21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World

Grade 11 Learning Plans

Senior High School

Ateneo de Davao University

Session 6: Elements of Drama – Limos by David Chris David Lao

A. OBJECTIVES
At the end of the session, the learners are expected to:
a. Analyze the focus text using the elements of drama
b. Point out the values taken from the focus text
c. Write a draft of an original drama applying the elements of a drama.

B. PRELECTIO
a. Homework/Assignment:
For the next session, the learners are asked to bring 3 news clippings (with or
without pictures) that show social problems like poverty, social inequality (i.e.
gender, financial, intellectual) and others.
b. Nexus/Review:
The teacher will give a 15 item objective quiz about run-on sentences.
c. Motivation:
The learners watch different scenes from different movies.
The teacher asks the following questions:
1. What do you like the most in the scenes presented? (e.g. character,
setting etc.)
2. Aside from the scenes presented, what are your other favorite dramas?
Why?
C. LECTIO
a. Learning Content:
At the end of the session, the class will have discussed:
1. Limos by David Chris Lao
2. Elements of Drama
a. Conflict
b. Plot
c. Theme
d. Character
e. Setting
f. Symbol
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b. Lesson Proper
1. Experience:
The teacher discusses the elements of drama to the class.
The students give more examples of each of the elements of drama
using the books that they have read or movies that they have
watched.

According to Aristotle, the elements of drama are:

1. Plot – It is what happens in a play; the order of events; the story opposed to
the theme; what happens rather than what it means.
2. Theme – It is what the play means as opposed to what happens (plot); the
main idea within the play.
3. Character – These are the personalities or the part actors represent in a play;
it is a role played by an actor in a play.
4. Diction/Language/Dialogue – It is the word choices made by the playwright
and the enunciation of the actors delivering the lines.
5. Music – These are the sound, rhythm, and melody of speeches.
6. Spectacle – This involves the visual elements of the production of a play; the
scenery, costumes, and special effects in a production.

Drama is written primarily to be performed, not read. It is a presentation of

action (a). through actors (the impact is direct and immediate); (b). on a stage (a
captive audience); and (c). before an audience (suggesting a communal experience).

In terms of points of view, the dramatist is limited to only one--the objective

or dramatic point of view. one--the objective or dramatic point of view. The
playwright cannot directly comment on the action or the character and cannot
directly enter the minds of characters and tell us what is going on there. But there
are ways to get around this limitation through the use of (1). soliloquy, in which a
character speaks directly to the audience; and (2). chorus, where a group on stage
comments on characters and actions); and (3). one character commenting on
another.

Genres

Aristotle's definition of tragedy: A tragedy is the imitation in dramatic form of

an action that is serious and complete, with incidents arousing pity and fear
wherewith it effects a catharsis of such emotions. The language used is pleasurable
and throughout appropriate to the situation in which it is used. The chief characters

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are noble personages ("better than ourselves," says Aristotle) and the actions they
perform are noble actions.

According to Northrop Frye, comedy lies between satire and romance. Is the
comic mask laughing or smiling? We usually laugh at someone, but smile with
someone. Laughter expresses recognition of some absurdity in human behavior;
smile expresses pleasure in one's company or good fortune. The essential difference
between tragedy and comedy is in the depiction of human nature: tragedy shows
greatness in human nature and human freedom whereas comedy shows human
weakness and human limitation. The norms of comedy are primarily social; the
protagonist is always in a group or emphasizes commonness. A tragic hero possesses
overpowering individuality - so that the play is often named after her/him (Antigone,
Othello); the comic protagonist tends to be a type and the play is often named for
the type (The Misanthrope, The Alchemist, The Brute).

Comic plots do not exhibit the high degree of organic unity as tragic plots do.
Plausibility is not usually the central characteristic (cause-effect progression) but
coincidences, improbable disguises, mistaken identities make up the plot. The
purpose of comedy is to make us laugh and at the same time, help to illuminate
human nature and human weaknesses. Conventionally, comedies have a happy
ending. Accidental discovery, act of divine intervention (deus ex machina), sudden
reform are common comedic devises. "Comedy is the thinking person's response to
experience; tragedy records the reactions of the person with feeling." - Charles B.
Hands

Melodrama is used to arouse pity and fear through cruder means. Good and
evil are clearly depicted in white and black motifs. Plot is emphasized over character
development.

Farce is aimed at arousing explosive laughter using crude means. Conflicts are
violent, practical jokes are common, and the wit is coarse. Psychologically farce may
boost the reader's spirit and purge hostility and aggression.

