It’s a bit tricky getting to classrooms at the moment, given the Covid-19 restrictions. So, instead, I thought I could come to you virtually with this video.
How to use the Through my Eyes: Hasina story prompt video
The video is for use in the classroom as a replacement for face-to-face visits. It is around four minutes long. It is fast moving, with lots of images of Myanmar as well as footage of me talking to camera.
In this short video, I tell you something about the book, Hasina, the main characters and the real world events that inspired the story. Finally, I ask students to reflect on the character’s experience and relate it to their own life experiences to riff off the book and write their own story.
The story prompt asks writers to imagine what they would do if enemy soldiers came to their street and they had to save themselves and those close to them. How would they do it?
There are some questions to help them imagine the setting and get students started, including: have you ever had to do something really hard?
Other story questions for setting:
- What can you see outside?
- What can you smell?
- What do the houses look like?
- What do the people look like?
- Who are the other characters in your story?
You might like to play the video in class and follow it up with a story writing session. It helps to have read the book, but I give you enough of an outline of the Rohingya situation to work with.
As I say at the end of the video, I’d be delighted to read some students writing and offer some generative feedback. If you’d have students who would like to send their work, please shoot me an email at: michelle.aung.thin@gmail.com