LESSON PLAN

BRIDGE STORY

About this activity

In this activity – which is aimed at teens and adults –  students work in teams to design a
children’s story based on a simple idea.

▶ Recommended language level: B1 +

▶ Main task: Designing a story based on a simple idea
▶ Topics: Stories with morals

For this activity, you will need the following:

* A short animated film (see below)

* Optional: some images from the animator’s website (see page 3)

The short film

The short film is titled Bridge. According to animator Ting Chian Tey, it is “a story
about four animal characters trying to cross a bridge, but ending up as obstacles to
one another in the process.” The moral would seem to be that pride and
stubbornness will get you nowhere and can negatively affect those around you.

You can see the short film on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/27299211

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Activity outline

1. Put your students into pairs and ask them to discuss the following questions:

* Do you remember any good stories from when you were a child? If so, tell your partner
what happens in the story.
* Did the story have a moral? If so, what was it?

Note: a moral in a story is a message that teaches us an idea about right or wrong behaviour.
Usually, the moral is not given to us directly – the reader or listener will have to recognise it for
himself.

2. Listen to students’ ideas. Try to find a single good example of a story with a moral from one of
your students. Establish that when a story has a moral, it is usually there to be discovered – the
reader or listener will have to recognise it for himself.

Note: If you can’t get a good example story from your students, tell them one of your own.
As a suggestion, try the story of the North Wind and the Sun and ask students what the
moral could be.

Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_North_Wind_and_the_Sun

The North Wind and the Sun decide to have a competition and see who can make a man
take off his coat. The North Wind goes first. He blows and blows but this doesn’t work. The
stronger the North Wind blows, the tighter the man wraps his coat around himself. Then it’s
the Sun’s turn. The Sun shines and persuades the man to take off his coat. The moral is that
persuasion wins over force.

BRIDGE STORY (V1) JAMIE KEDDIE, 2020

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3. Tell students the following:

Today, you are story designers.

You are going to work in a team to design a children’s story.

Everyone’s story is going to start in the same way.

It’s starts with a simple situation and a problem which involves:

* A moose
* A bear
* And a rope bridge

We are very lucky today because the art department has already created some visuals.
Would you like to see them?

[Show students the first three images in the slide show – see below]

So, the story that you are going to design starts with a simple situation and a problem that
involves the moose, the bear and the rope bridge.

Can anyone guess what the situation is. What is the problem?

The moose, the bear and the rope bridge.

You will find these images on the

animator’s website:
http://tingtey.com/portfolio/bridge/

BRIDGE STORY (V1) JAMIE KEDDIE, 2020

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4. Listen to students’ ideas and establish the following:

> So here is the situation:

The moose is on one side of the bridge and the bear is on the other.
Each animal wants to get to the other side.
They start crossing the bridge at the same time and they meet in the middle.

> And here is the problem:

The animals are too big and the bridge is too narrow.
So they can’t pass each other.
The moose can’t get past the bear and the bear can’t get past the moose.
The result is an angry bear and an angry moose.
They have an argument.
Each animal demands that the other turns back.
But they are both too stubborn to do so.
So neither of them can get to the other side of the bridge – they are stuck.

5. Ask students to make a rough sketch (i.e. a quick picture) of the scene. Before they do so,
repeat the text and make sure that students know what the adjective stubborn means.

A stubborn person does not want to change their ideas or plans, or listen to other people’s
reasons or opinions.

6. Put students into teams and ask them to do the following:

Design a short children’s story which begins with the bear-moose situation on the bridge.
In your teams, share ideas and make notes.
Decide what happens in your story – from start to finish.
Importantly, the story should have a moral – you can choose what the moral is and how to
communicate it in the story.
You can also make some more rough sketches (quick pictures) to show your ideas.

Note: the word story is deliberately vague here. Students might think that they are designing
an illustrated story in a children’s book, and that is absolutely fine. The important thing is that
students don’t know that the story comes from a short film. This means that they will be less
likely go online to look for it during these early stages.

7. Let students work together on the task. After a while, circulate between teams to find out how
they are getting on. In the box on the next page, you will find some ideas for advice and
feedback to offer.

BRIDGE STORY (V1) JAMIE KEDDIE, 2020

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Advice and feedback for your students

“Consider bringing additional characters into the story”

Students might assume that they can only work with the bear and the moose. Of course,
this is not the case. In order to develop their story, they might need more characters.

“Think about cause and affect”

In a weak story, things happen for no apparent reason. For example, students might decide
that the bear and moose suddenly realise the error of their ways and behave differently. In
this case challenge students – tell them that something has to happen to make this change
possible.

“This is a great start. But I think that you can develop the story a bit”
This is a useful piece of feedback.

“Consider things that could happen in your story”

If students get stuck, elicit or suggest some of the things that could happen in their story. For
example:
* Perhaps other characters are affected by the selfish bear and moose.
* Perhaps the bear and moose learn a lesson (= have a bad experience that teaches you
something)

*What do you want the moral to be?”

This could be a difficult part of the task. In this case, suggest the following moral to your
students: Stubbornness is bad. It will get you nowhere and will have a negative effect on
those around you.

8. Peer feedback stage: Tell students that they are going to get an opportunity for feedback (=
advice) from another team. Invite teams to pair up and share their stories with each other. After
telling their story, each team should ask for advice with the following three questions:

What do you think of our story?

Can you recognise a moral?
Can you think of any ways to develop our story?

BRIDGE STORY (V1) JAMIE KEDDIE, 2020

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9. Flipgrid videos:

Tell students that a member of each team is going to create a Flipgrid video in which they tell
their group’s story. Here are the instructions:

* Each team decides who is going to make the video.

* Everyone in the team should work together to help that person prepare.
* They should consider story structure and language choices.
* They can write notes while they prepare.
* The speaker should practice the story and then get feedback from other team members.
* When the storyteller makes the video, he/she should speak to the camera but not read from a
text. In this way, the notes are for preparation only.

You can provide students with the following way to start their story:

The story starts with a moose and a bear.

The want to cross a bride.
The moose is on one side and the bear is on the other.
They start crossing the bridge at the same time and they meet in the middle.
Unfortunately, the animals are too big and the bridge is too narrow.
So they can’t pass each other.
They have an angry argument.
Each animal demands that the other turns back.
But they are both too stubborn to do so.
Neither of them can get to the other side of the bridge – they are stuck.

10. Once each group has submitted a video, decide which feedback option you are going to use.

Note: For information on Flipgrid and how to provide

feedback on students’ videos, please refer to section 2 of
the Transition to online teaching course.

https://bit.ly/2xocT1x

11. Let students see the short film Bridge.

12. Find out what students think of the film with the following questions:

* Did you like the film? What do you like/dislike about it?
* Are there any parts of the story which are similar to yours?
* Is there anything that you found surprising or clever about the film and the story?

BRIDGE STORY (V1) JAMIE KEDDIE, 2020