2. Repetition/Demonstration:
1. The class will read the drama Limos by Chris David Lao.
2. Through recitation, the students discuss the elements of
drama found in the focus text. The teacher reinforces their
answers.

D. SYNTHESIS (Reflection)
1. What are the dramas in your life? How would you connect those from the
experiences of the characters in the focus text?
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E. ACTION-PERFORMANCE TASK
Form a triad. In a whole sheet of paper, make a drama applying its elements. Choose
one of the subjects below:
 Family life
 Student life in Ateneo
 Friendship
Identify the elements of drama in the original drama that you have made.

F. EVALUATION A

Exemplary Accomplished Good Poor

Required All elements of Most of the There are There are no

Elements (10 drama are elements of elements of elements of
points) excellently drama are drama but are drama.
applied. well-applied. not well
well-applied.
(9-10) (7-8) (5-6) (1-4)

Organization The story is The story The story is The flow of

and Creativity (5 written with well-organized organized. ideas are not
points) fresh ideas that and written but well-organized.
are it could have
well-organized. been better
with a few (1-2)
(5 points) polishing. (3 points)

(4 points)

G. REFERENCES and RESOURCES

 Del Rosario, Pamela, Pagusara, Don, & Tiu, Macario, ed. Philippine
Literature: A Mindanao Reader. Davao City: Blue Iguana, 2007
 Ranalan, Rhodora, et al. Crossing Boundaries through Literature.
Malabon City: Mutya Publishing House, 2013
 Lao, Chris DAvid F. “Limos.” Dagmay. Davao Writers Guild, 04 Aug.
2013. Web, 15 May 2016.
<http://dagmay.kom.ph/2013/08/04/limos>.

H. EVALUATION OF THE LEARNING PLAN

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Prepared by: Consuelo Celine Fuentes

LEARNING PLAN: GRADE 11

21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD

Session 2a:

A. OBJECTIVES
At the end of the session/s, the students are expected to:
a. Express what the like or dislike about the assigned texts
b. Recall details from the assigned texts;
c. Give definitions to vocabulary words from the assigned texts.
d. Enumerate the different kinds of point of view and focalization a
narrative may have;
e. Explain the significance of the choice of point of view and focalizer to
the meaning of the text;
f. Write an alternative story of a part of one of the texts from a different
point of view;

B. PRELECTIO
a. Homework/Assignment
Read “I Am One of the Mountain People” by Macario Tiu and “The
String by Guy de Maupassant. Be ready for oral recitation checking
on your understanding of
the texts. If you come upon a word you cannot give a definition to,
look it up and be ready to give a definition of it.

b. Nexus/Review
In the last class, we recalled the narrative elements that we learned
from our previous schooling. Beginning today, for the rest of the
Preim Term, we will be discussing these elements in depth while
reading some short stories.

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c. Motivation
Ask the class to recall an event in which at least two people had
different “takes” as to what happened. The teacher might give a
couple of examples to start off the discussion. After a few examples,
the teacher explains how the same event may be seen differently by
to two people because they have different points of view of the
matter. This is a common occurrence in our everyday dealings with
people.
Ask the class to give their personal reactions to the texts assigned.
What did they like about them? What might not have they liked
about them? It may be wiser to avoid asking which one they liked
more.

C. LECTIO
a. Learning Content
i. The assigned texts
ii. Background information on the authors of the texts

Macario Tiu has a doctorate in education, teaches literature at the Ateneo de Davao
University. He has three Palanca golds for Short Story in Cebuano, and is a recipient of the
National Book Award in 2005 for Davao: Reconstructing History from Text and
Memory. He writes mostly in Cebuano, and rarely in English.In He was also chosen one of
four finalists for the history category of the National Book Award 2003 for "Davao
1890-1910: Conquest and Resistance in the Garden of the Gods." Dr. Tiu was once the
the editor of Tambara, the official journal of the Ateneo de Davao University and wrote a
column for Mindanews entitled “Bisag Unsa.” Dr. Tiu is now the Director of the Ateneo de
Davao University Publications Office.

Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), French author of the naturalistic school who is

generally considered the greatest French short story writer.

Guy de Maupassant was probably born at the Château de Miromesniel, Dieppe on

August 5, 1850. In 1869 Maupassant started to study law in Paris, but soon, at the
age of 20, he volunteered to serve in the army during the Franco-Prussian War.
Between the years 1872 and 1880 Maupassant was a civil servant, first at the
ministry of maritime affairs, then at the ministry of education.

