TEACH-THIS.

COM
Once upon a time

a journey an invitation the limit the sun

the darkness a jacket the light a kiss

a newspaper a motorbike a ghost the hill

the fire the ocean a gun a letter

an eagle a game the garden the kitchen

the jungle a suitcase a noise a woman

an enemy the Philippines a stranger a box

the store an explosion the boy an accident

the road the king the path the night

the TV the end a flower the village

a house the weekend a man a phone

the moon the knife an hour the problem

Teach-This.com 2016 Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use.

 TEACH-THIS.COM
Once upon a time
In this imaginative teaching activity, students create stories using word cards that contain
articles and nouns. Students also practice narrative tenses and adjectives.

Before class, make one copy of the cards for each group of three or four and cut as indicated.

Procedure

Tell the students that they are going to practice the use of articles by making a story.

Elicit different types of genre from the class to help get the students thinking about what kind of
story they would like to write, e.g. a horror story, a love story, a science fiction story, etc.

Divide the class into groups of three or four.

Give each group a set of cards.

Explain that on each card there is an article and a noun. The students task is to create a story
using as many of the cards as possible.

Tell the students that they must use the same article and noun that they see on each card, but
they can add adjectives to each phrase to make their story more descriptive, e.g. a journey
could be changed to a long tiring journey.

Remind the students that they may also need to use the same noun with a different article when
they are writing, e.g. Tom grabbed a jacket as he ran out the door. When Tom touched the
jacket, he felt something strange inside

The students then look at the cards and think about what kind of story they would like to make.

The students brainstorm their ideas first and then arrange the cards in order on the table, so that
they can then write the story down.

When the students have finished writing, they tell their story to another group.

The students listen to another group's story and give feedback.

After each group has been given feedback and made any necessary changes to their story,
have them read their story again to the class.

Award points to each group based on how many cards they used, the story line, use of articles,
grammar, adjectives, etc.

Teach-This.com 2016 Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use.