Has
anyone here ever wished that you had more
money than you have at the moment? Yeah? OK.
Well, I have some good news for you: You've
just won $1 million dollars and friends are
asking you how you came into so much money.
You're explaining to them how it happened:
it was all a series of co-incidences - and
whenever something is a co-incidence, we use
the expression "happen to".
For example:
I
happened to be on a plane and I happened
to be sitting next to an American who
happened to be on his way to China.
I happened to mention that my sister
was a singer and he said he loved music.
Well my sister happened to be singing
that night and we decided to go to the show.
Well there was a lottery at the show and
the woman sitting next to me happened
to have two tickets. She needed money
to make a telephone call and I happened
to have a lot of change in my pocket.
I offered to buy a lottery ticket from her
and she sold me one. And the ticket she
sold me happened to be the lucky
ticket.
After
telling them the story, hand out a written
copy of the above and let them have a look
at it.
And now you tell the people
around you how you happened to win $1 million.
And there will be a prize for the person
who tells the story that seems the most
true.... But there will be another prize,
too: for the person who tells the story
that is the most impossible to believe -
the craziest story you can imagine. And
now, I'll give you five minutes to prepare
your story of how you won $1 million. And
when you're ready, tell me. And remember,
the story must relate co-incidence after
co-incidence and so you have to keep saying
"I happened to", "She happened
to", "We happened to", "They
happened to".... etc.
Write
down a few key sentences on the flipchart
such as:
- I
happened to see....
- He
happened to be....
- We
happened to have...
- They
happened to know....
- She
happened to be staying...
- They
happened to be sleeping...
- I
happened to recognise....
Give
out blank paper and let them get on with their
preparation. Help them by floating around
outside the circle, in order to be able to
look over their backs. When helping them reformulate
what they're writing, kneel down to the floor
as much as possible in order to be at the
same level as them and therefore be less intimidating.
Wherever possible, keep slipping into their
texts the happen to, which they might
otherwise forget and which is, after all,
the purpose of this activity.
When
the first 3 or 4 students seem to have finished
writing, begin to nudge the others on by asking,
"Is everybody moving ahead towards the
end?" And 30 seconds later, "Is
everyone just about finished?" And 20
seconds later, "Are we all just about
ready to read out what we've written?"
followed, 15 second later, by a more direct,
"Good! Can we all stop writing and begin
to tell our story to friends?"
Tell
them that in addition to the prizes you mentioned
before, there will also be a super prize for
the person who uses happen to the most
often. Have each person tell their story and,
depending on the mood of the group, you might
institute some kind of cheering every time
the expression happen to is used.
