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One
day a hungry beggar went to the house of a rich man. He asked
for something to eat. The rich man invited the beggar in and gave
him some soup. The beggar drank the soup very quickly. When he
finished the rich man asked, "Do you want more to eat?"
"No, thanks," the beggar answered. "That was enough. I'm
full."
But the rich man gave the beggar a large plate of meat. The
beggar finished that very quickly also.
"Do you want more to eat?" the rich man asked again.
"No, thanks," the beggar answered. "That was
enough. I'm full."
But the rich man didn't stop. He gave the beggar some
delicious chocolate cake. The beggar quickly finished the food again. "Why do you lie
to me?" the rich man asked. "Every time I ask you if you want more to eat, you
say no; but every time I give you more, you eat it quickly."
The beggar looked around. Outside the kitchen there was a box.
He filled the box with stones and asked the rich man, "Is this box full?"
"Of course it's full, the rich man answered.
Then the beggar put some sand in the box that
was full of stones "Is this box full?" he asked again.
"Of course it's full," the rich man answered.
Then the beggar got a pail of water. He poured the water into
the box that was full of stones and sand. "You see," he said to the rich man.
"Every time I ask you if the box is full, you say yes; but every time you say yes, I
fill the box again. It's the same thing with the food you gave me. There's always room for
more."
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This is a tale for
students to tell. I've chosen to begin with it to give a context for what is to follow,
and to demonstrate that Story Theater can be used with students of all ages and all levels
of English proficiency. With it, we can highlight basic features of Story Theater that
will become more varied and complex as the tales become longer, with wider vocabulary and
more challenging images for student actors to project.
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Story Theater takes a
text-a piece of fiction, a fable, or a folk tale-and students act it out. They have not
written this text, but if there is narration, they recite that narration. They do not
write dialogues; but if characters in the story have dialogue, then students will speak
that dialogue. Students will orchestrate the drama that a story portrays, choosing sound
effects, props, and blackboard pictures to provide background. They decide who stands
where and what actions are needed to bring the story alive . . . in a special way.
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In Story Theater,
students, not the teacher, do the telling, although the success of the telling depends,
first of all, and mostly, on the teacher's original decision in selecting a tale. In
making this choice, the teacher should remember that while students may become frustrated,
truly exasperated, as they struggle with this foreign language, they also have the faculty
of imagination.
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Story Theater evokes
imagination, putting a number of formal pedagogical principles into play simultaneously as
action proceeds. For instance, language materials ought to be intrinsically motivating.
They ought to engage the students, pique their curiosity, and be within their range of
proficiency so that they are neither bored, because the materials are too familiar, nor
frustrated, because they are loaded with too many new features, new words, new sounds, or
new grammatical structures.
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Story Theater is
especially relevant at that time when students are tired or are about to become tired. It
is also useful with students who are afraid to make mistakes, or with those who have a
knowledge about the language and can recognize words, but cannot easily produce what they
can recognize. The text of a story gives words to them so that they can actively use the
language. This provides security. But if the teacher reads the story, if students recite
the story after her, they remain at the same level of language where they were when they
began the activity, perhaps with a wider range of passive knowledge, but not with
increased fluency in using the language.
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Theorists
concerned with foreign language learning remind us of the role
that affect plays in foreign language learning. Krashen and Burt
and Dulay highlight the role that reduced anxiety plays in the
classroom, as does Lozanov when he advises us to de-suggest negative
attitudes toward the difficulty of formal learning, pointing to
the use of roleplaying as one means of recalling the joy of learning.
Charles Curran's Community Language Learning and James Asher's
Total Physical Response tell us to reach for the whole person,
mind, body, and psyche in teaching. And Earl Stevick, investigator
and a story teller himself, describes how measurably the imagination
prompts the faculty of memory. That mental leap that the creative
impulse makes enhances the likelihood that new constructs and
the words to convey them will be remembered by learners.
