Writing made easy

Writing  is difficult.Writing is daunting.Writing is such a challenge.These are the exact words I hear from my 7th grade students every time they are given to write something.They have sufficient knowledge of grammar and vocabulary already but when it comes to putting it on paper it becomes an ordeal.In order to help them develop their ideas and ease their pain I started applying a technique called The perfect story ,which was developed by Jackie McAvoy. It really works .It's not that Skeleton we are all familiar with when teaching our students how to write.It's much more fun and easier to apply 
This activity will lead your students to write a  short story using the past simple and continuous tenses as well as the present perfect without even thinking about them.

Procedure

• Tell the students they are going to write a short story.

• Get the students to read the following questions and decide, with a partner, what the missing words are, but not answer the questions now.

• Monitor well to check they understand the activity. There are no 'correct' answers, they should use their imagination.

1. What is his / her name?
2. What is __________ about them? (e.g. strange / unusual / nice...)
3. What was their --problem last year?
4. What happened?
5. Why have they become so __________ ?
6. How many __________ have they -__________ ?
7. Who have they been __________ recently?
8. What have they been __________ for the last five years?

• Now the students, working in pairs still, have to answer the questions. The answers should link the questions together to form the basis of a story.

• Next ask students to draw their characters. This is fun and brings the character to life. Students can laugh at  their drawings.
  
  
  

• Using the notes above, students put the story together. They can add more information if they wish but they should not make it complicated.

• Students then swap their story with another pair to edit. They read the story and underline any errors they notice, or question any word or phrase they don't understand.

• The stories are returned to their owners who make changes as necessary depending on the comments that were made by the editing pair.