Home > Activities > What if...

What if...

The following activity is taken from Creating stories with Children, which demonstrates how to help children to make up their own stories in English. It enables learners to develop their creative writing skills, and encourages confidence and fluency in spoken and written English.

Level: Elementary and above
Language: Fluency in listening and speaking
Time: 20–30 minutes

In Class

1. We suggest that you and the class make a story. Help the children to list on the board five places and five animals they know well.

Example

2. Choose two of the words, for example, crocodile and supermarket. What if there is a crocodile in the supermarket? Write the two words on the board and then cluster around them all the words and phrases which occur to the children related to the place and the animal.

3. Now help the children move into sequencing events to make the story. Look for desires and difficulties — this should not be too difficult with a crocodile in a supermarket. Ask helpful questions (but not questions which imply that you have already thought of the story!). If you feel it would be helpful, you can draw the sequence as a flowchart on the board.

4. Ask the children to work in pairs or threes, and to bubble and sequence ideas related to other animal and place pairings and then to create their own story.

Variation

Other ‘What if’ combinations might include: people and accidents; objects, places, and people; extraordinary abilities and people; extraordinary objects and people.

Related title

Creating Stories with Children

Related teacher's site

Resource Books for Teachers

Source

Oxford Teacher’s Club:
http://www.oup.com/elt/teachersclub/articles/storymaking?cc=global