Re-telling stories occur regularly both in school and life in general. This can be seen in many different forms, from reports about a television show or a dream, to the summary of a phone message, from paraphrasing to the most detailed reconstruction possible, whereby the stylistic aspects should also be captured. The advantage of re-telling, in terms of writing style, is that the students are freed from having to construct their own story (which has already been provided) and thus can concentrate entirely on the language aspects of writing. Examples and possibilities:
- Lead-in discussion: explore where and why re-telling of stories and summarizing texts is necessary, both in school as well as in everyday life. The students should be aware of how relevant these types of text are for everyday life (also for jokes and gossip). Then, collect examples of actual real-life re-telling of stories and summarizing of texts (from the last couple of days): who (re)told what to whom?
- The instructor reads a short (or longer) story to the class 2–3 times. The students then re-narrate the story as accurately as possible, but hide 1–2 inaccuracies. The stories are then read and the question is asked: can you find the mistakes? (see also #7.4)
- Re-narration with a change of perspective: the students read a story (e. g. a fairy tale, a legend or an episode from one’s own literature). Instead of simply re-telling the story, the students put themselves into the role of a specific character from the story and re-narrate it from their perspective. For example, the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood“ could be narrated from the perspective of the wolf.
- The same story can be re-told in different types of text formats: see also 17.4.
- Re-telling information and summarizing in very short forms is commonly practiced with phone messages, which is something students sometimes do for their parents. This can be practiced in a playful way where the teacher and students role play a phone conversation and then write down a short message.
- A related, special benefit derived from summarizing and understanding notes is test-taking. This should be discussed and practiced in class with specific examples, e. g., the students could write down the most important points from their last lesson and then compare and critically discuss their lecture notes. Variant: the instructor presents a lecture or shows an educational film and the students then have to summarize the most salient aspects in 10–15 points.