Collaborative Story Writing Activity

(TESOL Worksheets--Writing, Time Killers and Time Fillers)
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[This is not entirely my own creation.  The idea comes from the Productive Workshop at my center.  But I'm responsible for putting this all into one easy to use hand-out.
The comic book templates can be found online.  One example is here.--Update: HERE]

Collaborative Story Writing Activity

The Aim

Students do a guided story-writing activity through prompts from the teacher, and then illustrate it in a comic book form.

Procedure

Group the students into groups of 3-4.  Give each a piece of paper.  The students will write 1 thing (follow the list below) and then they will fold over the top of the paper and pass it to the second person (folding over the paper so that the second person can’t see what the first person has written).

1. Write the name of a place
2. Write the name of 2 people
3. What are the two people doing?
4. What happens next?
5. Where do the 2 people go next?
6. Who do they meet?
7. How do they feel?
8. What happens at the end?

Before the student open up their dialogues to look, give the instructions of the next task.  Show them a comic book template. Tell them they are going to look at their story and turn it into a comic.  Remember, they must write first and then draw.  ICQ: Do you write first or draw first?

After students have completed their comic, collect them and post them around the room.  

Students walk around and read the comics, they then tick their favorite one.  After they’ve finished, collect all the comics and congratulate the winner.

Variation

Students present their comic to another group. They have 4 minutes to present their comic.  Then, students present their comic to a second group, and they have 3 minutes to present their comic.  Finally, students present their comic to a third group, and have 2 minutes to present their comic.  (In theory, with practice fluency will increase each time.  As pauses decrease, and rate of speaking increase, students will need less and less time to present with each repetition.)

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