Stories for children and with children

As part of our extension project this year we produced stories, videos and puppet shows for students of EFL in our primary schools. The topic that bound all stories was ‘The Argentina Bicentennial.’ We prepared and rehearsed our stories in class and finally went to visit two fourth grades at EP N°1, in Ituzaingó.

Here is a brief edition summarizing the experience (sorry, but there was no time for a soundtrack):


2010-Profesorado
Cargado por Simud.

The following are some of our impressions about the experience:

As a teacher it’s always exciting to prepare material to deliver our lessons.

This project in particular was a real challenge, because it included a patriotic component that is not usual in English lessons.

We enjoyed doing it and the kids really had fun when we showed it to them. It was pretty stimulating.

(Angélica Santi)

Going to the school to present our productions was a nice experience. Children really enjoyed it and that makes this experience even better. Not only we presented our effort but children had fun with it. I think that this was the idea, that we all had fun while learning!

(Florencia Domínguez)


As a teacher it is always a pleasant experience when kids enjoy the material we prepare for them. When we showed our puppets show to the kids of EPB Nº1 they really had fun with it, they were interested in the show, and they understood the message of the story. It was a great experience and I have enoyed it, too.
(Belén Giamberardini)

And, to top it all off, here's the video produced by one of the groups:

The laws of life (by Reneé Fredes & Patricia de la Llera)

The weather was hot that morning in Ituzaingó city. The forecast announced that it was going to rain during the night. That was the reason why Mrs. Maria saw a long active file of ants carrying pieces of leaves to their homes. That situation worried Maria because she thought about her favourite roses. In desperation, she went to the garage to get the ant poison.

When Maria came back to the garden, she saw her roses completely eaten by the ants. Those roses have been the last gift that her mother had given her before she died. Suddenly, a feeling of gloom and depression involved her. She went to the kitchen and prepared some tea but instead of sugar she used the ant poison. Without hesitating she had two cups of it.

During the afternoon the hungry red ants entered Maria’s house as always and went around the death body.

“Why is she so quiet?” asked one of the ants.

“Oh! Mrs. Maria has died!” shouted another ant.

“What‘s wrong with that?” said little Red ant “It makes room for new people”.

Little Red Ant (by Melina Núñez and Florencia Villaverde)

Once upon a time, there was a family of red Ants who lived in a big tree in the forest. The family was made of: Father Ant, Mother Ant and their daughter, whose name was little Red Ant.

Everyday, they worked hard to get food because winter was coming. They got up very early in the morning and went to bed at midnight.

One day, little Red Ant was looking for food in the forest and suddenly discovered a very little ant, whose name was Rose Ant, sitting on a stone and crying. She asked her what the problem was.

“I can’t find my tree, I am lost,” Rose Ant answered. 

Little Red Ant offered her new friend to stay with her and her family until she found the tree where she lived. Rose accepted and went to little Red Ant’s home.

When they got there, little Red Ant’s father was not happy because they had not enough room for Rose to stay there. Little Red Ant suggested him to give some leaves that were in the living room to their neighbours in order to have more space for the new guest.

“I won’t give the leaves to the neighbours, dear daughter,” said Father Ant really angry.

“What’s wrong with that?” said little Red Ant. “It makes room for new people,” she added. “And you have always taught me to share with other people,” she concluded.

Her father realized that little Red Ant was right and allowed the new guest to stay with them until she found her tree.

The new beginning (Laura Dambolena and Cristian Matas)

It was a rainy night. It was barely possible to see the surroundings. It was raining so heavily that the entrance of the ant-hill was flooded.

It was such a disaster that the ants had to run away in order to escape from the water coming. The water invaded the place all over. There was a dense feeling of desolation, so the only motivation for them to move away was the basic instinct of survival. Then, the leader, the red ant, guided the group to a new cave that was not finished yet.

It was an enormous place. Other colonies of ants were gathering there. Although at the beginning the little red ant had thought that all the colonies would fit in the new cave, she realized that they could not. The groups organized themselves in order to finish the construction of the “new home”. Soon, they figured out that they would have to build up new rooms. The ants asked the red ant for the reason why she was doing those kind of reforms. “What’s wrong with that?” said the little red ant. “It makes room for new people”.

