Focus Question: What is dialogue and why is it important to a story?
Part 1
Begin the lesson by showing a cartoon strip. A suggested site is http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts. “Who is talking in this cartoon? What are they saying to each other?” Allow responses. “When two or more characters talk to each other in cartoons and stories, it is called dialogue. The cartoonists put the conversation in speech bubbles. Let’s look at another example of dialogue.” Show another example of a cartoon, and ask the questions again.
“Why would the author of a story include dialogue?” Write down student responses. Guide students to the idea that dialogue is used in stories because it adds details about characters, setting, problem, solution, and plot, which helps the reader understand the story better.
“Let’s look at another picture.” Show students an illustration from a favorite story or one read previously in the unit. “What might these characters be saying to each other?” Take ideas from the class. They will likely use dialogue or similar speech from the story.
Select a student and ask him/her to come up. Pretend that you and the student are different characters in the illustration. Have a conversation (dialogue). “Now you and a partner are going to have a chance to make up your own dialogue.” Have students pair up and pretend they are characters in the illustration. Provide them with a few minutes to hold a conversation. Return to a large group and have students share some of the dialogue they had.
Part 2
Provide students with a more formal definition of dialogue. “In dialogue, two or more characters speak with each other. It helps the reader understand the story better by understanding how the characters are feeling, tells more about the events or setting, and creates more interest in the story. When we look at cartoons, we see that the author puts the dialogue in speech bubbles. Let’s read another book and look at how the author uses dialogue.”
Read Arthur Writes a Story by Marc Brown. While reading, point out when characters are speaking to each other. At the end of the book, briefly review the elements of a narrative. Focus on how dialogue adds to character, setting, problem/solution, and plot.
“Yesterday, we pretended that we were characters in a story. Today, we are going to be authors and write our own dialogue.”
Provide students with a copy of a cartoon strip that you created at http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/comiccreator/comiccreator.html. You may want to print several different versions so that students have a choice of which cartoon they would like to write dialogue for. This site may also be used as a center for students to practice dialogue independently.
Give students plenty of time to create dialogue for the cartoon strip. They should share their dialogues with a partner when finished. Keep the dialogues for use in Part 3.
Part 3
Obtain a large-print or oversized storybook that contains dialogue. Read the story or part that contains dialogue. With the class gathered in a large group, ask students, “Do the characters in this story speak to each other? How do we know that they are talking to each other? Do you see any speech bubbles?” Wait for responses. “Authors don’t have room to use speech bubbles, so they use something else to show that a character is speaking. Does anyone know how the authors show that someone is speaking?” Allow for responses. Some students may know about quotation marks.
Steer students into noticing quotation marks in a story. “Authors use quotation marks to show when a character begins speaking and also when the character stops speaking. Quotation marks are like double commas that hang in the air around the words that the characters speak.”
Read the large-print book that contains dialogue. Point out the quotation marks in the story.
After the story, have students come up and identify opening and closing quotation marks using sticky notes. Be sure to point out that quotation marks come in pairs. There are opening and closing quotation marks each time someone speaks. “Quotation marks hug the words being spoken.”
To guide students in using quotation marks, show them the Arthur cartoon you created in Part 2. Go back and model where the quotation marks should go. Be sure to explain the placement of them as you add them to your cartoon strip.
“Now it is your turn to add quotation marks. On the cartoon you created yesterday, go back and add quotation marks around the words your characters are speaking. Remember that you need opening and closing quotation marks. Be sure to take your time.” Collect completed work.
Language Skills Mini-Lesson
Return to the storybook and review which words have capital letters. Point out the capitalized proper nouns that are the names of people, places, events, etc.
Then ask students to give examples of proper nouns while you write them on the board. To check their understanding, ask for guidance from students as to which words should be capitalized and why.
Hand out the Proper Nouns sheet (LW-2-1-2_Proper Nouns.doc), and complete the first sentence as a class. Students can do the second sentence with a partner, and then they should complete the rest of the sentences on their own. A key is included (LW-2-1-2_Proper Nouns KEY.doc). Review the answers as a class and address questions.
Extension:
- Students who are having difficulty understanding dialogue can be taught in a small-group or one-on-one situation. They can go back to adding quotation marks to their existing sentences. Then have students work up to writing their own dialogue.
- Provide students with a copy of a short story containing no quotation marks. To demonstrate learning, students can add quotation marks where appropriate.
