"Direct & Indirect Speech"

The Grade 4's are looking at Direct and Indirect Speech in English at the moment. Mrs V, the English teacher and I decided to incorporate this into ICT to change the way it is usually done.

I've had fun thinking about how to make this into an enjoyable experience for the class as well as introducing them to some new ways of learning. This is the project that I have come up with:

"The story within the story"

Prep prior to the lesson:

• I found a couple of lesser known Aesops Fables/Cartoons on You-Tube, saved and converted them.
• Open in Windows Movie Maker. Take "snapshots" of the screens that carried the heart of the story
• The snapshots were saved into a named folder
• I printed out the screenshots to have available to the class

ICT Lesson 1:

• Play the movies through for the class without any sound
• Talk about facial expressions, body language and gestures
• Look for the story
• The children were asked to choose which Movie Clip they would like to "adopt" to add speech to.
• They each got a sheet of the printed out screenshots.

An Example of Printed Screenshots

In Class:
Mrs V put them into groups, and during class in their groups they have to "find the story" and write it down in "Direct Speech". These will all be done during their English classes.

ICT Lesson 2:

• From their screenshot folder, open each picture in Paint and add Speech Bubbles
• Save each picture
• This will take a couple of lessons.

On conclusion, we will watch each Clip with the sound and see if anyone "found the story".

ICT Lesson 4:

• Import their edited and saved pictures into PhotoStory 3 (or may try Little Bird Tales that I have recently been made aware of)
• Teach them about editing, transitions and customising the motions.
• They will then narrate the story in "Indirect Speech"
• This will take a couple of lessons

ICT Lesson 6:
These will be uploaded to the School Blog as well as possibly publishing as podcasts.

(Naturally credit will be given to the original authors and those who uploaded the clip to You-Tube.)

* * * * *

So far, the children are really enjoying this project and it is going well!

What I like alot about this project, is that it lends itself to working in groups to agree on a storyline, what will be said and how it will play out. It also allows discussion on looking at things like facial expressions, body language and gestures, and how to interpret them.