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Fifty
Words to the Wise: The Mini-Saga in Class
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As suggested by the title of this article, a
mini-saga has exactly 50 words, 50 words that can be used effectively in class in a
variety of ways. The title can have an additional 15 words. A mini-saga should tell a
story, that is, it cannot describe a mood or some beautiful scenery only. We would like to
present a few mini-sagas as well as some activities based on them.
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The first mini-sagas were written in Britain in
1982 when The Sunday Telegraph Colour Supplement Magazine introduced the concept of
a mini-saga and announced the first mini-saga competition. This type of story has been
popularized in language teaching by Stephen Keeler, who decided to use it in published ELT
materials and has run mini-saga workshops and competitions in several countries, as well
as by Practical English Teaching , a British quarterly for teachers of English (not
issued anymore), which published Stephen Keeler's article on using mini-sagas in class in
1986 and also ran a mini-saga competition two years later.
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Why use the mini-saga in class?
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Having learnt about the mini-saga from Practical
English Teaching , both of us tried it out in class and found that this type of story
was great to use, not only with children, but also with adult beginners and
pre-intermediate students. The reason was simply that our students enjoyed this type of
story.
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Because mini-sagas are relatively short,
students rarely get tired of reading them. Moreover, such short texts allow the teacher to
introduce a convenient layout, which makes the story easier to understand. Mini- sagas may
also serve as a springboard for a lively discussion or a starting point for a variety of
other interesting activities. The teachers may get students to write mini-sagas of their
own. Again, 50 words of homework or composition in class will not tire them. The idea of
making up mini- sagas will be especially welcome to students who like creative writing.
Another advantage is that the requirement imposed by the number of words teaches
discipline in writing. Finally, the teacher may run a class or school mini-saga
competition.
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The layout of a mini-saga
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The following shows two alternative ways a story
could be presented. It is not difficult to see which of them is easier to read for
children as well as adult beginners.
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1. A Story About a Sailor
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There was once a sailor who thought that the
Earth was flat. He wanted to discover new continents. He sailed south. Then he sailed
west. Next he sailed north. After many days at sea, he saw land. "I have discovered a
new continent!" But it was only his own village.
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2. A Story About a Sailor
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to discover new continents.
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"I have discovered a new continent!"
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But it was only his own village.
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A mini-saga is short enough to be divided into
lines of varying length, containing either short sentences or parts of longer sentences.
The second layout of the mini-saga about the sailor not only facilitates the understanding
of the story, but makes it more dramatic.
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Using mini-sagas in class
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At the beginning teachers may choose to
introduce new words and expressions. But this should not be made too easy for the
students: If the meaning of a word or expression could be inferred from the context, it
usually does not need any explanation beforehand. If possible, the teacher should show the
learners a picture or photograph illustrating the topic of the mini-saga, which will not
only help them understand the story, but also create the mood. Students should describe
the picture. For instance, for the mini-saga about the sailor, the teacher should try to
find a picture or photograph of a man in a boat and show it to the students while asking
these questions:
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If the students do not happen to know the
English words for the principal directions, the teacher may draw a compass rose on the
blackboard and use it to introduce them.
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Next, students should read the mini-saga
silently. After they finish reading, the teacher may ask them a few questions, bearing in
mind that this could spoil the pleasure of reading. Stephen Keeler (1986:24) warns against
using conventional comprehension questions. After reading the mini-saga presented above,
the teacher may get the students to answer one of the following questions:
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Why did the sailor reach his own village?
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Why didn't he discover any new continent?
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The next activity could be pair work. The
teacher may divide the class into pairs and ask the learners to make up a dialogue
connected with the story. For the mini-saga about the sailor, it could be an interview
with the sailor, which means that one of the learners in a pair is the sailor, and the
other a journalist or a TV reporter. Sometimes the teacher will have to help the learners
prepare such a dialogue, which might consist of making up the dialogue together with them
and writing it on the blackboard. In this case, the learners reproduce it later in pairs.
