Page:Adapting and Writing Language Lessons.pdf/387

CHAPTER 7 with 16 white and 16 black pieces: each player has one king, one queen, two castles, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The goal of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king.]

If the students have had some hand in selecting the topic, and possibly the text itself, then even a prosaic text that is totally unsuited for inclusion in a published language textbook may be exciting and effective.

It is important to exploit the facts in a text, as well as its purely linguistic content. For students who have at lease a potential interest in international affairs, or in the place of Quebec in the world, the following story from a random issue of the Montreal can lead into a genuine discussion:

"Paul Emile victor, a French explorer who has journeyed to the North Pole, will undertake explorations of Northern Quebec next spring as part of a Franco-Quebec agreement. At a press conference yesterday he called Quebec's north a gigantic reservoir of natural riches. The month-long mining exploration will be followed by another in 1971."

The same issue contains numerous articles that cast light on some aspects of life in Montreal:

"The Montreal Soldiers' Wives League is holding a gaslight era party and fun auction on Friday evening, November 21, at eight o'clock, in the Officers' Mess of the Canadian Grenadier Guards by kind permission of the Commanding Officer, Lt. Col. R.I. W______, C.D., A.D.C. Music and refreshments will be provided. Parking space has been arranged for that evening. Mrs. J_____ W______ and Mrs. A______D______ are conveners."