Chain story telling

By

Arizio Moreira, Hamilton, New Zealand

In this speaking activity the students tell personal stories which are prompted by pictures. The activity is performed as a mingle.

·         Cut up cards of different objects, activities, animals, etc. selected randomly.

·         Place the cards scattered on the floor in the middle of the classroom.

·         Tell the students to pick up a card from the floor which they think makes them remember one of the following:
(a) a memorable event in their lives
(b) a positive or negative past or recent experience or
(c) a story about a friend/family member/acquaintance/etc that they would like to share with others.

·         Tell the students that they must find another in the class and tell them what the picture makes them remember and listen to the other person’s story too.

·         Each student must tell their story for about one to two minutes only.

·         Students then must exchange pictures and find another student to talk to.

·         Emphasise that they must ask the name of the person they were talking to before they move on to talk to another one.

·         Students must then talk to another student and tell him/her the story of the person they last talked to.

·         Students swap pictures again and move on to talk to someone reporting the story they’ve just listened to.

·         Round the activity off by asking individual students to report to the class the interesting things they’ve learned about other people in class.