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Theme 4: A Reading Maze (Day 5)

Brief Description: A problem solving activity that provides several choices for readers to make
decision. Each decision leads to more choices for action until the readers find solution.
Objectives:
1. Practice critical thinking
2. Practice discussing skill
3. Practice reading and writing a maze and self-check grammatical mistakes using checklist
4. Work in team.
End Task: Each group of campers writes a maze and exchanges it with other groups of campers
for entertainment.
Materials: OHP/OHT, blank papers or poster papers (to write a maze), OHT pens
Preparation: The teacher needs to understand clearly how the maze works.
References:
Berrer, M. and Rinvolucri, M. 1981. Mazes: A Problem-Solving Reader. London: Heinemann
Educational Books.

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Procedures:
Activities

Time

Materials

1 hour

CW1 Language of
Discussion

MAZE ACTIVITY
1. Do a maze activity in groups.
Divide campers into a group of 4, and in each group assign one
camper as leader. Tell them that leaders of each group will read
aloud a problem to group and will ask members to discuss and
make the decision to help leaders solve their problems.

CW2 Feeling Ill

Distribute a handout (CW1 - Language of Discussion) to all

Campers and briefly go over the language that Campers will use
for their discussion.
Distribute one handout (CW2 - A Maze: FEELING ILL) to the
leaders of each group. Then explain to them what they have to do
in this activity. (Explanation - The leaders read the situation
(No. 1) aloud to the group acting as if it was their own problem
by changing the pronoun from you to I, and your to
mine. At this point the leaders have to make sure that
everybody understands what is happening. Then, the leaders
read the choices and ask the group members to discuss and
suggest one of the choices. (Dont read the numbers in front of
each choice. When the members make the decision on the choice,
look at the number in front to that choice, and go to that section
in the story and read.) Then, continue reading and discussing
until the problem is solved.)
After the leaders understand clearly what to do, each group can
start doing the maze activity.
Upon finishing, elicit from Campers if they know what this
activity is called. (Ans: a maze.)
Tell Campers to try this maze one more time but this time try
different choices to see how the maze works.

2. Find out how Maze works and write tree diagram for
it.
Ask Campers to discuss in groups what they think are main
components of a maze and present their findings to the class.
Then, wrap up and supply the answer if Campers cannot come up
with it. (Ans: a situation (or a problem), choices (or different
ways/choices to solve problems) and a way out (or solution)
Ask each group to identify each component that appears in the
maze to confirm their understanding.
(Ans:
a situation (or a problem) the person does not
feeling well
choices (or different ways to solve problems) there are

1 hour

CW3 How
to write a
maze

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three choices at the beginning:- 1) ignore it, 2) drink a lot
of liquids, and 3) take some aspirin. Each choice leads to
other choices.
a way out (or solution) go to the doctor (but the doctor
still cant help)
Explain to Campers how a maze is done using the info from CW
3 How to write a maze (both explanation and a tree diagram)
Work with Campers to complete the diagram for Feeling Ill.
(Tree Diagram for Feeling Ill
** Your tree diagram might not come out exactly like this. It is
fine as long as you can list all the choices.

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3. Play a reading maze in groups and work out a tree

diagram.
Get Campers in a group of 3-4. Then distribute maze stories.
Each group gets different stories. (CW 4 - Reading Mazes). Each
S gets one copy.

1.30
hours

CW 4
- Reading
Mazes
Answer Key
Tree
diagram for
mazes

** If the stories are too difficult for the Campers level, choose
the easiest one (Parking) and every group works on this one.
Tell Campers to do the maze activity. This time each S reads the
maze and does the activity on his or her own.
When finished, work out as a group to draw a tree diagram of the
maze they have read. Then, take turns explaining the diagram to
the class (on an OHT or a poster paper). (See Answer Key Tree
diagram for mazes. T can make a copy for Campers or put it on
an OHT.)
** If Campers work on the same maze, ask them to compare the
diagrams instead.

4. Write a Reading Maze

Get Campers to write their own maze following the guidelines
below:

think of a situation/problem and at least three choices of

action to start off

while planning Campers might use a tree diagram to guide

their direction

1.30
hours

CW 5 Sentence
types

30-40
min

CW 6 - A
Content &
Grammar
Checklist for

Get Campers to consult CW 5 Sentence types as a guideline for

writing.
When they have finished, they should try the whole activity by
playing it all the way till the end to see if the maze works out
okay.

5. Use a language checklist to check content and grammar

of the maze written
Distribute CW 6 - Content & Grammar Checklist for Mazes for
Campers to check if the Campers mazes has all main components
and their grammar is correct.

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Mazes

Walk around and offer help.

Get Campers to rewrite their mazes after proofreading.
6. Exchange mazes with other group and play them.
When Campers have finished proofreading their maze and
rewritten it, make photocopies of all the mazes of each group and
give them to other groups. (One copy for one group.) So each
group will have the mazes of other groups.
Campers do all the mazes and make comments for each maze on
the following points:

Interesting or not?

Situation clear or not?

Choices good and realistic or not?

Any points for improvement?

