How to Work with Novels

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Image: Tookapic

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Image: RICK RYCROFT

Create a board game in which the game pieces represent the characters and the board shows the plot sequence or main events of the novel. The game must include rules and be playable. You might want to consider games like Monopoly, Brainstorm or Clue to get some ideas.

Movie previews always offer a quick sequence of the highlights in the movie to lure us into watching it. Having read a novel consider which moments you would include in a movie preview. Make a storyboard or narrate the scenes for your trailer. You might want to produce the trailer as well.

Use puppets or finger puppets representing the main characters in the novel and act out the plot of the entire novel. Think of the setting when staging your play.

Dramatize a scene from the story with other students. You can also use puppets or the digital programme.

Choose a character from the novel and make a radio program where you interview her/him. Include music and and other prompts to make it real. You might even consider questions from your listeners. Work in pairs/groups and use a programme like "Audacity" to record it.

Host a talkshow. Students play the host, author, and cast of characters. Allow questions from the audience. You might want to record the show.

Create a digital collage using words and images representing the entire novel, e.g. the main characters, major events, turning point, setting and themes.

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Image: Jerry Robinson

Re-write the entire novel in comic book form. Do not change the story and remain true to descriptions of characters and setting.

Use the alphabet and write a word (noun, verb, adverb, or adjective) that is relevant to the book for each letter. Write at least one sentence explaining the significance of the different words.

Choose a character from the book and select at least eight quotations from the text revealing the character’s personality. Explain what each quotation reveals about the character. Include which page the quotation is taken from. Write a characterization of this person including at least two of the quotations in your running text showing that you know how to quote.

Create a brochure or pamphlet with drawings, pictures and text that advertise or promote something in the novel. Use Publisher templates or equivalent.

Write a series of letters or chat messages that two main characters in the novel might have written to one another during the course of the novel.

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Image: News International

Create a newspaper or a magazine based on the book you are reading. Consider the different genres found in these kinds of publications and make sure they are included in yours. Use Publisher templates or equivalent.

Make a crossword puzzle using words from your novel. Include character names, setting, and main ideas or terms from the book.

Write an obituary or a eulogy for one of the characters in the novel. Give all the important information such as birthplace, schooling, accomplishments, career and family. Consider how this person would have wanted to be remembered?

Time required: A double lesson.
The goal of this exercise is to study various characters in the novel. This is done by arranging the classroom into a "book café". Arrange the desks in groups and make it look like a café. The characters (students) are invited to drink tea and chat with the other characters (students). By taking a character's point of view and by chatting with the other characters, the students get the opportunity to explore the novel.

Step by Step

Step 1: Assign a character to each student. If we use Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as an example, the following characters might be considered: Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth's four sisters, Charles Bingley, Caroline Bingley and Mr. Wickham.
Step 2: This involves exploring relationships. To create meeting places for the characters, we go to the "book café". Here the students are going to find out more about "their" character and this character's relationship to another character in the novel (e.g Elizabeth vs. Mr. Darcy). The teacher decides which relationships should be explored.

Contrary to classical written or oral reports and presentations, it might be difficult to evaluate multimedia presentations, e.g. a cartoon or a radio show. Before making presentations, you should examine some criteria for good multimedia presentations and evaluation criteria together with your students. Together you may consider which criteria you find essential and make an evaluation form to hand out. When their fellow students perform, the class can then tick off their evaluation on the form.

When working with their assignment, students should write notes where they reflect over their work and the choices they make. This provides a better basis for evaluating their work, and if it is group work, to consider each student’s contribution.

We have suggested multiple ways to work with a novel. Book cafés, making brochures, board games and film trailers could be a good way to prepare students for doing final reports, essays and analysis work.