Strange Stories

I have this great excercise that I use in my English classes when we practice writing stories. We think of titles for different genres: adventure, mystery, romance, comedy, science fiction, etc. Everyone starts a different story, but they only write for five to ten minutes. Then they have to pass their story on to the next person who continues it. This goes on for awhile until the story is finished. Here are two of the most recent stories my students wrote...

In Another Dimension

James woke up in the middle of the night with sweat pouring down his face. He looked around and could see white walls covered with tiny little spiders. The bed that he was sitting on was invisible. "What is this? Where am I?" James was terribly frightened of spiders so he jumped up and ran to the door. The door knob was a slimey, octopus-looking thing with tentacles that moved all around. James began to talk to the octopus because it really looked friendly, and the octopus told him this, "James I'm the king of a small planet, the spiders are my soldiers. We come in the name of peace. That's why I'm smiling. We can change our appearance but I'm a lover of the sea and I've always wanted to be an octopus." The octopus became friends with James and James was very happy. But James didn't know what the octopus wanted. The octopus turned to James and said, "You are the new king of this very small planet."


The End

The Crazy Life of Bob

One day Bob went out very early because he had decided to take an excursion in the mountains. When he arrived, he saw a big bear and started to scream and go into a panic. The bear was very good with the people who arrived on the mountain. Bob thought and decided to run back, because he wanted to be the bear's friend. Three days later, Bob and Bear were good friends. From that day on, Bob didn't have it in for the bear anymore. Bob and the bear would spend hours on end skipping through the forest. They played hide and go seek, tic tac toe, and Bob even taught him how to play scrabble! The bear was really sweet and caught fish in the river for Bob to cook on the fire. But soon winter arrived and Bob got very cold. He suggested that he and the bear go back to his apartment in Lugo. The bear agreed. The people in the local pub thought the bear was great too. They gave him a T-shirt from the local football team and he even started to understand the rules of football. But bears sleep all during the winter and Lugo is a cold city. One day Bob and the bear were in the bar, both with their "Crazy Peña" football T-shirts on, when suddenly the bear fell down on the ground. Bob went into a state of panic and started to scream. His best friend was dead. He called the vet and was given good news. His friend was hibernating as bears do. And Bob returned to his normal life. Next spring his friend will return to his normal life too.

The End.

I love teaching.