Campers share their comments with each other. When finished,

each group tries to improve their maze and submit to T.

CW 1 - Language of Discussion
LANGUAGE OF DISCUSSION

Inviting participation
Has anyone got any suggestions?
(Name), did you want to say something?
(Name), what do you think?

Giving an opinion
I think that..

2
hrs

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Agreeing

I feel that .
In my opinion.
As I see it,..
It seems to me that

Followed by your idea

I agree.
I think so too.
Yes, thats a good point.
Yes, thats a good idea.

Disagreeing
I dont agree.
I disagree.
Im not sure I agree with you.
Yes, but.
But dont you think that
Giving advice:
I think you should .
You should..
I suggest that you should..

Give reasons why

you dont agree.

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CW 2 Feeling ill
1. You wake up one day, you dont feel right. The next day its the same. Theres nothing very
wrong nothing hurts, you have no aches or pains. You just dont feel right. The third day its
just the same a bit like a fever. You take your temperature. Its slightly higher than normal.
This goes on for another two days.
What do you do?
3

You ignore it but try to get some more sleep.

Drink a lot of liquids

10 Take some aspirin

2. Your grandmother once told you to eat a lot of garlic if you dont feel right. Garlic is lovely. You
buy a string of it. You read through all your recipe books to find dishes with lots of garlic in them.
Each evening you make one but you put in ten times more garlic then the recipe calls for ..
Oh, you really do stink all day! No one can stand it. A friend suggests you take some aspirin.
GO TO 10.
3. Youre probably just tired. You have been working too hard lately and not getting much sleep, so
you go to bed very early for a couple of days. It helps you stop feeling tired. But you still dont
feel right. And your temperature is still above normal. So:
7 You make a special herb tea for fevers.
9 You rub yourself with alcohol three times a day.
4. A friend of yours got a fever from an abscess () on a tooth recently. You havent been to a
dentist in two years because you hate going so much. You should go in any case; maybe thats
the problem. So you go. The dentist cleans your teeth and puts in six fillings () . Your
mouth hurts for three days. But no abscess and nothing to cause fever. Nice try, but no good.
So;
7 You make a special herb tea for fevers.
15 You take a cold bath.
5. Youve heard somewhere that raw onion is good for cold or is it for fever? You cant remember
which. You decide to try it. You make four different kinds of salad and put a whole chopped
onion in each. Its delicious; you love onion anyway. The first night you get a stomach-ache but
it goes away. The second night you get it again and you cant stop belching. The next day at
work no one will come near you. Besides, it doesnt get rid of the fever. So you:
3 Ignore the fever, but try and get some extra sleep.
8 Drink a lot of liquids.
6. The miracle healer examines you and asks a lot of questions. He prescribes queen bee honey, three
times a day, and says come back in a week if you arent better. The visit costs you 600 baht.
The jars of queen bee honey seven for one week cost you 300 baht each. Youre desperate
so you pay. Its delicious no doubt about it. But it doesnt do a thing for you. You dont go
back. Youre fed up with doctors who dont know what theyre talking about. So:
8 Drink a lot of liquids.
9 You rub yourself with alcohol three times a day.
7. There are twenty different herbs needed to make this tea. You spend all day Saturday going from
one shop to the other, looking for all the herbs. You can only find eighteen of them; still, its not

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bad. You make the tea, put up your tired feet and drink. You drink two liters of tea a day for a
week. It doesnt make the smallest difference. So you:
5 Eat a lot of onions.
11 Try to sweat it off.
8. When you have a fever, youre supposed to drink a lot of liquids. This tops your body from drying
out and washes out your system. So you drink orange juice, milk, soda, beer anything. After
three days, you are told at work to stop spending so much time in the toilet. Anyway, it didnt
work you still have the fever. So you:
2 Eat a lot of garlic.
11 Try to sweat it off.
9. You remember when you were young and got a lot of fevers, your mother used to rub alcohol all
over your body. It usually made the fever go down and felt good. So you try it three times a
day for several days. It helps temporarily, but the fever comes back after you stop. This is awful.
What do you try next?
2 You eat a lot of garlic.
15 You take a cold bath.
10. Whatever is wrong, it cant be serious. A few aspirin will get rid of it. So for two days you take
an aspirin every four or five hours. And for those couples of days you feel better. Whatever it
was, it must be gone. So you stop taking the aspirin. The next day, you dont feel right again.
Now what?
5 You eat a lot of onions.
15 You take a cold bath.
11. Fevers are supposed to go down if you make yourself swat. So every evening for three days, you
put on woolen underwear, two pairs of thick socks and several pullovers. You drink several
glasses of water, do some exercises and get into bed. You do this for three evenings, three times
every evening. You sweat a lot. It is both exhaust and boring. After three days of this, youve
lost some weight, but you still have the fever. So:
14 You take two days off work to rest.
4 You go to the dentist and see if you have an abscess () on a tooth.
12. You go back to the doctor and ask to be sent for tests at the hospital. She thinks you are being
silly, but she finally agrees. At the hospital they try tests for kidney infection, glandular
infection and infection in all your other organs. Over a period of three months they test you for
everything that they can think of and almost kill you in the process. All the tests are negative.
Finally they say, Sorry, but as far as we can see, theres nothing wrong with you. You would
love to agree, except that your temperature is still slightly above normal almost everyday.
Doctors!!! Theres no solutions youre out of the maze. What would you do next if this
happened?
13. Youve been avoiding the doctor, but this is silly. She listens to your trouble and says its
probably nothing. You insist that she examines you. She checks your ears and throat for
infection nothing. Your glands arent swollen. She does a blood test and examines you.
Nothing. She tells you to take two days off work and rest. You leave, disappointed. A week
later you still have the fever. So you:
12 Go back to the doctor.
6 Go to a miracle healer youve heard about.

