I made this handout from another handout that I thought was boring. Like many handouts you’ll find on other websites, this one had a good idea, but the implementation just wasn’t good enough. So I took it, opened it in paint, and began changing it around.
The result is a pretty good new handout that many classes of mine have liked. I’ve done it with lower level students, about eight years old, but it really works well with teens. It’s a writing exercise, but students will need to read their work. It’s also pretty funny, and the students are laughing quite a bit.
How It Works
How it works is students choose 1 of 8 different scenarios. These can be like “Why were you playing computer games on Monday morning,” or “Why were you kissing that frog last week?” Students have to write a short story, about 5 sentences, telling why they were doing that.
I draw a scale on the board from 1 to 10, 10 being the truest, and 1 being the least true. This will give the students a way to vote on one another’s stories, and it makes it a lot more fun, too.
I always start by giving an example. In this case I’ll do “Why were you eating rubbish in the park last week?”
“Oh man! You saw me? Let me explain. You see, a couple of weeks ago my dad lost his job at KFC. Now he can’t bring home any free food anymore. And just last week my mom got hit by a car and broke her leg. Now she can’t work! So we don’t have any money, and I have to look in the rubbish bins for food.”
I’ll usually get a 1 to 5 on that, depending on the class. Then I’ll take a different approach.
“Oh man! You saw me? Let me explain. You see, last week there was this big crocodile, and it ate my leg! Yeah! Now I can’t work, so I have to look in the rubbish bins. Oh, this leg? Well, it’s wooden!”
That will also get me a 1 to 5 depending on the class, although usually it will be a bit lower.
If you’re looking for a fun ESL activity that will take 20-40 minutes, this is one you should definitely try.