As a poet Maupassant made his debut with Des Vers (1880). In the same year he
published in the anthology Soirées de Medan (1880), edited by E. Zola, his
masterpiece, "Boule De Suif" ("Ball of Fat", 1880). During the 1880s Maupassant
created some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of
verse. In tone, his tales were marked by objectivity, highly controlled style, and
sometimes by sheer comedy. Usually they were built around simple episodes from
everyday life, which revealed the hidden sides of people. Among Maupassant's
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best-known books are Une Vie (A Woman's Life, 1883), about the frustrating
existence of a Norman wife and Bel-Ami (1885), which depicts an unscrupulous
journalist. Pierre Et Jean (1888) was a psychological study of two brothers.
Maupassant's most upsetting horror story, Le Horla (1887), was about madness and
suicide. Maupassant died on July 6, 1893.

Maupassant had suffered from his 20s from syphilis. The disease later caused
increasing mental disorder - also seen in his nightmarish stories, which have much in
common with Edgar Allan Poe's supernatural visions. Critics have charted
Maupassant's developing illness through his semi-autobiographical stories of
abnormal psychology, but the theme of mental disorder is present even in his first
collection, La Maison Tellier (1881), published at the height of his health.

On January 2, in 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat and
was committed to the celebrated private asylum of Dr. Esprit Blanche at Passy, in
Paris, where he died on July 6, 1893.

From http://www.online-literature.com/maupassant/

iii. Definition and Kinds of Points of View

DEFINITION: The perspective or standpoint from which a story is told.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The author is not the narrator, even if it may seem
strongly so. One must take caution in attributing the tone, bias, values, and
intentions of the narrator to the author. Although the personal life and
history of the author certainly determines the story he/she writes, presuming
that the narrator and author are one identity can lead to a gross
misunderstanding of the narrative. For example, an author may precisely
create a narrator whose tone, bias, and values and intentions are meant to
be critiqued.

“HETERODIEGETIC AND HOMODIEGETIC NARRATORS. If the narrator lets

signs of his presence appear in the narrative he is recounting, he may acquire
a particular status, depending on the way the story is rendered. "We will
therefore distinguish here two types of narrative: one with the narrator
absent from the story he tells [...], the other with the narrator present as a
character in the story he tells [...]. I call the first type, for obvious reasons,
heterodiegetic, and the second type homodiegetic" (1980, pp. 244-245).

In addition, if the homodiegetic narrator is the hero of the story, he/she is

called autodiegetic.” (Guillemette and Levesque)

The homodiegetic narrator is therefore a narrator who, as he or she tells

the story, is part of the world where the story is happening. Such a narrator
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who is the hero or the main protagonist of the story is further called an
autodiegetic narrator. An heterodiegetic narrator does not speak as if
he/she is part of the world in which the story is happening. There is
therefore a greater distance between the world and the events of the story
and the heterodiegetic narrator as compared to the distance to the
homodiegetic narrator.

iv. Definition and Kinds of Focalization

From Guillemette and Levesque (pp.4-5)

A distinction should be made between narrative voice and

narrative perspective; the latter is the point of view adopted by the
narrator, which Genette calls focalization. "So by focalization I
certainly mean a restriction of 'field' – actually, that is, a selection
of narrative information with respect to what was traditionally
called omniscience" (1988, p. 74). These are matters of perception:
the one who perceives is not necessarily the one who tells, and vice
versa.

Genette distinguishes three kinds of focalization:

1. Zero focalization: The narrator knows more than the characters.

He may know the facts about all of the protagonists, as well as
their thoughts and gestures. This is the traditional "omniscient
narrator".

2. Internal focalization: The narrator knows as much as the focal

character. This character filters the information provided to the
reader. He cannot report the thoughts of other characters.

3. External focalization: The narrator knows less than the

characters. He acts a bit like a camera lens, following the
protagonists' actions and gestures from the outside; he is unable to
guess their thoughts.

By examining the characteristics of a narrative instance and the

particulars of the narrative mood, we can clarify the mechanisms
used in the narrative act, and identify exactly what methodological
choices the author made in order to render his/her story. The use
of different narratological processes creates different effects for
the reader. For example, one could have a hero-narrator
(autodiegetic narrator) who uses simultaneous narration and
internal focalization and whose speech is often in reported form.
This would undoubtedly produce a strong illusion of realism and
credibility.
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NARRATIVE LEVELS. Various reading effects result from shifts in

narrative level, traditionally known as embedding. Within the main
plot, the author can insert other short embedded narratives, told
by other narrators from other narrative perspectives. This is a
rather common technique that adds diversity to the narrative act
and increases the complexity of the narrative.

