IDEAS:Create a Story with Picture/Verb Cards

Bayside High School, Bayside, New York

Do you need a conversation motivator? Incorporate picture/verb cards into your lessons to encourage creative thinking and to serve as a prop for communicative activities.

The picture/verb cards can be made by teachers or students. A picture is mounted on paper or cardboard and at the top of each card is either a phrase, or a verb in the past tense. The phrases and verbs are written in English and describe the pictures. A second set of cards, the subject cards, must also be prepared. A variety of subjects (nouns and pronouns) can be used. A subject, given in English, is written on each card. The object of these cards is to flip them and create a story.

Aim: To practice the expression ago.

Materials: Set aside the following cards.

A. Subject Cards: «and my mother», «and my father», «and my sister», «and my brother», «and the dog»

B. Verb Card: «ate»

Introduction: «Yo comí hace una hora».

Procedure:

1. Teach the vocabulary and the introduction.

2. Display a subject card and the verb card: «and my mother», «ate».

3. Call on a student to repeat the introduction and to add an original phrase using the expression ago and the displayed cards: «Yo comí hace una hora y mi mamá comió hace dos horas».

4. Show a different subject card with the verb card and call on another student to repeat the introduction and add an original phrase: «Yo comí hace una hora y el perro comió hace diez minutos».

Variations:

1. The students may add other information to their sentences. «Yo comi un sandwich en la cafetería hace una hora y mi hermana comió una pizza en un restaurante italiano hace dos horas».

2. Omit the introduction, and as the cards are displayed, one student can ask another: «¿Y tu papá?», «¿cuánto tiempo hace que él comió?»

3. Show more than one subject card with the verb card: «and my sister», «and my brother», «ate».

4. Require students to repeat the phrases given by other students before adding their own.

Aim: To practice the imperfect tense.

Materials:

A. Subject Cards: «and seven squirrels», «and six butterflies», «and the duck», «and my mother», «and my brother», «and the baby», «and the dog»

B. Verb Cards: «ate», «swam», «flew», «ran», «jumped», «barked», «cried».

Introduction: «En el parque, yo caminaba y...»

Procedure:

1. Teach the vocabulary and introduction.

2. Show a subject card and a companion verb card: «and six squirrels», «ate».

3. Call on a student to repeat the introduction and to add a phrase using the imperfect tense based on the displayed cards: «En el parque yo caminaba y seis ardillas comían nueces en la hierba». The student may use just the subject and verb or may add other information.

4. Display other cards and call on other students to add to the story or to ask questions:

Student 1: «Yo caminaba por el parque y el bebé lloraba».

Student 2: «¿Por qué lloraba el bebé?»

Student 1: «El bebé lloraba porque tenía hambre!»

Aim: To practice the preterite tense.

Materials:

A. Subject Cards: «and the policeman», «and my brother», «and the cars», «and the wagon», «and my mother», «and she», «and he».

B. Verb Cards: «got into trouble», «stopped», «whistled», «went home», «laughed», «hiccupped».

Show additional cards for a more advanced class and fewer for a less able class.

Procedure:

Same as described for Activities 1 and 2, except use the preterite tense. Any number of verb and/or subject cards can be shown at the same time to produce a more complex sentence.

Aim: To create a story with a group of classmates.

Organization: To divide the class into four or five groups. Choose a recorder for each group.

Materials: Give each group five subject cards and an introductory sentence written on an index card

Procedure: Allow the groups about 15 minutes to create a story based on the cards and the introduction. Require each member of the group to participate by telling part of the story to the class. The teacher might want to review the stories before they are presented to the class.

Aim: To write a story.

Procedure:

1. Give the class an introductory sentence: «Érase una vea una morsa que estaba muy triste».

2. Show a combination of five different verb and subject cards each day for a week.

3. Require each student to write the introductory sentence in his/her journal and develop a story based on the cards shown during the week. Five sentences should be written each day for five minutes.

4. At the end of the week, students exchange stories for peer critique and corrections.

5. Collect the stories, review them and ask students to read or dramatize the best ones.

NOTE: In addition to teacher-made materials, A Shufflebook, written by Richard Hefter and Martin Stephen Moskof, Western Publishing Company, Inc. (A Golden Book), 1970 can be used. A Shufflebook is only available from the Museum of Modern Art in New York and can be ordered from: Museum of Modern Art Bookstore, 11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019, Attention: Mail Order Department. (Approximate cost: $9.00.)

Hispania [Publicaciones periódicas]. Volume 73, Number 3, September 1990