I hope this slide will help all of you especially TESL students of IPGM. I presented this slide in my 4th semester of PISMP programme for Language Arts lecture. Hope this will help.

1. SHORT STORY YEAR 5
And something weird happened…

6. SYNOPSIS OF EACH CHAPTER
CHAPTER 1: A VERY BORING HOLIDAY
• Joel was back to school after the holidays. His new teacher wanted the
class to write about their holidays. Everyone shared their exciting holiday
adventure. Joel felt sad that he had the most boring holiday ever. All of his
classmates set off to write at least a page about their holiday, leaving Joel
wondering.

7. CHAPTER 2: MAKING IT UP
• Joel’s teacher approached him and asked him about his holiday. Joel
repeatedly told his teacher that he did not do anything fun during the
holidays but his teacher persistently encouraged him saying that he
can write an essay, he can even make it up and she walked away.
That’s when Joel decided that maybe he can actually come up with
an interesting piece. He then started recalling all the activities he did
during the holidays with his sister Natalie and his grandmother.

8. • They went to the park, the library, the pool, ice-cream shops, the Pizza and
all seemed unexciting to Joel. However, he started writing, believing that
he can make it interesting. He imagined and he made up his own exciting
holiday story. In his essay, he wrote that he met his favourite author in the
library in his town; he invented a new flavour for Mr.Gelati’s ice-cream and
he had an unexpected surprise in the Pizza Shack. He was happy with his
work and so is his teacher. His teacher read Joel’s essay to the whole
class and returned it to him feeling satisfied.

9. CHAPTER 3: SOMETHING WEIRD HAPPENS
Although his teacher was happy with his work, Joel felt sad and wished that his
holiday was indeed as exciting as he pictured it in his essay. Joel’s teacher again
asked her students to prepare another write up about a pet they would like to have.
Joel ran out of idea as he had used up all his imagination for his previous work. He
kept his homework away and did not think about it. During the weekend, on
Saturday, Joel, his mother and his sister, Natalie went to the shops and library.
They entered the library and saw a crowd of people. Joel saw his favourite author,
Anastasia Olivetti, just like in his imagination. The author recognized Joel and
thanked him for his idea.

10. CHAPTER 4: MORE WEIRD THINGS HAPPEN
• After the library, they headed to Mr. Gelati’s ice-cream shop. To his surprise, the
shop was crowded with customers. Mr. Gelati saw Joel and ran toward him and
acknowledged him as the inventor of his new ice-cream, Joel’s Jelly Baby
Freeze. Again, just like in his imagination. Joel’s mother brought them to the pizza
shack. The manager of Pizza Shack welcomes Joel and his family to the shop as
Joel is the winner of the pizza-for-a-year. They enjoyed the pizza. When he went
home, he thought about what happened earlier. He realized that it all started
when he told his teacher he had nothing to write about. Joel’s mother reminded
him to finish up his homework. Joel’s started on his homework and he imagined.
He imagined having a horse….or a crocodile….or even a dinasour….

16. MORAL VALUES AND MESSAGE IN THE STORY
MORAL VALUES IN THE STORY
• Determination
• Diligence
• Helpful

17. MESSAGE IN THE STORY
• We should know that nothing is impossible in this world as long
as we take things positively.
• We should never give up and always strive for the best in
everything we do.
• We should be hardworking instead of waiting for things to come
our way.
• We should not lie and make up stories in our lives.

18. SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

19. ACTIVITY 1: MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER
Group work
Steps:
1. Pupils are divided into groups of five.
2. Each group is given a pair of scissors, A4 paper (coloured and
white), glue, colours (colour pencil, crayon), manila card.
3. In their respective groups, pupils are asked to discuss and
complete the given task.

20. Instructions:
a. Write the name of your group in the middle of an A4 paper.
b. Cut out the shape of your group’s name.
c. On that cut piece, colour and design your shape into a character.
d. Complete the drawing: it can be an alien, a person, an animal or
anything of your group’s imagination.
4. Glue your finished character onto a piece of A4 coloured paper.

21. 5. After having done the above, ask pupils to write a descriptive paragraph
about the character as if it is an alien arriving here on earth for the first time.
Give characteristics to the character. Give it a name, place of origin reason
for being here, etc.
6. The group that finishes first will be the winner.
7. Presentation of each group is done and teacher provides necessary
comments/feedback.