I took pity on my third year writing class today. I was mean and had assigned them a 5 page and/or 15 paragraph essay due next week. I wanted to loosen up a bit with them, but I also want to develop some creativity in their writing. Vietnamese students are not expected to be creative – they are expected to work together and rock no boats.
So – we had some fun. We took some time to write “chain stories” in class. After splitting up the class into groups of four, each was given a piece of paper with an opening phrase, such as “One day I woke up late”, or “One day I decided to go for a walk by the river.” Each student added one more sentence to the story, then passed it on to the next student. (Its also a good way for them to catch grammar errors in each other’s writing.
Here’s the story I liked best:
One day I had a big fight with my best friend.
He stole my money for his girlfriend.
Meanwhile I was short of money – I did not know why he could behave me like this!
I couldn’t hide my anger, so I spoke out bad words to him.
Vice versa, he said he used money to buy gift for the last meeting with his girlfriend.
“That is my first girl friend and I can’t refuse her invitation to go to the cinema with her” he explained.
This is the first time I became hot-tempered today.
I cannot control myself so I knocked him down on the floor.
He didn’t know that I needed money to buy a gift for my girlfriend.
My gift to heal the heart in her heart.
Because one day I came to her house, by accident I saw her bathing without closing the door. S
o that she ran into angry with me.
So what did you do when she ran away?
You tried to run after her, didn’t you?
If you say yes Oh, you were very excellent when you guessed completely right.
I insist her apology but she didn’t accept.
I was the reason I wanted to buy a gift for her.
If I were you, I would follow her silently
This is not typical of the work they usually hand in. Remember, this is unedited, free-writing, and the purpose was to enhance their creativity.
And they got creative, eh?