The research has involved 36 children (21 girls and 15 boys) at Móra Ferenc Primary school in Paks, whose previous foreign language instructions had been different. The research was made in three groups, two were in the fifth grade, one was in the seventh. G1 group started to study English at the age of nine in the fourth grade, now they are in the seventh grade. They have two lessons a week. There are 14 pupils in this group, five of them came to this group from another class in September. G2 group started to study English at the age of six, in the first grade, they used Tip Top I (Rixon, 1991) course book, and they learnt mainly songs, short speeches, read 'The Hungry Catepillar' (Nikolov, 1990), 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' and some short fables, as supplementary material. G3 group started to learn English at the age of nine in the fourth grade. The teacher started to teach them since September. All groups started to study Hutchinson's Project (1995) English course book in the fourth grade, which is a topic centered and structurally graded material. September (the writer). G 1 and G 2 group have been instructed by the same teacher of English throughout their studies.
Although I use Project English (Hutchinson 1986) course book, my theory is that learning a course book unit by unit kills motivation and interest and reduces learning capacity, its vocabulary is limited. Stories encourage the children's participation, improve a variety of language skills, extend their vocabulary, and motivate them speak. The hypothesis was that children's vocabulary, imagination and creativity can be improved with the help of art, painting and forming, and these kind of manipulative activities help even the shy children to speak.
Lesson one
In this chapter the three groups' tasks and the children's achievements and feelings will be described and analysed. The first lesson was similar in each groups. The teacher told a story to the children which was written by one of the girls in G1 group. Then they painted the image of richness and happiness. They wrote at least three words to the picture and one sentence. Then everyone showed the picture to the others and told why the person in the picture is poor or rich. The most typical sentences: 'This man is very rich, because he has got a big car, castle, big house, beautiful furniture, ship. He has delicious food. This man is very thin and weak, because he hasn't got any food. They have got shabby old clothes, small houses. They haven't got any shoes. Rich people haven't got many children, but poor people have.
Then they chose a 'poor' or a 'rich' character and started to write a short composition. The task was the same in each groups, but in the seventh class children had a competition, they worked in two groups. They got a point for a correct sentence. Their homework was to read a short story from their collection to tell it to one of their classmates in the next lesson.
Reflection
Children enjoyed the activity in all groups. More task was planned, but as it was the first lesson, students needed more time for the painting, so it was advisable to deal with the given topic than to start another one. The competition was not planned, but as it was the first lesson on Tuesday, it was difficult to make students speak.
Lesson two G2, G3 group. In the second lesson the children listened to a story about 'Mickey Millie and Mut'. from Project I (pp. 66), and looked at the pictures. They understood the text easily. Mickey needs some new football boots, Millie a new dress, but their mum hasn't got any money for them. Mickey and Millie decided to work in the zoo, to earn some money.
Then the children worked in pairs. They had to form a character who needs help, and a helper to find the solution. They told stories about the following things. A camel is lost. He can't find his way home. An elephant without a trunk. The snail is two slow, he can't run. A schoolgirl who doesn’ like school. A businessman who would like to go to the airport. A boy is looking for his dog.
Then they started to write down their story in pairs and their homework was to finish it individually.
In G1 group the teacher told a story about 'Animal Rebellion'.
The animals rebelled against their owners. Their leader was Snawball and Napoleon. They collected every instrument that Mr Jones used to make them feel pain, such as, nose rings, dog chains, and whips and threw them on the fire. A pig, I suppose it was one of their leaders, threw some ribbons on the fire and an enormous, proud horse also threw a hat. Then they made laws by which all the animals on Animal Farm must live for ever. Their laws are:
1. Whatewer goes on two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes on four legs or has wings is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall kill another animal.
5. All animals are equal.
Students formed one of the animals and started to write a story about it in pairs and they finished it at home individually. At the end of the lesson they chose another pair and read them what they wrote. This activity helped the students to finish their story at home. They wrote different compositions about a hamster who lives in an aquarium and has claustrophobia, dogs who live in a flat and his owners do not have enough time for walking. Here are some of the students compositions without error correction.
Brutus, the Sad Dog
Brutus lived in a flat. His family loved him. He had got a lot of food and a comfortable bed. But he was sad, because he was not free. When his family and Brutus walked, he was happy, but it was only two or three hours, or sometimes only one hour. There was a women, a man, a girl and a boy in the family. One day the woman said to her family. 'I think Brutus is not happy here. We'll give him to my friends.' 'No, no, we do not want it ' said the boy and the girl. A year later, they gave him to the woman's friends. The girl cried. But when they went to the family they saw Brutus. They saw a dog, but it was not Brutus. This was another Brutus. It was happier than their Brutus.
