is it but they consider literature something very strange and unknown. The problem is not in learners because they do not know what it (literature) is about, the problem is in teachers. Some teachers think that literature is for advanced university students or other higher-level students. However, primary teachers can benefit from the wide range of childrens literature using various activities. The educational value of using literary texts and stories in primary classes is a well-known feature of good teaching practice for children. Literature is a unique way of developing learnersunderstanding, creating and improving social feelings, and building a cross-cultural view. It provides a motivating, challenging, and authentic material for many language activities. Ellis (1991) suggests that teachers recognize the true value of storybooks as a way of creating an acquisition-rich environment, which contributes to ideal learning conditions by providing enjoyable and memorable contexts for acquiring and learning language. It is all very well to point out the advantages of teaching literature but the key to success in using literature in the ESL classroom depends primarily on the works selected. (OSullivan, 1991). Ellis advices that at the primary level teachers can choose

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from a wide range of illustrated books. Learners get to know storybooks through listening to stories read aloud by the teacher and then by recognising the words on the pages. However, there is a specific gap between the primary stage and the secondary stage. Teachers can bridge this space by carefully selected books. Moving to secondary school learners start with more independent reading and involvement. The level of vocabulary and language is as important as the length of the story. Too long and complicated stories can be overwhelming for young learners. Ewoyn Brown advices less than 75% - 80% of the vocabulary, they may lose confidence in their ability to understand the story. To get the real atmosphere in classes with literary texts teachers should show their strong enjoyment and enthusiasm. Lesson planning plays a very important role in successful classes. Brown says that teachers should think of their objective, consider time management, and then create a lesson plan, which they will use as a lead for their further lessons. Ellis gives clear guidelines for planning story-based lessons. He suggests useful writing out a detailed lesson-plan, thinking about types of activities and the classroom language as well as preparing materials ( flash cards, OHP, etc.). Some teachers may have to work through syllabus, so they may have worked with the book only a couple of lessons or a couple of minutes in each class. Spending time with the book is very important. In order for young students to fully absorb an English language book, they must interact with it extensively (Brown, 2003) Ellis discussed whether teachers should use the mother tongue within using storybooks. Using only English is believed as a very useful learning strategy.the more you would use English and the more your pupils get better at and more familiar with the language, the less you will need to use the mother tongue. (Ellis, 1991)

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However, teachers should think of when and why they would use their mother tongue. Some situations need to use the mother tongue (according to Ellis, p.23): Setting the scene by drawing upon the childrens experience related to the story. Predicting what comes next in a story. Explanation of the main storyline beforehand. Eliciting vocabulary or phrases. Explaining keywords, grammar, or cultural background. Revising of what has happened in the story Working with a text written in English with unknown words can be a hard work for pupils. If the teacher ensures pupils that their understanding is supported in several ways, pupils enjoyment will increase enormously. (Ellis, 1991) Young learners need to be involved in learning in all ways intellectually, aesthetically, emotionally, and with most of their senses. This can be provided by a variety of activities based on learners own work such as making their own worksheets, drawing illustrations, making puppets, and tasting samples of food chosen according to the topic.

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1.2 Literature and skills

The aims of language teaching are commonly defined in terms of four skills: listening, speaking, writing, and reading. Speaking and listening are said to relate to language expressed through the aural medium and reading and writing are said to relate to language expressed through the visual medium. (Widdowson, 1990) Speaking and writing are often referred to as productive (active) skills. Listening and reading, on the other hand, are called receptive (passive) skills. All four skills are used within working with literary texts. It is reading books, but also listening to stories, role-playing, writing characterisations, dramatising etc. A story can be the starting point for various activities; for example, reading, writing, drama, handwork, etc. (Dunn, 1991)

1.2.1 Listening
Listening is considered the first skill that children acquire. The first person that they listen to is the mother. It goes on within family life, among friends, at school, at work listening for a purpose with certain expectations, the ability to predict what is going to be said, an immediate feedback to what they hear, etc. The most heard discourse is more spontaneous, lacks formal words, and contains taboo words and other expressions that are typical in spoken language. The next point about listening is that it is a reciprocal skill. It is said that listening cannot be practised in the same way as speaking. Listening involves a variety of skills and the process of listening in face-to-face conversation includes specific elements: the spoken signals have to be identified, the speech has to be segmented into parts (which have to be organised), the speakers intended meaning should be understood, the speakers and listeners knowledge of syntax and grammar is needed. Due to these listening skills, we can say that they do not occur separately but happen at the same time of speech. 20

Listening is a very necessary skill for students real life communication. Listening purposes might be principally social. The social purpose will include listening to a stranger, replying in a formal way, judging the situation. In this case is extremely helpful a kind of visual backup. Another type of listening that pupils are familiar with is recorded speech and reading written texts loud. However, this is not so good for improving listening skills because it keeps their attention to the text and they must split their attention between two skills at the same time. Friendly conversations with native speakers are supposed to be social events. These kinds of conversations are more informationless because the student is maintaining a friendly atmosphere and not concentrating on the information. Pupils should train this form while talking to each other or in better case while talking to a lecturer. In the field of literature, few types of listening exercises are suggested listening to an audiocassette, listening to teacher as a storyteller, listening to a role-play etc. One of the difficulties experienced by learners of English is that when they do not understand what they hear, they worry about it and cannot concentrate on what follows. They need training in important points, for example in listening to a story. Before reading the story loud, a few questions should be given that concentrate on the main points of the story. Listening to stories develops the childs listening and concentrating skills via visual clues, their prior knowledge of how language works and their general knowledge. (Brewster, Ellis, 1991) To encourage students that have problems with listening comprehension it is better to choose a cassette below their usual level. Cassettes bring the story to life, often adding interesting and atmospheric sound effects as well as helping pronunciation.

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Cassettes can be used to accompany the text. It is more challenging when cassettes are used without a text and pupils guess what will follow. To sum up listening skills can be used in various ways during the literature classes listening to stories, role-plays, listening to cassettes and it is based on a positive attitude to not understanding everything, predicting and guessing.

1.2.2 Speaking
Speaking as is said above is a productive skill. However, Widdowson suggests speaking as a skill that involves both receptive and productive participation. Nevertheless, mostly the productive participation predominates. Widdowson says that communication through speaking is commonly performed in a face-to-face interaction and occurs as a part of a dialogue or another verbal exchange. But when learners speak in an everyday conversation, they do not only use their vocal organs. The act of speaking involves not only the production of sounds but also the use of gesture, the movements of the muscles of the face, and indeed the whole body. (Widdowson, 1990) All these expressions help learners to speak and communicate. Speaking the mother tongue as a skill is the same as speaking English. Learning to speak in English means agreeing to speak in a way which is different from that of the mother tongue, by means of a game imitation, supported from time to time by reflection, but with the same desire to be understood. (Brewster, 1992) Children love to try something new and speaking a foreign language is an adventure. It is well known that children need a strong motivation to learn and express themselves. If children are to maintain this initial motivation, they need to be given opportunities to speak English as soon as possible [] (Brewster, 1992). Young learners do not need to know any grammar rules or do not have strong vocabulary background as 22

Bygate suggests. Their English is based on patterns which they memorized and which allow them to talk with a minimum of English (such language consists of greeting phrases, routines, classroom language and excusing). Andrew Wright suggests that speaking fluency is based on a positive attitude to having a go with the language and not being afraid of making mistakes. Wright thinks that children learn better when they have nothing to fear about and teachers should give more importance to learners achievements than to the mistakes. Stories offer a perfect diet for the buildup of fluency in all four skills. (Wright, 1997) Role-plays after reading are very useful speaking activities such as interviews with characters, a guess game when one student pretends to be a character from the story and the others have to guess who ask yes/no questions or full dramatization of part of the story. There are some more activities based on literature concerning speaking: asking comprehension questions, ask questions that encourage learners to use their imaginations, retelling the story, speculations on what the characters do after the end of the story.

