Chain Story

The teacher opens a story with one or two sentences. Each student adds one sentence that continues the narrative. The story grows around the class until it reaches a (usually absurd) conclusion.

Oral counterpart to Collective Story Writing. From Ur & Andrew Wright, Five-Minute Activities (CUP, 1992).

Procedure

1. Open the story: Last night, I was walking home when I saw something strange in the garden...
2. Point to the first student. They add one sentence continuing the story.
3. Move around the class. Each student adds one sentence, building on the last.
4. Set a signal for the "ending" — the last three students must resolve the story.
5. Optional: one student retells the whole story from memory.

Variations

• Targeted tense: every sentence must use the past continuous, or the third conditional, or reported speech.
• Word card: each student draws a random word card before their turn and must fit it into their sentence.
• Genre switch: halfway through, announce "Now it becomes a ghost story / a romance / a news report"; students shift accordingly.
• Cumulative chain: each student repeats the whole story so far, then adds one sentence. Memory-building variant.
• Silent chain: students write their sentence on a shared page rather than speak.

Why It Works

• Active listening: each student must track the story tightly to continue it.
• Forced production: no skipping turns.
• Low-stakes creativity: one sentence is small; even quiet students can contribute.

Tips

• Cap student contributions at one sentence. Long contributions break the pace and exclude others.
• If a student is stuck, allow pass to a partner to co-create instead of skipping entirely.
• Save the final chain on the board. It doubles as a reading text in the next lesson.