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At the end of the lesson, the students reproduce
or retell the story, continue it, and discuss the topic it focuses. The story about the
sailor may serve as a starting point for talking about traveling. The teacher may ask the
learners the following questions:
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Would you like to travel around the world?
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If so, what countries/cities/places/etc.
would you like to visit and why?
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How would you like to travel?
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Children may illustrate the mini-saga they have
just read or continue it with their own drawings.
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Other activities: Filling in the blanks
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One of the activities we would like to propose
consists of filling the blanks. Here is an example of a mini- saga with fourteen words
missing (twelve in the story and two in the title):
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traveling on the same ________.
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He was________ a ________.
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She seemed ________ and ________.
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Before getting off the ________.
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he slipped a ________ ________
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into the pocket of her coat.
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The mini-saga which the above activity is based
on tells about a girl and a boy traveling together on a train:
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traveling on the same train.
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She seemed sad and tired.
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Before getting off the train,
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he slipped a red lollipop
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into the pocket of her coat.
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In another activity the teacher asks the
students to make up or guess the punch line. In the mini-saga below the last nine words
are missing:
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John designed several dinosaurs
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He also designed a beautiful park
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the dinosaurs looked harmless.
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_____ _____ _____ _____ _____
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The missing lines read as follows:
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He turned the computer off.
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In both activities presented above, our students
often come up with more interesting or amusing ideas than the ones in the original
mini-sagas.
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Other activities: Guessing the plot
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The teacher shows the students two or three
pictures illustrating a mini-saga and asks them in pairs to guess the plot and write a
mini-saga of their own. For example, the mini-saga presented below could be illustrated
with pictures of a girl in a park, a ticket, autumn leaves, and a magpie. The teacher
presents the picture to the students and asks them to make up a story. After the stories
are ready, the students are given the original mini-saga to compare with their versions.
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Peggy lost the only ticket
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as she was looking for it
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I haven't punched it yet."
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In the mini-saga above, we use don't and haven't
. The word count for them is two (not one).
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The teacher may also ask students to reconstruct
the story, giving them a list of key words. In the case of the mini-saga about Peggy, the
key words could include the following:
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Our aim in writing this article was to encourage
teachers to use mini-sagas in class as well as to give examples of activities based on
this type of story. Our approach to exploiting mini-sagas in foreign language teaching is
based on two assumptions. First, reading should be enjoyable (at least from time to time).
Second, mini-sagas should be seen as a springboard for creative use of English. Follow-up
activities should include making up dialogues as well as writing stories. After reading
and discussing several mini- sagas, learners are familiar with this genre. At this point,
the teacher can get them to write their own mini- sagas. As mentioned before, the teacher
could run a class mini-saga competition once a month or a school competition once a
semester. Students may also write a mini-saga reflecting each unit from their course book.
Finally, we would like to encourage readers to write mini-sagas for their students. Once
teachers start writing, they can't be stopped!
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Anna
Luczak teaches English to students of economics at the University of Gdansk.
Danuta Stanulewicz teaches linguistics in the English
Department at the University of Gdansk. |
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Return
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- Keeler, S. 1986. Using mini-sagas in language teaching. Practical English Teaching, 7,
2, pp. 23-24.
- Luczak A., and D. Stanulewicz. 1995. A useful brownie. Mini-sagas for Everyone.
Illustrations by Wojciech Kolyszko. Wroclaw: Wydawnictwo Europa.
- Maley, A. 1994. Short and sweet. Short Texts and How to Use Them, Vol. 1. pp. 87-95
Harmondsworth: Penguin.
- Mini-saga runners up. 1990. Practical English Teaching, 10, 4, p. 16.
- P.E.T. mini-sagas competition. 1989. Practical English Teaching, 10, 1, p. 14.
- P.E.T. mini-saga competition results. 1990. Practical English Teaching, 10, 3, p. 14.
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