INTRODUCTION
Did you hear about...?
How many times have you had a conversation that began something like "Did you hear about that strange..."? It may have come from a story heard on the radio or seen on television. Or, perhaps even more often, it may have come from a newspaper story. What we read in the newspaper often becomes a topic of conversation. This week we are going to use some interesting and unusual newspaper stories from the Bangkok Post to carry on our own conversations—in English!
If you look through a typical issue of the Bangkok Post, you will see that many of the stories are very short—some as short as one paragraph. If you look more closely, you will see that some of them are not really "news". They are not "important" events that we need to know about. Instead, they are in the newspaper because they are unusual or amusing. These are the stories that often become the topic of a conversation. Here is an example:
Man bites dog and dog dies
Talavera de la Reina, Spain – A dog that turned on its master has died of a retaliatory human bite.
The mongrel was accompanying its master, a transient, as he played a drum in shopping centres in this town 100 km southwest of Madrid.
For unknown reasons, the mongrel bit the man and the man bit back. The animal died of its injuries, city council security chief Jesus Gil said. He did not say what become of the drifter. |
I think you will agree that this is an usual story. But how would you tell it to someone else? You wouldn’t use exactly the same words as the newspaper story because that is written English. And you probably wouldn’t use the same style either. The newspaper story puts the main idea right at the top. You would probably want to tell the story a little more slowly—something like this:
| "I read a strange story yesterday. It happened in Spain. It was about a drifter—you know, a transient, a man with no home who moves around from place to place. He had a dog. It wasn’t a special dog. It was just an ordinary mongrel.
One day the drifter was playing a drum in a shopping centre. I suppose he did that to get money. Anyway, for some reason, his dog bit him. I don’t know why. Do you know what the man did? He retaliated. He bit the dog back. And it wasn’t just a little bite either. The dog died. No, the man’s name wasn’t Mike Tyson." |
Notice that my story is in spoken English although it is not exactly the way I would tell it to my friends. I was assuming the listener was not a native-speaker of English so I was careful to clarify some of the vocabulary like drifter, transient, mongrel and retaliate. Notice that I also added something to the end to make the story more amusing.
THIS WEEK'S STORIES
I have chosen five short stories for you to read. Your teacher may have you read them all, but it is more likely that you will be assigned to read one story and then tell that story to other members of your class who have read other stories. They, in turn, will tell you their stories. Your story will have vocabulary explanations and suggestions for things to include when you tell it.
| STORY 1
Bad manners
Pittsburgh - A man promised his wife manicotti for dinner but instead made spaghetti and she was not happy with the changed menu.
What was supposed to be a nice family dinner turned into an ugly dispute when Michael Stefanowicz opted for the easier-to-make spaghetti. "She called him lazy and he called her a fat pig," said Lt Gregory Tenos.
Mrs Stefanowicz claims her husband hit her and she called her brother to the rescue.
James Shenkel, armed with a gun, fired a bullet into the wall as he was trying to shoot Mr Stefanowicz. Mr Shenkel is facing several criminal charges.
![[Dot]](dot.gif) You should have fun telling this story. It is easy to understand and it is very dramatic. Make sure you that you explain that the woman’s brother, not her husband, was the person who got in trouble with the police. You might also begin by reminding your audience that Italians are famous for their food and they can be very fussy (demanding) about what they eat—just like many Thai people.
manicotti
an Italian food similar to spaghetti, but the noodles come in the shape of tubes which are stuffed with some kind of filling
dispute
disagreement, argument, conflict
opt for
to choose
criminal charge
formal accusation of committing a crime
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| STORY 2
Money stinks in Norway
Oslo – Norwegian bank clerks have been rummaging desperately through the city dump for 700,000 kroner ($100,000) the bank believes was lost in the trash.
Fearing that locals in Tvedestrand, 250 km south of Oslo, will join the smelly search, the local bank attempted to keep the lost money a secret and hired local police to help.
The money was deposited into the bank’s night safe two weeks ago and then counted by two tellers, the Olso daily VG reported. But five days later nobody could find the notes.
Bank officials believe the money was swept into the bank’s trash along with the night safe’s used envelopes. The bank’s trash cans are regularly emptied into the city dump.
Tvedestrand’s garbage dump is closed to the public except on Fridays, but there are numerous holes in the fence.
First of all, notice that a lot of money was lost. Be sure to translate the $100,000 into baht to make that point. Secondly, the money was lost accidentally. Make sure you explain how. And think about what the writer meant in his last sentence, i.e., why did he say "there are numerous (many) holes in the fence"? You can use the same idea in your story. One more thing: I don’t know how to pronounce the name of the town (Tvedestrand), so I would probably just say "a small town in Norway".
stink
to have a bad smell; smelly
rummaging
searching through many different things
desperately
anxiously; hurriedly and with great need
dump
a place where garbage is put
trash
garbage
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| STORY 3
Dutiful son
Fort Lauderdale – David Hindmarsh learned the lessons from his mother well. Always be polite, she told David. And David was a dutiful son.
