ODA: vignette presentation

Urka Petrevi, November 10, 2014

VIGNETTE PRESENTATION: SCI-FI DOMINOES/FAIRY TALE

DOMINOES
Type of activity:
1. small group activity
2. arranging cards and narrating game
Skills practised:
1. narrating (speaking)
2. writing (a story)
Aim:
1.
2.
3.
4.

revising/practising past tenses

revising vocabulary (science fiction/fairy tales)
building up a co-operative story
writing a story

Grammar areas: past tenses

Lexical areas: science fiction/fairy tales
Level: appropriate for different levels (best probably for the intermediate level)
Materials: cards, later also pen and paper
Time: approximately 15 minutes
Essential vocabulary:
1. Science fiction: spaceship, rocket, planet, space, alien, explode, monster,
volcano, Earth, UFO, astronaut, flag, (volcano) eruption, dinosaur
2. Fairy tales: labyrinth, princess, prince, tower, giant, sword, castle, horse,
flag, forest, thunderstorm, eagle, dragon, magic, witch, ring, river, crown,
rock, frog, treasure, fairy
Preparation:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Divide the students into groups of three or four.

Explain the rules of the game.
Give each group one set of cards (sci-fi or fairy tale).
Make sure that the cards are dealt out equally to all the members of the
group.
5. Ask students to build up a co-operative story.
Rules/Procedure:
1. Students have to look at their cards. They represent the events in a
science fiction story/fairy tale.
2. They mustnt show their cards to other students.

ODA: vignette presentation

Urka Petrevi, November 10, 2014

3. The first player chooses a card (any card) from his/her hand and lays it
down on the table as the first event of the story. The student describes (in
one or two sentences) what happened in the story.
4. The second player has to choose a suitable card to follow on as the next
event in the story. He/she lays the card down on the table next to the first
one, and narrates the next stage in the story.
5. The object of the game is to build up a story together.
Possible activities after the game:
1. When all groups have finished their stories, they can visit other groups and
explain the stories to each other. (Warning: to avoid chaos, it is probably
the best to form new groups consisting of one member from each group.)
2. The activity can also lead to a writing activity: students get another copy of
pictures (different from those that they used in groups) and write a story,
either in class or for homework.
Source: Jill Hadfield, INTERMEDIATE COMMUNICATION GAMES, A collection of
games and activities for low to mid-intermediate students of English, first
published by Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd 1990, activity: Sci-fi
dominoes/Fairytale dominoes

ODA: vignette presentation

Sci-fi dominoes

Urka Petrevi, November 10, 2014

ODA: vignette presentation

Urka Petrevi, November 10, 2014

ODA: vignette presentation

Fairy tale dominoes

Urka Petrevi, November 10, 2014

ODA: vignette presentation

Urka Petrevi, November 10, 2014

ODA: vignette presentation

Urka Petrevi, November 10, 2014

ODA: vignette presentation

Urka Petrevi, November 10, 2014