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There are other reasons
for using Story Theater. Since ancient times, universal themes have been expressed in the
myths and legends of all cultures. Whatever our background, whatever our culture, stories
are there, from Aesop to La Fontaine, Noh plays, and Grimm's Fairy Tales. Tales from one
society resonate in the minds and psyches of students from another. Images from Aesop
("the hawks and the doves," "sour grapes," "cry wolf") are
common coin throughout the world. The competition to get a crown ("The White Cat from
France") or the presence of a sorcerer challenging heroes (the princess hidden in the
cat or the man submerged within the beast of "Beauty and the Beast") cut across
cultures. Worries that attractive material might be useless because of culture-bound
references are no concern when fables are used. A story from Colombia will be appreciated
by a class in Vietnam.
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Story Theater not only
embraces principles of learning and universal themes, it allows us to use in a refreshing
way, tried- and-true techniques that have been frowned upon in recent years. For instance,
choral activities-in ill repute because they were associated with meaningless drill-become
transformed in a new guise. There is an amazing difference in group recitation when it is
called a Greek chorus instead of the familiar whole class "repeat after me"
recitation. A teacher can check this for herself by having a class recite in chorus a
story or dialogue that she models line after line. Then without modeling, she can ask
small groups of students to take the above story and tell it, reading it out loud to their
classmates who simply sit and listen, with their books closed. There may be false starts
at first, but after one or two tries, the group becomes one voice as did the actors of
Greek tragedy or Japanese Noh drama. Given even a crude drawing of the masks of
"comedy" and "tragedy" on a blackboard, the tale tellers and their
listeners recognize the difference immediately. The recitation is no longer a drill but a
speech with meaning and a purpose.
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In your mind's ear, listen
to the first lines of the opening tale told by a trio of students:
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"One
day a hungry beggar went to the house of a rich man. He asked
for something to eat. The rich man invited the beggar in and gave
him some soup."
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Because the conventions of
story telling are so universal, students realize that they are telling a tale, not merely
reciting a passage. Even beginning learners strive for rhythm, and the cadence of the
sentences fall into place. Add the direction that the student/beggar must look and act the
beggar and that the student/rich man must look and act the rich man: you will have in
front of you-with perhaps no more prop than a cup (if even that!)-one student bent over,
holding out his hand, and looking the supplicant while the other shows the self-possession
of a rich man by taking on a different facial expression and a more confident stance. Just
how students convey these two images is up to them, not the teacher; but if they know the
meaning of the words "rich man" and "beggar," the physical projection
will be there. We are using the student's imagination, not the teacher's.
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To introduce the Story
Theater way of telling a tale, have two of the students become the rich man and the
beggar, and the rest of the class, the chorus. In harmony and in unison, the chorus begins
the tale:
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"One
day a hungry beggar went to the house of a rich man. He asked
for something to eat. The rich man invited the beggar in and gave
him some soup. The beggar drank the soup very quickly. When he
finished, the rich man asked . . .
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When
the chorus finishes the phrase,". . . the rich man asked,"the
student/actor rich man steps forward and says, "Do you want
more to eat?"
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"No,
thanks," the beggar student/actor replies "that was
enough. I'm full."
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Assign roles before the
first reading begins and go through the text together. Using the context of the whole
story, students can make intelligent guesses about the meanings of strange words and
determine how they will convey them in narration. Beginning-level students may not know
the English word for "beggar," and its meaning can be translated quickly,
ideally by a classmate.
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Students go into reading
circles as professional actors do, and keeping original roles, run through the narration.
When ready, the rich man and the beggar and three chorus voices go to the front of the
class to act and speak the whole story. Enjoy the surprise of the action and don't
over-rehearse or push students into performing a role until they show that they are ready.
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If, knowing his/her class,
the teacher has chosen a tale within their reach, students, undistracted by strange words,
will move from a passive knowledge of the language to active command. That is important
enough to say again: students who are ready for Story Theater recognize the words and
their meaning and the meaning of a story. If they were asked any number of comprehension
questions about the tale, they would answer them, in monosyllables, perhaps, or as is
often the case, in grammatical phrases. What Story Theater does is give them a chance to
use their language actively and sensibly to convey meaning.
