LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Do you really believe in magic?

Students are introduced to the genre (or mode) of Magical Realism in World Literature by reading Gabriel Garcia-Marquez's short story, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." This lesson plan is modified for an English Language Learner (ELL) at the Intermediate Low (IL) proficiency level.

A lesson plan for grades 9–12 English Language Arts and English Language Development

By Ann Gerber and Tericia Summers

Learn more

Related pages

Related topics

Help

Please read our disclaimer for lesson plans.

Legal

The text of this page is copyright ©2008. See terms of use. Images and other media may be licensed separately; see captions for more information and read the fine print.

Learning outcomes

Students will:

  • identify differences between magical realism and other genres to which they have already been introduced.
  • identify and discuss literary elements of magical realism.
  • demonstrate understanding of the elements of magical realism through their impromptu interpretive dramas.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

6 hours

Materials/resources

  • Background information on Gabriel Garcia-Marquez as well as magical realism and its origins. (In addition to using this Magical Realism Power Point presentation, the teacher may wish to conduct research on the Internet or using other media, if clarification is needed.)
  • Copies of the short story, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” (from text or photocopies).
  • Song “Do You Believe in Magic?” by the Lovin’ Spoonful on audio tape or CD. Lyrics are optional.
  • Video clip from movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (scene at zoo when snake and Harry talk).
  • White or beige construction paper, colored pencils, crayons and/or markers for extra credit assignment.

Technology resources

  • Tape player or CD player
  • TV/VCR setup

Pre-activities

No specific activities necessary; however, students will need to be familiar with other genres such as science fiction, fantasy, romance, historical fiction, etc.

Activities

Day 1 (90 minute block class)

Warm Up

  1. Play song “Do You Believe in Magic?”
  2. Provide students (if possible) with a copy of the lyrics to follow along (lyrics can be found on liner notes of album or through Internet search).
  3. After listening to song, have students highlight, underline, or otherwise mark instances of magic referred to in song.
  4. Elicit from students their thoughts on the magical elements of the song.

Teacher Directed Mini-Lecture

  1. Present background information on magical realism, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Luis Borges, and Gunter Grass using slides 1-7 of Magical Realism PowerPoint presentation. (If access to necessary technology is not available, information in the PowerPoint presentation can still be used as slides on an overhead, or in poster form.)
  2. Students should read along on the Magical Realism Background Chart during the lecture.

Guided Practice with Partners

  1. Students should work with a partner (selected or assigned).
  2. Have students use the Magical Realism Background Chart and Handout on Science Fiction (or notes on different genre) to create a Venn Diagram comparing Magical Realism to Science Fiction (or other genre).
  3. As a class, discuss similarities and differences the students have discovered.

Individual Practice

  1. Students will write in their journals.
  2. Give students the title, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” on the board or overhead.
  3. Have the students respond to the title in their journals for 5 minutes. They may make predictions, ask questions, make up a story, etc.

Day 2 (90 minute block class)

Warm Up

  1. Show Harry Potter video clip of scene early in the movie where Harry is at the zoo in the snake area and speaks with the snake.
  2. Have students respond in their journals to the magical realism elements that are in the video clip.
  3. Elicit from students discussion of the magical realistic elements of this part of the Harry Potter story, using the information they learned from yesterday’s lecture and their journal responses.

Teacher Directed Reading:

  1. Provide students with copy of “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” (from text or photocopy).
  2. If possible, have students number the paragraphs of the story.
  3. Have students read story, a section at a time, stopping to ask/answer questions, discuss events, make predictions, and highlight magical realism elements (this will require the teacher to read the story ahead of time, mark sections, and note information to discuss during reading).
  4. Provide students with reading comprehension questions and have them work with a partner (selected or assigned) to answer.
  5. Bring whole class back together for a discussion of magical realism elements in the story. Use the last part of the Magical Realism Power Point presentation (slides 8 - 11) to present this information. Students should insert examples from the story in the examples section of Magical Realism Background Chart.

Day 3 (90-minute block)

Warm Up (character conversations)

  1. Have students work with a partner.
  2. Assign each partner-pair a set of characters from the story. (Vary the paring of characters for interest and variety.) Each student is to assume the persona of one of the assigned characters.
  3. Each pair will create a conversation on paper using the assigned personas. Each student writes a statement or question at the top of a piece of paper. They then trade papers with their partners and respond to what the partner wrote.
  4. Have students continue trading and responding for 5(+/-)minutes. When finished, each pair will have created 2 conversations between characters from the story.

Guided Practice - Partners

  1. Have each pair read both conversations created and select 1 of the conversations to use in an impromptu interpretive drama.
  2. Students then have 15-20 minutes to prepare and practice for their interpretive drama. They should make notes about what they plan to do, as they will need these notes on day 4. They should try to use appropriate gestures to convey emotions and ideas.

Extra Credit: students may create a drawing that is related to their interpretive drama or the story.

Student Presentations

  1. Each pair of students will present impromptu interpretive drama to the class in 2-3 minutes.
  2. When not presenting, students should be observing, preparing to discuss different interpretations.

Day 4 (90-minute block)

Warm Up

Finish impromptu interpretive dramas, if necessary.

Teacher Directed Mini-Lesson

  1. Review (or teach) use of quotation marks in dialog. Use any necessary overheads, handouts or mini-worksheets to facilitate this.
  2. Review (or teach) use of colorful dialog verbs when creating conversation between characters in narration. Use any necessary overheads, handouts or mini-worksheets to facilitate this.

Guided Practice - Partners

  1. Students should get back with partner for interpretive drama.
  2. Partner-pairs will need to use notes from character conversation and interpretive drama.
  3. Partner-pairs will convert impromptu interpretive drama into narrative, paragraph form using quotation marks and colorful dialog verbs for dialog portion of narrative.