1.2.3 Writing
Many learners and teachers deal with the problems of writing in English. Writing is detached from the wide range of expressive possibilities in speech. A writer is unable to exploit all the devices available to a speaker: body movement, facial expression, stress and tone of voice. A speaker can revise ideas as listeners question or disagree. (Hedge, 1991) Writing is a process, from gathering ideas through to checking what has been written. It is also a product, a text. (Hancock, McDonald, 2000) The process of composing starts with planning, and goes on with constant reviewing, revising and 23

editing the work. The writing process involves also communicating (with a reader in mind a friend, an institution) and therefore is the content and style influenced by audience. Learners can revise and edit their own work that helps them improve the writing process. According to Hancock and McDonald, the writing product is a text with a purpose (to inform, to thank, to request). The functions and forms of written texts differ from one another. The accuracy (grammar, vocabulary, spelling, capitalization) and the appropriacy of the content (logically organized, original, and interesting) are keys to success of a written text. (Hancock, McDonald, 2000) Children acquire the ability of writing during primary stage at the age of 6-7 years. Young learners have to cope with many difficulties of the writing process such as handwriting, spelling, punctuation, and layout. It is said that young learners do not automatically transfer their skill in writing from what they know how to do in their mother tongue. That is why teachers should be very sensitive to their writing demands. Writing is a way in which children can express their plans, imagination and ideas. Students often perceive writing as the being-tested skill. Writing is usually relegated to homework and then handed in to be marked: "[writing] allows students to see how they are progressing and to get feedback from the teacher, and it allows teachers to monitor and diagnose problems." (Hedge, 1988). Stories help children become more aware of the general feel and sound of the foreign language. Stories also introduce children to language items and sentence constructions [] (Wright, 1997) All kinds of writing can came from using literary texts for example writing a letter to the author of the book, or a letter from one character to another character. Children can make a wanted poster for a character, or a word puzzle of characters. They

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can draw a picture and write captions for it. Worksheets provide a wide range of activities such as fill in exercises, drawing characters maps, rewriting sentences.

1.2.4 Reading
Reading and writing are two activities associated with written language. A reader will receive what has been written reading is called a receptive skill. Widdowson (1990) considers reading as the ability to recognize sentences and their meaning or it is the ability to recognize what is the function of linguistic elements. He uses the term comprehending to define the ability to recognize sentences through visual elements. Comprehension is now recognized as a key process in acquiring language. As Dawson suggests learners who read widely, achieve greater fluency in English, and gain confidence and pleasure in learning the language. (Dawson, 2000) The current experience of all teachers of young teenagers is that their students rarely read in their mother tongue in free time. Teachers should motivate and interest their learners by choosing the right text or book and do appropriate pre-tasks. Children are interested in many things that teachers can get them excited about reading. On the other hand, many language learners lack confidence. They have a very negative self-image of themselves as successful learners. They fail to learn because they think that they are not capable of learning. Reading English texts can give these learners more confidence that will be more valuable than all new words or structures, which they may learn. Successful reading makes successful readers: the more students read the better they get at it. And better they are at it the more they read (Prowse, 1999) Stephen Krashen (1993) comes with a new approach to reading at schools Free Voluntary Reading: In my work in language acquisition I have concluded that we acquire language in only one way: by understanding messages, or obtaining 25

comprehensible input in a low anxiety situation. This is precisely what free voluntary reading is: messages we understand presented in a low anxiety situation. According to Krashen, reading is one of the most powerful tools we have in language education.

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1.3 Roald Dahl

1.3.1 Roald Dahls life

Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff in 1916. His parents were from Norway but were living in Britain because of work. Dahls father died when he was four years old. He had one brother and five sisters. When he was seven, he went to boarding schools in England. He started at Llandaff Cathedral School. Later he became a student at St Peters Prepatory School in Weston-super-Mare. My main schooling was at Repton, a famous public school where my headmaster was Geoffrey Fischer, later Archbishop Canterbury. (Dahl, R., 1972) He left school in 1933 and turned down his mothers offer of going to Oxford. He wanted to visit faraway places and so joined the Eastern Staff of the Shell Oil Company. At the age of twenty Dahl was sent to Tanzania. In 1939, he joined the Royal Air Force in Nairobi and trained to be a pilot. Dahls first action ended by his 1940 crash in Libyan Desert. He spent six months in hospital and after convalescence he rejoined the squadron. However, his wounds caught up with him and he came back to England as a disabled man. In 1942, he was posted to the United States as assistant air attach. It was here that he started writing stories. His first story appeared anonymously under the title Shot Down Over Libya. Then he wrote a story called The Gremlins (1943). As Dahl said in his autobiographical sketch [] The Gremlin, is a word I am supposed to have invented. Even Walt Disney decided to animate but in the end it was published as a picture book and named Walt Disney: The Gremlins (A Royal Air Force Story by Flight Lieutenant Roald Dahl).

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In 1952, Dahl was introduced to an American actor, Patricia Neal. They got married in following year and returned to England to live at Gypsy House in the village of Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. There he wrote his famous books and stories for children. He started writing books for children because he had his own children. Had I not had children of my own, I would have never written books for children, nor would I have been capable of doing so, said Dahl in his autobiography. They had five children Olivia, Tessa, Theo, Ophelia, and Lucy. In the early 60s Dahls family was hit by tragedy Olivia died of measles, Theo was in danger of life and Patricia suffered a series of strokes while she was pregnant. Otherwise Dahl did not give up and published James and the Giant Peach (1961) and Charlie and the Chocolate factory (1964). In 1970s, Dahl met Quentin Blake. In 1983, Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl divorced. He remarried Felicity Dahl later that year. Roald Dahl died on November 23, 1990 in Oxford, England.

1.3.2 Dahls work

Roald Dahl is an author that children love to read repeatedly. His books are on the top of the polls as the most read stories among young readers. Dahls work includes picture books; storybooks, poetry and autobiography and some of his books have been adapted for theatre, radio shows, and the cinema. Millions of young readers devour his grotesque stories every year and Dahl is accounted for eight of the ten best-selling titles in childrens literature in the last century. In 1943, Dahl wrote his first children s story, The Gremlins, for Walt Disney that was never produced. After The Gremlins, Dahl abandoned children s literature and started to write short stories for adults.

