Now I know! Madam wants us to draw the setting of the short story “Hills like white elephant” by Ernest Hemingway! I did this activity once when I was in Form 4, with my English teacher, whom I cannot recall her name after thinking about it for few hours, but never mind, it’s her activity that popped into my mind when Madam asked us to draw the setting. I can still remember the poem that we draw, it is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.
At first, she asked us to read the poem twice and try to imagine it. Of course, my friends and I wondered what does she wanted us to do exactly. Oh, before that class, she also asked us to bring our color pencils and crayons to class, just like Madam did. Then, she asked one of us to read the first line aloud, and go to the front to draw it. After that, she asked our friend to act out the line that cannot be illustrated. And it goes on and on with the next stanzas and we are so happy because at last we got ourselves a picture that helped us understand with the poem.
The memory is still vivid in my memory disk, and I am glad that Madam had used the method to teach literature. Well, I think for a short story, it might be a little bit tricky because the student with low proficiency plus reading and vocabulary problem will face problems detecting the setting but still, this method works especially for visual learners. It is totally different because in a poem, the setting usually has to be figured out, while in the short story, normally learners just have to detect the information by reading carefully but the drawing method will somehow help in a sense that the memory is stimulated by the pictures and stuff. At least, if the drawing was done in groups, the discussion will help to reinforce the understanding and the memory itself.
p/s: I love playing with colors!!
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