The Long Valley
Difficulty: Easy
Time: Moderate
Learning Type: Visual and Hands On
Materials:
Keeping a journal of Key Terms is one of the easiest ways to make the text interactive. Anytime that you cross a word or phrase that you do not understand, jot it down in your journal. Right after you have written down the word, you have the option of either looking up the word/phrase at that moment, or after you have finished the chapter.
Write down the definition or explanation of the word/phrase in your journal so that you have it as a reference throughout the rest of the story.
Difficulty: Easy
Time: Moderate
Learning Type: Visual and Hands On
Materials:
Keeping a List of Characters is another way to make the text interactive. Anytime you come across a new character, write the name down in your journal. Keep a bulleted list prepared underneath the name of each character and write down defining characteristics of their personality or significant events that they are involved in.
This will help you create a clearer idea of each character and their purpose in the story.
Difficulty: Medium
Time: Moderate
Learning Type: Visual and Audio
Materials:
The flash cards can be created from scratch using construction paper/note cards and colored pencils/markers. You also have the option of printing out the cards on the computer.
The subject chosen for the flash cards can be particular or miscellaneous. A great idea is to use questions and answers from the Study Question section on this website or to write down any specific questions you know that you want to work on remembering.
A few additional ideas for what to put on the cards can be found below:
People/Characters: You can find pictures either on the internet or at the library to represent characters in the text and paste the name below the picture. You also have the option of using the character name as a heading and writing a short summary of the character below the name.
Cultural References: As seen in the Glossary section of this site, there are many cultural and regional references in the text. Learning the meaning of these terms and objects will enhance your understanding of what is going on in the text.
Quotes: There are some very specific, poignant quotes in The Long Valley; you can choose some of the most memorable quotes from the text and learn who has said what.
Difficulty: Medium
Time: Moderate
Learning Type: Hands On (and visual, when doing Variation of the Exercise)
Materials:
If you are a hands-on learner, a diorama or illustrations are a great way to go. You can choose a particular scene from the text and recreate it in the form of a diorama or recreate the Salinas Valley with all of the significant locations. You can also draw illustrations for particular scenes, or illustrate a map of the valley. This will help you to visualize the text in a more realistic way, which will help you to remember key scenes of the stories more easily.