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However, when he began to have difficulty coming up with new plots, Dahl decided to return to writing childrens books. During his blackest period of his life, Dahl wrote two of his best-loved and most widely much-admired books, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. These books contain a frequent topic in Dahls books; oppressed, imaginative youngsters triumphing over tyrannical adults. (Nudd, 1989)

1.3.3. Dahls View of the World

Roald Dahl led an extraordinary life full of experiences that enabled him to create such imaginative stories. [] His delight in the sweet shop and in chocolate bars, his fascination with flying, his interest in nature and his brush with bullying and corporal punishment are just some of the personal experiences which stayed with Dahl and which he moved into his stories. (Faundez, 2000) Dahl demands that his readers suspend belief from the moment they enter his world. Unusual events are presented as ordinary, everyday happenings. On the other hand, his stories offer entertainment, excitement, and humour. They are typical of a narrative and language drive. He senses the same as children do in their world of violence, explanation of right and wrong. His characters are larger than life and his metaphors are powerful. In Dahls stories, the main characters are often children from one-parent families like Danny in Danny, the Champion of the world or orphans as is James in James and the Giant Peach, Sophie in The BFG and the narrator in The Witches. The child is a symbol of innocence and a force for good, and is pitted against adults who represent negative forces of evil, brutality, stupidity, or simply incompetence. Adults are black and white and only with a few optimistic images (in roles of helpers or friends). 29

Dahls stories are modern-day fairy tales full of magical comings and goings, characters that are obviously good or obviously bad. His characters do not go through the development of the plot. Their behaviour and responses start up the events. Literary critic Linda Taylor notes that Dahls main characters are known for their wit, solitariness, independence, tenacity, intelligence, and resourcefulness. (Nudd, 1989) Dahl represents his point of view in the third person narrative. He breaks down with another, anonymous voice whose function is to interrupt the smooth unfolding of events and make the reader see things from a definite angle. Using asides and running commentary, the anonymous narrator introduces beliefs, opinions, likes, and dislikes, which colour the readers view of the story (Faundez, 2000).

The language humour Roald Dahl is said to have an extraordinary and inventive way with language. He enriches his fiction with a whole vocabulary of invented words gobblefunk, uckyslush. His prose beats with wordplay, giving his language a freshness, spontaneity, and energy. Dahl uses language to create humour, often playing havoc with readers sense of logic and order. His fiction is full of spoonerisms, malapropisms, and deliberate misspellings. Dahls sensitivity to the richness of language is most obvious in his use of onomatopoeia the formation of words by imitating sounds phizwizzards, winksquiffers, Oompa-Loompas. He adds spice to a text with alliterations (Mucky little midget! Grubby little grub!) Dahl uses comparing similes to colour his descriptions of characters. Aunt Sponge in James and the Giant Peach is like a great white soggy over boiled cabbage. He combines nonsense words into meaningful sentences. His place and character names

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are richly symbolic, carrying humour (Miss Trunchbull, aunts Spiker and Sponge, gentle Miss Honey). Dahls sense for rhythm and rhyme encourage children to play with sounds and help instil a love of language. Dahls extraordinary use of language provides a rich and inventive setting for language work. His stories contain all the ingredients for modern day fairytales.

1.3.4 Quentin Blake

All but one of Dahls books are beautifully illustrated, many of them by Quentin Blake. He is an important part of Dahls fantasy tales who highlighted the world of fantasy and subversive ness.

To sum up Roald Dahl is a very special author because of many features that make him useful for teachers to use in ELT: range of writing, fast narrative drive, rich and inventive language, humorous writing, characters larger than life, straightforward plots, detailed descriptions.

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2.1 Activity book

I would like to introduce an activity book called James and the Giant Peach based on Roald Dahls book with the same name. I created this activity pages by shortening chapters of Dahls book into few small paragraphs concerning the basic story lines and characters. The structure is very simple: left pages contain simplified texts and activities are presented on right pages. Why have I chosen this fantasy book? The first reason is my personal relation to Roald Dahls world and literature itself. His world of fantasy mixing with reality is a great opportunity for using childish imagination and sense for out-of-reality thinking. His characters are confronted by big problems, adults who do not listen to children. At the age of 10 and 11, many children are being confronted by problems with friendship, parents and events they have no control over. Children sometimes tend to run away from everyday problems to their own world. This story about an orphan is full of fun and gives the readers hope that they can overcome any problems if they keep a positive outlook on the world. The second reason professional is bringing literature to children and using literature in classes at primary stage. Primary teachers usually work with literature in Reading classes, but also in classes of Czech language and Stylistics. Nevertheless, this does not happen so often in English language classes. Literary texts appear neither in textbooks nor in activity books. There are several reasons for using literature already mentioned in previous part of my diploma thesis. Duff and Maley (1992) mention linguistic, methodological, and motivational reasons. On contrary Ellis and Brewster (1991) state that stories as the starting-point for a wide variety of related language and learning activities. However, there are some other reasons why teachers should use storybooks such as motivation, having fun, sharing social experience while 32

listening to stories in class. Exercising the imagination is also one of the reasons that are mentioned by Ellis and Brewster (1991). I appreciate most using books as a tool in linking fantasy and the imagination with the childs real world. Children delight in imagination and fantasy... It is more than simply a matter of enjoyment, however. In the primary school, children are very busy making sense of the world about them. They are identifying pattern and deviation from the pattern. They test out their versions of the world through fantasy and confirm how the world actually is by imagining how it might be different. In the language classroom this capacity for fantasy and imagination has a very constructive part to play. (Halliwell S., 1992) Children are born to play games in their own worlds and enjoy themselves. Nevertheless, the first year at school means losing a part of their free fantasy and they sometimes become less open-minded thanks to some teachers` means of teaching. Teachers usually force their pupils to unnatural stereotypes. According to this teachers` behaviour children lose a piece of themselves. They are self-determinated by attending special courses at music schools, art schools, and sports clubs. However, reading books is a part of children` s free time. On the other hand playing computer games and watching TV are predominant activities.

I realised one lesson based on the activity book James and the Giant Peach in fifth class at Z Prask in Znojmo. I worked with a group of learners who have been learning English for 2 years. There were 18 pupils 10 girls and 8 boys in this group. This class was not specialised on any language or sport. There was a girl who was born in Australia and spoke fluent English and for this reason, it was much easier for other pupils to understand me when speaking only English.

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In comparison, I realised the same lessons in a private language school in Prague where I work part-time as a teacher. I taught English to a group of six girls at the age of 11-12 years. The course was called English for children and was considered as a supplementary class of English grammar exercises, conversation, and fun activities. The atmosphere was very friendly and open. When it was hot and pupils spent lessons outside playing games and running on the garden. As I can say there are many advantages of teaching such a small group fewer pupils = more time, more activities, more difficult exercises. On the other hand, it is very challenging for me to handle a group of teenagers that want to enjoy their free time after school talking about personal problems such as new boyfriends, pop stars and TV shows. For me as a teacher it means strong motivation and variety of activities for each lesson.

Lesson Planning Sheet 1 (Appendix I, II, III)

Class: 5.C (level elementary) Time: 45 minutes Materials: activity book, pictures, a book Aims: Skills listening, reading comprehension, writing Aims: linguistic: to present vocabulary to practise guessing meaning from context to revise present simple (positive, negative) other: working independently of teacher (pair work)

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organising work self-checking

Assumptions: children already know the story from their mother-tongue language lessons; reading the text without understanding each word.

