Plot deck

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The Plot Deck is a simple and incredibly effective card game for loosening tongues and stimulating your students' imagination. Forget the fear of the blank page! Thanks to inspiring illustrations, students collaboratively build stories that are funny, epic, or completely wild. It's the perfect tool for a dynamic, collaborative, and fun oral production session where every student, regardless of their level, can contribute to the narrative structure.

In short

CEFR level :A1, A1+, A2, A2+, B1, B2

Class level :Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, Level 5, Primary level

Type :Games

Cultural themes :Imagination & Legends

It's Time to Play!

Learning while having fun is the best method! Launch this interactive game for a fun and motivating review session.

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Pedagogical Guide

Objective & Principle of the Activity

The main objective is to lead students to collaborate in orally building a coherent and creative narrative in English, using visual prompts.

This is a story creation game based on illustrated cards. The activity does not follow a predefined script but provides the elements to build one. The cards represent various elements (objects, places, concepts) that serve as triggers for the narration. Students are distributed the cards. A first student begins telling the story based on one of their cards, then their classmates continue in turn, integrating the elements from their own cards. The story thus unfolds organically and often surprisingly, shaped by the collective imagination of the group.

Suggested Lesson Flow

Before the Activity (~5 min): PREPARATION

Form small groups (3-5 students) to encourage participation from everyone.
On the board, review vocabulary useful for narration, as well as logical connectors and the past tense.

During the Activity (~15-25 min): COLLABORATIVE CREATION

Distribute an equal number of cards to each student in the group.
Explain the rule: one student starts the story by using one of their cards to introduce an element, then the next player continues by integrating one of their cards, and so on.
Circulate among the groups as a facilitator to help with vocabulary if needed, but without steering the narration. Encourage students to use complete sentences and follow up on the previous classmate's contribution.

After the Activity (~10-15 min): SHARING

Ask a spokesperson from each group to summarize the story they created for the class.
Organize a vote for the funniest or most original story. Give brief feedback on well-used grammatical structures and vocabulary.

Adaptations

To Simplify: Do a collective brainstorming session on a few cards to provide examples of possible sentences. Students can prepare one or two sentences in writing before speaking.
To Extend: Suggest a variation where students only reveal their card when it is their turn to speak to maximize improvisation. Constraints can also be imposed: a literary genre, a specific verb tense to use, or a minimum number of sentences per turn.