Mad Libs

This activity idea comes from "Word Game for the ESL Classroom."

Preparation Time: 20-30 minutes.

Materials: One mad lib for demonstrating (no copies necessary) and copies of an additional one for students to fill in.

Preparation: Work with a text that you’ve just read as a class and make a fill-in-the blank activity, omitting various parts of speech. This is the one that you’ll use to model the activity. Prepare an additional one for students to do on their own. If you use a reading that is new to the students, make sure the language is simple so that the focus can be on parts of speech and not on comprehension.

Procedure:

I do it:

1. Write a number of familiar vocabulary words on the board that represent nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. Ask students to identify the part of speech for each word. As you proceed, review the definition of the various parts of speech and write the parts of speech on the board as column headings. Now re-write the words in the correct columns. Alternatively, vocabulary could be written on pieces of paper which students then tape in the correct column on the board.
2. Call on students, asking them to offer other examples of the various parts of speech. Add those to the board. Once the definitions are clear, move on to the next step.

We do it:

1. Explain that you are going to create a story together. You are going to ask the students to give you different parts of speech, which you will use to fill in blanks in the story. Encourage students to use their imagination and have fun.
2. Based on the blanks you’ve placed in the story, ask the students for a list of words:

• Man’s name.
• Noun.
• Adjective.
• Noun.
• Verb ending in –ing.
• Adverb of frequency.
• Etc.

1. Students discuss together to make sure they are providing the correct part of speech.
2. Now insert the words into the story and read it to the class. 

You do it:

1. Working in pairs, students fill in a word sheet like the one in step four, generating the list of words that will go in the blanks. The list could be on a handout or written on the board.
2. Once students have filled in the word sheet, give them a copy of the story.
3. Model filling in the first few blanks to make sure instructions are clear. As students work on their own, circulate to help those having difficulty.
4. Ask pairs to read their stories out loud to other pairs or ask for volunteers to read their stories to the whole class.