Lively Language: Lessons for Reluctant Learners

R.E Meyers’ book, Lively Language: Lessons for Reluctant Learners, does what most of us English teachers have been trying to do since the beginning of time: make grammar, spelling, punctuation and critical thinking lessons lively.

To do this, each lesson is infused with a dash of zaniness and a pinch of Meyers’ sense of offbeat humor which, in our opinion, helps inject new life into learning objectives that most students groan about.

The lessons you’ll find in this book will get students writing, but they will also ask them to think critically about the human experience—things like being sensitive, being original, being aware of others’ emotions, hypothesizing, analyzing, letting humor flow, elaborating and the list goes on.

To give you a better sense of what you’ll find in the book, we’ve pulled one of Meyers’ writing activities called “Your Talk Show.” This is a creative activity that will help students practice their punctuation, formulate succinct questions and work with direct quotations.

“Your Talk Show”
Imagine you are the host of a radio talk show that features unusual guests and people phoning to express their opinions. You have a great show lined up for next Tuesday, including these guests:

A tea-drinking accountant from Okmulgee, Oklahoma, who has saved every tea bag he has used for the past 27 years. He drinks all brands but never touches instant.
A six-year-old boy who can recite the Gettysburg Address backwards. (It takes him a little longer to say it frontwards.)
A winsome 90-year-old great grandmother who can beat her 60-year-old husband arm wrestling any day of the week.
A man who rode from Washington, D.C. to Boston on a unicycle in January.
A salesman from Ohio who set a record for going around and around in a revolving door in a government building for 47 minutes. Since it was at the height of the rush hour, he was arrested by the local police.
A girl who talked on her cell phone for 18 hours without stopping, changing ears only three times.

Because of time limitations, you will only be able to ask three questions of each quest. Write three questions to bring forth the liveliest responses from each.

Now that you have written your questions, write one of your interviews to submit to the editor of your program’s newsletter. Use your imagination for the guest’s responses to your questions. Be sure to use quotation and punctuation marks. In a direct quotation, the words of the speaker should be given exactly as they were spoken.