Aesop's Fables

I have been working on this lesson plan for two weeks, culminating in small group "role-plays" of selected fables of Aesop. Each presentation should take under two minutes.

The main objectives were two: first, to simplify a story, choose what's important, cut it down to its bare minimum; second, to stand in front of the class and speak with confidence.

The results were as you might expect--some groups barely muddled through, some more groups memorized their parts and performed energetically; most groups understood their story well, but didn't communicate it all that effectively. Still, by and large, they accomplished the objectives.




Most of my first grade (high school sophomores) classes have 40 students, so I selected 10 stories with four characters, including narrator, from this website: www.aesopfables.com/. Mostly, the stories are translated by Townsend, so considerable work was needed to simplify them before giving them to the students to work on.

In week one, they read and dissected the story, determined who would play the roles, and worked on their script. In week two, they prepared their props, masks, etc., polished the script, and performed.




One problem I encountered was materials--you can make almost any kind of mask from a paper plate and a little construction paper; but paper plates are rare here, and very expensive. I remember getting a 250-ct pack in Dollar General for under a dollar, back home. Also, construction paper. I'm sure there are "Teacher" stores in Seoul, but no one at school could direct me to one.

So, once a student made a pleasing or successful mask or prop, I took command of it, and recycled it in the remaining classes.