Duration: 10-20 Minutes
Type: Individual
What you will need:
- Paper & Pencils (I suppose you know that ?)
- Whiteboard/Overhead/Projector
- An Example Text
Overview:
With the students help, the teacher writes down lists of words that students can substitute into an example text to make it their own.
How to Organize:
- Provide students with an example text you want them to reference. The text could show them a good example of how to structure a paragraph, how to structure an argument, how to write using similes, how to describe a scene, how to explain instructions, how to write in the past tense, how to use conjunctions, etc.
- Read the text together and point out the concepts you want students to pay attention to.
- Then choose a word or phrase that students can change to something else.
- Ask students to call out words or phrases that they think would fit in that place in the sentence.
- Write them down on the board (or write them on the overhead projector, or type them on a computer/tablet to be shown over the projector).
- This is a great way to get students thinking about parts of speech as well as subject-verb agreement as well.
- Once you have a few lists of words so that students get the idea, let students write their own texts substituting in the words they would like to write.
- Students can change substitute single words or they can change the entire passage.
- Extension: Once students have written their own sentences/passages, you can have them memorize them and say them to the teacher.
Benefits:
- This activity helps take pressure off students who cannot think of anything to write if you give them a blank page.
- Students get to see solid examples of a concept they are required to master before they try it on their own.
- This activity is great for building vocabulary and grammar skills.
Used this activity before or have a variation? Share about it in the comments below!
