Choose one of the stories and change it somehow: it may be the end, you may retell the story from another character's point of view or anything your creativity will allow you to do! Then, write your appreciation of the activity you did (choosing a painting and writing a story based on it). It would be great if you also took one of the painters' bio and wrote a comment about something that called your attention about his life
Deadline: May 7.
Let's see these guys working in class!!!
Maria Luz and Loly
Cristian and Cintia
Valentina and Florencia
Now... your writings and role playing! We had fun!!/p>
By Cintia and Cristian:
UNEXPECTED MEETING
It was a cold day in autumn. Leaves were rustling and the river flowed faster passing under a bridge, which was in front of a huge palace. Although the weather was pleasant, unhappiness and depression was felt all over the place.
Dorothy was sitting over a rock and she wondered why she had to go through all that suffering. The girl was looking at the clouds in the sky, as tears rolled down her cheeks. Whispering, she took her guitar and started singing a sad melody. The birds, flying around her, stopped whistling when they heard a noise coming from the distance.
Suddenly, a cold tiny hand touched her shoulder. She turned around and took a step back yelling,”how you dare bother me like this! Don’t you see I’m busy thinking about my miserable life? I’ve lost the most marvelous person I’ve ever been with. While she was saying that, she noticed that the boy’s face was extremely bright and she couldn’t help staring at him. Worried, the teenager wondered if there was anything he could do for her. “I’m Joseph, I approached you because I like how you sing, and to bother you was not my intention, he expressed eagerly. “I’m so sorry; I’ve been having tough times these days. I apologized for being so rude to you;” Dorothy exclaimed sadly. “Never min, I know exactly how it is to feel alone in the world;” he assured and then, he sighed deeply. Afterwards, she looked at him saying, “I don’t think, you understand how low I feel right now. Imagine that you will never see again the person who was always backing you up no matter how wrong you were. He was always there for you. Besides, he never let me down. I will really miss him! The beautiful Dorothy burst out crying.
Joseph kept looking at her as though he had something really important to express. It seems that you want to say something. What’s wrong with you? Are you paying attention to what I am saying,” she asked angrily. “Of course, I’m listening to you carefully. The fact is that you are not considering that you still have your parents and a family who take care of you and do everything they can for you. I know that you will miss your grandfather and that’s pretty understandable. However, he is not the only person in your world” he explained. The young lady, feeling extremely confused by his words, asked him worriedly, “Can you tell me why you are telling me this” The boy went to say, “I’ve been alone since I was born. My parents abandoned me, who knows why. So, I’ve learnt how to live without the tenderness and love that any family gives to their children. I have nobody in the whole world. This is the first time I speak to someone. People go away because they feel scared of me. Although I’m a pretty alone, I’m not unhappy with my life. People like you are always complaining about any simple problem they have to go through and, they don’t even realize that there are some others who have worse problems than them. So, what I mean is that you shouldn’t get worked up over nothing. Get it?
Feeling extremely embarrassed, Dorothy realized that all the words he had said were absolutely true and from now on, she decided not to overreact in any difficult situation. “You are such an amazing person. You have the will to move on even though; you know that many difficult situations will come up on your way. You have enough strength to come up against them. I’m really grateful that I’ve meet you Joseph,” she yelled with grief. Since that moment, Joseph and Dorothy got along with each other and promised to each other that under no circumstances would their friendship be broken.
About the painter:
Claude Lorrain
Birth Year : 1600Death Year : 1682Country : France Claude Lorrain, often called simple Claude, was born Claude Gellée in the Duchy of Lorraine but spent almost all his life in Italy where, after 1633, he was the leading landscapist, working on commissions from popes, cardinals, ambassadors, and kings. During his first years in Rome, he was an apprentice in the studio of Agostino Tassi, where he worked on large decorations and learned to handle their broad rhythms. Claude returned to Lorraine in 1625, hoping to make a living there, but went back to Rome in 1626 and never left Italy again. Until 1640, Claude painted landscapes that are careful in detail and show fairly sharp contrasts of light and shade. Later, probably under the influence of Poussin (the two artists used to roam the campagna together, sketching from nature, in their love of classical antiquity), he began to emphasize spatial composition, achieving a complete balance between masses of trees and of architecture. After 1650 in the full maturity of his style, he brought to his work a serene luminosity of early morning or late afternoon light so that his landscapes extend poetically and idyllically into an ethereal atmosphere. He thus achieved a new kind of landscape in which the classical balance of composition is subtly altered by soft light. Claude and Poussin were among the greatest seventeenth-century landscape painters, and both were important architects of later French artistic traditions, both classical and romantic. Claude, in particular, profoundly influenced later landscapes in France and England, among them Bonington, Constable and Turner; as well as the many English landscape architects of the eighteenth century who were interested in creating "picturesque" effects. Claude's influence is also seen in the works of Corot and Cezanne, both of whom studied nature in its various aspects and under different conditions of light.
