Procedure:
- The teacher reads a story to the class. This can involve the entire class, if a story is appropriate for all age-levels, otherwise it requires different age-specific stories.
- The class as a whole (or in different age and competence levels) summarizes the content, and questions about understanding are clarified. With complex texts, a copy may be provided beforehand so that students can recap the content once more for themselves.
- With their eyes closed, the students have to imagine an important place of action in this story, as if it were a film. Questions like the following (in this case involving a room in a story that was read to them) may help in this imagination process:
- Are there windows?
- Where is the door located?
- What kind of furniture is there?
- Is the room dark, is the light on, or is there daylight in the room?
- Are there pictures on the walls?
- How do you feel when you’re in this room; why?
- After a few minutes when all students should have completed their internal pictures, the students draw a plan of the room or describe in writing how they imagine this room, or how they would feel being in this room.
- The students then seek out a partner to discuss their results and receive additional time to review their assignments and clarify ambiguities, if needed.
- Finally, the texts and drawings are compared and discussed by the class as a whole.
Variants:
- The exercise should be repeated various times.
- It can also be adapted and modified in terms of moods and emotions or the persons involved (instead of just the room).