Timeline a Story

Age: 4th Grade to Adult

Level: High-beginner to advanced

Time: 30 minutes

Language Skills: Listening; Brief Writing (notetaking)

Participation: Whole class; pairs

Materials: Notebook paper, whiteboard

Procedures:

1. Make sure students understand what a timeline is and draw one on the board.

2. Depending on the difficulty of the story, provide a couple of timeline points from the story.

3. Have students draw a timeline on a sheet of paper.

4. Read the story to the students.

5. Students fill in their timeline as you speak.

Give some examples on the board as needed.

6. When the story is finished, have students compare their timelines.

Note: Some students will have slightly different timelines - depending on the parts of the story they found important and what they could comprehend.

7. Wrapup by explaining that notetaking is a useful skill for students and in the real world.

Explain how creating the time line involves useful listening and notetaking skills.

Assessment: Informal observation; Completed timeline; Comprehension test

 

(This activity comes from the book: Using Folktales by Eric K. Taylor which is part of the useful Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers)