An alien encounter
A few years ago at TESOL-SPAIN, I saw a great talk by Catherine Morley about using dictation in the class. She demonstrated a number of activities and one which has always stayed with me is “A 2 Day in 5“.
I created my own version for a group today as we were doing a reading activity related to aliens. Here goes…
1. colour
2. animal
3. personality adjective
4. body part
5. friend’s name
6. city
7. question
8. place
9. different colour
10. number
11. adjective
12. another friend
13. action with -ing
One day (12) was walking in (6) when s/he saw something very strange. It looked like a (3) person, but it had (1) skin and (10) (4). (12) went closer and asked “(7)” “I don’t know,” replied the alien. “But I’m hungry and I want to eat a (11) (9) (2). (12) thought this was very odd, so s/he called (5) and together they took the alien to the (8) and started (13).
I used this all afternoon last Friday, it’s always good fun. 🙂
Thanks Steve O – it’s a fun activity and gets everyone involved. I often ask comprehension questions after students read out their stories as it encourages them to listen more…especially if there are points involved!