Plan of Attack with a Graded Reader

Fachdidaktik Englisch I, Hansjuerg Perino Karin, Isabelle, Seraina HS 2007

“Plan of attack with a graded reader”

Title Seven Stories of Mystery and Horror by Edgar Allan Poe (with audio CD) Level A2 (elementary); 1,100 key words Publisher Macmillan Readers Accent American English Content Seven intriguing stories by one of the most famous and gifted writers description of nineteenth century American literature. Number of 11 lessons: 1 introductory lesson, 1 lesson on the author, 7 lessons lessons covering the 7 stories, 2 follow-up lessons required Aims reading experience; vocabulary related to horror/mystery (semantic field); writing; listening and reading comprehension; reading competence; literary theory: horror as a genre

Lesson Ideas

Lesson Procedure 1 Setting the scene Introduce the topic of horror/mystery:  show selected scene from FRIENDS in which Joe reads a horror book and puts it into the freezer.  ask students “What kind of book is it?”, “What do you do when you’re afraid?”  Brainstorm vocabulary related to horror/mystery 2 The author Edgar Allan Poe Web Quest on his life and work 3-9 1 lesson per story (7 stories in total) different approaches/activities:  read at home, act out in class  read in class: in pairs aloud  listen to story (CD) followed by comprehension questions in class  group work: each group focuses on one chapter/story, thinks of 3-5 questions for other groups (content or interpretation questions). questions are passed on to another group. Each group presents its answers to entire class. The group who came up with the questions comments (agrees/disagrees/expands). This method allows you to recap the entire book/collection of stories within a short amount of time.  alternative ending: let students read up to twist. They write an appropriate ending (prediction task). They then compare their endings before reading the original ending. Students then decide which ending they think works best. This is not necessarily the original ending. That way you can boost your students’ confidence in their story-telling skills. 10-11 follow-up activities  additional vocabulary tasks  creative writing: students write their own horror story (either individually or in groups). Optional: T provides opening sentence.  further exploration of horror fiction as a literary genre