I had this idea for a lesson soon after I bought my first StoryCubes. I tested it and it works quite well.
Level: Pre-Intermediate and higher
Purpose: Review of common verbs and past tenses.
Preparation and Materials: At least two sets of Story Cubes. I would suggest Actions as a basic one. The second set should be one like e.g. Mystery or Fantasia.
Language taught: Any.
Preparation:
- Choose one student to be the narrator of the story of Mr Thompson.
- Give a cube to each one of the other students.
Procedure:
- One student gets the Actions set and rolls all the dice. The story starts with the words: Mr Thompson had a very strange day. At the beginning, nothing indicated that … or similar.
- Other students use their cubes to change the story. The may roll or choose the side of the cube. They have to make a sentence that fits with the story so far but changes it.
- The narrator has to continue the story including the new information. He or she cannot just ignore it.
- When the last student interrupts the narrator, the narrator has to finish the story in a few sentences.
Variations:
- Students can be asked to record the story on their phones. Later they should write it down, correct if necessary or even develop it, add some details etc.
- During one-to-one lessons the teacher can take the role of other students (or vice-versa, the teacher is the narrator and the student is interrupting the story).