The teacher should begin with a simple story premise, such as "Once upon a time, there was a man who wanted to travel all over the world. One day, he decided to fulfill his dream, and..." From there, the teacher should call on a student and ask him to add a few more sentences to the story. However, the student must use only adjectives beginning with "A." Once he has told his part of the story, the student should call on another classmate. The next story contributor should use only adjectives beginning with "B." Allow the story to continue until the entire alphabet has been covered. The student that has the letter "Z" must give the story an ending.
Divide the class into three teams, two acting teams and one judging team. Beforehand, you should choose approximately 10 adjectives and write them on large pieces of paper. You should also choose 20 objects. You can choose anything you want, such as a hairdryer, book, flashlight or other item. Place these objects and adjectives at the front of the classroom. Tell each team to select a representative and have that person come forward to select five adjectives and 10 objects. In 10 minutes, each team must create a play that incorporates every team member, object and adjective. After the plays are presented, the judging team must decide which play was better. Repeat the activity so that each team acts twice and judges once.
Have each student write his name in large letters, vertically along the edge of a paper. Next, have the students sit in a large circle. Each student should pass his paper to the student sitting to the right of him and accept a paper from the student to the left of him. On the paper he receives, he should write an adjective that begins with the first letter of the person's name. The adjective should be complimentary and describe the person. Once he is done, he should pass the paper to the right and receive another from the left. For the second paper he receives, he should write an adjective that begins with the second letter of the person's name. For the third paper, he should write an adjective that begins with the third letter of the person's name. This should continue until every letter has an adjective, after which students can add an adjective to any letter they like. Continue passing the papers and adding adjectives until every student has their own paper back.
Select an object and tell your students that they need to describe it using the most vivid, unusual adjective that they can think of. Call on a student and ask him to give you an adjective. Have him call on another student to replace the first adjective with one that means close to the same thing. If he cannot think of an equivalent adjective, he can add a second adjective that means something different instead. The third student must come up with an adjective that means the same as either the first or second adjective. If he cannot, he can add a third adjective. The goal is to go through the whole class and end with only one adjective. The fewer the adjectives, the higher the class score. This is an excellent activity for teaching adjectives and synonyms, and improving vocabulary.