Storyboards on the floor
I read a great post yesterday on the ELT Playground and the first activity inspired me to do a similar game with older students.
As with Anita’s activity, lay a piece of paper on the floor for each student, but divide each piece into boxes first. Then play some music and when you stop the music, give students a cue as to what to draw in the box (similar to Narrative Consequences):
Box 1: A location
Box 2: One main character
Box 3: The second main character
Box 4: How they meet
Box 5: An ‘event’
Box 6: How the story ends
When they have drawn something in each of the boxes, play one more round of music, at the end of which each student must pick up the storyboard closest to them. Then give them some time to decipher the drawings and interpret them as they wish to create a short story which they can tell the class.
For homework they can write the story out and their texts can be displayed in the classroom alongside the drawings.
What a great idea! I would love to try that out with “tweens” – it makes writing much more fun. Looks like I’ll have to wait until September to do so – I’ll have to find a way of keeping a notes of all the good activities I hear about over the summer so that I don’t forget about them!