Creative Group Writing

My students seem to be allergic to writing. Whenever I set a writing task, very few would actually hand in their work. I tried to encourage them to write by writing a sample essay on the board. But, in the end, most would only copy the sample essay without even attempting to write their own piece.

I tried this activity (from TeachingEnglish) recently and was surprised by how well it worked. I managed to get EVERYONE to write something and that feat alone is amazing. Admittedly, this activity will work better with higher-proficiency students. But weaker students can be coaxed into writing something as well. They will be reluctant at first but once they start, they will enjoy it :)

Basically, these are the steps:
1) Give a blank A4 paper to each student.
2) Get them to fold the paper into 6 sections.
3) They should write their name on the top right corner of the paper.
4) Explain that they are going to write a story entitled: An Alien Encounter/My Unforgettable Holiday/Meeting Someone Famous.
5) In the first section, they should write a story based on the question given (Q1: When did you see the alien and where were you?).
6) Write a sample answer. Remind them not to write a one-liner (i.e. I saw an alien at my backyard yesterday). Rather, they should bear in mind that they are writing a story. So, they should make the opening paragraph as interesting as possible (i.e. I slept early last night even though I had a lot of homework to do. I set my alarm to 3am hoping that I would wake up feeling refreshed in order to complete all the work piled on my desk. Around 2.30am, I heard a strange buzzing sound like the vuvuzela...)
7) After the students have written the first paragraph, get them to fold the paper and pass it to the person sitting next to them. That person will continue the story based on Question #2 (Who were you with?), without reading what was previously written.
8) This step will be repeated until all 6 paragraphs are completed. The last person will return the paper to its original owner (the one whose name is written in the top right corner of the paper).
9) The students read how their story had turned out.

You can measure the activity's success by how excited the students are when the stories are completed. They will be sharing the stories eagerly with their friends. They will be like, "Hey, read mine, it's funny!" or "Have you read Farah's? It's really nice".

So, in the end, you will have conducted writing AND reading activities.

Below is one of the stories written by my students.

--------------------

One fateful night, the clouds covering the snow-white moon, distant howls from the horizon piercing the silent night, I was busy finishing E.T. The Movie. I thought to myself, how wonderful it would be if Earth isn't the only planet inhabited by creatures. With my imagination running wild, I stared at the black starless night, when suddenly I saw a glimmer of light shining from the dark clouds, like a star breaking into a million pieces...

I decided to step outside to see what had landed in my backyard. My first thought was that; if it was a high school prank, I WANTED TO SUE! Anyhow, as I stepped onto the soft green grass, I saw a little pink figure standing in front of me. It had large blue fangs. It wore sweat pants and a tank top. This alien really did not have a sense of fashion... just like my neighbour.

The alien told me to get something to eat for him. It didn't speak in English, but I could understand him. So then I got him some cereal with milk, but he didn't want any. So I went back in the house and got him some ham. He ate it like he never ate anything before. It was such a shocking and at the same time cool moment!

I was shocked with the things that he asked me to do, but anyhow I did it with an honest heart. In a way, I pretty much thought I was dreaming talking to an alien.

His spaceship looked like a Frisbee with stickers full of werewolf logos, symbols and so on. And "love Bella" stickers. What a weird-in-love guy or a shirtless werewolf guy.

I looked for something hard to grab and assault the alien. I grabbed a nearby plank of wood and ran towards the alien. It took one of its guns and shot me, knocking me out cold. When I woke up, I looked around and found out I was on the alien's planet, locked up in a cage.

--------------------

The word count for the above essay is 340 (which is quite commendable). Weaker students will of course write less but that's okay. I'm satisfied if I managed to get them to write anything at all.

Afterwards, you can set a "real" writing task for them. And you will find them more receptive to the idea. More students will hand in their work and they'll write more too! One student even wrote a 1000-word essay!

Just give them a fun task and you'll be surprised with their creative and imaginative stories.

The task that I gave them:

End your story with:

"And that's how I ended up sitting on top of a tree in my backyard at 1 o'clock in the morning, singing Happy Birthday to You"