Design a fragment of the lesson (micro-lesson)

for the 4^th/6^tll/8th/10^th form level.

1) Adapt the text for the 6^th and 10^th form level.

2) Work out a topical vocabulary list to the text. Consider the level of knowledge of your imaginary pupils.

3) Work out a system of vocabulary exercises (three at least).

4) Think of possible phonetic mistakes in words or word-combinations from the text and suggest activities to practice their pronunciation.

5) Make up a list of questions covering the contents of the adapted text.

6) Work out a system of comprehensive exercises to check the understanding of the text.

7) Make up a list of possible talking points on the problem raised in the text which would be of practical interest for teen-agers. Suggest a few questions you might use to stimulate a discussion on one of them.

8) Suggest any classroom game or gamelike activity based on contents of the text.

9) Suggest any other techniques (e.g. audio-visual) which can be used to motivate children to further work with the text.

10) Reread the text for the information on the "cultural element". Make up a list of words or word-combinations which refer to specific phenomena of the country in question.

11) Make a round-table talk to discuss the points raised by the author.

12) Suggest a pattern and two or three exercises to practice a certain grammatical phenomenon from the text.

13) Suggest a pattern and two or three exercises to practice a certain lexical difficulty from the text.

 

 

Раздел 8. Лингвостилистическая интерпретация оригинального художествен­ного, публицистического или научно-популярного текста

TOOLS FOR EVALUATING A STORY

Any work of fiction consists of relatively independent elements - narration, description, dialogue, interior monologue digressions, etc. Narration is dynamic, it gives a continuous account of events, while description is static, it is a verbal portraiture of an object, person or scene. It may be detailed and direct or impressionistic, giving few but striking details. Through the dialogue the characters are better portrayed, it also brings the action nearer to the reader, makes it seem more swift and more intense. Interior monologue renders the thoughts and feeling of a character. Digression consists of an insertion of material that has no immediate relation to the theme or action. It may be lyrical, philosophical or critical. The interrelation between different components of a literary text is called composition.

Most novels and stories have plots. Every plot is an arrangement of meaningful events. No matter how insignificant or deceptively casual, the events of the story are meant to suggest the character's morals and motives. Sometimes a plot follows the chronological order of events. At other times there are jumps back and forth in time (flashbacks and foreshadowing). The four structural components of the plot are exposition, complication, climax and denouement. Exposition contains a shot presentation of time, place and characters of the story. It i usually to be found at the beginning of the story, but may also be interwoven in the narrative by means of flashbacks, so that the reader gradually comes to know the characters and event leading up to the present situation. Complication is a separate incident helping to unfold the action, and might involve thoughts and feelings as well. Climax is the decisive moment on which the fate of the characters and the final action depend. It is the point at which the forces in the conflict reach the highest intensity. Denouement means "the untying of a knot which is precisely what happens in this phase. Not all stories have a denouement. Some stories end right after the climax, leaving it up to the reader to judge what will be the outcome of the conflict.

The way a story is presented is a key element in fictional structure. This involves both the angle of vision, the point from which the people, events, and other details are viewed, and the words of the story. The view aspect is called the focus or point of view, and the verbal aspect the voice. It is important distinguish between the author, the person who wrote the story, and the narrator, the person or voice telling the story. The author may select a first-person narrative, when one of the characters tells of things that only he or she saw and felt. In third-person narrative the omniscient author moves in and of peoples thoughts and comments freely on what the char-think, say and do.

Most writers of the short story attempt to create characters strike us, not as stereotypes, but as unique individuals. Characters are called round if they are complex and develop or change in the course of the story. Flat characters are usually one-sided, constructed round a single trait; if two characters re distinctly opposing features, one serves as a foil to the other and the contrast between them becomes more apparent.

Round and flat characters have different functions in the conflict of the story. The conflict may be external, i. e. between beings or between man and the environment (individual against nature, individual against the established order/values society). The internal conflict takes place in the mind, here the character is torn between opposing features of his personality. The two parties in the conflict are called the protagonist and his or her antagonist. The description of the different aspects (physical, moral, social) of a character is known as characterization when the author describes the character himself, or makes another do it, it is direct characterization. When the author shows the character in action, and lets the reader judge for himself the author uses the indirect method of characterization.