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14. Well, you have two days off. You try sleeping but youre not very tired. You stay in bed anyway,
but it gets boring. You cant really concentrate on reading very long. You try doing crossword
puzzles, and watching the television. You clean the whole flat. Youre not ill enough to want to
stay home. After one day off, you decide to go back to work. But you still dont feel right and
the fevers still there.
10 You take some aspirin.
9 You rub yourself with alcohol three times a day.
15. You read in a magazine once that doctors had put someone n bath of ice water because they had a
high fever. It worked once- why not with you? SO you take a freezing cold bath with ice in it.
It certainly lowers your body temperature. You almost freeze to death. You get out of the bath
shivering and that night the fever goes up two degrees. What next:
13 You go to your doctor.
11 You try to sweat it off.

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CW 3 How to write your own maze.

Instructions: Write your own maze. You can start writing your own maze by thinking of a problematic
situation that has many ways to solve. This problematic situation must be very clear. If is not clear at
the beginning it is difficult to go further. From this situation you should think up of at least three
choices for action to start off. Then write the sections that go with these choices, showing the results
of that choice and the next set of choices following.
Complete the tree diagram for FEELING ILL
Section 1

8
Go to 5

5
Go to 11

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Answer Key Tree diagrams
1. PARKING

2. THE BABYS CRYING

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CW 5 - Sentence types
SENTENCES: SIMPLE, COMPOUND AND COMPLEX
A common weakness in writing is the lack of varied sentences. Three types of sentences (simple,
compound, and complex) can help you make your writing varied
1. A simple sentence
A simple sentence has the most basic elements of a sentence; a subject, a verb, and a complete
thought. There are six basic patterns for simple sentences. A simple sentence can also be called an
independent clause. It has a complete thought and can stand by itself as a complete sentence.

S-V

Subject-Verb

John sleeps.
Jack and Jill will arrive tonight.

S-V-O

Subject-Verb-Object

I like rice.
She loves her job.

S-V-Adj

Subject-Verb-Adjective

He is funny and kind.

Karen seems angry.

S-V-Adv

Subject-Verb-Adverb

Flowers are everywhere.

The baby sleeps soundly.

S-V-N

Subject-Verb-Noun

She is my mom.
The men are doctors.

In every English sentence there is the Subject-Verb relationship. Other elements can be added to make
a sentence more interesting.

2. Compound Sentences
A compound sentence contains two independent clause (or a complete sentence) connected by a
coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). Or you can remember them as FAN BOYS.

Simple sentence

Coordinate conjunctions

Simple sentence

(an independent
clause)

(for, and, nor, but, or, yet,

so)

(an independent
clause)

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Examples:
1. Joe waited for the train, but it didnt come.

Simple sentence

Coordinate conjunctions

Simple sentence

(for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

Joe waited for the train

, but

it didnt come

2. Joe came late for an exam, so the teacher didnt allow him to have an exam.

Simple sentence

Coordinate conjunctions

Simple sentence

(for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

Joe came late for an
exam

, so

the teacher didnt allow

him to have an exam.

3. Complex Sentences
A complex sentence is made up of an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses
connected to it by a subordinate conjunction (after, before, because, since, though, etc). A dependent
clause is similar to an independent clause, or a complete sentence, but it does not have a complete
thought (e.g.

Simple sentence
(an independent clause)

Subordinate conjunctions
(after, before, because, since,
though, etc.)

Simple sentence
(a dependent clause)

Examples:
1. Mary didnt come because it rained.

Simple sentence

Mary didnt come

Subordinate conjunctions
(after, before, because, since,
though, etc.)
because

Simple sentence

it rained

2. John arrived home before it got dark.

Simple sentence

John arrived home

Subordinate conjunctions
(after, before, because, since,
though, etc.)
before

Simple sentence

it got dark

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CW 6 - A Content & Grammar Checklist for Mazes

Instructions: Check your maze with the items below and correct your maze accordingly.
CONTENT
Is there a problem in your maze? Is the problem clear?
Does each situation have clear choices leading to the next choices?
Does you maze have a solution (a way out of the maze)?
GRAMMAR
Does each sentence have a subject and a verb?
Do all subjects and verbs agree (e.g. a singular subject takes a
singular verb he is, the dog barks.)?
Are the tenses correct (talking about what happens present
tense & talking about things that have already happened past tense)?
Does a noun have an article? (A countable noun must have an article
a in front of it.)

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