Story Summarizing and Predicting
In this activity, we are going to use a story divided into different sections, and without an ending. As usual, the teacher begins the activity by stimulating the students’ interest with a lead in. Students predict what they think the story is about based on its title and any images before reading. However, instead of discussing difficult vocabulary beforehand, this time the teacher has the students make a list of any unfamiliar words they come across while reading the passage for the first time. Before reading, the teacher divides the story into one section per student (ie. 8 paragraphs for 8 students). Students read their sections individually, and write down any unfamiliar/new vocabulary they come across. After the first reading, students orally summarize their section without any notes.
Example short story (without ending):
My Visit to New York
Last week I was in New York and I remembered that my friend Mike had recently moved there. I looked up his name in the telephone book, called, but got the answering machine. Luckily, I finally found him at work. He was gazing at his computer screen when I strolled into the room. He looked like he had just been crying. Mike’s father recently passed away and I know Mike always looked up to him. On his computer screen, he was reminiscing with some old photos, astonished at how much his dad looked like him when he was young! I walked in and yelled “Look who it is!” When he raised his head, he didn’t look very happy to see me. He just looked me up and down, and said “Oh, hey John”, and we shook hands.
After ten years of not seeing him, Mike didn't look any older. In fact, he looked as if he was still in his twenties! I looked him straight in the eye and said, "Look Mike, I’m in town for a couple days. How about we grab some food and drinks later on and catch up?" He hesitated before responding, and then told me he has been on the lookout for a new apartment, so he might have to visit one tonight. Looking over at the computer screen, I noticed a picture of his mom with his dad. "I heard about your dad, Mike. I’m really sorry. How are you holding up?" I said. His eyes filled up with tears and he looked away, ashamed, and covered his face. Then he took a deep breath and said “Alright John, what do you say we go grab a coffee before I go to this visit?”
We went to Starbucks and talked for a while, when a beautiful woman walked in the door and Mike stopped in the middle of his sentence with a look of amazement on his face…
After recording the unfamiliar vocabulary during the reading, students should define (they may use a dictionary only if they cannot figure out the meaning in context) and write them down with an example sentence. Afterwards, have each student write their vocabulary/definitions on the board for everyone to copy.
Once students have finished these tasks, they stand in front of the class, one-by-one, in sequence with the storyline, present their summary, explain the meaning of their vocabulary, and read their example sentences, out loud from the board.
Following this, the students answer questions about the story based on the summaries they heard from each of their classmates:
1. Where does the story take place?
2. How did Mike feel when the narrator found him?
3. Who recently died in Mike’s life?
4. Who was in the picture on Mike’s computer screen?
5. List all the different ways in which ‘look’ was used in the story.
6. How does the meaning of look change when it is used with other words before and after it in an expression?
7. What does it mean when it said ‘He hesitated…’?
8. Find the synonym of ‘looking’ in the story.
Then, students are given the entire story to read alone and finish answering any questions they were not able to answer from their classmates’ summaries.
Finally, students are to predict how the story will end in less than 250 written words. Students will then present their predictions to the class. The activity can be brought to a close by a discussion on which ending was the most creative, the most realistic, the most positive etc.
This activity integrates several language skills including vocabulary development, reading, writing, speaking, while inciting cognitive thinking.