Procedures
A. Warm up Aim: To raise initial interest in the book Time: 5 minutes Procedure: Pupils sit on the floor and listen to teacher. They close eyes and sleep. Then the teacher reads the script below and children act out. You are a peach. You are a very very small peach. You are sleeping. I come to you and I give you a magic pill. The sun is shining. The little peach starts to grow. Slowly stretch out. Slowly stand up. Slowly. You are growing. Its bigger and bigger. Now the peach is as big as a melon. You are growing and growing. Now you are as big as a dog. The sun is shining. The peach is as big as a car. Now the wind is blowing. Moreover, suddenly you are falling down. You are rolling and rolling...

B.

Presentation Time: 10 minutes Procedure: The teacher shows children the cover of James and the Giant Peach to remind the story and the author. He/she emphasises names of main characters and points at the pictures of minibeasts. Aim: to get known the story in English

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Skill: listening

C. Controlled practise Time: 10 minutes Materials: activity books, envelopes with pictures (see Appendix) Procedure: Reading texts together (one by one, teacher to children). Children match pictures to each chapter and name chapters. Then show to others. Aim: pupils acquaint with the story Skills: listening, reading

D. Production Time: 15 min. Procedure: Pupils read texts and do activities in activity books. They work independently, in pairs. Chapter 1 activity draw two pictures according to the description in the text Aim: revision of adjectives

Chapter 2 activities making sentences negative in present continuous, matching words (see Appendix) Aim: revision of tenses, using new vocabulary

Chapter 3 activities fill in the right prepositions Aim: revising prepositions and vocabulary Skills: reading, writing, drawing

E. Reviewing work covered in the lesson. 36

Time: 5 min. Procedure: collecting activity books evaluating the lesson (pupils, teacher)

Lesson Planning Sheet 2 (Appendix IV, V)

Class: 5.C (level elementary) Time: 45 minutes Materials: copies of James and The Giant Peach activity book, pictures, a book of James and the Giant Peach, paper or cards, pencils, white/blackboard, markers

Aims: Skills speaking, reading, writing Aims: linguistic: vocabulary and spelling to practise presented language other: to practise other ways of checking comprehension

Assumptions: children already know the story from previous lessons

Procedures:
F. Warm up hangman Aim: revising vocabulary Time: 5 minutes

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Procedures: Write a series of dashes ( _ _ _ _ ) on the board and invite the learners to play hangman. They shout out letters; if the letter appears in the word, it is written on the correct dash; if it does not occur, elements are added to produce a hanged man on the gallows.

B._Presentation Aim: getting acquainted with the plot Time: 5 10 minutes Procedures: Students copy first and last sentences from chapters 1, 2, and 3 on to pieces of card or paper. Then mix them all up and the teacher asks children to match the beginnings and endings. When a pair thinks they have matched, they sit down and make up the story. Then they read aloud their stories. Pupils are asked to check their made-up stories. Skills: reading, writing, speaking

C. Controlled practise Aims: to ensure that the text has been understood sufficiently, to encourage learners, to think about the key facts Time: 10 minutes Procedures: Pupils read simplified texts in activity books aloud or silently (each chapter is followed by a set of exercises in activity pages; first pupils read, then do the activity page) Skills: reading, listening

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G. Production Aims: motivating pupils to read, foster language use Time: 10-15 minutes Procedures: Learners retell the story through pictures and reflect how James and his friends changed during the story and what do like best about the book. Skills: reading, writing, drawing H. Reviewing work covered in the lesson. Aim: sum up the story of James and his friends; who is your favourite character? Time: 5 minutes Skills: speaking, listening

EVALUATION
The main aim of this activity book- get children acquainted with a literary text was fulfilled in both lessons either in the fifth class or in the language course but with slight differences and some similarities. One feature that was in common for both groups was the fact that children had not read any book or a part of a book written in English. Pupils from Znojmo were very difficult to motivate because they feared they would not understand every word, every sentence structure. According to this fact few problems occurred within reading comprehension. At the beginning of my lessons learners focused on precise translation of each word and that was very demotivating for both the children and me. With this in mind, boys stuck and refused to go on with reading and doing exercises because of one word that was not in their textbooks. As the teacher told me about all the pupils how they worked during lessons of English, I was 39

very surprised that the worst pupils became the best pupils. They appreciated most the materials that were used such as pictures, crosswords, fruit, and a original book. Finally, pupils worked mostly on their own and without my help. At the end of every lesson there, was kind of feedback section where I tested learners understanding the story and revising new vocabulary. Pupils were asked several questions or did a fun exercise. Overall, I can say that learners from Znojmo worked above their possibilities and tried very hard while going through this activity book. Therefore, exercises were too difficult for them. When they did not understand, I explained the problem slowly in English using pictures and drawing on the blackboard, so they could guess the meaning. As I said Goodbye, they asked me if I could be their teacher forever and that was the best reward for me. In contrast, pupils from Prague worked differently. Motivation and pre-reading exercises went on much easily than in Znojmo because of several facts there were only girls in this group, they did not know each other, they paid for it, and they had a strong motivation to improve themselves. Activities became a kind of competition who was the best in reading and who was the best in drawing etc. Although they also had no experience with reading a literary text, they were very enthusiastic and keen on doing unknown things. The only problem that occurred while teaching teenage girls was talking out of the topic. Prague learners were used to talk in English and listen to English speakers, so they had no problems when they did not understand. They asked me about a word meaning and I explained in the same way as I did to the fifth class but they understood after a while. These learners were less fixed on words and text structure; they were caught up by the story for the first time. Overall, the activity book seemed to be more difficult for learners from Znojmo because it was something they had never done before new text, vocabulary, materials, 40

and approaches. The atmosphere was strange because I was used to friendly and hard working children from the language school but the learners from Znojmo were used to work only with exercise and course books. Even though the exercises were above their maximum, pupils did their best and went through all handouts word by word. I can say that at least 24 children know Roald Dahl and his James and the Giant Peach. In addition, I believe one day one of the learners will read this fantastic book in original unabridged and with full of enthusiasm.

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2.2 Listening via audiocassettes

Brewster and Ellis (1992) consider listening to a foreign language as hard work for young learners. They propose that children should spend more time listening to the teacher while playing games, singing songs, and listening to simple stories than sitting at the desk and fill in the gaps of a grammar handout. One of the reasons why teachers should use storybooks in their lessons of English is according to Brewster and Ellis this: listening to stories develops the childs listening and concentrating skills via visual clues, their prior knowledge of how language works, and their general knowledge many mothers and grandmothers tell night-stories every evening. As a good model of spoken word, I used an audiocassette James and the Giant Peach accompanied with some printed materials made by myself or taken from a handbook for teachers. The Penguin Readers Teachers Guide (2000) suggest using audio cassettes in five ways: the cassette as storyteller, using a cassette without the book, using cassettes for plays/sketches, using a cassette as a serial story and listening comprehension. I followed some of the suggestions cited above and some useful guidelines from Brewster and Ellis while creating the lesson plans based on listening activities.

Cassettes bring the story to life and often add interesting and atmospheric sound effects and sometimes very funny noises. The stories should be enjoyed fully and so did a group of learners at the age of 10-13 that I taught in Prague in a language school. First they were very surprised by the voices and intonation, esp. of Aunts Spiker and Sponge and the little magic man, and by the fluency of British speakers but they got used to it after few minutes.