The particular time and physical location of the story form the setting. Such details as the time of the year, certain parts of landscape, the weather, colours, sounds or other seemingly uninteresting details may be of great importance. The setting can have various functions in a given story: 1) it can provide a realistic background, 2) it can evoke the necessary atmosphere, 3) it can help describe the characters indirectly. The author's choice of characters, events, situations, and details his choice of words is by no means accidental. Whatever leads us to enter the author's attitude to his subject matter is called tone. Like the tone of voice, the tone of a story may communicate amusement, anger, affection, sorrow, contempt. The theme of a story is like unifying general idea about life that the entire story reveals. The author rarely gives a direct statement of the theme in a story. It is up to the reader to collect and combine all his observations and finally to try to formulate the idea illustrated by the story. The most important generalization the author expresses is sometimes referred t the message. The message depends on the writer's and the reader may either share it or not. There are no hard and fast rules about text interpretation but one is usually expected to sum up the contents and express his overall view of the story. The following questions will be useful in the analysis if a story.

COMPOSITION AND PLOT, FOCUS, VOICE

What are the bare facts of the story? What is the exposition, complication, climax and denouement? Are the elements of the plot ordered chronologically? How does the story begin? Is the action fast/slow moving? Which episodes has been the greatest emphasis? Is the end clear-cut and conclusive or does it leave room for suggestion? On what note does the story end? Is the plot of major or minor importance? Does the author speak in his own voice or does he present the events from the point of view of one of the characters? Has the narrator access to the thoughts and feelings of all the characters? — Only a few? Just one? Is the narrator reliable? Can we trust his judgment? Is there any change in the point of view? What effect does this change have? Is the narrative factual/dry/emotional? Are the events credible or melodramatic?

CHARACTERS AND SETTING

 

What are the characters names and what do they look like? Does this have any significance? Are the characters round flat? Does the narrator employ interior monologue to render the thoughts and feelings of the characters? Are the characters credible? Do they act consistently? If not, why not? With what main problem is the protagonist faced? Is it a conflict with another individual? With society? Within himself? In the course of the story do the characters change as a result of their experience? Does the narrator sympathize with the characters? Remains aloof and detached? Is the particular setting essential could the story have happened anywhere at any time? Has the narrator emphasized certain details? Which? Why? What Actions does the setting have?

THEME AND ARTISTIC EFFECT

 

What is the general effect achieved? Has the writer caused characters, and settings to come alive? What was the conflict how was it solved, if at all? Were there any striking repetitions of actions, words, thoughts or symbols? Has the protagonist learned anything? Has he or she acquired a greater knowledge insight or reached a new awareness? Does the title of the indicate anything about the theme? Are the theme and story fused and inseparable? How does the word choice and syntax contribute to the atmosphere? Does the story abound in tropes or does the narrator use them sparingly? What images lend the story a lyrical, melancholy, humorous effect? Are they genuine, poetic, fresh, trite, hackneyed, and stale? Is the general tone matter-of-fact, sentimental, moralizing, bitter, ironical, and sarcastic? What attitude to life does the story express? What seems to be the relationship between the author, the narrator and the reader?

1. The choice of the point of view and the form of speech. The story may be told from the point of view of a) the author; b) the chief character of the story; c) an onlooker who may be some minor participant in the action or some person outside the group of characters.

A story may be told a) in direct speech, the characters speaking for themselves; b) in indirect speech, the author describing the thoughts and feelings of his characters; c) in non – personal direct speech (несобственно-прямая речь).

2. Characterization or character-drawing. One of the writer’s most important problems is to present his characters to the reader as individual human beings. There are various means of characterization or character – drawing in stories: a) direct characterization – the author or another person defines the character for the reader by describing or explaining it, thus offering his own interpretation of each person in the story; b) indirect characterization through the action and conversation. The author leaves it to the reader to judge the characters by what they do and say.

3. The climax. The moment of the highest interest is called the climax (кульминация) of the story.

4. Functional styles of speech. Depending on the contents and the aim of the utterance we usually distinguish several functional styles of speech: a) the style of function (стиль художественной прозы); b) the style of scientific prose (стиль научной прозы); c) official style (официально-канцелярский стиль) and d) publicistic style (публицистический стиль)which includes oratorical style (ораторский стиль).