The Hamster
The hamster's colour is black, white and grey. his name is 'Májkrém'. He lives in the aquarium. he eats carrot. cabbage, caluliflower, lettice and potato. He is one year old and about five centimeters long. He has brown eyes. He does not like living in an a aquarium, because he has claustrophobia. the hamster does not like when the cat is in the flat. The hamster likes when they give the fod to him. The hamster likes freedom, like running in the room.
My Dog
I have got a very big dog. His name is Ordas. He is five years old. He has got brown eyes. He is a black dog. He is friendly. He is fifty kilogramms. He has got a long tail. He is free because we have got a big house, big garden and court yard. He runs a lot in the big court yard. He is Alsation. He plays a lot with my cat in the garden. The cat, his name is Maffie. He is five years old too. His mother died for two years. He has got brown eyes and long tails. He is a grey cat. He is very friendly, too. Ordas has got a big house in the court yard. He defends the house. His favourite food is meat. Maffie likes meat too and hot milk. But he does not like a lot of. I like Ordas because my favourite animal is the dog. Ordas sleeps with Maffie on the terras. Ordas is not a wild dog. Sometimes Muffy sleeps and dreams on the loft. Ordas is not a wild dog. Ordas's best friend is Muffie and Muffie's best friend is Ordas.
Reflection
Writing a story was not a new idea for students, it is always exciting, and more interesting than rewriting a story. Students needed more help during this activity. They were allowed to use a dictionary to feel more comfortable, although it has some disadvantages, but it is closely connected with studying EFL.
Lesson three
G 1 Group
Students painted the image of happiness and sadness, collected words and discussed it in a small group, and each group told three sentences. Then the story making activity was extended with painting the image of a character who went on a journey. They wrote two obstacles and two helpers, and painted the image of the journey. Here are some of the stories without error correction.
G1 group
Two of these compositions:
Where is the doctor?
Jack has got a family. He loves his wife. Her name is Mary. Mary is ill, therefore Jack goes to the doctor. He hasn't got a telephone. Jack sits into the car and goes to the doctor. When he goes his car's wheel had a flat tyre. A taxi driver takes him to the city, but there is a traffic jam. His friend takes him to the doctor. The doctor and Jack go home. Two weeks later Mary recovered from her illness.
Tony's holiday
One day Tony started to Miami from Pusztahencse. The bus driver is driving very fast. At the custom's control the bus waited for twelve hours. In the ocean he was sick. In the USA the bus waited because of the heavy traffic it could go slowely. In the hotel the hotel receptionist
Group 2
Children painted the image of happiness and sadness, and wrote at least three words and one sentence to the picture. The following words were the most typical. happiness: Christmas, no school, birthday, surprise, 5 mark, travelling, holiday, football, sunshine, drawing, dog, present, Easter, Santa Clause, weekend sadness: Death, funeral, school, bad marks, raining, polluted air, the Danube, blood, no dog, difficult homework.
One pupil's sentences: When I get five. I'm happy when I'm playing on my computer, play tennis or judo, when the sun is shining, the air is clean, people aren't poor. I'm sad when there is a virus in my computer, when the weather is windy and snowy, when my mother is ill.
Then they talked about animals who are not happy, because they are closed in flats. Their task was to choose and describe an animal.
Group 3
One girl who is not good at English told to the teacher 'I love You ' and she graved it into a red heart. I know that some of the pupils are very thankful for story teaching, mainly for these unusual language teaching. Students wrote similar words, and sentences but some of them are quite different.
Sentences: I'm happy when we are on holiday, when I get a lot of presents, when I eat a lot of ice cream, when I get a lot of five marks. Children asked the following words as a help. In G2 group: die, death, trip, excursion, air pollution, polluted air G3: die, difficult, loose, win teddy bear, nameday
Then the children formed a character who is happy or said and told their problems or happiness to one of their classmates.
Then the teacher started a story about Jack who went to work to the city to try his luck, because he was jobless, but he got involved in a bad company. He writes a letter to his parents.
The students had to write a short letter, then the teacher collected and mixed them. Everyone chose one of them and they started to write an answer.
Reflections
Students and the teacher herself felt more comfortable than in the earlier lessons. They were relaxed. 'Are we going to paint or form again?' The students asked and smiled.
