AKITA – May 2013 – Motivating students by talking about novels – Mamoru “Bobby” Takahashi and Stephen Shucart, Akita Prefectural University. Experts say that students read more graded readers (GR) if teachers talk about books with enthusiasm. The presenters described the two main types of stories: character-driven novels and plot-driven novels. In general, the action is focused internally in character-driven novels and externally in plot-driven novels. The first part of the presentation focused on the art of creating believable characters and the second part focused on distinguishing between the several varieties of plot-driven stories in the genre of mystery novels. With many concrete illustrations, the audience learned the different patterns of development in these two types of novels and became better able to guide their students in selecting the proper books in an extensive reading program.

Reported by Stephen Shucart