Article for Teachers

Creative Writing: Horoscopes and Fortune Cookies

 Ideas for Fun, Creativity and  Imagination  in Language Lessons

 By Lucille Lever

 Writing horoscopes, and notes for fortune  cookies, expands vocabulary and enables the sharing of creative and original  ideas.

 The theme of  horoscopes, astrology and telling fortunes is not new, and many teachers have  used their own twist on it for lessons in writing, communication and pair-work.  A reason that lessons with these ideas are successful is the fact that the  subject is whimsical and not taken seriously; it therefore gives students  license to be very creative, or even absurd.

Writing is  always a serious matter, however, no matter how simple or fun the topic is, so  the relaxed atmosphere lends itself to no limits of imagination, yet demands  that the writing be precise, well structured and interesting.

 Fortune Cookie Note Writing

Lesson   Ideas:

1. Each student writes a list of 10 fortune cookie messages they
     would like to find in a fortune cookie. For example, “You will be very rich one day and all your dreams will come true” or “Your hair will grow very long and you will win The Guinness Book of Records title”.
   
2. The students share their results with the others in pairs, small
     groups or with the class. The pairs can be changed a number of times so that all  the students share their ideas again and again.
   
3. A follow up activity (that can be prepared as homework or prior
   to  this lesson) would be to have students bake or bring cupcakes and have each of  them put one fortune note inside. Cakes are mixed up and handed out to others in  the class. Each student gets a cupcake and a fortune note.
   

Teachers should always check the notes to ensure that they don’t contain insults, rudeness, or threatening comments.


Creative Writing Using Horoscopes
 Another fascinating topic is that of horoscopes. Most students are exposed to them in newspapers, magazines or online. While some people do take horoscopes seriously,  others do not. However, many people are intrigued with them whether predictions  have turned out to be true in the past or not.

 For creative  writing, this theme is wonderful. Horoscopes or zodiac signs include both the  study of personality types as well as predictions. As personality types must be  described, students will have to find suitable vocabulary to depict human  characteristics; an excellent category of words for language improvement and  expansion, particularly in the ESL classroom.

 Lesson  Ideas:

 Pre-task  activity: The teacher brings in some examples of horoscopes from the newspaper,  Internet or magazines. Information about the zodiac and horoscopes should be
  presented to the class, and an open forum of questions and answers can take  place so that students will understand what they are going to do subsequently.

1. Each student lists the months of the year and writes down a
     character analysis (fictitious of course) alongside each month. For example:
     January: You are a person who builds on original ideas. You are strong and always strive to get what you want. February: You are always happy and easy to get along with. People come to you for advice. When all lists are complete, pair  the students.
   
2. Students tells their partners what their birth month is, and the
     other informs them of their horoscope.
   
3. This activity ends when all the students have visited with each
   of  the other students in the class and shared their information.
   
4. The activity may be extended by having students, in an art
   class,  design posters with information about each of the zodiac signs.
   
   
5. The Fortune
   Teller Activity: An expansion of  the lesson, or an extension into a drama class can be effective; students have  to prepare to come to class dressed up as fortune tellers. Bringing costumes  such as headdresses, balls that can be used a fortune teller’s prop, and other  items can add to the atmosphere of the
   class. Using props in the classroom is always  effective and
   memorable.

Horoscopes  and fortune telling are intriguing no matter how
seriously one takes them. The  Internet numbers show that millions of people read their horoscopes daily  whether it is for fun or otherwise. For language lessons, discussion and  creative writing prompts, this theme serves as an exciting springboard for  creativity.