HALLOWEEN STORIES

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HALLOWEEN: LET´S CREATE SOME COLLECTIVE STORIES

Are you bored of working with the same activities in the classroom every Halloween?. One of the ideas that works for me is to create collective stories. I give students some prompts so they can choose one of them and start making up different stories. What they like the most is working in groups, so the story is written between all of them.

Some of the prompts you can use are:

1. You have had a strange feeling for a few days now. Today you’ve been feeling very energetic and tired at the same time. Your arm has been itching. It’s killing you now. You look at your forearm and see it for the first time. Something is moving under your skin.
2. You open your eyes to complete darkness. The last thing you remember is the dog running out into the road, the brightness of the day light, and your car headed off the road. Then you realize that you are hanging upside down. 
3. Your driving on a country road. It is late at night. You are far from home. You realize, as you check your mirrors, there is a man you do not know, hiding on the floor of your back seat.
4. It’s 3 am. Your room is dark, but you can see that there is someone, standing at the foot of your bed. He or she is wearing a clown costume, and it has a knife.
5. At 3 am you wake up out of a very sound sleep. You hear the ice cream truck outside of your house. And you realize, the sound that woke you up, was the sound of your 4 year old daughter.
6. You are running late. After quickly getting ready, you rush out of the house and to your car door. A sound gets your attention, there is a fully grown male lion, just a few feet from you. Your car door is still locked.
7. The worst cramps you have ever had set in on your biceps. It came on so suddenly. You drop to your knees, looking through your bedroom window, you see the full moon. You hear a little voice behind you, “Mommy?” 
8. You are frozen with fear. You open your eyes, the tent is dark. But you can feel the heavy weight of a large tarantula covering one eye. Through the other eye you can see the shadows, from the moonlight, of other spiders covering the tent.
9. The man leans into you. There is a dark red almost black color to the whites of his eyes. He is so close his nose is almost touching your nose. You can feel his breath when he says, “We all have it in here. We are all infected."

Pic taken from https://static.anuevayork.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/19195739/Co%CC%81mo-celebrar-el-Halloween-en-Nueva-York.jpg

LET'S CREATE A STORY TOGETHER!!!!

Image from https://bactheatre.org/classes/oaklandwinterPP

Reading is a perfect activity to learn vocabulary, but why not to play to be writers o strorytellers?

Recently, I've been brooding on how to make you, my students, create your own stories, and finally, I've come across a website which I've loved from the first time I saw it. 

So, definitely, it was love at first sight!!!! 

Image from http://www.stickpng.com/es/img/iconos-logotipos-emojis/emoticonos/emoticon-enamorada

This activitiy can be done to practise both, written or spoken language.

Please, click HERE to visit this marvellous website, and we can then start to enjoy the amazing world of creating new stories!!!!!

"WRITING IS EASY. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CROSS OUT THE WRONG WORDS."

- MARK TWAIN.

SOME FACTS ABOUT REPORTED SPEECH

Pic from https://www.linkedin.com

Doubts about reported speech?

Check the C-map below and finally understand this structure:

CONDITIONAL CLAUSES THROUGH SONGS

Conditional Clauses are used to express that the action in the main clause (without if) can only take place if a certain condition (in the clause with if) is fulfilled. There are four types of Conditional Clauses.

THE ZERO CONDITIONAL

FORM:

USES:

1. For things that are always true.

Ex.: If you heat water, it boils.

2. For habits or things that usually happen, we can also use the present continuous in the if clause. In this case you can replace 'if' with 'when' and the meaning is the same.

Ex.: When I'm feeling sick, I go to the doctor.

3. To give instructions or invitations which depend on certain conditions we use the present simple + imperative.

Ex.: If you want to pass the exam, study hard.

Now CLICK HERE to do some exercises.

FIRST CONDITIONAL

FORM:

Listen to this song by Bruno Mars and find the different First Conditional Clauses.

USES:

This type of conditional is used to talk about future possibilities. 'Will' is a modal verb, but you can use other modal verbs, for example 'might' and 'could' in the result clause.

Ex.: If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea, I'll sail the world to find you.

Sometimes you can use 'if' to introduce a condition and 'whether' in the following cases:

1. To present two alternatives.

Ex.: Tell me whether you're coming to the concert or not.

2. After prepositions.

Ex.: Let's talk about whether Bruno Mars is a good singer.

3. Before infinitives.

Ex.: I don't know whether to go to the cinema.

4. When it starts the subject clause.

Ex.: Whether you love or hate him is none of my business.

When we use the first conditional clauses, we can also use 'unless'. This means 'except if' and is the negative of 'if'.

Ex.: Unless you study hard, you won't pass the exams.

CLICK HERE to practice the first conditional.

SECOND CONDITIONAL

FORM:

Find Second Conditional Clauses in the following song by Beyonce:

USES:

This type is used for hypothetical situations in the present:

Ex.: If I were a boy even just for a day, I'd roll out of bed in the morning.

The order of the 'if' and the result clause is flexible, but if the 'if' clause is in the second place, the comma disappears.

Ex.: I'd roll out of bed in the morning if I were a boy even just for a day.

You can also use the past continuous + conditional with would.

Ex.: If you were looking at me in heaven, would you recognise me?

To do some exercises CLICK HERE.

THIRD CONDITIONAL

FORM:

Firstly, it's important to remember how the Past Perfect and the past conditional is formed:

WOULD + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE

Now, we put together the two tenses and we get the 3rd Conditional:

Next, try to find examples of this structure in the following song by Taylor Swift:

USES:

3rd Conditional is used to talk about hypothetical situations in the past. 

Ex.: If you had called me, you would have visited me.

CLICK HERE to practice with the 3rd Conditional.

Practice now with all the conditionals:

 CLICK HERE

Finish the following sentences with a clause in the correct conditional:

If it is sunny  tomorrow .......................

If you sit in the sun too long ..............

If I were you .........

If she had studied harder ............

If I won the lottery ...........

If I hadn't gone to bed so late .......

If I hadn't come to London .......

If she hadn't stayed at home ........

If I go out tonight ......

If I were on holiday today ......

If I had listened to my mother .....

If it rains later .....

If I have enough money ....

If you don't wear a coat in the winter .......

If you want to learn more about advanced conditionals CLICK HERE