Activity 1 05

Identify and highlight the following: The characters, beginning, climax, and the end

The Generous Student

Lin Piao used to absent himself from classes very often and one day the principal of the
college made up his mind to expel him. So he sent for the young man. Lin arrived just as the
principal was about to go for lunch.

"Is this the time to come!" said the principal, sternly.

"Forgive me, Sir," said Lin, "but I got to college very late today. You see, I found a lump of
gold in our field."
"A lump of gold!" said the principal, his eyes popping out. "Oh, my, what are you going to do
with it?”
"I decided to build a palatial house, buy several acres of land and several head of cattle,"
said the student. "I also decided to give you a small sum for the trouble you have taken in
educating me."

The principal was pleased and invited Lin to eat with him. The young man ate ravenously
but the principal hardly touched his food. He was wondering how much Lin would give him
and if it would be enough to buy that small paddy field he had always wanted.

"I hope you've kept the gold in a safe place," he said, suddenly coming out of his reverie.
"I never got a chance to do that," said Lin. "It disappeared the moment my mother shook
me awake."
"What!" screamed the principal. "You mean it was all a dream?!"

The young man nodded. The principal controlled himself with a great effort of will.

"I'm happy you remembered me in your dream," he said, finally. "I hope you remember me
when you really get some gold. Now please leave."

It was only when the young man had left that the principal remembered why he had sent
for him. (291 words)

Story by: Dennie Hoopingarner, Ph.D.

Director, Language Learning Center
Michigan State University
 Unit 1: Story Writing

Activity 2: Story Board - Text Reconstruction 10

Reconstruct a whole paragraph or story starting from ZERO!

Instructions

1. Each storyboard begins without any words - only a series of = signs.

2. Look at the list of proper nouns that are used. These include people's names, places
and so on.
3. Guess common words first such as articles, pronouns and prepositions.
4. the  an  a  my  his  I  at  on
5. Try "grammar words" such as modal verbs, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs and
negative/quantifier words.
6. can  must  will  if  but  have  did  has  not  without  some  few
7. Remember to capitalize words such as months of the year - and words at the
beginning of sentences need capital letters too!
8. You must also include apostrophes. "its" is not the same as "it's" so you need to try
both.
9. Speech marks are shown as << and >> symbols. For example: << Don't be late
tonight,>> my mother said.
10. Remember to try contractions: I'm, she'll, we've, he's, etc.
11. Eventually, you will fill out enough of the text to see what it is about.

The Storyboards

Short Stories
Storyboard One
 People in this story: Alice, Howard.
 Cities in this story: The capital of France.
 Months in this story: A spring month.

Remember capital letters!

Sample Answer:

Alice was in Paris last May. She was there because she wanted to visit some of the famous
art galleries you can find in the city. She wasn't alone. Her brother, Howard, was also in
the city. They went shopping in one of the most famous department stores in Paris and
Alice bought a beautiful red dress. On their second day in the French capital, the brother
and sister went to visit some of the best-known tourist attractions in Paris: such as the
Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame cathedral. Neither Alice nor Howard like French food so,
they ate every evening in an Italian restaurant that was near their hotel. After four days of
vacation, they flew back to their own country.

2
 Unit 1: Story Writing

Story Board Two: Complete the story with NO MORE THAN 120 words
 People in this story: You, your mother.
 Places in this story: Spain, Europe, a Spanish city.
 Things in this story: A profession of choice.

My mother often asks me what I want to do after I leave university. I said I will start a
business beside my Job. “So what type of business u want to do’’, said my mother. I said,”
I want to start a restaurant business in Barcelona, Spain.’’ My mother said that I don’t
even know to cook properly then why I did make a choice like that.

I told my mother, “I don’t know why since we came to spain I started like cooking and I
have decided that I will try to make Spanish foods because I like Spanish culture & their
food habits”

“okay that sounds good my son, I will help you for your future plan’’ said my mother.