LANGUAGE SCHOOL AND TRANSLATION CENTRE
V a lj e v o
L e s s o n
P l a n
I'VE JUST READ A GOOD STORY
Author: Mirjana Ljiljak-Vukajlović
Level: Young Adult B2
Time: about 60 minutes
Aims:
 Use attractive multimedia to develop interest in reading a contemporary
literary text
 Analyze literary elements of setting, characters, plot and theme
 Explore the background of story creation
 Write a story review
Resources:
 Singers and Roosters story by Aleksandar Gatalica at www.gatalica.com
 Short Story Elements quiz at www.funtrivia.com
 Literary Elements organiser at www.readwritethink.org
 www.rewordify.com
 Review of The Mimicries by Gatalica


How to write a short story review at www.ehow.com
Headstarts by Natalie Hess, Longman
Procedure:
Pre-reading activities
1. Read the first paragraph of the story Singers and Roosters by Aleksandar Gatalica and
tell students to listen carefully and write down the names of two main characters.
2. Ask them what guesses they can make about the setting, characters, plot, and theme.
What more they would like to know about them? They should write down as many
questions as possible in the table given below.
3. Tell students to swap the worksheet with their partner and answer each other's
questions.
4. They read through their answers and compare them.
Before they begin tell them to go to www.funtrivia.com to refresh their memory about the
Short Story Elements
My questions
My partner's answers
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
Characters 1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
Plot
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
Theme
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
Setting
While-Reading activities
1. Students read the story Singers and Roosters and write down information for the literary
elements mentioned above using Literary Elements interactive to help them analyze the
story in more detail.
2. Students print out their notes and compare them with the answers in the table above.
How similar or different were their assumptions from the actual story?
Vocabulary Work
1. Instruct students to go to the site www.rewordify.com and copy the story link in the box
provided in order to get definitions for more difficult words.
2. They should click on the LEARN and play three interactive vocabulary games: On-screen
Flash Cards, On-screen quiz and On-screen Word Bank.
Further reading
The story Singers and Rooster comes from Gatalica's collection of short stories The
Mimicries. Tell students to visit the site www.gatalica.com again and read the short review
of this collection and answer the following questions:
1.What makes this collection unusual?
2.Who or what does the writer mimic?
3.What does the author say “would be the greatest honour of all” for him?
Writing
Tell students to Write a review of the story Singers and Roosters. They should use
their notes from Literary Elements Interactive and the web site www.ehow.com with
tips on How to write a Short Story Review
Acknowledgement: I got the idea for pre-reading activities from Why, Where and
How? in Headstarts by Natalie Hess, Longman