Finally, they could make this place big enough for all the community and now they live as only one colony.

It was a dark, rainy day (by Palazzetti Ivanna, Albim Giselle, Bustingorri Guadalupe and Diquech Natalia)

It was a dark, rainy day. Autumn was about to come and the food they had collected during the summer was ready to be eaten, but it wasn´t enough for all of the ants. So the colony arranged a meeting led by Red Ant to decide who should stay and who should go.

It was a difficult moment for the whole colony. They had been working so hard, that all of them had the right to remain in their ants´ nest. But they could finally arrive at the cruel decision of sending the eldest people away.

A desperated voice was heard from the very back. It was a little ant whose grandma was about to be sent out.

“Why are you going to take my grandma away from me?” he asked.

“What´s wrong with that?” said little Red Ant “It makes room for new people.”

An unusual alarm (by Angélica Santi and Florencia González)

It was a sunny day at Ant Town. The Red family was enjoying their breakfast before going to work. Suddenly they heard the alarm. It usually signaled the beginning of a new working day. But today it was something different. A group of collectors, who were in charge of providing food for the community, had brought some tasty and unknown delicacy. However, it turned to be very dangerous, because it had been prepared with a new poison made by humans to destroy the ant colonies.

The alarm set off when these tricky devices exploded, causing death to many of the area personnel. After the commotion, the whole family discussed at home what had happened. The father said, “I’m sorry for the victims’ families”. “What’s wrong with that?”, said little Red Ant. “It makes room for new people.” “You are right”, replied the mother, “The colony is really crowded.”

Some days later, they heard that the Queen had decided to turn the place of the massacre into a monument to remind the new generations of the danger of experimenting with new attractive stuff and to preserve the traditions.

The Selfish Red Ant (by Belén Giamberardini and Gisela Koval)

It was almost midday when the big group of ants gathered at the anthill to revise all the work they had been doing up to that moment.

The Queen of the red ants started checking the amount of collected food. There was one grain, pieces of leaves, some grass, pieces of bread and cookies but she realized that the flowers were missing. The Queen got mad at the idea that some of the workers hadn`t done their job properly. “I want to see the ants in charge of the flowers immediately” the Queen said. But nobody answered or moved. “ I said I want to see the ants in charge of the flowers immediately!” she repeated. But again nobody answered. “They are missing!” One of the ants shouted. Everybody were horrified to hear what has happened, some of them burst into tears.

“What’s wrong with that?” said Little Red Ant. “it makes room for new people”. “What a selfish comment!” the Queen said angrily. Suddenly, one of the guards of the Queen entered the anthill and cried: “The ants in charge of the flowers were poisoned by the humans”. All the ants cried, even the Queen cried. Little Red Ant felt really sorry for her selfish comment and said: “I want to make up my mistake. I’ve been so selfish! From now on I’ll do my job as usual and I’ll also collect the flowers”. “Oh! That proves that your heart is still kind” the Queen said. And from that moment on Little Red Ant was in charge of the flowers.

Exquisite cadaver

Sometimes the results of working together can be really interesting. We’ve made an activity based on the surrealist game called Exquisite Cadaver in which we’ve assembled different ideas to create a new and fascinating piece of writing. Enjoy our productions! (Belén Giamberardini)
  

Suddenly, she slammed the door behind her. They had been arguing very strongly for the last three months but this time she got tired of her husband’s unfaithfulness. The turning point was when she found out that her best friend was having an affair with him. In tears, she wrote some lines, took the gun and went away. The letter was left there for him to find it so that he could know the reason of her act.

When she knew where the letter was she got desperate. She had to recover it as soon as possible but it was going to be a hard task because his house was plenty of guards.

She drove her car for many hours from the city to the forest where his house was placed. She managed to enter and get the letter but one of the guards realized about her and when he tried to reduce her, she escaped and ran quickly to the forest.

She had noticed that someone or something was following her.

