Let Me Introduce Myself
Students formulate an introduction for a character that makes quite the first impression, whether that character comes from fiction, pop culture, history, or the students’ own imaginations.
Student Projects
Project Type: Story
Fictionary
Students write their own mini-dictionary (or an excerpt of one) based on a fictional property they enjoy, providing definitions to made-up words.
Careful What You Wish for
This project is for practicing WISHES & REGRETS. Students create a scenario in which a wish comes true! But the main character is never satisfied an wishes for more. Only the students can decide if the character eventually learns to be content.
Fairy Tales Interrupted
This project is for practicing PROGRESSIVE/CONTINUOUS TENSES. Students will first conjure a backstory to a fairy tale character and lay out a scene, then investigate the scenes that other teams have put together to determine what was going on.
Create a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Story
This project is for practicing CONDITIONALS. Create a number of scenarios, each of which leads to two others. When you’ve finished, readers can choose which path they want to take, and by the end their story experience will be different from others.
Story Cards
Design elements of stories on cards. You can use them as prompts later, but for now, your class can put the ideas on paper.
Story Prompts: What If?
Whether you’re doing a brief writing exercise or getting started on a full project on stories, sometimes your students’ minds need to be primed to get those creative juices flowing. Here are some what-if questions to explore.
November: the Writing Month
November is National Novel Writing Month, but your students don’t have to write a whole novel all by themselves. Instead, have students write just a chapter or two. Put them all together for a class-written novel!
Storyboarding
Students create an outline of a story they know well. But instead of just words accompanied by bullet points, they’ll have more of a visual component to it and show the flow of progression.
Put On a Play
Students can learn a lot by putting on a play – not just reciting lines, but making a big production of it, involved in plenty of different aspects of the show.
Character Journey
Students can create characters that they’ll use throughout the year. Each month, the character progresses a little closer to their goal, but in the meantime, they can be used to answer questions and for other activities. The possibilities are wide open.
Show, Don’t Tell
A common adage among writers is “show, don’t tell”. Writing in this way prompts students to think of different ways to express the same thing. Students will have to use expressions and imagery – like native speakers do in most situations – instead of being straightforward.
Story Prompts: First Sentences
Whether you’re doing a fun exercise of flash fiction or you’re practicing a particular language topic, sometimes your students need a little push to get started. Here are ten first sentences of potential stories.
Movie Mania
Suppose there’s a new film coming out soon that many of your students are excited about. You can take that opportunity to give them some assignments they’ll enjoy. Different assignments will require different skills as we work both before and after the film’s release.
A Month of Writing
November is National Novel Writing Month, but your students don’t have to write a whole novel to challenge themselves and practice creative English. Encourage them to write 5,000 words instead. A short story in a month is still something to celebrate!