Time Left

Students may use time left to finish extra credit drawing of impromptu interpretive drama or story.

Assessment

Teacher may use any or all of the following, as well as additional relevent assessments.

  1. Magical Realism Background Chart in notebook or collected.
  2. Venn Diagram comparing magical realism to science fiction (or other genre) from each student or student partner-pairs.
  3. Journal entry based in title of story.
  4. Journal entry of Harry Potter video clip.
  5. Reading comprehension questions from each student or partner-pairs.
  6. Impromptu Interpretive Drama Rubric.
  7. Impromptu Interpretive Drama character conversations and notes.
  8. Narrative paragraphs based on Impromptu Interpretive Drama. A Narrative from Interpretive Drama Rubric is provided.

Supplemental information

Magical realism is not a frequently taught genre, but teachers should be able to effectively teach the concept for the purpose of understanding the story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.”

Related websites

The Modern World contains biographical material about Gabriel Garcia Marquez. http://www.themodernword.com/gabo/gabo_biography.html

Modifications

  • Pair ELL with strong student for Interpretive Drama notes and performance.
  • Provide ELL with Character Table.
  • Provide ELL with simplified definitions of Elements on “Magic Realism Elements and Examples” Chart.
  • If ELL’s first language is Spanish, you can make a copy of “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” available to him/her in the original Spanish.
  • ELL may use native language-English dictionary.
  • Modify critical vocabulary using visuals, picture flash cards, synonyms, antonyms, cartoons, and/or by acting out vocabulary meaning.

Alternative assessments

  • ELL can be assessed for Assessment items 1,6,7, and 8 as his/her classmates because of modifications already in place.
  • Modify Reading Comprehension Questions so that the ELL answers only 5 of 10 (Assessment #5).
  • Eliminate Assessment #2.
  • Modify journal entry prompts.
  • Prompt for Assessment #3: Choose two characters in the Character table and re-write in paragraph form. Use correct subject-Verb agreement.
  • Prompt for Assessment #4: Write 2-3 complete sentences describing what you saw in the Harry Potter scene. Use the past tense correctly.

Critical vocabulary

wings, castaway, conspiracy, raft, conjecture, chicken coop, tricks, hawk, troops, curious, fatigue, nest, mush, pain, chicken pox, drive out, foggy shed, flight, dot

Comments

We were inspired to write this plan to include a short story from Latin America in 10th grade English Language Arts curriculum.

This lesson plan was developed during the English Language Development Standard Course of Study lesson planning institutes hosted by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and LEARN NC, June and July, 2004. It includes specific strategies, instructional modifications, and alternative assessments which make this lesson accessible to limited English proficient students. Please note that this lesson has been aligned with the goals and objectives of the N.C. English Language Development standards.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 10

  • Goal 1: The learner will react to and reflect upon print and non-print text and personal experiences by examining situations from both subjective and objective perspectives.
    • Objective 1.01: Produce reminiscences (about a person, event, object, place, animal) that engage the audience by:
      • using specific and sensory details with purpose.
      • explaining the significance of the reminiscence from an objective perspective.
      • moving effectively between past and present.
      • recreating the mood felt by the author during the reminiscence.
  • Goal 4: The learner will critically interpret and evaluate experiences, literature, language, and ideas.
    • Objective 4.02: Analyze thematic connections among literary works by:
      • showing an understanding of cultural context.
      • using specific references from texts to show how a theme is universal.
      • examining how elements such as irony and symbolism impact theme.
    • Objective 4.03: Analyze the ideas of others by identifying the ways in which writers:
      • introduce and develop a main idea.
      • choose and incorporate significant, supporting, relevant details.
      • relate the structure/organization to the ideas.
      • use effective word choice as a basis for coherence.
      • achieve a sense of completeness and closure.
  • Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of selected world literature through interpretation and analysis.
    • Objective 5.01: Read and analyze selected works of world literature by:
      • using effective strategies for preparation, engagement, and reflection.
      • building on prior knowledge of the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry, and exploring how those characteristics apply to literature of world cultures.
      • analyzing literary devices such as allusion, symbolism, figurative language, flashback, dramatic irony, situational irony, and imagery and explaining their effect on the work of world literature.
      • analyzing the importance of tone and mood.
      • analyzing archetypal characters, themes, and settings in world literature.
      • making comparisons and connections between historical and contemporary issues.
      • understanding the importance of cultural and historical impact on literary texts.
  • Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.
    • Objective 6.01: Demonstrate an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression by:
      • employing varying sentence structures (e.g., inversion, introductory phrases) and sentence types (e.g., simple, compound, complex, compound-complex).
      • analyzing authors' choice of words, sentence structure, and use of language.
      • using word recognition strategies to understand vocabulary and exact word choice (Greek, Latin roots and affixes, analogies, idioms, denotation, connotation).
      • examining textual and classroom language for elements such as idioms, denotation, and connotation to apply effectively in own writing/speaking.
      • using correct form/format for essays, business letters, research papers, bibliographies.
      • using language effectively to create mood and tone.

English Language Development (2005)

Grade 9–12

  • Goal 0:
    • Objective 0.01: Use tone of voice and gestures to enhance meaning in conversation.
    • Objective 0.02: Develop vocabulary based on non-academic and academic topics.
    • Objective 0.04: Use new vocabulary in speech.
    • Objective 0.06: Edit and correct basic grammatical conventions.
    • Objective 0.08: Begin to use contextual clues to understand and respond to informational text.
    • Objective 0.09: Respond with difficulty when participating in group discourse by adapting language and communication behaviors to the situation to accomplish a specific purpose.
    • Objective 0.14: Retell important information from visual and oral presentations.
    • Objective 0.16: Use reference materials (e.g., dictionaries)