Submitted by Suzanne Humphreys, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Idea posted November 26, 2001

This week, I had to give release time to the librarian who was housing the new students to the school: 35 of them, including 20 who did not speak English. Their ages range from 8 to 13. I was puzzled as to what to do with them for 30 minutes, but I came up with this idea which was very effective.

First, I partnered English and non-English speaking students. I presented them with a simple quiz about the story content of the picture book Musicians Of The Sun. I asked the English speaking students to read the quiz to their partners. My purpose in doing this was simply to focus the listening, to add a serious element to the reading, and to facilitate a connection among the children who were strangers to each other. I put on the music The Planets: Second Movement: Venus, The Bringer Of Peace by Gustav Holst. Then, I began to read the book. The calmness and interest in the story was miraculous. The non-English speaking students could follow by simply looking at the wonderful, artistically-depicted pictures while the others could enjoy the words.

What I think made the whole activity so successful was the music. It was so calming, yet so appropriate to the story. After I read the story, the students worked on the quiz. The whole lesson was extremely successful.

Later in the day, I was asked to supervise a group of raunchy grade sevens. I used this same lesson and again it was a success.

The questions on the quiz are simply the following:

  1. Print the name of the story.
  2. Who wanted to bring the musicians back to earth?
  3. Who wanted to keep the musicians?
  4. What happened when the musicians returned to earth?
  5. Name the four instruments used by the musicians.