Name ___________________ Date ____ Class ____ _

History and Cultures of Latin America

Speaking and Listening Skills Activity

Delivering a Narrative Presentation

Learning the Skill Have you ever sat wide-eyed around a campfire or in a dark room

while someone told a scary story? Or laughed as a friend described a funny incident with so much detail that it seemed as if you were there? These stories were narratives, or stories that entertain and hold the attention of their listeners. Writing and delivering a narrative is an art.

The following steps can help you learn to become a good storyteller: • A narrative has a basic plot or story line-a beginning, a conflict

or problem, rising action, a climax or resolution of the problem, and an ending.

• Narratives involve people (characters) and occur in a specific place (the setting).

• Narratives include a variety of techniques to develop the plot and characters, such as dialogue (what characters say), action (what characters do), tension, suspense, repetition, and descriptive details.

• Various parts of a narrative are connected with transition words such as first, next, then, and last.

• When writing your own narrative for a presentation, be sure the sequence of events is clear.

• Use vivid descriptions of characters and the setting to engage your audience and bring your story to life. Dialogue should be realistic and believable.

• Delivering a narrative is different than giving, say, a research presentation. Vary your voice tone, volume, pitch, and enuncia­tion. Try using a different tone for each character when reciting dialogue.

• Emphasize action with nonverbal techniques such as gestures, eye contact, and expressions.

• In the margins of your speech, write notes telling you when to use certain strategies, like raising your voice to show a character's anger or excitement.

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Name _ __________________ Date _____ Class ____ _

Speaking and Listening Skills Activity continued

(J Practicing the Skill Directions: Myths, like other narratives, have a beginning, a middle, and an ending. The myth below is from the Zapotec people of Mex­ico. The Zapotec civilization was eventually absorbed by the Aztec Empire. Read the tale, and then complete the activity that follows.

The Bat

The butterflies we see today, ethereal, rest­ing on the flowers, on the surface of the water, and even on the tremulous air, are only the shadows of what the bat once was: the most beautiful bird in creation! However, there was a time when he was not.

When Light and Darkness began, the bat was just as we know him today, and was called biguidibela in Zapotec, from beguidi meaning butterfly, and bela, fresh: that is, a butterfly in the flesh, or bare-winged. The poor bat was the ugliest and the most unhappy of all creatures.

One day, tormented by the cold weather, he went up to Heaven and said to God, ''I'm dying of cold: I need a few feathers." But God, although he never stops working, never revises the creatures He has finished, and so had not a single feather to offer the bat. He told the bat to go back to Earth and to beg a feather in His name from every bird. Thus God always gives more than is asked of Him.

The bat, back on Earth, sought out the birds of most colorful plumage. A green feather from the parrot's neck, a blue feather from the blue pigeon, a white feather from the dove, an iri­descent feather from the humming-bird. All these and more the bat obtained. Proudly he would fly across the brow of the Morning, and all the other birds would pause in their flight to admire him. And a new glory spread over the Earth . . . . At dusk, flying with the West Wind,

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the bat colored the horizon. And once, coming from beyond the clouds, he left behind a rain­bow as an echo of his flight.

Seated on a branch of a tree, the bat would spread out his wings coquettishly, and alter­nately shake them, first the right and then the left, in a flutter that thrilled the air. The birds began to feel envious, and to hate him as unan­imously as they had once admired him.

One day, a flock of birds winged its way to Heaven, led by the humming-bird. God heard their complaint: the bat was mocking them; besides, each, with one feather less, was cold. And the birds themselves brought back the message from Heaven summoning the bat.

When he had entered the Lord's house, the bat was asked to repeat the gestures which had so offended his companions. And flutter­ing his wings he was left as naked as before, because for a whole day his feathers rained from Heaven, they say.

Ever since then the bat flies only alone and at night, and in swift gyrations, diving at imag­inary feathers. He does not pause so no one will notice his ugliness.

Source: Retold by Andres Henestrosa. Translated from the Spanish by Zolla Nelken. World .Literature, Macmillan Litera­

. ture Series. The Glencoe Division of Macmillan/McGraw-Hili Publishing Company, 1991.

Name ___________________ Date ____ Class ____ _

Speaking and Listening Skills Activity continued

1. Explaining What is the setting of this story? (Where does most of the story take place?)

2. Naming Who are the main characters of this story?

3. Expressing What tone would you use when delivering this part of the myth: ''I'm dying of cold: I need a few feathers"?

A. angry

B. whiny

c. happy

D. sad

4. Expressing What gestures could you use when delivering this statement: /I And a new glory spread over the Earth . . . . If?

5. Applying Take turns reading the myth aloud with a partner. Practice using the techniques listed in "Learning the Skill." Judge each other's skill in incorporating voice tone, volume, pitch, enunciation, gestures, eye contact, and expressions.

VI Applying the Skill Directions: On a separate sheet of paper, create a short narrative story that you will tell in class. Your story should include at least two characters and have a definite beginning, mid­dle, and ending. Establish a problem or conflict, and resolve it by the end of the story. Use narrative techniques to move the story along and to keep your audience engaged.

Assessment Checklist Assess your narrative presentation using the checklist below:

D Had a beginning, a middle, and an ending

D Included vivid characters and setting

D Used dialogue and action to move the story along

D Used transition words like then and next

D Made sure the sequence of events was clear

D Used various voice techniques

D Used gestures and movement to emphasize action

D Wrote notes in the margins telling when to use certain strategies

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