Ask them questions:

Once they have chosen their doll, the students need to bestow them with histories, fears, hopes and dreams that would allow them to create a full fleshed character.

The dolls of course, have an immediate technical function. A Barbie doll for example, may have been exclusively manufactured by Mattel to be Miss America and drive a convertible Corvette; the teacher's job is to help the students subvert these expectations, by placing the dolls in different contexts and in different situations.

Remind your students that what they see of their doll, is only the tip of the iceberg to a complex mysterious universe, which now includes them as protagonists.

The following questions will help the students create a character out of the "ready-made" dolls that they brought into class.

You can add more questions to the list, but make sure not to overwhelm your students. You will be surprised with the depth and complexity of their answers. (For Latino students, asking the questions in their primary language can be helpful)

• Give him or her a name and a nickname and tell us where it comes from.
  Dale un nombre y un apodo y cuentanos de donde viene.
  
  
• Where does he or she live? In what kind of a world, and in what kind of a place in that world?
  En donde vive? En que tipo de mundo y en que tipo de lugar en ese mundo?
  
  
• Give him or her an occupation.
  Dale una ocupación.
  
  
• Give him or her a mission in the world.
  Dale una misión en el mundo.
  
  
• Give him or her a community to be a part of.
  Dale una comunidad de la que pueda ser parte.
  
  
• Give him or her a sense of style.
  Dale un estilo.
  
  
• Confide your character with secret information and powers.
  Dale mensajes y poderes secretos al personaje.
  
  
• Make your character vulnerable.
  Has que tu personaje sea vulnerable.
  
  
• Make your character funny but not stupid. Give him or her a comical attribute.
  Dale humor a tu personaje, dale atributos cómicos.
  
  
• What's his or hers Achilles' heel?
  Cual es su talón de Aquiles?
  
  
• Create a past for your character – a tragic but heroic one.
  Crea un pasado trágico pero heróico para tú personaje.
  
  
• What makes him or her vain?
  Qué lo hace vanidoso?
  
  
• Give him or her a person to love.
  Dale a alguien que querer.