Lesson four
Students formed the image of themselves at that moment, and made dialogues with their pairs in every groups.
G2 G3 Group
. The children read their homework to their pair. The teacher told a story: It's a Dog's Life. Then the children created a character who is going on a journey. They chose two obstacles and two helpers and painted the departure. They wrote the following stories in small groups.
The Little Green Frog
Once upon a time there lived a frog in the pond. He was very hungry. The frog leaves the pond and looks for some food. The stork saw the frog and flied there. ' I want to eat him' said the stork. The frog saw the stork and he could not tell a word from strike. But another frog came and helped this frog. 'Thanks for your help' said the little frog and lived happily.
The Hungry Rabbit
One day the hungry Rogger rabbit walked to the forest. He saw a very big carrot. On his way home he met a wolf. The Rogger rabbit ran into the forest. There was a hunter. the hunter kill the wolf. The happy Rogger went home.
'Free as a Bird'
Once upon a time there was a garden. There lived a dog, her name is Alda. The owner closed the dog. There is a tree in the fence. The branch is on the tree, a bird is on the branch. His name is Arthur. Alda saw the singing bird. 'Poor dog' said Arthur. 'How could I get out?' said Arthur.
'Jump over the fence.' said Arthur. Alda jumped over the fence. In the end she was free.
'Thank you Arthur.' said Alda. She took comfort herself on the door-mat.
The Cat and a Mouse
One day a cat was very hungry. He met a mouse. they became friends. they collected some fruits and built a house. The cat was very hungry. he ate all the winter fruits and the mouse.
G 1 group
Students told their feelings in jibbarish. The teacher started a story about Jack who went to work to the city to try his luck, because he was jobless, but he got involved in a bad company. Jack writes a letter to his parents. The students had to write a short letter to their parents, then the teacher collected and mixed them. Everyone chose one of the letters and they started to write an answer.
24th April 1996
Dear Father,
I'm sorry, because I came here from home. I didn't know, why do I it. I have got new friends, but they use drug, smoke. I used it too, but i want to finish it. If I finish it, they won't be my friends. And I haven't got any money, I can’t live, if I havent got friends and money. Please give me an advice, that what I do now.
Bye,
Jack
24th April 1996
Dear Jack,
I give money to you, but this is the last occassion. I think you start working and brak off all relations with this life. Go to work and find new friends.
Care,
Daddy
24th April 1996
Dear Father,
I am drug addicted. I don't have money. I always have to ask it from people. If I don't have money the lack of drugs kill me. Please, help me.
Care
John
My Son,
I am sad, that you are drug addicted. Come home and we talk about everything. We try to help you. Here is some money for the bus.
Your Father
Reflections
It was a good opportunity for practicing the letter writing. During this writing activity important words occured like trouble, drug addicted, sorry for, lack of sg....
Conclusion
The students' answer reflect a general positive attitude to these activities and tasks. These answers strengthen the teacher's hypotheses that one of the most important motivating factors for students are the interesting tasks and activities. All groups enjoyed these activities, although they sometimes felt the difficulty of free writing which is the most difficult work. But the painting and forming helped their creativity. Here are some of the answers: G3 ' We were relaxed. We did not even recognised that we were studying.' 'We used a lot of words. After the lesson we talk about it.' 'These words are not in the book.' 'We can learn more words.' 'I like these lessons.' I would like more lessons like these were.' 'Éva néni helped a lot.' 'I liked the painting and forming.' G2 'We can study English more quickly and easier in this way. We got a lot of help.' 'I liked it very much.' 'We can use the language in this way.' I was able to use my fantasy and express myself in my own words.' G1 I liked these lessons, because my vocabulary was extended.' 'It is quite difficult. It would have been more effective if we had made a composition together after reading the same text.' 'I liked the best when we painted the image of richness and poorness.' 'We got enough help.' 'It was effective because children learn what they are intrested in easier.' It was difficult to write these compositions, but we got help. The lessons were interesting.'
The student who would feel more comfortable with a given story did not recognise that she asks what we do for years. The teacher is also aware of the fact that students do not like Project II book, they find it boring, so she tries to use stories as supplementary material. It was a more comfortable feeling for the teacher, too because the students were helpful. These kind of free writing activities are related to fluency and they help speaking. The errors were handle tactfully with a pencil not to lose the students' interest. Free writing is the main aim of every writing activity. As children shared the stories with their pairs, the writing was not aimless. Students asked to do similar activities again which can say more then the written words.
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