When she finally stopped, she felt a cold breeze. She looked behind her and saw a strange shadow. She could not recognize what it was. She was so frightened that she tried to ask for help but could not scream or move her body. She was paralyzed.

After some minutes, she reacted and started to walk slowly. But it was too late. The shadow was very close to her. She thought something small and awful was creeping towards her.

The horrible and indescribable creature was coming nearer and nearer. Although she wasn’t able to see clearly what that disgusting thing was, she got very scared. She hurried up looking for an exit, but the place seemed to be a maze. There were many endless and gloomy corridors full of locked doors.

The chances of finding a way out were remote. She felt as if she were in the worst nightmare ever. Suddenly she saw a light coming from inside one of the rooms. She made her last effort and asked herself whether or not to grab the handle. Breathless, she finally opened the door and burst into tears.
After having heard about her fiancee’s affair, she decided to confront her friend. She knew she was involved in covering him up.
As she was listening to her friend’s version of the story, she glanced at the kitchen’s table and as soon as her friend pronounced her last word she took a knife and stabbed her several times. When she realized what she had done, she washed her blood stained hands and immediately after, a noise scared her. Suddenly, she slammed the door behind her.

Groups in order (phrases in bolt indicate connecting sentences used by two groups):

• Patricia De La Llera, Natalia Diquech, Renée Fredes 
• Pablo Barroca, Laura Dambolena, Belén Giamberardini, Gisela Koval
• Paula Heredia, Nancy Nieto, Melina Núñez, Florencia Villaverde.
• Agustín López, Giselle Albim, Adriana Astrada, Cristian Matas
• María Florencia González, Karina Moreschi, María Silvina Rago, Angélica Santi 

Flash fiction

Sometimes a lot is said in just a few words. That’s why creating flash fiction can become a fascinating task to improve writing skills. We invite you to take pleasure in reading our production. Enjoy!! (Anglélica Santi)

Clocks destroyed. Don't wanna waste time. (Belén Giamberardini)

A: How are you? B: Well... I´m married. (Ivanna Palazzetti)

Think green, buy dollars! (Silvina Rago)

New circus needs a lion. To be vegetarian is a must. (Gisela Koval)

Let´s smoke a cigarrete. I prefer an apple. (Paula Heredia)

Mum, mum…is it true I am mentally ill? The wall didn’t answer. (Guadalupe Bustingorri)

He kissed her, married her and ran away. (Laura Dambolena)

I sent her flowers. Angrily, she rejected them. (Laura Dambolena)

Mummy and daddy all in one. Ricky's great. (Karina Moreschi)

On a rainy night, children told horror stories around a candle. The flames were out of control. Silence invaded the house. (Nancy Nieto)

Luisa saw them. Now she’s single. (Silvia Storino)

Missing children. Don’t want to be found (Flor Villaverde)

I was married. Now I’m happy. (Florencia González)

“Don’t hit me. I’m Giordano.” (Roberto Giordano) (Florencia González)

Fort: I want it back.

Lorre: You can’t ask what you have given as a gift.

(Florencia González)

It is cheaper buying her a dress than inviting her to lunch. (Melina Núñez)

!yaw gnorw eht ni gindaer era uoy (Agustín López)

"Don´t think of an excuse, it is never the correct one." (Pablo Barroca Roldán)

Talented boy. Kind woman. Better future. (Angélica Santi)

Kennedy Space Center: final countdown, launch postponed. (Patricia Daher)

Are you going to study or work? asked the mother.

I'll try to marry a football player, said the daughter.

(Renee Fredes)

Some years before being transplanted, doctors told him to stop smoking. Fortunately I have all his records and the last CD. (Renee Fredes)

The dog ran after the postman. She never received the letter. (Renee Fredes)

Explosion. Read me first: This device requires 120 voltage. (Giselle Albim)

Forgive without forgetting. New star. Wrong again. Life. (Cristian Matas)

"Welcome to hell." Larry: "Damn ring." (Cristian Matas)

The computer was broken. The police lost the evidence and the murderer was still free. (Natalia Diquech)

Don’t marry him. Adopt him. (Adriana Astrada)