Last week, David walked into a bank in this Florida town to rob it. He handed the bank teller a note, demanding money and threatening to set off a pipe bomb if he didn’t get it. The teller asked him to wait. So David returned to the line and waited — for 20 minutes.
Finally, the teller handed David a bag with the equivalent of 39,000 baht stuffed inside. David ran for the door, and into the arms of a posse of policemen summoned by the bank. His pipe bomb was a toilet tube.
You will want to tell this story much more slowly and dramatically, going through each step of what happened.
dutiful
obedient; always following the rules
posse
a group of people who gather together to search for someone who has broken the law (often seen in cowboy movies)
summoned
called
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| STORY 4
Man thought he was Santa Claus
Blytheville, Arkansas – Lou Riggs was awakened by a noise in the living room early one morning. "I heard someone inside my fireplace saying ‘Hello’," Ms Riggs said.
She awakened her husband who immediately called police. When the Blytheville Rescue Squad arrived at the scene they found Charlie Boyd, 21, wedged into the chimney. The intruder had dropped 15 m through a 30 cm opening – only to become jammed about 1 m from the bottom. Boyd was charged with breaking and entering.
First of all, you have to know the story of Santa Claus. He, of course, is supposed to enter a housing by landing on the roofs with his reindeer and going down the chimney. You will quickly see, however, this is not a real Santa Claus story. Charlie Boyd is a thief! You will probably want to add a lot to this story. You can even pretend to show how Charlie Boyd struggled to try to get down the chimney only to get stuck at the end. And also show the surprise of Ms Riggs when she hears someone in her fireplace.
wedged
stuck; unable to move; jammed
charged
formally accused of a crime
breaking and entering
the crime of illegally forcing your way into someone’s house
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| STORY 5
Future bleak at funeral home
Taipei – City Hall wants to demolish a funeral home but is puzzling over what to do with the site some Taiwanese believe is haunted by the dead.
Since it was built 30 years ago, the neighbourhood around the First Funeral Home has become a posh residential area, and well-heeled neighbours want the home moved away.
Some officials have suggested it should be turned into an amusement park, keeping the funeral parlour, together with its refrigerator, as a haunted house, Chang Ching-shen, head of the Urban Development Bureau, said.
Or a hotel, because foreign tourists might not realise they were sleeping in a former funeral home, Mr Chang said.
Some Taiwanese believe ghosts are scared away by large crowds, so some have suggested turning the site into a shopping mall.
Desperate, City Hall has decided to solicit ideas from the citizenry. "We want to make the best use of the space," Mr Chang said.
This story probably could have come from Thailand just as well as Taiwan. Be sure to take advantage of your friends’ fear of ghosts to make it seem more interesting. You might also want to have your friends help in suggesting a solution to the problem.
funeral home
a place where dead bodies are taken for ceremonies, public viewing, cremation, etc.
demolish
pull down; tear down; destroy
puzzling over
confused about
haunted
having ghosts
posh
wealthy; rich; well-heeled
desperate
having great need
solicit
to ask for
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Teacher’s Note
One problem with group work—especially in a large class—is very well known. Once an assignment is given to the typical five-person group, two people work energetically, two others daydream as the fifth member sleeps. Since the group must generally turn in a single assignment, there is not much incentive for everyone to participate.
This problem is easy to avoid with this week’s assignment. It is ideal for what is known as an "information gap" activity. Information gap occurs when each member of a group is responsible for different information—in this case, a different story.
Information gap lessons usually begin with students in groups. In this case there would be a minimum of five groups since there are five stories to cover. In a large class, however, you would probably want to have ten groups to keep the group size down.
Each group will be responsible for one story. Their job will be to understand the story well enough so that they can tell it to their friends from other groups in English. As I have pointed out in the student’s introduction, the students should definitely not simply memorise their story and then tell it word-for-word as it appears on this page. They should put the story into their own words and try to make it sound as interesting as possible. I have illustrated this with an example story and you should go over it thoroughly with your class.
It is important that each group member learns to tell the story because the next step is to regroup your students (see diagram below) into new groups. Each member of the new group should have learned a different story. This creates an information gap, i.e., each student has information that the other students do not. The students then proceed to each tell their own story to the other group members.
![[Information gap diagram]](gap.gif)
If you want to, you can do an additional follow-up exercise by randomly asking students about the stories they heard from their friends. This will require each student to listen closely as their friends relate their stories. You should announce this in advance, however.
•This lesson was prepared by Acharn Terry Fredrickson, BA Stanford, MA (TESL) University of Minnesota, Manager of the Educational Services Department at the Bangkok Post and general editor of this programme.
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Winner
of PANPA Award for Excellence
