1. Retelling and Summarizing Stories
Lecture 12
Retelling and Summarizing Stories

2. Review of Lecture 11 In lecture 11, we learnt how to
Identify a personal narrative
Analyze some personal narratives
Write your own personal narrative

3. Objectives of Lecture 12
After completing lecture 12, you should be able to
Summarize a story
Determine important ideas and information
Narrate events in a sequence
Retell a story in your own words

4. Why Summarize?
To give a gist.
To understand.
To check comprehension.

5. The Art of Summarizing
Listen to this video and learn from a cop how to summarize books and movies in just few sentences.

6. Short Summaries Summary of Titanic in Two Sentences
“A boy and girl meet on a big ship that hits an iceberg and sinks. The boy dies and the girl lives to tell the story.”
Summary of Cinderella in One Sentence
“A poor working girl marries a prince in spite of her wicked step mother.”

7. Process of Summarizing
Read the story.
Take notes.
Find the main characters.
Note down the setting.
Note the story’s conflict.
Note the main events.
Note how the conflict is resolved.
Organize your notes.
Write the summary.
Revise your summary.

8. General Guidelines
Tell the story. Don't memorize the author's words but develop a personal, storytelling voice.
Use an expressive voice.
Pick what is most important to tell.
Tell details in the right order.
Reread a lot to check the facts.
It really takes a lot of practice to get retelling right.

9. Essential Questions Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Who are the main characters?
What?
What are the main events?
What is the main problem / conflict?
What is the underlying meaning (theme) of the story?
What is the purpose of the author in writing this story?
When?
When do the main events take place?
Where?
Where do the main events take place
Why?
Why do the characters act or react in the way they do?
How?
How does the conflict resolve?

10. Duffy’s Jacket by Bruce Coville
Listen to and read the Story, “Duffy’s Jacket” by Bruce Coville.

11. Summary for Duffy’s Jacket
“Duffy’s Jacket,” by Bruce Coville, is a short story that takes place in a huge, dusty cabin in the woods. The main characters include the narrator, Andrew, and his cousin Duffy, their two moms, and Andrew’s little sister, Marie. The problem that they face is that Duffy keeps forgetting things. This leads to an even bigger problem involving a strange, mysterious creature. The two families leave for their camping trip, but have to return to get Duffy’s suitcase. Once at the cabin, they spend a lot of time cleaning it up. Afterwards, they find a message on the wall that says, “Beware the Sentinel.” Later in the day, the kids go hiking in the woods. Duffy loses his jacket, and Andrew has a strange feeling that they’re being followed.

12. Summary for Duffy’s Jacket (Cont…)
That evening, Andrew’s mom and aunt leave to get supplies, and the children are left alone, which makes Andrew nervous. Suddenly they hear a scratching at the door. Duffy looks out the window and sees something huge. The children run to the barn and back to the house while a big creature chases them. Eventually they find themselves cornered in the house. The Sentinel comes through the door, throws Duffy his jacket, and says, “You forgot your jacket, stupid.” The narrator tells us that this event had such an impact on Duffy that he hasn’t forgotten anything in over a year. We discover that sometimes bad habits can cause big problems.

13. Practice Situation
Read any one story in English and summarize it.

14. Summary of Lecture 12 In lecture 12, we learnt how to
Summarize a story
Determine important ideas and information
Narrate events in a sequence
Retell a story in our own words