Opportunities

LESSON NOTES STORY GAP ACTIVITY

u p p e r - i n t e r m e d i a t e

This worksheet is a writing activity and can be done any time after Module 2 of Opportunities Upper-Intermediate Students Book. Materials: None. Write story sentences on the board. Time: fifty minutes Step 1: Divide the class into pairs. Give students the first and last sentence of a story. (Either write out on a sheet and photocopy, leaving space for students to write in the middle, or students copy them from the board). They have to work out what happened in the middle. The most embarrassing thing that happened to me was when I went to a fancy dress party. ........................................................................................... ........................................................................................... ........................................................................................... to cut a long story short we started going out together. Step 2: Students tell their stories to the rest of the class. Students tell the stories in the first person as a personal anecdote. Step 3: Read out the real story. The most embarrassing thing that happened to me was when I was invited to a fancy dress party. I was going dressed as Tarzan. My costume consisted of a pair of swimming trunks made of artificial leopard skin and a few artificial leaves. Well, my dad dropped me off at the house where the party was. It was miles away from the centre of town. I started hammering on the door. After about ten minutes there was still no reply and I started to get irritated. There was absolutely nobody there. Then ... I remembered. Id got the wrong day! It was the right day Friday - but it was the wrong week! Anyway, there arent any buses in that part of town so I was in a real mess. It was around half past seven in the evening and I didnt have any money at all. www.longman.com/opportunities
PHOTOCOPIABLE

Pearson Education, 2002

Opportunities

u p p e r - i n t e r m e d i a t e

So I had to start walking. It was a good thing that it was the middle of the summer and it wasnt very cold. Of course, people started looking at me as if I were crazy. A group of kids laughed at me and made jokes like Hey Tarzan! Wheres Jane? And then ... I got totally lost. I dont have a very good sense of direction at the best of times and I did not know the area very well. So I had no idea where I was. Things were getting beyond a joke! Well, I went up to a guy waiting at a bus stop. I asked him how to get to the centre but he started speaking to me in German. By this time I was in a real state. But just at that moment this girl came up. Shed been standing in the queue for the bus. She was about my age, and she was wearing a Japanese outfit - a kimono. She had long blonde hair and was really good-looking. She asked me where I wanted to go and I told her. Then, when I explained I didnt have any money, she offered to pay for my bus fare to the centre. Well, it turned out that shed been invited to the party and had made the same mistake as me! I asked her out and ... to cut a long story short we started going out together. Step 4: Decide which of the students stories was closest to the real story. You could also have a class vote on which of the stories in the class was the most original.
Michael Harris

www.longman.com/opportunities
PHOTOCOPIABLE

Pearson Education, 2002