Do you like to invent stories in your English language class, together with the children, but do you sometimes lack inspiration? Would you like to get the kids to create or act out stories by themselves, and do they need just a little hint? Would you like to use more drama in the classroom and could you use a little help?

These Drama Cards will get you going. Each of the 55 cards contains 4 English words, one in each of the categories 'Who', 'What', 'Where' and 'How': 

• WHO: 55 characters, from baby to witch
• WHAT: 55 events, from ask for help to watch tv
• WHERE: 55 places, from airport to zoo
• HOW: 55 ways to act, from angry to worried

These cards are also available in a senior version, and in the languages Dutch, French, German and Spanish.

Below, you find three ideas for output-activities you can do with these cards. The ideas are courtesy of Dramanerds.net, where you will find many more ideas. Please remember that your students need loads of Comprehensible Input first, before you ask them to produce output!

Retelling stories

Divide the group into pairs. Give a card to player A, player B is not allowed to see the words on the card. Player A makes up a story in which all four words occur. After that player B has to retell the story. You could even make a relay race and see how many words are left in the story after 4, 5 or even 6 players.

Creative writing

Give a card to everyone. Now everyone writes a story in which they combine all four cues. You could also assign the stories a theme, such as 'haunted house', 'the future', 'a special meeting' or 'a farewell letter'.

Writing dialogues

Divide the group into pairs and give a sheet of paper to each pair. Now give a card to each duo and tell them to write a dialogue with all four cues. Pairs write a dialogue of at least 8 lines. Once the dialogues are finished, the players can read them out loud, but with a little preparation time the dialogues can also be acted out in front of the rest of the group.