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If the story is a good one
and within their range of proficiency, students will work on the material gladly. The
given text frees them to use their imagination as they speak the language carefully and
repeatedly within the safety of the group that traditional audiolingual classes relied
upon.
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Unlike
traditional roleplaying activities that call for students to
act out words given in dialogues or skits, or to improvise their
own words when given a character role, a setting, and a situation
or conflict, Story Theater works with the whole text of a story,
freeing students to focus on whole messages, not individual words.
Indeed, students focus so much on chunks of meaning that the rote,
word-by-word recitation of so much class reading disappears and
the deep structure of the story becomes primary.
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Fables are not what they
appear; The moralists are mice and such small deer. We yawn at sermons but gladly turn To
moral tales, and, amused, we learn." Jean de la Fontaine
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There are longer pieces
with more complex sentence structure and varied vocabulary. The Golden Swan, a story from
Laos, is a good example of how an entire class can be involved in telling a story in
groups, in teams.
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The teacher might read
this tale once to a group of intermediate level students, modeling the pronunciation,
stress, and intonation. S/he might also have students read the text as they listen to a
recorded version. It is important, though, to remember the virtue of keeping the material
fresh and not to limit the students' imagination. Any repetition of the telling should
happen within student groups which are assigned sequential segments of the story. Breaking
the narration at natural junctures, in logical sections, or perhaps even in length, four
groups of five students are given the tale and asked to spend 10-15 minutes in acting
circles to imagine how they will portray their section of the story. In this case each
group has a Chief Hunter and a Widow assigned to speak dialogue. The three (or more)
students who will present the narration in Greek chorus must decide who will step forward
to mime the descriptions and what props they will use. The various versions each group
acts out-with the narration as the common thread -are characteristic of Story Theater as
groups listen to each others' piece of the tale and anticipate adding their own. This
approach has the added advantage of maintaining student interest, piquing their curiosity
as they wonder how the other groups envisioned the same tale. There is laughter and fun
and shouts of recognition as the same character portrayed by four different groups has
four sets of accidental characteristics. There is appreciation and recognition and
realization that another mind, another group came up with a different image of the same
person.
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Once students feel
prepared, Group A moves to the front of the class and begins the tale. When A finishes,
they slip quietly to the side and join the audience for Group B which has just as quietly
moved to the center. Holding to the rhythm, even aiming for a seamless transition from
group to group is part of the challenge and fun of Story Theater.
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Besides being within the
range of the students' language proficiency, and appropriate to the age and maturity of
the students, the content of material selected for Story Theater presentation has to be
attractive enough to work with, familiar enough to hold students' attention, and relevant
enough to sustain their interest. Otherwise presenters may be deflected from acting, if
they need to learn too many new words, or if the theme is beyond their comprehension
because of age or experience. But if the story is well chosen, students will work with it
gladly, becoming so involved in the telling that they focus not on individual words but
upon the message, the most elementary requirement for genuine expression. The deep
structure of the story and the words used to tell it become primary, as it does in their
first language. ( See Footnote 1 )
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Length is another
important concern. Passages should be brief enough to be told within a three to five
minute period, keeping in mind that perhaps 20 minutes have been spent in preparation.
More than 15 or 20 minutes of preparation may make the activity tedious and in the process
kill spontaneity, a key dynamic for successful Story Theater. Still, a brief performance
has in fact been preceded by earlier small group work. For a story to run smoothly,
performance time may be only five or 10 minutes.
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As with the tales used
here, stories chosen for portrayal should have lots of descriptive detail and concrete
images that student actors can mime or convey with simple props or pictures. Abstract
expressions need to be graphic enough for quick representation by upper beginning level
students.
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There are lots of reasons
for using Story Theater in the classroom. It is fun. And effective! It appeals to
students' unconscious-that part of us that theorists in second language acquisition stress
is so important. Story Theater lowers students' anxiety level, a major concern of Krashen;
it reaches the whole person, Curran's requirement for successful learning; it addresses
the unconscious which the psychiatrist Lozanov recognized as playing a fundamental role in
language learning; and by linking meaning and imagination, it enters memory, which Stevick
sees as central to acquisition. But most compelling of all reasons for using Story
Theater, is Joseph Campbell's observation that the themes of fables and myths are so
universal that a story from Japan will be appreciated by a class of students in Athens.
