About Story Writing class.

Story Writing class runs on Sundays at 8am PDT. It's a text-only class. Next Story Writing class will be Sunday, 16 August. You can read the last story here. Next time we'll pick up from there. There is no need to read the previous installments to join Story Writing class. ESL Group Story Writing Class Instructions Hello, welcome to the ESL writing-a-short-story class. Before we proceed with our activity, please click the “Local Chat” button located in the lower left corner of your screen. This will display a History of everything that has been typed today and will help you easily follow along with the class activity. During this activity, we will write a short story as a group. Everyone will participate. Each of us will take turns composing one or two sentences at a time. This activity will take us one hour, and we will each get a few turns as we go around in a clock-wise fashion to complete the story. After you have typed your sentence(s) into the chat bar, type “next” so that the person to your right knows to enter his/her sentence(s) to continue the story after you. If you are not ready to type in your contribution to the story when it is your turn, type “pass.” That will alert the next person to continue without waiting for your contribution. You may enter your writing during the next round when your turn comes up again. After you have entered your writing into the chat bar, I will correct any errors. You will see an * in front of the corrections. If you have any questions about the correction, please ask them. Please do not be afraid of making any errors as the whole class is here to learn and often more is learned from an error! Once the person in front of you has typed in his/her sentences, and I am in the process of correcting, please start preparing yours for reading. I will alert you a few minutes before we come to the end of the story, so that the last person in the group can think of a good ending. If you have any questions during this activity, you do not have to wait until the end of the class to ask them. Please feel free to ask questions at any time during the class. Does anyone have any questions before we start? Okay, let's begin! (Teacher now writes two or three opening lines for the story.) Content created by Petra Paster October 2, 2007 Revision by Lylou Despres Updated Feb 2008 Revisions by Alianaluz Rivera Updated December 31, 2008

ESL Group Story Writing Class July 26, 2009

ESL Group Story Writing Class July 26, 2009 Just when I thought life couldn’t get any stranger, I met Pirot, a blind old man who had an amazing gift. You couldn't tell what his gift was by looking at him; he was a short elderly man with long white hair and dark glasses that covered his vacant eyes. He passed the gift to me and said: "Hi, little girl, do not be sad, this is for you." I couldn't wait to open it up, but I had to go home right away. I was astonished by this old man Pirot who made me feel like the luckiest person in the world. I had never won anything before in my life other than a little action man that came with my McDonalds Happybox. Pirot told me to open the gift. He said that I will have time to go home later. A time-piece was in the box, but not just a regular time-piece, with it, I could travel in the past or in the future. I had my doubts, so I asked my grandfather about it; he was as old as the old man who gave me the gift. He told me that time machines were not a big deal. All you needed was to put time in a bottle and squeeze hard, like ketchup. The problem was coming back. This is why we don't hear much about it. That scared me a little, because I wanted to travel into the future (or into the past) but now I was afraid that I might not be able to return to the present! I decided to go back to the old blind man and ask him about it. I asked him if what my grandfather said was true. He said, “Yes, you can only use it to go to one world, if you choose that one, you will lose this one. Then I asked him if he was from another time. He didn’t say much about it. It was as if he wasn’t happy talking about it. I decided to try the time machine. Recently, I didn't do well on my English exam and I wanted to try to pass it again. Then I went back just 5 minutes before the exam. I was in class with the others students. I was thinking that maybe my grandfather had been to another time and had come back or maybe he came from another time. Then they called my name for the English text, just like the other time... It was eerie. It was only then that I realized I had not taken more time to study. I was so disappointed when I failed that I didn't even check my mistakes. The teacher asked me if I was OK because I looked so pale. I nodded "yes" and hurried out of the classroom. I headed straight for my grandfather's house. I nodded "yes" and hurried out of the classroom. I headed straight for my grandfather's house. I ran very fast, but it seemed that I could not reach my grandfather's house. "Where are you my grandpa, how can I find you?" Then I thought to myself: "Man! You have the power of time in your pockets! You shouldn’t be wondering about English exams and getting to your grandpa." So I took the box that contained the piece of time and decided to go to December 25th, 1900 because I remembered my grandfather received a time machine like mine back then. I found my grandfather's house and watched from outside his window. "Stop grandpa!" I cried out. He turned to me and had an astonished look on his face. That’s when I realized I was naked. My clothes had not been transported in time. He came out of the door. The neighbors came out to see what was happening as well. I guess someone had called the police. I grabbed frantically at the button on my watch. I didn't care where it would take me. I didn't care if I could never return to the present. I just wanted to hide my naked butt from my grandpa and his neighbors! I pressed the button and wound up somewhere in the year 79,000… Suddenly, I was in a very strange place. You could not image what it was like, but I forgot that I was still naked. So I looked around the corner and I saw the strangest thing I had ever seen in my life. There were lots and lots of naked people with watches like mine. I didn’t know if I should stay there with other time travelers. I recognized one of them. It was Pirot. I called him and asked him to help me. "oh ai" typed Pirot. “Au az u zot ire?" "What?" I said? "Uat uat ?" he answered. At this point I had no idea how to go on. It's enough" said the teacher. You've made a few mistakes. Please try to correct them. You've passes the test.” That's when I realized that this had all been a DAYDREAM. I was in my class standing at my professor's desk with my graded paper in my hand. I was so relieved to realize that not only had I passed my text but also I had never traveled in time. But just as I was ready to put it all out of my mind, I glanced down and saw a strange watch on my wrist…

Week 29

12 Classes this week. 1 New class: Wednesday 6am PDT. Voice. Giovanni. Reading, comprehension. 1 new time: Story writing class (Sunday) is now at 8am PDT (it was at 12pm PDT) 4 Classes recommeneded for beginners: Tuesday 6am PDT. Text. Seikatsu. Drive-Through ESL Wednesday 11am PDT. Voice. Inge. Flat Mates Wednesday 4pm PDT. Skype. Alianaluz. Reading, pronunciation, comprehension. Thursday 10am PDT. Voice. EagleEye. Vocabulary, idioms Please note: Monday 4pm PDT (VOICE) will starts at 4:10pm PDT Wednesday 4pm PDT (SKYPE) will starts at 4:10pm PDT

Skype Classes

New day, new time for Skype class: now it's Thursday 6am PDT READING - MIX CLASS -VOICE Flat Mates/International news in English VOICE. Flat Mates/International news in English Reading. Pronunciation. Comprehension. Test voice before class. Skype required for this class. The first class is free. If it's the first time contact the Class Runner 30 minutes before class. When you are logged in Skype contact: esl-xu-help-team The other Skype class is Wednesdays at 4pm PDT VOICE. Reading, pronunciation, comprehension. "Reading Between the Lines" During this class students will read short texts out loud for comprehension and to practice pronunciation in English. Test voice before class. Skype required for this class. The first class is free. If it's the first time contact the Class Runner 30 minutes before class. When you are logged in Skype contact: danicherrie.destiny

Recommended for Beginners

Tuesday 6am PDT. Text. Seikatsu. Drive-Through ESL Wednesday 11am PDT. Voice. Inge. Flat Mates Thursday 10am PDT. Voice. EagleEye. Vocabulary, idioms