I have recently found story books that make compelling material for teenage students.
Scholastic publishes a series of stories aimed at teenagers*. We have previously read
DJ Ambition - about a teenager trying to become a DJ in London, and are currently reading
Angela's Ashes.
They come in all ability levels, contain background material and topics for discussion, CD's. You might find the movie somewhere, too. They photocopy well, so you only need purchase one copy of each book. Here in Taiwan, they are quite reasonably priced.
Some are aimed at dealing with specific topics such that are supposed to effect young people (peer pressure, ambition, etc). These are a bit patronising in my opinion, but there are many to choose from so you might be able to find something that interests your students. Your students might be interested in a bit of de-constructive analysis of authorial motivation, if they are so inclined (if you know what I mean). If not, an ethical dilemma may motivate as it is often the kind of thing teenagers pick up on.
A lot can be achieved through reading stories, especially if the students engage with the narrative. Not only does the engagement on the students part may help the lesson go a lot smoother, there is a lot you can do with texts to make them into material for the study of grammar if you need to. The stories provide context.
This thread** has some very helpful pointers for using texts which you might find helpful. I was given some excellent (esp. by Sally Oslen) that I'm still working on.
I have found that there is a certain justice in not pushing the students too hard when reading a story regularly. Too many Q and A can just ruin the experience of reading!
But you can certainly use the books as a basis and context for other things. If reading Spiderman, you can ask or have in a worksheet things like what would Dr. Evil say if he was going to meet Spiderman to kill him? What would he say if he had just escaped from a bad situation? Etc. With Angela's Ashes, I intend to do some kind of project on the Catholic Saints, something my students have no idea about, but expressed interest in.
I like to keep the story, or the reading of it, as natural to reading for pleasure as you can. My current students enjoy assigning the different speaking and narrative parts to each other.
Depending on your students, and your resources you can alter the way you present related grammar material - missing gap, making comics, acting in movies, writing/recording radio scripts/plays, role-play, re-writing, ..
Failing students may appreciate the opportunity to show their skills in other areas (such as their imaginations or drawing) and this can at least give you something to work with. They may be sick of being asked questions face to face, for example, so might appreciate a bit of time and space to experiment on paper.
This is an interesting challenge, for all teachers, to pick out, adapt material to the story and the students needs, moods, interests. Rather than the usual way of teaching abstract grammar sequences, then trying to apply them.
Let us know how it goes (if you wish), it would be interesting to hear of your experiences!
All the best,
Tru.
* the relevant web page can be found at:
http://commissionshop.scholastic.co.uk/ ... series/100
** the thread is at:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=8785