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Lesson Planning Sheet 1- using a cassette without reading the book

Class: EN for children Time: 45 minutes Materials: handouts, pictures, a book of James and the Giant Peach, a cassette of James and the Giant Peach, a cassette player, white board Aims: Skills listening for specific information, speaking Phonological intonation - direct speech, sounds in connected speech - rhyme Vocabulary: nouns names of minibeasts, characters adjectives giant, ugly, rich, and famous... Grammar: past simple, present simple Learning to learn: working independently of teacher (pair work)

Procedures: Warm up and review of work covered in last lessons: names of main characters, name of the book and the author by doing James and the Giant Peach crossword (see Appendix VIII) Time: 5 minutes

Presentation: Four to eight pictures of main scenes are shown to children. Then hide the pictures and children challenge to remember what they are and what they look like. 43

Time: 15 min

Controlled practice: Introducing the activity Play and stop. Learners listen to the recording. It is paused immediately before or after something exciting has happened, or after a particularly strange or loud noise has been heard. Learners are asked to predict what will happen or has happened, or what the noise was. Time: 10-15 minutes

Production : Complete the poem( see Appendix VII ). Learners select the words that are the most suitable from the list and write them in the spaces at the ends of the lines. Listen to the cassette recording and check. Time: 10 minutes

Review: What have we done today?, What have they learnt?, Did you enjoy the activities? Time: 5 minutes

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Lesson Planning Sheet 2 using cassettes for plays

Class: EN for children Time: 45 minutes Materials: handouts with exercises, a cassette of James and the Giant Peach, a cassette player, a white board, rewards stickers Aims: Skills listening for gist, speaking Phonological intonation direct speech, sounds in connected speech

other: pair work, acting out the scenes

Procedures: Warm up: Bingo- Write 10 words on the board. Each child chooses any five words (figure one) and writes them down. Then the teacher calls out one word after another. Children cross off the words they have found. When a child has crossed off all five words he or she shouts Bingo! (Wright, 1997) Time: 5 minutes Words: AUNTS, JAMES, PEACH, CENTIPEDE, LADYBUG, GRASSHOPPER, SPIDER, SHARK, CLOUDMEN, NEW YORK, MAGIC BAG

figure 1

Presentation: Children have a version of the story with gaps in the text (figure two). They have to fill in the words from Bingo game. Time: 5 minutes

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Production: Learners first listen to the cassette. First listening is a kind of get-to-known . Then they listen again and fill in their handouts (see Appendix IX). Play the recording again to check the gap fillers. Time: 15 minutes

Controlled practice: Envelopes with cut conversations are given to learners. The task is to put together sentences. Then children act out the story as the teacher retells it. Time: 15 minutes

Review: Evaluation of learners` participation and work. Rewards are handed out. Time: 5 minutes

James and the Giant Peach This story is about a boy called _ _ _ _ _ who lives with his two _ _ _ _ _ - Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. James is very sad. An old man wants to help James. He gives him a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . Next day there is a big _ _ _ _ _ on the peach tree. There live a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, a _ _ _ _ _ _ _, an earthworm, a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, a glow-worm and a silkworm in the big peach. James goes into the peach and sees his new friends. The peach goes down the hill into the Atlantic Ocean. _ _ _ _ _ want to eat the peach. Creatures fly over the ocean and they meet _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. The peach stops in _ _ _ _ _ _ _. James and his friends live happily in their new homes. And James is not sad any more. He is happy.

figure 2

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Evaluation I used these lesson plans when I was teaching at a private language school. The atmosphere was very good according to the number of learners there were just five or six learners. I did not follow every point precisely but I have made few changes. There were some short cuts in organising, time, and presenting new language parts because of previous knowledge of the vocabulary (used in activity book lessons). The listening part itself was very difficult for the first time listening but then learners get used to funny voices and enjoyed it very much. I used the cassette of James story in other lessons just to train their listening comprehension and listening for specific information and it was very helpful for our further listening exercises not even within James classes but also in regular English classes.

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2.3 James and The Giant Peach across the curriculum

Something is about to happen,' James told himself. Something peculiar is about to happen at any moment. (Dahl, 2001)

Using English across the curriculum has become a contemporary issue in ELT all over the world not even in the Czech Republic. The trend involves both teachers and learners. Teachers are trying to integrate English into others subjects and in everyday conversation and learners. Many new schools (esp. private) were established and introduced new programmes suggesting a Czech teacher and a native speaker in classes of primary stage. However, this new wave of schooling usually happens in cities like Prague or Brno and not in smaller towns or even villages. Using literary texts across the curriculum represents using English and other subjects. Many activities can be done to make the story alive. Aimed at primary school pupils the ideas in this part of my diploma thesis are intended as starting points for a cross curricular topic based on the book James and the Giant Peach. It is thought to follow the activity book and listening cassettes. I adapted a guide for using the film version of James and the Giant Peach across the curriculum. I also used some activities that are suggested on websites (see Bibliography) for English teachers. I found it very helpful in my further work with Dahls wonderful book. There are some useful websites in Bibliography part for use in classes.

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Curriculum Guidelines Name of activity Cautionary tales Making your own insect friends James and you Mapping the story Meet the Characters Studying Minibeasts The life of minibeasts Famous buildings of the World Peach Recipes subject English Art (hand craft) Art Art English Science (Prodovda), English Science (Prodovda) Geography (Vlastivda) Hand craft (Pracovn vyuovn)

Topics and themes Adult children relations, friendship Minibeasts Buildings Fruit

1. Cautionary tales (http://www.filmeducation.org/filmlib/JamesJP.pdf - for all activities in this part)

This activity is based on childrens imagination and fantasy influenced by the story. Children know how bad Aunt Sponge and Spiker treat James. Dahl tried to show children that grown-ups are not always right. Those who do not behave nice to others

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usually come to a bad end and in James and the Giant Peach; the two Aunts get their come-uppance. Do you know any other stories in Czech language about adults who act as bad as James Aunts? Task: Try to write your own cautionary tale. You have to make up an imaginary hero or heroine, the same age as yourself and a bad character. In pairs, write a story about your bad and good character. Do they like each other? How is it to be bad? What bad things does the black one do? Children can present their story orally, or as wallpaper.

2. Making your own insect friends

Task: Children make their own characters with three different styles: Finger Puppets: Materials: felt, paper, crayons, pencils, thread, buttons Procedure: Pupils use small parts of felt sewn together so it fits fingers and stick on faces or they can use thick paper stuck together instead. When using paper, children can easily draw the faces of characters on. Sock Puppets: Materials: a pair of old (but clean) socks, thread, buttons, wool, some old fabrics Procedure: Children sew on buttons (eyes) and use wool (mouth, hair, legs) and other fabrics for other characteristics. Instructions machine puppets (nebe-peklo-rj) Materials: square sheets of paper (different colours), scissors, paste

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Procedure: The basic is making a nebe-peklo-rj puppet. Then they stick two parts to make a mouth and stick on it what they want (eyes made of paper, antennas) A puppet theatre can be built from a large card box covered with paper. Children then can perform their characters. Some music or sound effects added to the scenes make the real atmosphere.

3. James and you

Children are asked to describe themselves in the best words. This is a kind of selfevaluation exercise. Task: Materials: large sheets of paper (A3), pens Procedure: Learners draw a picture of James and describe him. Then draw a picture of their neighbour and write the best characteristic of her/ him. As children finish their drawings and description, they hand it to the teacher. Then teacher reads aloud the description of pupils and they have to guess whom it is.

