Set it up
Ask your students about the sounds they heard (or made) so far during the day. These might be sounds related to a particular part of the day, like from their morning routine (the splatter of the shower, the boiling of the kettle…). They might be sounds that are a little out of the ordinary, like a pneumatic drill from some unexpected roadworks.
Running order
1. Tell the students that you are going to play three different sound effects.
2. Divide the students into groups of three and number them one, two and three. If you have a number of students that doesn’t allow for equal groups of three, you can have larger groups and number more students as one, two or three.
3. Tell the student that they will each hear a sound effect that forms part of a sequence. As they listen, they should draw or note down anything that comes into their minds. After playing the three sound effects, the students should try to link the sound effects into one sequence. They can decide the order and interpret the sounds any way they like.
4. Play the sound effects one by one, but making sure that the other students cannot hear. You could do this by asking them to listen to music through their headphones, covering their ears or leaving the room.
5. Play the sound effects.
6. Allow the students enough time to work on their sequences. They can write notes, but should focus on telling the story out loud.
7. Monitor as the groups work on their sequences and provide language input as necessary.
8. Ask the students to share their sequences with the class and then vote on the best, most interesting or most unusual.
Encore
Ask the students to write up their sequences for homework. They could record this using audio recording devices.