PAINTING used by the group:
Hello claas and Liliana! This is my work. I’ve chosen Christian and Cynthia’s story and I’ve made it a love story. I hope you like it.
ResponderEliminarHugs
UNEXPECTED MEETING
Joseph Brown was a poor orphan and an uneducated boy in his twenties. He had been alone since he was born because his parents abandoned him so he grew up without the love of his family. The lonely boy was a shepherd who spent days and nights taking care of a flock of sheep.
It was a cold day in autumn and Joseph was working when he suddenly heard a sweet voice near the river. At first, he thought he was crazy because there were not people living near his house and that is why he had never talked to anyone before. He did not want to leave the sheep alone because he was afraid of losing them but he could not resist the powerful attraction of the beautiful and charming voice. He closed his eyes and followed the sound like a starving beggar who followed the smell of a homemade cake. As he got closer to the place where the sound came from, he realized that someone was singing a sad melody. When his eyes were opened, he saw a pretty girl sitting over a rock, looking at the clouds in the sky. She seemed to be crying.
The shepherd stayed staring at the girl, imagining his life by her side, spending days and nights together. He could not lose the chance to talk to her. Extremely nervous, Joseph touched the girl’s shoulder. ”How you dare bother me like this! Don’t you see I’m busy thinking about my miserable life?” she exclaimed. The shy boy could deduce that she was not having a good time and that her life might have not been fair with her. After a long talk, he realized they had a lot in common. Besides, he could not stop looking at her manners, her movements. Her long wavy hair was tied back with a ponytail and her long black dress made her look as a fairy. Joseph told the sad girl about his family and his lonely experience with life and he offered his sincere heart to her.
From that day forward, the boy and the girl were never apart from each other. They met every day to talk and to laugh together. As time went by, Joseph declared his love to the beautiful girl, and she learned to love him. They succeeded in living a happy life together.
THE END.
I find the paintings a really interesting and motivating resource in order to help students create a story. In my case, I’ve already done this same activity at the secondary school in my language class. However, I’ve never had to make a role play activity like the one we did, and which was in fact very amusing! I had a great time when we performed our stories! Sincerely, I really enjoy it! I hope we continue doing these kinds of activities during the year. Besides, as future teachers, my classmates and I can take this experience into account so as to use it with our future students.
ResponderEliminarHi everybody! I chose Lucila and Fabiola's story and I decided to change the ending. I hope you enjoy it.
ResponderEliminarA beautiful love story
Olivia Van Allen is wondering around the wharf while the sun is disappearing on the horizon and its rays are reflecting off the water. She has been waiting for Henry for an hour gazing anxiously at the sea. She is the only daughter of Mr. Van Allen, a highly respected priest of Bridlington. She loves her father but sometimes his views hurt her feelings. Lost in her thoughts, she can see Henry´s boat about a mile from the shore. Henry Digory is a young fisherman. He is the boy of her dreams and with his cheerful smile and warm blue eyes reflects his true love for her.
Henry has been Olivia´s lover for a year and she was very much in love with him. She kept the secret of their love during that year. However, her father discovered them and everything changed in her life. Refusing to listen to all her pleas, Mr. Van Allen forced her to get engaged to Edward Collins, a major figure in the local politics. Olivia was not allowed to see Henry any more. The happy days have gone for her and they were replaced by a deep melancholy full of despair. Even though her father forbade them to see each other, she was unwilling to surrender to his command. Thus, they decided to meet each other every night so as to continue their clandestine relationship.
An hour later as the night was falling Henry arrives at the wharf. He takes a look around to make sure that there is no one else apart from Olivia and him before he gets closer to her. As they are hugging each other they hear a noise as if someone was clearing his throat.
A tall figure with broad shoulders walks towards them from the dark and stands facing them. It´s Edward Collins with a cruel and sinister smile on his face. He opens his coat with his right hand and let them see a gun. Henry, who was shocked, realizes his bad intentions and jumps over him. During some terrifying seconds, Olivia is watches how he two men struggle for the possession of the gun when unexpectedly a short is fired.Olivia flies to them shouting hysterically and kneels down.
(MY PART)
None of them moves for a while and then Edward pushes Henry aside with all his strenght. She looks at him and realizes that her life is over. As soon as Edward gets up, he takes the dead body, and throws it to the river. Olivia is devastated, she can’t even speak. Neither can Edward, who in a very aggressive way, takes a boat and after forcing her to get on it, starts to paddle across the river.