4. Mapping the story

During the storm James and his friends get to travel to many exciting places. Task 1: Make the story correct Materials: handouts cut into stripes, pictures ( figure 3) Procedure: Learners have to read the sentences describing the various parts of James journey and put them in the right order. Task 2: Create an illustration Materials: paper, pens, and crayons 51

Procedure: The sentences above need some illustrations that would fit the scene. Children are divided into groups of four or six (one table = one group). They choose a different part of the journey from those above and draw a picture of it. All the pictures can be shown on the wall to tell the story of James. The sentences can be parts of the pictures (in speech bubbles or written somewhere in the picture).

The peach rolls over the countryside of England. The peach is carried off course to the freezing Arctic Ocean. James lives by the sea with his mother and father. The peach is lifted up out of the water by the seagulls and is flown in the air. James lives in the peach stone in Central Park, New York. James lives with his two Aunts in the South of England in their house on top of a hill. The peach lands on top of the Empire State Building in New York.

figure 3

5. Meet the characters

A group of human-sized insects lives in a giant peach. They become James friends. Materials: handouts with names and description of insects (figure 4) Procedure: Learners get handouts with mixed characterisations of minibeasts. They have to correct them and put them to the right picture (figure 5) 52

MISS SPIDER
figure 4

Thinks she is the nicest but she wants everything for herself. A loud bug who is very clever and know many things about the world.

GRASSHOPPER

LADYBUG AUNT SPIKER EARTHWORM

Thinks the worst in every situation. A kind insect who looks after the others. A too careful (as a father), fiddle-playing insect who always knows what to do.

CENTIPEDE

A cool, exotic creature who forms a special feeling for James.

AUNT SPONGE

Tall and mean and bossy!

figure 5

6. Studying minibeasts
James has six new friends who are called minibeasts or creatures. The creatures can be divided into those that are insects and those that are not. Task: Materials: books about insects and animals, some encyclopaedias Procedure: Teachers revise what are insects, the main features of insects (in mother tongue with a minimum of English). Learners then guess which creatures from the story are insects. They have to find out something all minibeasts using encyclopaedias, books, and the Internet. In pairs, they make minibeasts cards. (figure 6)

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THE LADYBIRD Types: About 20 in the Czech Republic Appearance: Red with black spots. Black or yellow. Number of spots: 2 12 Diet: Eats caterpillars and aphis Where: plants

figure 6

7. The life of minibeasts

The best time for this activity is in spring or summer because learners look around and try to find the minibeasts in their local environment.

Task 1: Learners go to the school fields and lie down, watch and listen carefully. They have to look everywhere under the stones, leaves but very quietly. They can take pictures of minibeasts. If they see a minibeast, their work is taking notes about a life of the creature (e.g. where it goes, what it does when someone steps near). Then they think of a list of yes/no questions for their classmates. They make a chart (figure 7). Task 2: Materials: small cards, crayons, pens Procedure: Children draw pictures of all minibeasts they have seen (not only James friends). Every pupil has a set of cards. The cards could then be used in a sorting game. Pupils sort out insects/not insects, animals with/without wings, etc. 54

Alternatively, they can play another game called snap. They need a set of cards (2 copies of each creature). They place the cards down in the middle of the table (or floor when sitting) one by one. When two matching cards come up, they shout snap (or minibeast or the name of the creature that is on the card).

Where? LADYBUG GRASSHOPPER SPIDER EARTHWORM CENTIPEDE GLOW-WORM

figure 7

How many legs?

Colour?

Wings?

Activity?

8. The famous buildings of the world

This may be difficult for children of 10 or 11 to know the most famous buildings of the world. On the other hand, many children travel around the world with their parents; they watch TV, read magazines, and play computer games. Task: Materials: books, the Internet, handouts (figure 8) Procedure: Learners get a list of tourist attractions from all over the world. They have to match the city and the monument. They may need some books or using the Internet. At the end, they draw a class wallpaper of the most famous buildings with its description.

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GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE EIFFEL TOWER STATUE OF LIBERTY LEANING TOWER TAJ MAHAL GREAT WALL OPERA HOUSE BIG BEN PYRAMIDS KREMLIN CHARLES BRIDGE

EGYPT SAN FRANCISCO PARIS SYDNEY PRAGUE MOSCOW PISA INDIA CHINA NEW YORK LONDON

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figure 8

9. Peach recipes
The book is called James and the Giant Peach. So why not use peach topic in English or Hand craft lessons. Children might find this very funny and enjoying.

Task 1: (suitable for summer classes) Materials: peach, nectarine, plum, and cherry Task: children compare the skin, seeds, colour, and taste of fruit (figure 9) and write in a chart. They complete a Venn diagram where they compare a peach and a nectarine. Task 2: Children make up some recipes using peach so the fruit is tastier or more disgusting. They write down all the ingredients and amount. Then they write down how to make the food. If it is possible, they cook it in a handcraft class.

figure 9

skin peach nectarine plum cherry

seed

colour

taste

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Comments to cross-curriculum activities Activities suggested above are aimed at fifth classes (or fourth classes) of primary schools according to the curriculum. Teachers can integrate the topics or themes of either literary or non-literary issue in other subjects. The fact that we teach English in Science or Art is for some teachers a new challenge. Some primary teachers fear talking to their pupils in English but they should benefit of their whole-day contact with children and influence learners as much as they can. For primary pupils teachers represent a strong personality that they will lack in few years ahead as teenagers. Do children know some English words from their daily life? Yes, of course. Even primary learners already know many words for buildings, restaurants, objects of every day use in English so we do not have to worry about the impact of English in their lives. Children as they walk on streets see many words in English such as restaurant, fast food, bus station, and others. They play computer games (most of them are in English), watch films, read magazines, listen to music, and watch TV. English as any other language should be used as a part of speakers life, in every day communication, at the bus stop, at work or at school. Young learners sometimes put English in a memory box called English class. Moreover, some learners dislike English because they do not like their teacher or it is very difficult to understand.

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Conclusion
In this diploma thesis, I have presented some suggestions and theories how to use literature in primary classes. In the beginning of this project, enthusiasm blinded my inexperienced mind of a teacher beginner. Honestly, I can say that not everything worked as I expected due to few reasons. The first reason was the fact that learners who I worked with have never experienced a literary text in their English classes. Thus, I had to work on strong motivation, rewards, and funny activities. The second reason why not all points came true was for the difficulty of some parts such as listening to the cassette. Therefore, I had to simplify some activities, help learners get involved in the topic by funny pages (crosswords, rhymes). Finally, children created a positive relation to the crazy English book (James and the Giant Peach) and Roald Dahl at all (thanks to Hollywood, Charlie and the Chocolate factory). According to realized lessons I can say that children know something about Roald Dahl, they know what the book is about, and they can name all the main characters. I showed them the book after six months in order to get feedback and they remembered the story in general. Actually, their first sentence was, That is James!, When you were here last time, we spoke about it, And we listened to the bad aunts. With all this in mind, I recommend Roald Dahls books or some other valuable English books. It is my belief that literature entertains, develops imagination, and causes questions and new knowledge. Using minimum of literature helps extend a childs vocabulary. On the other hand, the question of developing concentration and listening skills should not be overviewed. Books are sometimes the only friends for unhappy child souls (even adult). They can help children get out of the reality, get to unknown places, live unending adventurous, 59

and find new imaginary friends. In England, children go to schools much earlier at the age of four or five. British teachers set reading storybooks as homework for parents in order to get children involved in stories. They also have literary activities for six-yearold pupils such as finding differences between stories, deciding which story is fiction and which could be real. This helps develop a taste for great literature. Albert Einstein said, If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. And not only fairy tales develop childrens intelligence. Pieces of advice at the end of my diploma thesis - have no hesitation in using literature in English classes and have fun!