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Group A chorus:
"There was once a mighty hunter who lived in Laos. He was a good husband and a kind
father, and he looked after his family well. In fact, he was such a good hunter that
people called him the Chief Hunter. People knew he was a very lucky man.
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Everything about the Chief
Hunter's life was fortunate. His children always had food. His wife could trade the birds
and animals he caught for the best rice in the village. They had the best cloth to make
their clothing. Life was rich and happy for the Chief Hunter's family.
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Then one
day the Chief Hunter hurt himself while he was hunting. He came
home to his wife, and she said, ( it is here that the student-actor/Widow
speaks ) "What is wrong? Your face is pale, and you are
moving so slowly. What happened?"
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"I
don't know," the Chief Hunter said wearily. The Chief Hunter/actor
utters the direct speech, "I don't know;" and the three
students narrate as a Greek Chorus "the Chief Hunter said
wearily . . ." while the Chief Hunter shows his weariness
by facial expression or body movement. "I feel very sick.
Let me lie down." So he took to his bed, and his family nursed
him devotedly and watched him with great care.
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( The Chorus continues
): At first the Hunter seemed to get better, but then he slipped back. He died a week
later.
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His
widow grieved terribly. ( The Widow shows her grief and her
poverty ). She missed her husband, and she did not know how
to live without him. The family became poor, and it was difficult
to find enough food to eat. The children ( one chorus voice
continues as other chorus members step forward to mime the children's
distress ) often cried when they went to sleep because they
were hungry. The Widow was at her wits' end. She could not sleep
for worry and grief. ( As the first group leaves the stage,
Group B moves quietly into place and continues the story.
)
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Group
B's Chorus: "One night, as the poor Widow tossed and
turned in her sleep, she heard her husband's voice. (As the
Widow tosses, a chorus member speaks for the Hunter. ) "I
have come back to help you," the voice said.
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The
Widow sat up and looked around. She knew she was dreaming, and
in her dream she went outside. A large Swan spoke to her with
the Chief Hunter's voice. ( Ideally the student storytellers,
not the teacher, will have decided how to convey a swan,by physical
miming, a stick figure on the board, a mask, a white sheet, etc.
Invariably student imagination produces an image that the listeners
will recognize. )
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"I know how hard it
is for you," the Swan said in the Chief Hunter's voice.
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The Widow was happy to
hear her husband's voice, yet sad because she knew it was a dream. Her throat closed so
she could not speak. The Swan stood in the moonlight and said, "I wish I could be
here with you." Then it came closer. She could see that many of its feathers were
made of gold. In the moonlight it seemed to be a golden swan.
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The Golden Swan said,
"Put your hand out and take one of my golden feathers. Use the money for food and
clothing for yourself and the children. Go on. I will return whenever you need more. Pull
a feather out of my wing." So, very gently, the Widow pulled a feather out of the
Golden Swan's wing.
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The Golden Swan said in
the voice of the Chief Hunter, "Go to sleep now. In the morning you will know that
this was a special dream." So the Widow put the feather beside her bed and went back
to sleep. She slept so well and so deeply it was as if her man were still alive.
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( Group B slips away
and Group C moves forward ) When she awoke, she remembered the dream and looked for
the golden feather. There in its place was money and gold.
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The wife wept with
gratitude. Her husband was kind and generous even after death. Later she went to the
village and bought food and clothing. She was careful not to spend too much. She was very
quiet about her good fortune and decided to try to make the money last a long time.
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She looked after the money
well, but after a while there was very little left, and she began to worry. Would the
Golden Swan come back again? On the day she spent the last coin, she felt alone again-just
like when she was first a Widow.
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The Golden Swan came back
to her, and she took a larger feather than before. The Golden Swan flew away, and the
Widow dreamed on and planned what she could do with the money.
