•I did this with my PET class after going through story writing and then getting in for homework some stories that weren’t stories. They had fun doing this and I think it has helped them, or at least raised awareness of how a story flows.
•Instructions:
•Put them into groups. Groups of 2 or 3 work best.
•The squares appear one by one on the screen. The students fill in the blanks to create a story in stages. The idea is to get them to think about how a story flows, that’s why I make them do it in stages. Before the lesson have a look at each square so you can guide them on what they can/should add to develop the story and what they should wait to add as it comes up in a later square. For example, in the second square they shouldn’t add a when… as this comes later.
•You can have them do it in notebooks or mini whiteboards. I got mine to do it on mini whiteboards as it motivates them and it allows me the option of following up by asking them to do another story using this language in their notebooks either in class or for homework. If you use mini whiteboards each group will need 3 or 4.
•When they have finished their stories, I ask each group to tell me who the characters is in their story are and I board the names of the people in each story. Then we act out the stories.
•Decide who is going to go first, ask them if they would like to act or narrate their story. Most students choose narration. Then they need to cast their story, if they are narrating which person in the class is going to play which role. They can cast it however they want. Usually at least one group casts the teacher in a role, which is fine!
•Read and act out. Reminding the students doing the narration that they need to pause after each big moment to allow the people acting to act it out. Repeat for each group.
•Mine really enjoyed acting it out and it’s something that I think we do less of as they get older, theatre. Obviously, there is scope for putting classmates in embarrassing situations here, so I only do it where the class gets on with each other and in addition I monitor what is being put in the stories.
•Enjoy, I hope it works for you. Let me know how it goes!