As indicated in the section on Phase 4, this final phase of the reading sequence represents an interpolation, rather than, as in earlier phases, variants or reiterations of the text.  Such interpolations will be based on the language structures of the text read and the impetus for their content will be triggered by the text as well.  Innovative, however, will be the focused perspective of the writer, the individual "take" or "spin" on the material that renders the resultant essay a text created by the reader-student, not merely a truncated version of the original text.

     To achieve that perspective and articulate it in the foreign language, students must access the work done in the previous phases: the language usage characteristic of their work with Phase 3 and the discursive features of their paragraphs in Phase 4, particularly those in which students have been asked to assume a voice or independent perspective vis-à-vis Borchert's play.

     Phase 5 may be too demanding for most Grade 8 students, since students' synthetic reasoning skills must be fairly well developed before to express points of view beyond the level of opinion or speculation.  The exercises are designed to foster self expression in a foreign language.  As tasks that allow students to develop scenarios free of contextual constraints (the cultural norms that restrict their speculation and necessitate synthetic reasoning), they can be useful as exercises in extended articulation.  Here are two samples for you to consider for your classes.

     Which exercise more effectively builds on prior elements in the curricular sequence to fulfill particular Standards? How?

     After you read both exercises, justify your choice in the Brainstorming Forum below, or click directly on the Hints to see what factors may play into your judgments. After that, go on to the sample exercises for Grade 12

     Using newspaper accounts on international current events, select several pictures depicting a wartime situation in one of the world's global hot spots (Bosnia, Korea, Zaire).  If Beckmann and Frau Kramer met in the place pictured, what would they say to each other?  Based on Beckmann's conversation with Frau Kramer, write some "balloon" conversations (Sprechblasen) for those pictures (connections standard).

     You are at home in Croatia, sitting alone in your house or apartment, and you hear a knock on the door. You open the door and see . . . . (complete a story using or revising expressions from the conversation between Beckmann and Frau Kramer, communications standards).

     Which of these exercises is more feasible for this learning level, and which of the Standards do they foster?