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The next day, sure enough,
there was an even larger pile of gold and coins. The Widow laughed and gave her children a
little money to buy food in the market. Then she went to find the people who ran the
gambling in the village. She was sure she could double her money.
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(
It is Group D's turn to move forward and continue the narration
with its own interpretation of the Widow and Swan; the narrating
chorus will speak the lines of the gamblers, a good example of
how apt the chorus is since the gamblers indeed are representative
tempters. ) "I would like to gamble," she said.
"Will anyone play with me?"
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"Do you have any
money?" the gamblers asked.
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"I have money,"
the Widow said, and she let the gamblers see part of the gold. The game started that
morning, and by nightfall the Widow had no money left. She went home, angry and depressed.
On the way she thought of a plan.
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"My husband will be
angry when he finds out how I lost the money," she thought. "If I had a lot of
money, I would not need to ask him for more."
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That night as she lay
down, she waited for the Golden Swan to come. He came as usual and offered his feathers.
This time she plucked all the golden feathers she could find. She did not care how much
she hurt the Swan. She was possessed by greed. The Widow put the feathers into a pile by
her bed so that she could see them as soon as she woke up. "Such a large pile of
feathers should turn into a lot of money," she thought.
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The next morning she woke
up and looked for the money. All she found was a pile of dull dead swan's feathers.
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That night the Widow was
afraid to go to sleep, but at last she did. The Golden Swan came to her in her dream and
said, "I will never come to help you again. You do not deserve anything from me, and
from now on you must look after yourself." Then the Swan flew away and never
returned.
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- Becijos, Jeanne B. 1993. Tales from around the World. San Diego,
CA: Dominie Press, Inc.
- _____. 1993. Festival of Folktales: Stories for Whole Language
Learning. San Diego, CA: Dominie Press, Inc.
- Berman, Aaron. 1993. Forestville Tales. International Folk
Stories. San Francisco, CA: Alta Book Center.
- Binner, Vinal O. 1970. International Folktales II. A Structured
Reader. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.
- Burt, Marina and Heidi Dulay. 1981. Optimal Language Learning
Environments. In The Second Language Classroom: Directions for the 1980's. New York:
Oxford University Press.
- Cameron, Penny. 1992. Bridge Across the Americas. San Diego, CA:
Dominie Press.
- _____. 1993. Bridge Across Asia. Favorite Asian Stories. San
Diego, CA: Dominie Press, Inc.
- Campbell, Joseph. 1987. Primitive Mythology. The Masks of God. New
York: Penguin Books.
- Eubanks, Holly L. 1992. In the Magic Corridor: Stories for Whole
Language Learning. San Diego, CA: Dominie Press, Inc.
- _____. 1993. Through the Eye of the Needle. San Diego, CA: Dominie
Press, Inc.
- _____. 1991. Beyond the Hidden Door. San Diego, CA: Dominie Press,
Inc.
- Maley, Alan and Alan Duff. 1982. Drama Techniques in Language
Learning. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Krashen, Stephen. 1981. Second Language Acquisition and Second
Language Learning. Oxford: Pergamon.
- Smith, Stephen M. 1984. The Theater Arts and the Teaching of
Second Languages. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley.
- Spolin, Viola. 1963. Improvisation for the Theater. Evanston,
Illinois: Northwestern University Press.
- Stevick, Earl. 1993. Imagination and Memory: Friends or Enemies.
The Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning. The conference on the role of the
Imagination in Second Language Acquisition at Jersey City States College, Jersey City, New
Jersey. Volume 1, pp. 8-18.
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Mary Hines recently returned to the United
States from Hungary where she trained EFL teachers and coordinated
the USIA EFL Fellow program. She was president of TESOL, 1992-93,
and is currently a member of the TESOL executive board. |
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Footnote 1
If in doubt about the difficulty of a story, a
teacher can use elementary cloze procedures to confirm that it is within her group's
proficiency range. Since the purpose here is to let students immerse themselves in
language they recognize, the teacher should select a story of which the class as whole
knows a good 90 percent.
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