The stories our students are using to work with Scratch are from the True Stories series. These accounts are modified news stories designed to be accessible to beginning language learners. They are brief humorous accounts of unusual situations.
For example, one story is about a Norwegian man from the countryside. He grew weary of rural life and moved to the big city of Oslo. After dumping his belongings in a new apartment, he went for a long walk through the grey streets. But when the poor man decided to return to his new home, he couldn't find it! He looked and looked. It took him three weeks to locate his flat.
There are so many essential language skills that can be achieved by using Scratch in combination with such stories.
By using Scratch, students will be able to:
- Write in the third person. When writers use Scratch, they need to create lines for characters as if they were composing a play.
- Summarize. Students have to select the most important parts of each story. They have to think critically to prioritize which events and characters to include.
- Understand plot development. Every story, no matter how simple, has an introduction, complications, climax, and resolution.
- Apply vocabulary and grammar from language arts to a new context. Creating in Scratch recycles language forms they learned in English class. Multiple applications of new words and structures promotes retention.
- Collaborate with a partner while using academic vocabulary. Literary terms such as setting, characters, and events naturally bubble up in students' discussions as they draw storyboards, write lines, and prioritize which story elements to include in their Scratch projects.
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