Gospel Talking Stories   福音故事  聽Listen   

How to play a game at home or at school with these stories:

1. Make a copy of the story for each person/student. Each person/student needs a pen.

2. Ask each person/student to circle any one word in each line of the story.
e.g. Story 1:
line 1: circle "true"
line 2: circle "Jesus"
line 3: circle "news"
line 4: circle "beautiful"
line 5: circle "loves"
line 6: circle "friend"
line 7: circle "Lord"

3. Listen to the recording of the story (..click the "Listen" link). Listen several times to get the correct sounds.  Practise reading the story together with the recording. Try reading the story without the recording.

4. Make 5 numbers, on 5 pieces of paper....or put a number on 5 pieces of plastic..

5. Choose 5 numbers for the 5 words in line one: Ask a student/child to choose (without looking!) a number. Suppose it's number 3. Then write "3" above or beside "This" (line 1). Choose a second number. Suppose it's 5. Then write "5" above or beside "is" (line 1). Choose a third number. Suppose it's 1. Write "1" above or beside the "a". Choose 1 fourth number. Suppose it's 2. Write "2" above/beside "true". The final number is 4. Write "4" above/beside "story".

6. So, if in line one I had circled "true", I now have 2 points. If I had circled "story" I now have 4 points etc.

7. Choose 5 numbers for each line, practising each line before drawing the numbers. This is a great way of keeping students' attention and interest...and an enjoyable way to learn English!

8. Give a prize to the student with the most points, and to the student with the least points. If more than one student has the most/least points, draw a number to decide who gets the prize. A lucky draw at end of game (using all students' sheets, or numbers on sheets, helps keep interest till very last minute.

9. Sometimes students will try to cheat by changing the word they have circled...after the numbers have been chosen. To prevent this, get them to use a pen (not a pencil) to circle the words...and don't allow them to change their choice.

10. After practising this story line by line, older students can be challenged to remember it by heart....to say it without reading.

11. Before starting each new story, revise the previous story.

This is the method so successfully used by  Chinese teachers at HK Chinese University to teach foreigners to speak Cantonese and Mandarin