What does a micrologue mean?

Answer 1

Micrologues are short stories that can be based on current, past or future events and consequently are ideal for teaching tenses. Typically micrologues are summaries of experiences written in 5 to 10 sentences. It is called the ¡°micrologue technique¡± (micro=short; logue = story), because the students are instructed to summarise an event or subject (chosen by the teacher) that has occurred over a period of time. The result is a short verbal summary (approximately 30 seconds to one minute long).

Your students can write them alone, in pairs, or groups, and then present their micrologues in front of the class. For further class involvement you can then ask your students to ask questions based on the content of the micrologue.

Example of a micrologue written in the simple present tense:

My Dog

My dog is called Bessie. She is a black, tan and white beagle with soft, floppy ears. She loves sleeping, eating and stretching. Most of the time she is very quiet but whenever she sees the postman she gets excited and barks a lot.

Now write a micrologue in the simple past tense:

My Last Holiday

On my last holiday I...

Micrologues help students to acquire language by activating their prior knowledge and experiences (schema). This is achieved by thinking about a topic, by writing about it, and then by saying it out loud. Students also get the chance to listen to each others. stories and perhaps to ask questions about them. This then becomes a very communicative activity.