IF SHE HAD LOOKED AT ME
This text is taken from Günter Gerngross and Herbert Puchta: "Creative Grammar Practice"; Longman 1992
Lead-in activities
Questions that change the story
1 Write the following on the board:
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What would have happened if ..
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hadn't.. had
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(kissed Sleeping Beauty?) (kissed the queen instead of Sleeping Beauty?) |
Announce that you are going to tell a fairy tale, a folk tale or a story. Ask your class to interrupt you whenever they want to.
2 Tell your story, pausing frequently to encourage students to interject past conditional questions. If students do not interrupt you, prompt them somehow (e.g. by gesture). As students ask questions, answer them and adapt the story accordingly. For example:
Student: What would have happened if Little Red Riding Hood had looked through the window before entering her gran's house?
Teacher: She would have known that it wasn't her gran lying in bed. So she would have run back the way she had come, clutching her basket.
Student: What would have happened if the wolf had realised that she was running away?
Teacher: He would have stormed out of the house to try to catch Little Red Riding Hood. So let's say he was running after the little girl who, however, after a while, happened to look back. When she saw the wolf, she froze ...
Tell your own story
1 Form groups of four. Each group member should tell a story. The other three in the group must each ask two questions with which they can change the course of the story.
2 Each student finds a partner from another group and tells both their own original story and the story that resulted due to the questions asked in the group phase.
Presentation of model text
1 Hand out the following worksheet (or write both texts as well as the words in the box on the board).
2 Ask everyone to complete the sentences by filling in the gaps with words from the box underneath.
WORKSHEET
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If she had _____ me I would have _____. If she had _____ at me I would have _____ _____ for her. If she had ______ me to I would have _____ a song. If she had _____ I would have ______ a poem and if she had _____ me I would have said 'Yes.' |
If I had _____ her roses she would have ___ me and if she had _ me I would have__________ her cheek she would have ____ and if she had _____ I would have ________ her that her cheeks were the colour of roses. |
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kissed – blushed – embraced – looked at - told - bought – blushed - asked - written- embraced - smiled - kissed - nodded - painted a picture – blushed - composed - wanted -
© Longman Group UK Ltd 1992 |
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Ask your students to read out their texts.
4 Present the model texts.
Model texts
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If she had looked at me I would have blushed. If she had nodded at me I would have painted a picture for her. If she had wanted me to I would have composed a song. If she had smiled I would have written a poem and if she had asked me I would have said 'Yes.' |
If I had bought her roses she would have embraced me and if she had embraced me I would have kissed her cheek and if I had kissed her cheek she would have blushed and if she had blushed I would have told her that her cheeks were the colour of roses. |
Text creation
The students write their own texts based on the model. Follow up with presentations of these texts to the whole class.