Pre-Writing:

Beginners: Print out pictures from the Madeline Francis’ Hansel and Gretel story (attached) or upload
into a Power Point presentation, one picture per slide. Divide students into groups of three. Assign each
group member a task: sentence creator, writer, editor. Then, show each picture (in chronological order)
for 30 seconds. Each group needs to create a sentence to describe what is happening in the picture and
each of the 3 group members are assigned a job. The sentence creator dictates a sentence to the writer,
the writer writes the sentence that is spoken, and the editor checks for grammar, spelling and formatting
mistakes. (Students can change job assignments with each new picture.) After all the pictures are shown,
each group should read their story to the class.

Intermediate: Progressive Writing Activity: Divide students into groups of 3-4, have them make a circle
with their desks or sit at the same table, and ask students to take out a pen/pencil and a notebook.
Write on the board, “Once upon a time, there was a poor family who didn’t have enough money to buy
food…..” Students should copy this sentence in their notebooks. Then, allow students one minute to
write as much as they can in their notebook. Remind them to write clearly because other students will
have to read and understand their writing. After 1 minute, have the students pass their notebooks to the
person on their left. Then, students have one minute to read what is written in the new notebook and
write as many sentences as they can to add to the story. After one minute, they pass their notebooks
again and have another minute to read and write in the new notebook. This continues until each group
member has written in everyone’s notebooks, and the original owner receives his/her notebook again.
Finally, the notebook owners will have 1 more minute to read what has been written by the classmates
and finish the story. (Encourage students to be as creative or silly as possible). Then, ask the students to
read their stories to each other. Finally, if time permits, ask for one volunteer from each group to read
their story. This usually provokes a lot of laughs from the class.

Advanced: 5 minute journal activity: Give students 5 minutes to write about a problem they faced at
some point in their life and describe how they solved the problem. Were they happy with the solution?
Why or why not? After the students finish writing, ask a few students to read their stories to the class.

*At some point, students need to read the story, either as a homework assignment or an in class reading.

Writing activity:
Beginners: Have students submit a “book report.” Book reports can include:

Description of 5 characters: write 1 sentence about each character

Summary of the story: write 1 paragraph

Opinion: Did you like the story? Why or why not?

Alternate ending: Create a different ending to the story in 4-5 sentences.

Intermediate: Divide students into groups or 3-4. Have students write a script for Hansel and Gretel, but
have them create a different ending than the story.

Advanced: In groups, give students 5-10 minutes to make an outline of some problems and solutions the
characters in Hansel and Gretel faced. Then, students return to their desks and complete an in-class
writing assignment. Students should write a 5 paragraph essay in class discussing at least 3 problems the
characters faced in the story and describe how each problem was solved. For more of a challenge, have
students also include their own, new solution to each problem.

Post-Writing Activities:

Beginners: Have students present their book report to the class, using a PowerPoint presentation OR
pictures they created (for younger learners).

Intermediate: Students perform skits using the scripts they wrote. Students in the audience should
evaluate the performances using a rubric provided by the teacher (possibly focusing on various grammar
and vocabulary points).

Advanced: Working in groups of 3-4, students in each group will peer review each other’s papers using a
rubric or questions provided by the teacher. Upon completion, ask students as a class about the
problems they noticed most while reviewing other classmates’ papers and discuss how to fix those
problems.