Nobody in the world knows with exactitude where they are now... It is supposed that he is keeping her on an island near Indonesia... But of one thing people are sure: Olivia’s father regrets having chosen Edward for her daughter, and expects to find him in order to make the man understand who is Olivia’s owner...
According to the activity I can say that it was very funny. Although at first I thought it was going to be an awful activity, I really enjoyed performing a character.
ResponderEliminarThen, concerning the biography, I think that the most intresting thing (at least for me) was to know that the full name of Picasso was Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso! And he is only knonw by Picasso, that is a strange thing!
Hello everybody, I hope everything is all right .This is how the story of Lorena and Luz, “Celestina, a story of revenge” would continue:
ResponderEliminarThe police still believe that I am a mentally ill woman and all that I had done was because of my sickness. To be honest to you reader, I did it everything on purpose. I feel so pleased now that I want to tell my story to everybody in this hospital but I can´t. The women here are as crazy as I am and it might not be strange if one of them told the police right now that I am just pretending to be ill for the sake of my life.
The days are rather strange here. Sometimes I feel comfortable in this place but there are moments in which I am planning to escape from here so as to start a new life. It is not so easy for me to do that: there are doctors taking care of me all the time, psychologists, psychiatrists, there is a police station in front of the hospital and so on…
But one day will be the day I had been waiting for all this time: That is to say to marry with another man, to have other children, to travel around the world, to enjoy myself, to have a better job. But if those imaginary people did something bad tome, I would be forced to take revenge again and I swear that are they who will have the right to choose their destiny.
About my work with Cintia: In my opinion, it was a nice experience. I consider working with pictures a great opportunity to let our imagination fly and also to impulse our creativity and our writing. Altough I don´t like performing in public and it was really hard for me, I enjoyed this activity but to see the other group’s work was catching.
From my point of view, this is an interesting as well as motivating kind of activity because with the help of pictures we can imagine and think about different kinds of stories. Moreover, I consider this type of task as funny and original too.I really enjoyed watching my classmates´ performances. See you soon...Luci
ResponderEliminarHello class!! I chose Vale and Flori´s poem because I really liked it; and I decided to change the verb tenses from present to past because I added another end to this love story. I hope you enjoy it!
ResponderEliminarWOMAN
20 years passed since we got married
Our feelings didn´t change, our love was the same
Without my husband I wouldn’t have been who I was yesterday
I used to wake up every morning, with him by my side
I used to wake up every morning, with my hurt beating utterly fast
The air was sweet, my life was complete
The sun brightened, my smile shone shone
The smell of his hair, the strength of his arms
He was like an angel, that glittered in my eyes
If I had been a swallow which had to fly away
I wouldn’t have gone, I would have stayed
With my man, the love of my life, I would have always remain
But luckily things had changed since yesterday
Yesterday I realized that I was wrong
All my life was a waste of time with this man
Who didn´t take care of me as it was supposed to be
Yesterday I could open my eyes!
And I became aware that another man really loves me
So it isn´t too late to be happy!
I´ll give him a chance, I´ll give me a chance
I know I deserve to be happy once in life!
MAN
20 years passed since we got married
But my feelings did change, my love was not the same
Without my wife, I would have been on my clandestine love’s way
I used to wake up every morning with her perfume on my mind
I used to wake up every morning with my heart in another house
The air was cold, I needed to hear her voice
The sun didn´t shine if I was not by her side
The movement of her lips, the fragrance of her skin
She was like the moon, that lighted my lonely nights
If I had been a swallow, I would have flown away,
I would have enjoyed my freedom, I wouldn’t have stayed
With my dearest secret love, I would have always remain
But unluckily things had changed since yesterday
Yesterday I realized that I was wrong, very wrong
I wasted my time thinking in another woman
Who didn´t love me as my wife did
Yesterday I could open my eyes
And I became aware that my spouse is who I really love
But it´s too late, I am unhappy now
I have no chances any more, I lost her at all
I won´t be happy any more, without her in my life.
APPRECIATION OF THE ACTIVITY: I want to say that the fact of choosing a picture in order to write a story help me open my mind and be more creative, I don’t know why but ideas came to me when looking at the picture! So, in this point the activity was very effective on me. Then, when you, Liliana, asked us to perform the story, at the very beginning I thought that it was not a good suggestion; but now I can say that I really enjoyed it! Although I am not good at acting and performing, it was very funny to do it, and it was even funnier to see my classmates doing it! (I want to make clear that luckily, Loli and I found a different way of performing, through barbies).
