CULTURAL CHARACTERS

 

Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

Materials

• Blank index cards or scratch paper
• Clipboards and pencils 
• Photos of images based around a region of study
• Sound source 
• Music from a region being studied

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips This activity works best in an open space with room for students to move.

 

• Begin by playing music from the region or culture that students are studying (e.g., Latin American music) quietly as you pass out the images (photographs) to students. 
• Each student should have one sheet of paper with two images, an index card, and pencil.  
• The first picture depicts two people from a culture (e.g., Latin America) engaged in an activity. 
• The name of the country should be written at the bottom of the photo. (One of the people should be circled so you can easily pair students to act out the scene later.)  
• The second picture depicts an event or aspect of the culture with a title to be used as a reference for students.  
• After students have written their names on the index cards, ask them to carefully observe the person circled in their photo. 
• Have students list the following on the left hand side of the index card: A. Character’s name B. Character’s age C. Character’s home country.  
• Direct students to use descriptive language to write about how the character feels about what is happening in the second picture and how it is affecting their country. 
• Inquire, “What is the character’s greatest fear? What is the character’s greatest dream?”  
• Facilitate a class discussion or pair-share allowing students to share their responses.

 

Work Session

• Tell students that they will be writing a monologue in the first person introducing themselves as the person in their photograph. 
• Tell students that a monologue is a speech by a single character in a play, film, or other dramatic work. Monologues are often used to give the audience deeper insight into the character's motivations and feelings. 
• Say to students, “Turn the card over and write a monologue. Include all of the information written on the front side of the card”.
• When all students are finished writing, introduce the next step by saying, “Today we are going to learn about your country through the eyes of its people. Each of you have been brought here to help us explore your countries. Welcome!”  
• Next, say to students, “Using a voice different from your own (the voice of the character in the picture), on a count of three, softly tell me what you had for breakfast this morning. Now sit like your character sits, different from yourself! 
• Say, “Imagine your character is wearing an article of clothing different from what you are wearing. On a count of three, adjust that article of clothing”. 
• Choose a student and ask them to walk to the front of the class as their character would walk.  Once the student gets to the front of the classroom, have them choose a peer to which to tell their character’s story (in first person) using their monologue.  
• Next, ask that student to read their character’s monologue aloud.  
• If time permits, facilitate a question and answer session, allowing students to interview the focus character and gain additional insight into the character’s life and culture.

 

• Now, tell students to find the classmate who has the other character depicted in the photograph on their page.  
• Distribute three blank index cards per pair. 
• Ask pairs to discuss and list the following prompts and write down answers on the blank index cards: 
• Card 1:
• Who – who are you and what is the nature of your relationship? 
• What – what are you doing? (action) 
• Where – where are you? (setting) 
• When – what year, month, time of day is it? 
• Why – why are you there? 
• Want – what do you want from the other person? 
• Conflict – is there a disagreement between you? 
• Cards 2 and 3 for individual responses:
• Write down your characters’ individual dreams and fears.
• Write a sentence in the first person with the first thing your character wants to say.
• When you say “action,” students bring the photo to life using improvisation.
• Beginning with the first line they previously generated on their index card, students should improvise a scene between the two characters and establish the conflict. 
• Once the conflict is evident, say “freeze!”.
• Ask students how they could resolve this conflict.

• Teacher Note: You can also survey other students in the classroom to help come up with a resolution to the conflict and then ask the partners to embody that resolution.

• Once they articulate a realistic solution, tell them you will call “action” again and they can resolve the conflict! 
• After students have reached a resolution, tell them to return to their seats.
• Have students write a narrative based on the scenes they developed with their partners.
• Remind students to establish the setting and characters and the point of view that they want to write from. 
• Remind students that they will need an exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
• Students should use descriptive language to engage their reader.
• Students should incorporate dialogue.

 

Closing Reflection

• Students should share their narratives with their partners and compare and contrast their stories.
• Allow time for students to share in the whole group how their stories were similar and different from their partners.

 

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students by observing students’ responses to class discussion around photographs in the opening strategy, consulting with students during the writing process, and observing students’ work with their partners creating improvisational scenes.

 

Summative

• Students can write a monologue in the first person using photography as inspiration that addresses all parts of the prompt.
• Students can improvise a scene with a partner using photography as inspiration that addresses all parts of the prompt.
• Students can write a well-structured and detailed narrative that establishes characters, setting, point of view and has all parts of the plot of a story.

 

Differentiation

Acceleration: 

• Challenge students by telling them in the middle of the improvised scene, to swap characters with their partner and continue the scene from the new perspective. This tests their adaptability and understanding of character dynamics.
• Challenge students to perform their scenes again without speaking, relying solely on physicality and facial expressions to convey the story. This enhances their nonverbal communication skills.
• Pair two partner teams together to create a new scene with all four characters.

 

Remediation: 

• Pair English Language Learning students with native English speakers.
• When writing the questions about the pictures, provide the students with a graphic organizer on which to write answers and to assist with organization of thoughts and ideas.
• Have students choose fewer items from the list about the character in the picture. 
• Conference with students who struggle with writing. 

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

 Ideas contributed by:  Susie Spear Purcell. Updated by Katy Betts. 

Revised and copyright: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW