This is a very good option for your first story when you are ready. Skip Crosby suggested that I post this here. He said:
…even for veterans this is helpful. These structures are magical. They have legs of their own. For level 1 they are golden. Both my rookie colleague and I used this with amazing success….!
Here is the text:
If you have never done a story, then you must start simply. Here is an ultra simple script to start with. It is so simple that the names are the only variables:
A Fight
loves
wants to be
hits
Here is what to do:
Step 1: PQA
As you know, the first part of any PQA session is establishing meaning/gesturing. You tell the kids what each target structure means in English (limit 2 min.) and then you ask them to suggest gestures for the structures. What I do is say to them, in English, “Class, how can we remember that “aime” means “loves”? Then shower them with praise when they show and you all agree that “loves” is the hands held across the chest with the head at an angle (or whatever THEY want it to be) and “wants” is two flat hands rubbing together (or whatever THEY suggest) and “hits” is one fist in the flat hand (or whatever their precious little hearts want to be as a gesture for that word).
For the second part of PQA, the “just talking to them part”, your mindset should be, “I am now going to get as many repetitions as I can on each of these three expressions before starting the story. I am not going to say one thing that doesn’t have one of the target structures in it. I will focus on the students and how wonderful they are, how wonderful their suggestions are.”
Imagine that you have an invisible crow bar in your hand and you are going to PRY out all the real or imagined crazy stuff that you can from these kids about the three expressions.
If they just sit there and don’t suggest anything (one version of hell), you TELL them what is happening. You look at a kid with a mysterious look and you say, “Class, Anthony (look directly at Anthony) loves ______”. Let the KIDS fill in that blank with their cute answers. Laughter will follow as you reject a few and finally accept one.
Go on like that for all three structures. Before doing that, of course, be sure to line up your three target structure counters as usual, if you want to (nothing in stone here, I am just sharing what works for me) and keep each one of them on their tasks of counting the structure that they have been assigned. They do that on a little colored square of paper on which they write the structure they are counting and tally them using the four and across tick method and then they hand them to you at the end of class. (This counting thing is not just to let you know how many times you say a target structure – its real benefit is that when you stop the class every once in while and look directly at one of the counters and ask him or her, “How am I doing?” “How many have I got?” in English. It really has an odd way of engaging the entire class, is why I say that. It just keeps the kids engaged. Weird but true.
When that dies down a little, whether in two minutes or two days, you know that you are ready to start the story.
Step 2: The Story
If you can (it varies from story to story), use information that you got during the PQA to start the story. This morphing of information from PQA into the story doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it is great fun. For example, if it turns out that, during the PQA, you replaced the fictitious Jillian with your own student Janet, you just call Janet up, saying something like, “O.K. we need an actor” and look expectantly with a smile at Janet, never forcing a kid to come up. Wait them out. At some point a kid will come up. It shows them who is in charge when you wait them out. Some of the kids like to see us squirm in that moment of doubt as to whether a kid will rescue the situation.Then, when after up to a minute that seems like an eternity to the us when we are first learning, when a kid stands up, the entire energy of the class shifts to us and the creation of the story.
Once we have the actor up you strictly follow rule #6. Also, have a stool ready for them to sit on during the story, placing the stool a bit off to the side so you have room to move). Look at your script, find the variable, and start with the first sentence, always looking to replace only the variables in all stories, keeping the structures in and circling them exhaustively (because they, not the story, is the subject of the lesson. The story is only a delivery device for the structures. So:
Jillian loves Brad
may, via the vehicle of the constant circling, become
Janet loves Brad
Now don’t go getting all wigged out that you are finally going to start a story! Just focus on the first line. You may end up spending the entire class on that one line (not with this script but it can happen with more complex first lines of stories). Milk that first line. Circle it. It may be that Janet doesn’t love Brad. Go with that. The KIDS will give you all the facts. THEY will make sure that you get it right.
In the same way that you had three kids counting structures during the PQA, you know have three kids doing jobs for you. Have a kid write the story out as it develops. Have another kid write a short quiz for the end of class (all questions must have yes/no answers not just for them but so you can ask your quizzes on those little pink scantrons, thus saving you lots of time grading them). Have a third kid illustrate the story as it unfolds to be projected out so that all can see it, as a visual guide for retells at the end of class. You will need the last 12-15 minutes of class for the quiz and the illustration (4 to 5 min. on the illustration and 8 -10 min. on the quiz). You will need the story from the story writer to create the reading for the next day’s class.