Pre-Writing:

Beginners: Print out pictures from the Madeline Francis’ Hansel and Gretel
story (attached) or upload into a Power Point presentation, one picture per
slide. Divide students into groups of three. Assign each group member a task:
sentence creator, writer, editor. Then, show each picture (in chronological
order) for 30 seconds. Each group needs to create a sentence to describe what
is happening in the picture and each of the 3 group members are assigned a
job. The sentence creator dictates a sentence to the writer, the writer writes
the sentence that is spoken, and the editor checks for grammar, spelling and
formatting mistakes. (Students can change job assignments with each new
picture.) After all the pictures are shown, each group should read their story to
the class.

Intermediate: Progressive Writing Activity: Divide students into groups of 3-4,

have them make a circle with their desks or sit at the same table, and ask
students to take out a pen/pencil and a notebook. Write on the board, “Once
upon a time, there was a poor family who didn’t have enough money to buy
food…..” Students should copy this sentence in their notebooks. Then, allow
students one minute to write as much as they can in their notebook. Remind
them to write clearly because other students will have to read and understand
their writing. After 1 minute, have the students pass their notebooks to the
person on their left. Then, students have one minute to read what is written in
the new notebook and write as many sentences as they can to add to the story.
After one minute, they pass their notebooks again and have another minute to
read and write in the new notebook. This continues until each group member
has written in everyone’s notebooks, and the original owner receives his/her
notebook again. Finally, the notebook owners will have 1 more minute to read
what has been written by the classmates and finish the story. (Encourage
students to be as creative or silly as possible). Then, ask the students to read
their stories to each other. Finally, if time permits, ask for one volunteer from
each group to read their story. This usually provokes a lot of laughs from the
class.
Advanced: 5 minute journal activity: Give students 5 minutes to write about a
problem they faced at some point in their life and describe how they solved the
problem. Were they happy with the solution? Why or why not? After the
students finish writing, ask a few students to read their stories to the class.

*At some point, students need to read the story, either as a homework
assignment or an in class reading.

Writing activity:

Beginners: Have students submit a “book report.” Book reports can include:

Description of 5 characters: write 1 sentence about each character

Summary of the story: write 1 paragraph
Opinion: Did you like the story? Why or why not?
Alternate ending: Create a different ending to the story in 4-5 sentences.
Intermediate: Divide students into groups or 3-4. Have students write a script
for Hansel and Gretel, but have them create a different ending than the story.

Advanced: In groups, give students 5-10 minutes to make an outline of some

problems and solutions the characters in Hansel and Gretel faced. Then,
students return to their desks and complete an in-class writing assignment.
Students should write a 5 paragraph essay in class discussing at least 3
problems the characters faced in the story and describe how each problem was
solved. For more of a challenge, have students also include their own, new
solution to each problem.

Post-Writing Activities:
Beginners: Have students present their book report to the class, using a
PowerPoint presentation OR pictures they created (for younger learners).

Intermediate: Students perform skits using the scripts they wrote. Students in
the audience should evaluate the performances using a rubric provided by the
teacher (possibly focusing on various grammar and vocabulary points).

Advanced: Working in groups of 3-4, students in each group will peer review
each other’s papers using a rubric or questions provided by the teacher. Upon
completion, ask students as a class about the problems they noticed most
while reviewing other classmates’ papers and discuss how to fix those
problems.