Engaging students with creative writing activities helps reinforce grammar in an enjoyable way. Here’s a lesson idea that can be used to revise relative clauses.
Activity: A Letter to My Future Self
Objective: To practice relative clauses by writing a reflective and imaginative letter.
- Explain to students that they will be writing a letter to their future selves, imagining who they will be and what they will have achieved five or ten years from now.
- Instruct them to include:
- Hopes and dreams for their personal and professional life.
- Descriptions of experiences they wish to have (e.g., places that they will have traveled to).
- People they hope to meet and books or movies they plan to explore (e.g., books that will shape their views).
Model Example:
Dear future self, I hope you have found a career that makes you excited to wake up every morning. I hope you’ve visited countries that left you breathless, and met friends who became your second family—friends who were always there when you needed them. I hope you have read books that changed the way you see the world and watched movies which sparked ideas and conversations.
Tips for Teachers:
- Before starting, review relative clauses with examples.
- Read your model answer to the class.
- Encourage students to include at least four or five sentences that use relative clauses.
- Allow students to share their letters in small groups for a collaborative learning experience.
- Or ask them to post their letters on Padlet walls and once they finish their letters, encourage them to read and comment on at least 3 more letters.
Please share your thoughts if you use the activity with your students. I’d like to hear how it went.