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Bibliography
(In alphabetical order) BREWSTER, J. et al. The primary English teacher's guide. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1992. 238 p. ISBN 0-140-81359-4 BREWSTER, J., ELLIS, G. The storytelling handbook: a guide for primary teachers of English. London: Penguin Books, 1991. 275 p. ISBN 0-14-081016-1, 0-14-088277-4 BROWN, E.: Using Children's Literature with Young Learners. [online] In The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. X, No. 2, February 2003 [cit Nov 25, 2005]. Available from WWW> <http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Brown-ChildrensLit.html> BYGATE, M. Speaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. 121 p. ISBN 0-19437134-4 CARTER, R., LONG, M. Teaching literature. Harlow: Longman, 1992 .200 p ISBN 0-582-74628-0 CHIN-WEN CHIN, G.: Integrating English into an Elementary School Life Course, The Internet TESL Journal [online]. December 2003, Vol. IX, No. 12 [cit Oct 10, 2005]. Available from WWW: <http://iteslj.org/Articles/Chien-Integrating.html> CLANFIELD, L., DUNCAN, F. Using literature in the EFL/ ESL classroom. [cit. Nov 18, 2005]. Available from WWW: <http://www.onestopenglish.com/teacher_support/Methodology/Archive/teachingmaterials/literature_efl_esl.htm> COLLIE, J., SLATER, S. Literature in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987, 266 p. ISBN 0-521-31224-8

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CUDDON, J. A. The Penguin dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1992. 13, 1051 p. ISBN 0-14-051227-6 DAHL, R. Autobiography [online]. In The 1972 Biography from Third Book of Junior Authors. H.W. Wilson Company, 1972 [cit Aug 25, 2005]. Available from WWW: <http://www.edupaperback.org/showauth.cfm?authid=24> DAHL, R. James and The Giant Peach. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 2001.156 p. ISBN 0-14-131135-5 DAWSON, N. The Penguin Readers Teachers Guide to using Graded readers. Pearson Education Limited, 2000. [cit Oct 20, 2005]. Available from WWW: <http://www.penguinreaders.com/dowloads/PRTGUsingGradedReaders.pdf> DUFF, A., MALEY, A. Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. 167 p. ISBN 0-19-437094-1 DUNN, O. Developing English with young learners. Hemel Hampstead: Modern English Publications, 1991.104 p. ISBN 0-333-35335-8 ELLIS, G., McRAE, J. Extensive reading handbook: for secondary teachers. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1991. 160 p. ISBN 0-140-81023-4 FAUNDEZ, A. Author Profile: Roald Dahl. [online] In Junior Education Magazine. March 2000 [cit. Aug 10, 2005].Available from WWW: <http://www.roalddahl.com> GHOSN, I. K. Four good reasons to use literature in the primary school ELT. English Language Teaching Journal, 56, 2002 HALIWELL, S. Teaching English in the primary classroom. Harlow: Longman, 1993. 169 p. ISBN 0-582-07109-7

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HEDGE, P. Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. 167 p. ISBN 0-19437098-4 HILL, D.A, Planning literature lessons. Practical English Teaching, 1993. HORNBY, A.S. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. 1,422 p. ISBN 0-19-431538 KRASHEN, S. The Power of Reading: Insight from the research. Englewood, CA: Libraries Unlimited. 1993. LONG, M. N. A feeling for Language: The multiple values of teaching literature. In BRUMFIRT, Ch. J, CARTER, R., Literature and language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. 289 p. ISBN 0-19-437082-8 NUDD, K. The life and work of the author of Charlie and the chocolate factory. Bibliography. [online]. Book and Magazine Collector, January 1989. [cit March 15, 2005] Available from WWW: < http://www.roalddahlfans.com/articles/bmcjan89art.php> O SULLIVAN, R.: Literature in the Language Classroom. In The English Teacher [online]. October 1991, Vol XX, [cit. Nov 25, 2005]. Available from WWW: < http://www.melta.org.my/ET/1991/main6.html> POKRIVKOV, S. Childrens and Juvenile Literature Rhymes. Nitra: Univerzita Kontantna Filozofa, 2003. ISBN 80-8050-628-0. PROWSE, P. Cambridge English Readers Teachers guide [online] Cambridge university press. 1999. [cit. Nov 9, 2005.] Available from WWW: <http://www.cambridge.org/elt/readers/worksheets/teachersguide.pdf >

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SMALLWOOD, B.: Thematic Literature and Curriculum for English Language Learners in Early Childhood Education. [online]. In English as a second language, entered November 2002, Center for Applied Linguistics, 2006 [cit. Nov 19, 2005] Available from WWW: <http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0208smallwood.html> VANDERGRIFT, K. E.: Linking Literature with Learning [online]. September 28, 1995. SCILS, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. [cit. December 15, 2005]. Available from WWW: <http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/books/linkages.html> WIDDOWSON, H.G. Teaching language as communication. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. 168 p. ISBN 0-19-437077-1 WRIGHT, A. Storytelling with children. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. 222 p. ISBN 0-19-437202-2

ZARO, J.J., SALEBERRI, S. Handbook of Storytelling (Storytelling), Heinemann: Oxford. 1995 [cit. August 20, 2005] Available from WWW: <http://www.onestopenglish.com/FreeResources/handbooks/eltstorytelling.pdf >

The audiocassette used in lessons:

DAHL, R. James and the Giant Peach: a fully dramatized recording. Interprets: Andoah, H., Howes, CH., Ollenerenshaw, M. [et al.]. Puffin Audiobooks. 1998 ISBN 0-14086837-2

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Other used web pages:

Pictures: http://wuche.wustl.edu/~egomez/colorbook/jgpcoloringmh.jpg http://wuche.wustl.edu/~egomez/colorbook/jgptreasure1dl.gif http://www.roalddahlfans.com/books/jametoons.php Crossword: www.kidscrosswords.com The sheet Complete the poem was taken from: http://www.puffin.co.uk/static/misc/uk/puffin/Resources%20pdfs/Dahl%20J&TGP %2072.PDF The web page for James and the Giant Peach across the curriculum: http://www.filmeducation.org/filmlib/JamesJP.pdf

Useful webpages:
www.roalddahl.com The Bugs of James and The Giant Peach: http://://www.whps.org/school/norfeldt/norfeldtwebsite/Links/bugs_of_james_and_the_ giant_peac.htm http://www.slsc.org/docs/online/spiders/index.shtml Peach Recipes: http://www.roalddahlfans.com/teachers/jame.php for more about Childrens Literature: http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html www.teenreaders.com www.wordpool.co.uk