According to the painters, what called my attention was the fact that Vincent Van Gogh was dismissed from a job for being overzealous! (too eager about something you believe in strongly), it shows that he was self confident and very sure of himself. Besides, he said that colour is the main symbol of expression; it made me remember of Bibiana´s oral presentation about the colours, that each colour means something different on each person.
Hello everybody!!! I chose the story about Celestina and I decided to change it a little. The beginning of the story is the same. My part starts after this sentence…
ResponderEliminarHaving said this, he left quickly and closed the door with a bang.
(MY PART)
As soon as he left, I was getting mad but in that exact moment, an old friend of mine, Carol, knocked the door. We talked for a long time and she advised me to visit a psychiatrist. During my recovery, I decided to change my way of thinking and also my house. So, I moved to the place where Carol lived which was far away from what had caused my madness. In that new place I found a job where I spent most of my time. During the other part of the day, I met Carol and together we went out and walked through a beautiful park. Considering the people who lived there, they were not so individualist as in High Wycombe. Moreover, they enjoyed talking and spending time with others.
One sunny and hot day, I was walking alone when a very handsome and simple man approached me. We talked a lot and I noticed that he belonged to the middle class. His name was Paul and he worked as a waiter in a luxurious restaurant near the house where I was living.
During that month, we spent a lot of time together and I could know a little more about him. After two years of relation, we decided to get married and consequently to move to a new and more beautiful house. As time went on, I realised that I loved him and that what I always needed was a man who really love me.
The rest of my life, I was grateful for Carol´s help. Without it I could not survive....
I enjoyed a lot choosing the painting and writing a story based on it. I think it was a very motivating assignment, not only because I got fun doing it, but also because the activity enriched our use of the language, our vocabulary and our creativity.
ResponderEliminarHi Florencia! I really enjoyed reading your love-at-first-sight-story!It set me thinking about how simple love is and the way human beings complicate things sometimes! What's your viewpoint about romantic relationships so far in your life? Is life "complex and there are no gurantees" or have you found ways to enjoy it fully?
ResponderEliminarAs for your writing, I loved the comparison about the beggar following the smell of homemade cake! I have a question for you (for Cintia and Cristian too!): how did the boy in the story learn to speak if you say he had never spoken to anyone before? Be careful with the way you express simple ideas like: "his eyes were opened". who/what opened his eyes? I guess he did!!! Therefore, the use of the passive voice is not appropriate in the context. How about "the boy could deduce..."?
I was thrilled by your comment on how much you enjoyed the activity! You made my day! It's good that you can consider things you like as a student as possible resources for your teaching practice.
Florencia, I forgot to mention your grade for this work: 4 (four)
ResponderEliminarEste comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
ResponderEliminarHi Valentina! It's true that it was amazing to learn about Picasso's long, long, long name, only to be known by such a short word. It seems he had a pretty interesting and full life. Don't you think so? Have you ever seen any of his paintings?
ResponderEliminarAs for your writing, poor Olivia! No matter what, her life will be miserable! Your last comment set me thinking about the many times parents decide for their children believing it is the best for them. Have you ever experieced anything decided by your family against your will which in the end turned out not good for you?
Grade: 3 (three)
Hi Cristian!! Congratulations on your performance in front of the class!! Even if it was hard for you and a bit of a challenge, you were up to the circumstances!! I'm glad you enjoyed the other groups' work too.
ResponderEliminarAs far as your writing is concerned,so it seems Celestina is not really crazy after all! Anyway, whether out of her mind or not, it must be horrible not to be able to enjoy your life. A question for you: should she feel guity about murdering her husband and her sister? Be careful with some mistakes like:
"...that are they who will have the right to choose their destiny." "... to impulse our creativity."
Do you like art?
Grade: 3,50 (three 50)
Hi Luz!! Yes! you and Loly found a creative way to role play your story without being the actresses! A good way out! je je.
ResponderEliminarPoem: Good choice for your writing! I enjoyed the twist you gave to the story. So, this poor woman has the right and another chance to be happy. I like that very much as it seems only fair. What do you say Luz, do we always get a second chance in life? Have you experienced second chaces yet?
Have a look at some mistakes you made, like verb formation and tenses. E.g.:
"I would have always remain." "But luckily things had changed since yesterday."
Grade: 3,50 (three 50)
Hallo Lucila! I'm glad to read you enjoyed the activity. Do you like paintings? Do you ever go to a museum or an art exhibition? Working with pictures, paintings, music, etc. in the class may help to boost your students' imagination and creative power and consequently, the expression thru language.
ResponderEliminarAs for your writing, you gave it a happy and romantic ending!... the kind we always expect in life, though it doesn't always turn out that way. Read your work again and I'm sure you will be able to improve it as far as vocabulary and grammar.
Grade: 3.50 (three 50)