EMBEDDED NARRATIVES. Narration of the main (first-level)

narrative occurs at the extradiegetic level. The event-story being
narrated on this first level fills a second-level position, known as
intradiegetic. If a character found in this story takes the floor and
tells some other narrative, his narrative act will also be on the
same intradiegetic level. However, the events being told through
the second-level narration are metadiegetic.

Example (fictitious): Today I saw a teacher come up to a group of

children at play. After a few minutes, she spoke: "Listen, children,
I'm going to tell you an amazing story of courage that happened a
few hundred years ago. This is the story of Marguerite Bourgeois..."

Below is a table showing the narrative levels.

NARRATIVE
OBJECTS LEVELS
CONTENT
Homodiegetic
main plot Extradiegetic
narration ("I")
Story about the
Event-story Intradiegetic teacher and the
children
Second-level
Intradiegetic The teacher speaks
narrative act
Embedded Story of Marguerite
Metadiegetic
narrative Bourgeois

METALEPSIS. Writers sometimes also use metalepsis, a process in

which the boundary between two narrative levels (which is
normally impervious) is breached so as to deliberately blur the line
between reality and fiction. Metalepsis is a way of playing with
variations in narrative level in order to create an effect of
displacement or illusion. This would be a case in which a character
or narrator from one level appears on the scene at a higher level,
whereas plausibility completely excludes this possibility. "All these

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games, by the intensity of their effects, demonstrate the

importance of the boundaries they [the authors] tax their ingenuity
to overstep, in defiance of verisimilitude – a boundary that is
precisely the narrating (or the performance) itself: a shifting but
sacred frontier between two worlds, the world in which one tells,
the world of which one tells" (1980, p. 236).

To return to our previous example, if the homodiegetic narrator

from the main story line intervenes in the metadiegetic story of
Marguerite Bourgeois, this would be a case of metalepsis.
Marguerite Bourgeois is a 17th-century heroine who founded the
Notre-Dame Congregation school for girls in Montreal. So it would
be impossible for a contemporary ("current") narrator to appear on
the scene, camping out in New France in this embedded story.

b. Lesson Proper
i. Experience (with Reflection A)
1. Oral Recitation. The teacher conducts an oral
recitation by which the summary of the plots of the
short stories is reviewed. Also included are
vocabulary words. Using the student index cards, the
teacher records how many times each student is able
to answer correctly. All answers must be given in
complete sentences.
2. Lecture: The teacher introduces the definition and
kinds of point of view and focalization, gives examples.
3. Discussion: How are the narrative elements point of
view and focalization used in the texts? What effects
on the revelation of the story do they have? What
effects on social perspective do they have? What
difference would it have made if another character in
the story were to tell the story?

ii. Repetition/Demonstration (of objectives)

1. The teacher asks students how they would explain the
narrative elements of point of view and focalization to
a friend.
2. The teacher asks students how these concepts are
present in audio-visual media like films or
photography?

D. SYNTHESIS (Reflection B)
Dr. Mac Tiu, one of our authors, is not one of the mountain people. Why do
you think he takes on the telling or writing of such a story? (lead up to the
insight that Dr. Tiu is trying to give a voice to the voiceless in society.)
Would you take on such a stance for other people?
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E. ACTION (Performance Task)

Brainstorm, who else are the voiceless in the community or society that you
live in?

F. EVALUATION A
Writing a scene: Take on the point of view and focal perspective of one of the
classmates of the main protagonist in “I Am One of the Mountain People.”
Tell the story of the first day that the main protagonist joins your class.
Describe him and how you and the rest of the class react to his presence.
(in just 3 paragraphs) Post your scene on the Class Blog.

G. EVALUATION B (Processing the Action, the Performance Task)

Explain why you feel the groups of people you mentioned E are voiceless.

H. REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

a. Electronic copies of the texts
b. Guillemette and Levesque. Narratology.
c. White Board and Marker

I. EVALUATION OF THE LEARNING PLAN (post-implementation) – Teacher

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J. PRELECTIO FOR NEXT LESSON

Read “Sakeenah” by Arifah Macacua Jamil and “Wedding Dance” by Amador Daguio. Be ready for
oral recitation checking on your understanding of the texts. If you come upon a word you cannot give a
definition to, look it up and be ready to give a definition of it.

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