Exquisite Corpse

Preparation

Familiarize yourself with the different Typing Pal drills.

Before starting your Typing Pal session, print six copies of Worksheet no. 10. Cut them up so that you have a small sheet for each student.

Activity plan

For this activity, students must have access to a computer.

1. In the table, write one of the groups of letters targeted by the Typing Pal drills. Example: ment
2. Give students one minute, working on their own, to write down as many words containing that series of letters as they can.
3. Ask each student to share with the class one of the words found. Write the words on the board. Students will use the word they have chosen for the second part of the activity.
4. Choose a student to begin the writing.
5. The student labels his or her sheet of paper with a number 1. Using the word chosen in the previous part of the activity, the student composes a sentence. The numbering system will be used later to determine the order of the sentences. At the same time, the other students continue their Typing Pal session.
6. Once the sentence has been written, the student passes the sheet to his or her neighbor. The next student writes a number 2 on his or her own sheet and then composes the next sentence of the text, using the chosen word. This sentence must follow on from the first. The student passes the sentence on to his or her neighbour.
7. Keep going until all students have written a sentence. During the exercise, collect the answer sheets as the students write, so that there are only two completed sheets in circulation. This way, you can make sure that students do not read the whole story before the end, as this would spoil the surprise!
8. Once everyone has written a sentence, put the sheets back in order using the numbers. Read the story out to the whole group and congratulate them on their creative talents! You can use this composition to add to the Typing Pal text collection. Consult the User Guide for help with adding a text. Students will be more motivated to practice with a text that they have helped to create.

Variation

You can also adapt this activity to target several groups of letters at once, or by giving your students a specific theme to work with.