Students: The class is a part of an ESL program at a university in the United States. Most students are planning to attend an American university. Some of the students have been in the United States for a while, and others for a short period of time. The age of the students is between 18-25. Their English proficiency is ranged from intermediate to advanced. The class consists of 10-15 students.

Lesson Objectives: To help the students write an essay upon being given a specific topic and something to start off with, using their own imagination.

Materials: Pens (pencils) and a notebook (papers), visual aids (drawings or pictures)

Lesson Plan:

The teacher starts by asking the class a question: "Have you ever had any embarrassing experience?" As the students respond positively, the teacher tells them that they don't need to tell the class about their specific personal experience not just yet, because they will need to use it afterwards in the class. Then the teacher asks them an additional question: "What kind of embarrassing experience do you think other people might have?" And this time the teacher expects some kind of answer from the students. (2-3 minutes)

After discussing about some embarrassing situations in general, the teacher informs the students that he/she will show them some pictures/drawings that express "embarrassing moments." And the teacher asks them to tell him/her why and how they think the things on the visuals happened. (3-5 minutes)

After a couple of visual aids and the discussions by the students with regards to them, the teacher hands them out a small piece of papers. The teacher asks the students to write the most embarrassing experience they have had in their life with only one sentence. The teacher emphasizes that it must not be long or too specific. The teacher also asks them to write their name on it. (3-5 minutes)

The teacher collects the sheets of paper with students' writings on, and reviews them quickly. Then the teacher selects some of which he deems appropriate or good to use in class. And he/she splits the class into groups of three or four, and has them sit as a group. The teacher goes around and gives each group a sheet of paper with writings of one of the students in the group.

And the teacher tells them that they are going to be playing a game. Everyone will write a whole situation of how the experience in the paper they received happened, using their own imagination. The teacher tells them that after they finish writing their own stories, everyone from each group will read to the rest of the class what they have written about the experience. Among three or four of each group, there is only one true story. And those do not belong to this group that is sharing a story need to listen carefully and guess whose story is true. So the purpose of this writing is to make it sound so good and real that the rest of the class will believe that the story is true. The teacher tells the students not to discuss with each other while writing. (15-20 minutes)

After the writing is finished, the teacher asks each group to come up and read their stories to the class, and also asks them to read it with emotion to make it sounds as if it is actually happening right now or as if the student is remembering the experience, if possible. After all the stories of one group is done, the rest of the class discusses and decides which story was real. (15-20 minutes)

Notes:

1) asking the class a question

This is the preparation stage of the lesson. Because this reading and writing lesson will be dealing with "embarrassing experiences/situations," it is good to give the students an opportunity to think about those. These types of questions are appropriate and effective in this particular lesson because the students' minds can be more prepared and ready to do the upcoming writing task.

2) embarrassing situations in general

This one as well as 1) asking the class a question is to prepare the students for writing. It is more difficult to write something that one hasn't experienced than writing something that has happened to him/her. In this lesson, most of the students are going to be making up a story of their own in their writings. As they think about the embarrassing situations- the theme of their writing--in general in this early stage, it will become a little easier for them to write about it. Their mind has become a little flexible. They are not just writing things based on their own experience only, but they are more capable of setting their mind-frame on other things as well.

3) some pictures/drawings that express "embarrassing moments"

Visual aids are very helpful in making the brain work more effectively. These visual aids include pictures of a person slipping on the stairs in a crowd of people, a person sleeping in class and everybody else including the teacher laughing, and so forth. These visuals need to be clear and easy to understand.

These must not include anything offensive culturally, politically, socially to anyone. 4) tell (the teacher) why and how Being able to guess, think about, imagine, and make up a situation is very important in this lesson. Given a little clue and being able to come up with a story of their own is an important writing skill, especially in the language other than their own. This could be a preparation stage to the brainstorming process in the actual writing later on in this lesson.

5) must not be long or too specific

Because this writing uses students' imagination, if too much details are given or if the situation is specified in some way, it will make it difficult for the students to freely make up and come up a story of their own without much preconceived idea. A simple sentence on the main point is desirable, but shouldn't be too general.

6) write their name

Later on in the game, the students will be guessing whose story it is. So the teacher requests that students write their name on the paper. However, it shouldn't embarrass them in any way. If any students feel awkward writing their own name, the teacher should ask them to write a less embarrassing experience. If there are any students still not wanting to do it, that person doesn't write his/her name on it. The teacher doesn't have to use that experience written by him/her. But this negotiation between the teacher and the student should not be made openly, because this activity needs everyone's participation to make it interesting. The teacher may want to inform the students that too personal experiences may not be appropriate.

7) reviews

The teacher goes over each experience and uses his or her own judgement in choosing which one is appropriate for this activity. It is best to consider each student's personality and be sensitive to their feelings. It is good to make sure if its okay to use any one out of all the experiences for this activity by asking the class.

8) groups of three or four

The teacher may want to consider gender, cultural background etc. of the students in grouping carefully. There may be experiences only girls can have, or experiences with some sort of cultural connotation may be possible.

9) make it sound so good and real/ with emotion

This is the reading part of the lesson. Reading out loud may be a little more difficult than just reading by oneself because it includes speaking and pronunciation, but the preparations of the first part of the class (questions and answers, discussions etc.) should help the students be ready for this.

Reading one's own writing also makes it easier to read more smoothly and with an emotion, and not just mechanically. This storytelling skills will help the students with their comprehension and also help them read more efficiently.

And the purpose of this activity is to try to make the other students believe (deceive them!) that your story is true even if it is not. Of course your story itself is very important, but your storytelling skills will make a difference.