I always feel uncomfortable with writing activities, I feel I’m not being a proper teacher if I sit and watch my learners work for an hour, without butting in! So this activity suits my need for a bit more bustle in the classroom.

In pairs I gave the learners a list of reading comprehension questions:

1. How were John and Tony related?
2. Who was the eldest?
3. Did John live in the city or the countryside?
4. What about Tony?
5. Where were they going when they met the leprechaun?
6. What was the weather like that day? Was it hot or cold?
7. Did the leprechaun tell John and Tony where his treasure was? If so where was it?
8. Why did they get into trouble when they arrived home?
9. What do you think Tony wrote in his diary that night before bed?
10. Invent a title for the story.

They noticed (eventually!) that there was no accompanying text, so… they had to write it themselves. We discussed how to make the text easier or more complicated to understand, and they set to work. Obviously you can alter the questions to incorporate any recently learnt language or themes. When they’ve finished, they swap their text with another group… and it becomes a reading comprehension activity.

I love collaborative writing is a great way of encouraging sharing ideas, team teaching and general collaborative learning, and the students seemed to enjoy it too.

There are loads of activities that can be used for collaborative writing in 100 Activities for Fast Finishers too!