The cat and the fiddle

To do:

1. Translate this nonsense nursery rhyme into French!
2. Learn it by heart!
3. Enjoy listening to this song: Hey Diddle!

"Once upon a time..." is not the only way to start a story!

Click HERE for some famous first sentences to children's books!

Stuck for a story?

Go wild thinking up the start of a story! Give yourself five minutes to think up the beginning of a plot from the pictures above (one plot per picture)!

If that was fun, then try this too: STORY STARTERS!

Once upon a time...

Once you have created the characters of your story (you have defined their appearances, personalities and abilities), determined the setting (where and when the plot will unfold), decided on the theme (i.e. message), you will need to write the plot (the actual story)!

To help you think up the plot, imagine a problem that comes from "outside" (beyond the control of the characters, such as a natural disaster or an invasion) or from "within" (someone has done something they should not have done). How will the characters react and solve the problem? Will they have to go on a journey for example? The solution to the problem will bring out the moral message...

And the moral of the story is...

The moral of a story refers to the message that is put across or a lesson that is to be learned from the story in the end. The moral may be left to the reader, viewer or hearer to decide for themselves, or may be openly summarized in an adage/proverb.

It could be about courage (overcoming fear), trust, generosity, friendship, loyalty, honesty, being truthful, (self) respect, etc.

What is the fate of your characters?

What is fate?

What are the abilities/skills/talents/powers of your characters?

Click HERE to understand what "ability" means!

1. List the abilities of the famous characters above.
2. Describe the secret talent you (would like to) have!
3. Describe the abilities of the characters in YOUR story.

Describing character/personality...

To do:

1. Classify the character/personality traits in the list below into positive and negative.
2. Recount an incident that demonstrates your own strengths and weaknesses of character!
3. What is the chief personality trait of each of the characters in your story?

Good vs. bad...

adventurous

affable

aggressive

ambitious

anxious

apprehensive

arrogant

attention-seeking

boastful

boorish

boring

bossy

brave

brash

calm

capable

carefree

careful

charming

cold-blooded

conceited

confident

conscientious

courageous

cowardly

critical

cruel

cultured

dependable

depressive

discouraging

discreet

dishonest

domineering

down-to-earth

dutiful

eccentric

egocentric

egotistical

emotional

encouraging

energetic

envious

extroverted

exuberant

fair

fearless

finicky

forgetful

fun

funny

generous

gregarious

good-humoured

happy-go-lucky

hardworking

helpful

honest

humble

hypocritical

ill-mannered

independent-minded

indifferent

imaginative

impartial

impatient

impulsive

indecisive

indifferent

intelligent

intolerant

introverted

irritable

keen

kind

lazy

loyal

malicious

mean

meticulous

miserly

moody

moralistic

mornful

narrow-minded

obedient

obnoxious

obsequious

observant

open-minded

optimistic

outgoing

patient

perfectionist

persistent

pessimistic

picky

pompous

precise

punctual

quarrelsome

realistic

reliable

reserved

rude

sarcastic

scatter-brained

secretive

self-centered

sef-confident

self-controlled

selfish

sentimental

serious

short-tempered

shy

simple-minded

slovenly

sneaky

stingy

stubborn

suave

sullen

surly

suspicious

tacktless

thick

thoughtless

timid

tidy

tolerant

trusting

unfriendly

unreliable

unruly

untidy

valiant

virtuous

vulgar

warm-hearted

weak-willed

worrisome

Let's use some sophisticated words in our stories!

To do:

1. Personalize a small notebook.
2. Find weird, wacky or wonderful words, define their meanings, then classify them, for example you can use categories like: "words to describe the hero", "words to describe the world in which the hero lives", "words that describe good/bad feelings" (you can also sub-categorize them by word type: noun, adjective, verb, adverb).
3. Write down the words you have found and like in your notebook, ready to use in your story!

Here are some way-out words to help you get started:

What is the weather like in your story?

A famous idiomatic expression:

A well-known nursery rhyme:

It's raining, it's pouring.

The old man is snoring.

He bumped his head and went to bed

And he couldn't get up in the morning.

Useful weather words:

Click HERE!

Where does the action of your story take place?

In a forest?
In a desert?
In the jungle?
Under the sea?
On an island?
In the mountains?
By the ocean?
Near a river?
In a polar region?
On another planet?
In a city?
In a village?
Underground?
In a parallel universe?
In a strange world?
In a dream world?

Time...

Time flies...

Questions:

1. Is your story set in the PAST (distant or immediate), the PRESENT, or the FUTURE?
2. What is the time span of your story (does the action take place over a year, a month, a week, a day, a minute)?
3. Do you know what the "historical present" is (click HERE to find out!)?