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Summary
Clem tto diplomov prce je zjistit a ovit jak vztah maj ci prvnho stupn ( 4. a 5. tdy) k anglick literatue, resp. ke konkrtn knize Roald Dahl a jeho Jakub a ob broskev- a jak dok uplatnit dosud nabyt znalosti anglickho jazyka v rznch formch prce s literrnm textem. Teoretick st se zabv dlenm anglick dtsk literatury, pibliuje rzn pstupy k literatue ve vuce anglickho jazyka vbec. Dle nsleduje funkce literatury na prvnm stupni, v rmci osnov ( vech pedmt) a na zvr je kapitola vnovan tyem zkladnm jazykovm dovednostem poslechu, mluven, psan a ten a jejich mst v literatue. Teoretick st kon pojednnm o Roaldu Dahlovi. Praktick st ukazuje innosti zaloen na tzv.activity book a poslechu zdramatizovan knihy. Posledn kapitola nastiuje zpsoby vyuit knihy v rmci rznch pedmt na prvnm stupni. There is a short view on the range of English childrens literature. The aim of this thesis is to find out how children at the age of 10 11 can work with literature, esp. with James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl and how do they feel about this book. The theory part is focusing principally on literature in ELT, literature in primary classes, literature across the curriculum and the last chapter connected with literature is about literature and four basic skills-listening, speaking, writing, and reading followed by a chapter about Roald Dahl and his work. The practical part introduces an activity book which was created according to the main story line and lessons based on listening to audiocassettes. The last part is called James and the Giant Peach across the curriculum, which concentrates on various activities through different subjects at primary stage.

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James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl Aunt Sponge

ACTIVITY Aunt Spiker

Chapter 1 Spiker: Here is James Henry Trotter. He is a small boy. His mother and father are dead. He lives with his two aunts: Sponge and Spiker. They live in a house on the top of a high hill. Aunt Sponge is fat and very short. She has small eyes. Her face is as a cabbage. Aunt Spiker is tall and very slim. She wears glasses. She is very ugly. I

Draw pictures of Aunt Sponge and Aunt

James is a very sad boy. He does not have any friends. An old man gives him a magic bag. James drops his bag under a peach tree and something strange happens

Chapter 2 Its a peach! Aunt Spiker is shouting. negative: A nice big one! Aunt Sponge is saying. The aunts want to eat the big peach. But James cant eat it. Its growing! Its getting bigger and bigger! The peach is as big as a car.

ACTIVITY Make the following sentences 1. The aunts want to eat the peach. .. 2. James plays with children. ...........................................................................

II

Many people and children come and see the very big peach. James has no friends. He doesnt like his aunts He goes to the giant peach in the evening. And he ...

3. The peach is as big as a house. ... 4. We like Aunt Spiker. .............................................................................

Match together: shout peach aunt Sponge James fat no friends big as a car speak loudly

Chapter 3 ACTIVITY He goes into the giant peach. He can see creatures: A Grasshopper as large as a dog A big black Spider A Ladybug with nine black spots III Look at the picture and choose the correct preposition from the box in front of between on next to under in

A Centipede with 100 legs an Earthworm. James likes them. He is sleeping in his new peach-house He is very happy because he is not alone. The peach rolls down in the morning. They are in the Atlantic Ocean. And the journey begins The Grasshopper is . the Ladybug and the Spider. There is the Earthworm .. the Centipede and the Ladybug. Ladypider is . the right side of the picture. James is . the Centipede and . the Grasshopper. There are five creatures the picture. TANIG TAF SLASGES TAUN DIPERS Write down words in correct forms: .. . . ..

IV

Chapter 4 ACTIVITY The giant peach is now a ship. They can eat the peach. There are many sharks around them. They want to eat the peach-ship. The creatures are very scared. But James is very clever. He has a plan. Seagulls pick up the giant peach. The Centipede is singing a song about their journey. The Old --Green-Grasshopper is playing his music. They meet some cloud-men. The cloud-men are tall, white, with black eyes and thin white hair. The seagulls fly to a big city New York. James and his friends go down to...... Draw a picture of a cloud-man:

T F

Are these sentences true or false? The creatures have nothing to eat. The cloud-men are black with white eyes. James has a plan. The cloud-men are black with white eyes. Birds help James and his new friends. Chapter 5 Activity

VI

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

The peach is falling down....... The giant peach stops at the top of. The Empire State Building in New York City. People are looking at it. They think it is a spaceship. James is calling, Hello, everybody! Hello! All the children are eating the big peach. And James is very happy now. VII

And so is the Ladybug, the Old-Green - Grasshopper, the Earthworm, Lady Spider, The Centipede, the Glow-worm and the Silkworm. The journey ends. But the creatures live on. Each of them is rich, famous, and happy. 1. Apples (pears, cherries) grow on a 2. What name is the fat and short aunt? 3. What is giant? 7. Spiker is James.. 4.Not stupid 8. speak loudly 5. a small insect with black 6. 9. not good looking

VIII

The cover of James and the Giant Peach book

Complete the poem sheet

resource: http://www.puffin.co.uk/static/misc/uk/puffin/Resources%20pdfs/Dahl %20J&TGP%2072.PDF

VII

1. Listen and fill in what Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker said about the Giant Peach.

___ ___growing! growing! Its getting __ __ __ Its getting __ __ __ and __ __ __ __ and __ _! _!

There really isis aa __ __ __ __ __ up There really up t_ _ _ _ ! t_ _ _ _ !

SS __ __ __ __ __ !! Hold Hold everything! L _ __ __ everything! L_ at the __ __ __ __ __ __ ,, at the Spiker! Just look Spiker! Just look __ __ __ _! _!

Why? ItIt isis aa pp __ __ __ __ Why? _! _! A __ __ __ __ __ !! Right up A Right up there on the _ _ _ _ _ there on the _ _ _ _ _ __ __ branch! Cant __ __ branch! Cant __ see __ _! see _!

2. Listen again and fill in what said James about the Giant Peach.

Yes, A __ __ __ __ __ Yes, A SS __ __ __ __! ! II __ __ __ see it! see it!

Oh, isn tt itit bb __ __ __ __ __ __ __ Oh, isn __ ?? ItIt __ __ the _ _ _ _ the _ _ _ _ bb __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ thing II thing have ever seen! have ever seen!

VIII

3. Write the characters name and description in and write in the name of the GIANT fruit.

4. Listen again and circle words that you hear.

black terrible fat tall nice bony large hot happy short red old long unhappy blue far horrible clean

selfish lazy cold little

enormous

unfriendly high beautiful giant

near small ugly

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Pictures for class use:

resource: http://www.roalddahlfans.com/books/jametoons.php

XI

Anotace
Dymeov, Pavlna: The use of literary texts in primary classes. Brno, MU 2006, s.66 Diplomov prce se vnuje vyuit literrnch text v hodinch anglickho jazyka na prvnch stupni. Zamuje se na teorie dosud zpracovan k tmatu, pozice literatury na nim stupni a v rmci osnov. Praktick st prezentuje knihu Jakub a ob broskev ve form tzv.activity book, poslech zdramatizovan knihy a v rmci dalch pedmt. This diploma thesis is principally focusing on using literary texts in English primary classes. Various approaches to the role of literature in ELT, at primary stage and across the curriculum are discussed in theoretical part. Practical part presents Roald Dahls James and the Giant peach in different ways such as activity book, listening to audiocassettes, and across the curriculum. Klov slova: zkladn kola, prvn stupe, anglick jazyk, literatura, v rmci osnov Roald Dahl, James and The Giant Peach