Pre-Listening Stage
Objectives
At the end of the activity students will be able to:
O1 design a storyline based on a set of pre-established clues – pictures and title;
O2 rank their peers’ work according to a pre-established criterion(plausibility)
O3 discuss about their own predictions and explain why they will be later on confirmed or not
Time:15minutes
Level: B2 upper-intermediate
Procedure
Step 1.Teacher tells the students that they are going to listen to a passage taken from the novel
” The Scarlet Letter” by N.Hawthorne and invites them to predict the content of this passage.
Teacher makes sure that he/she has prepared a set of relevant pictures for the passage that the
students are going to listen While passing these pictures around, teacher tells students to work
in groups of four and create their own version of a storyline line based on their interpretations
of the pictures. Students need to be reminded that they will have to cover the 5- Wh questions
while working on their story line and that each story has to be plausible considering the clues
they have at their disposal.
Step 2.Teacher tells the students that each group will have to brainstorm as many words or
phrases they can about the pictures they have been given, reminding them that the title can also
offer suggestions and should be considered. Students make various connections between
pictures and what they represent while negotiating a plausible storyline. If necessary, teacher
gives further explanations about what plausibility is and implies. (the quality of seeming
reasonable or probable)When the time is up, the spokesperson in each group will present the
storyline they have agreed on in a short paragraph.
Step 3.After each group has presented their work, teacher asks students to rank the storylines
according to their degree of plausibility.A decision will be made at the end of a discussion
initiated by the teacher. During the discussion students are invited to consider the following
questions:
What makes a storyline more credible than another? The clues you have found in the
pictures about time and place, the title or your belief that it reflects a universal truth?
Do you think that the recorded text will confirm any predictions that you have
made?Why?
.
While-listening activity
Objectives
At the end of the activity students will be able to:
O1 identify specific information related to the four characters in the recorded passage
O2 list the main ideas in the recorded passage
O3 discuss about the relationship between the four characters by interpreting their reactions to
one another
Time: 25 minutes
Level: B2 upper-intermediate
Step 1. Teacher gives students a transcript of the recorded passage and ask them to fill in the
blanks as they listen. 15 words have been removed from the passage (mock oath, Pearl,
bewilderement, Dimmesdale, scaffold, malevolence, Hester, admonished, scowl, annihilated,
letter, Chillingworth, true, gibberish), some of them having been explained to students while
pre-teaching vocubulary in a prior stage,
Step 2. Teacher plays the recording once and students work individually, filling in the 15 blanks
as they listen. When the time is up, teacher checks the students’ answers until he/she elicits the
correct answers.
Step 3. Teacher asks the students to listen to the recording again. They are told to work in pairs
and answer the questions by choosing the right option A, B or C. (Teacher has prepared a set
of 5 questions on a separate worksheet). While students listen they agree on the most
appropriate answer to the questions listed below.
1. Robert Chillingworth is
A. a friend of Mr Dimmesdale B. hostile to Mr Dimmesdale and Hester C. a stranger to both
Hester and Mr.Dimmesdale
2. It is inferred that Pearl is
A. Hester’s daughter B. Chilingworth’s daughter C Mr.Dimmesdale
3. Hester does not answer Mr Dimmesdale’s questions because she
A. took a vow of silence B. is afraid of Mr .Chillingworth C.is afraid of Mr.Dimmesdale
4. Hester faces trial
A.for something she did to Mr Dimmesdale B.for refusing to speak C for something which is
related to the miraculous letter she is wearing.
5. Mr Dimmesale is
A. confused because he is aware of Mr Chilingworth’s role in Hester’s life B. angry because
he is jealous of Mr. Chillingworth’s relationship with Hester; C. bewildered because he
doesn’t understand why this man has such a terrible impact on him
Step 4. Teacher invites students to read their answers to the five questions above and initiates a
discussion about the relationships between the four characters. (Teacher may need to ask additional
questions in order to help students do this task.).At the end of the discussion, students will have
identified Mr. Chillingworth’s hatred toward the three other characters, Hester’s determination to
confront her enemy with silence, Pearl’s innocent attempts to clarify the situation, as well as
Mr.Dimmesdale’s fear and hatred towards Mr Chillingworth, even if he does not know the reason.
Post-listening
Objectives
At the end of the activity students will be able to:
O1. to justify the characters’behaviour after having looked for additional information about
the novel
O2. defend or criticise the behaviour of the four characters in a debate
Time: 20 minutes
Level: B2 upper-intermediate
Step I. Teacher asks the students to use their phones and do some research about the novel, in
general, and the four characters, in particular. The teacher can indicate resources or he/she can
provide a handout in this respect, if using phones in class is not allowed, even if it is for
academic purposes. Teacher tells the students to work in groups of five and divide the task
among the members of the group (one is trying to find information about Hester, another about
Pearl, etc). When the time is up, each group will have gathered enough information about the
four characters in order to do the task.
Step II. Teacher allows the students to work in groups again and prepare a case in which they
defend or criticise the characters’behaviour as exhibited in the recorded passage. Students will
use the additional information to explain the reasons behind their behaviour and justify or not
their reactions to events.
Step III. Teacher invites the students to start a debate. Each group is asked to choose a
spokesperson to defend or criticise one of the four characters, while giving expanations and
justifications for the ways they behave in the particular situation presented in the recorded
passage. If time allows another member of a group joins the debate to support or disprove the
position adopted by a student in a different group.At the end of the debate, the rest of the
students in the groups will vote for the best debater, the one(s) whose arguments have been the
most convincing.
