Would X Used to - 2/2010

The picture:

My intermediate students were learning to use Would and Used to to talk about past habits. For further practice, I showed them a picture of a few trees. In small groups, they were supposed to create a story about that picture. They were reluctant at first and said they were not imaginative enough, but then they gave in and let their creativity flow. Three heads think better than one. After they finished writing their story, they read it to their peers. While they were reading, I played some background music, which was the song played in the animation based on the book and drawings by Shel Silverstein "The giving Tree" (The actual 73´s). They had a lot of fun reading their stories and listening to their peers´stories as well, because they realized how touching and imaginative their stories turned out to be. In the end, I showed them the animation "The Giving Tree". They loved it. 

Os alunos do curso intermediário estavam aprendendo a usar Would e Used to para falar sobre hábitos do passado. Para revisar, mostrei à eles uma imagem de árvores. Em grupos de três, eles deveriam criar uma estória sobre aquelas árvores. Eles não gostaram da idéia à princípio e disseram que não havia o que escrever pois eles não conseguiam pensar em nada, mas depois eles se renderam e deixaram  imaginação fluir. Três cabeças pensam melhor que uma. Depois que eles terminaram, eles lêram as estórias para a turma. Enquanto eles liam as estórias, eu coloquei uma música de fundo, que era a canção da animação baseada no livro e ilustrações de Shel Silverstein "The Giving Tree" (a versão original de 1973). Eles se divertiram lendo suas estórias e ouvindo as estórias dos colegas, pois se deram conta do quão tocantes e criativas elas ficaram. No fim, mostrei a eles a animação "The Giving Tree". Eles amaram.

The stories:

"When I was a child, I used to go to my aunt´s farm. It was very cool, I have good memories about this. I used to swim in the lake and spend hours climbing on the trees. In the end of the day, I used to watch the sunset and in the nights, I usually used to watch stars crash in the lake. I hope I will return there someday and check if the stars still shine in the same way". (2/2010 - Filipe, Kely and Sinara)

"When I was young, I used to go to my grandparents´ farm and there, I used to play outside in the garden. My favorite place to play was under the trees, especially during the summer, when the sun was amazing. The sunset was really wonderful. When I climbed the tree, I used to watch that sunset, it was a very beautiful landscape. I used to have great moments on the farm". (2/2010 - Antônio, Edilson and Monique)

"In the beginning, when the pangea still existed, we used to have many trees and many animals and vegetation. The sun used to shine bright and the climate used to be stable. After the humans arrived, the Earth changed radically and the nature was extremelly modified. The trees were replaced for concrete and builds and the sun didn´t shine anymore because all pollution". (2/2010 - Camilla, Marina and Stephany)

The animation: