Sunday 30 October 2016

WINNING SPOOKY STORIES FOR HALLOWEEN!

After my last post, I held a spooky short story competition for my students. I asked them to write a story that would scare the living daylights out of me. Below are those that made the grade.

Is your story here? Read on to find out! 
(If you wish to have your name added or even a title, just let me know and that can be sorted out!)
Many of the stories had great artwork even if the story didn't make it here, all the pictures have, so congratulations to you all!

Although they are in order of class level, I've copied them up just about warts and all, so don't worry if you see typos! [I added some corrections for clarity.] Some children preferred to remain anonymous, those who wished to take the credit have a by-line.
Note: Stories are not posted in any particular order and there is no overall winner ;-)

scare the living daylights out of someone = frighten someone very much
make the grade = be good enough
warts and all = as it is found/without changing the original
remain anonymous = keep names/identity hidden
take the credit = get the praise
by-line = mention who a piece of writing is written by

Congratulations to the winners and thank you all for your hard work and participation! 
Have a truly Happy Halloween!

Level C2

CONFESSIONS OF A PRISONER: THE UNKNOWN SUSPECT
by Evita Koukia
It was Saturday, 31st of October 2009. Scarlett and Adam had heard some rumors about a haunted house. They decided to take a late walk and pay a visit, just to satisfy their curiosity. Early in that evening, they were already on their way to the haunted house, which was far away from the city centre.
By the the time they got there, they saw an old, abandoned house which seemed a little gloomy at first sight. An old car was parked in front of the the fence. Once they got inside, they started laughing. They did not see anything unusual, suspicious or mysterious. As they slipped towards the kitchen they heard some footsteps. They thought that it might be the owner of the car and paid no further attention. As they were strolling into the other rooms they realized that that the footsteps were coming from downstairs. They were terrified, when they heard a hollow scream. They ran to the door, but it was locked. It felt like somebody did not want them to leave the house.
Their minds were blown as they could not just wait to die. They had no idea about what they were up to. After a while, Scarlett and Adam heard these footsteps again again. But the is time something was different. The footsteps were coming closer and closer.. The door slightly opened but nobody was there. Adam went downstairs to check who else was in the side the house, mocking and playing them like fools. Scarlett was left alone and second later she started screaming. By the time Adam Adam got to the kitchen it was too late. Scarlett was already dead, bleeding to death. Adam felt that it was his fault.
An hour later the police arrived and Adam was arrested. Today seven years later, he insists on his innocence. The crime investigation has shown no fingerprints on the deadly weapon. Adam shares his story with Jonathon Tries, a prisoner who faced a similar situation, with his then girlfriend, 17 years ago.




HALLOWEEN

Anonymous
At the age of 12, my friends and I had a Halloween sleepover party at my house. Curious as we were for creepy stories we have heard, we decided to try one of those ourselves. The idea came from Nikos, the older one, he was 13 then and he was the leader of our gang! He have mentioned of the "Mirrored black which[witch] with the knife..."
"the what?" we asked...so Nikos told us about a black magic witch, living on the mountains hundreds years ago who by her will[wanted] to stay young forever, was killing children with a knife and drunk their blood by the light of the moonlight. When the villagers  found out who she was, they hunted her down, after that they striked her down and burned her, after that they striked her fiercly with knoxes[sic] and knives. Before she passed away, cursed the night, and gave a promise to the moon that she will never stop killing children in halloween nights.The plot of the ceremony required to call her name "Black magic with a knife" three times, infront of a mirror in a dark room, only with the light of a candle. And so we did...the silly ones, we did! As Nikos finished his story, we immediately gathered Nikos, Stells, Eva, George and I started calling her name. At the third calling the mirror started shaking and breaking and a skinny hand with long black nails holding a knife came through the broken mirror. At once a witch appeared screaming at us
"I want your lives. I want my youth" she said, "I want to kill you. we started running and turning on the light and screaming by fear, the witch disappeared and we promised never to try such silly ceremonies ever again.

HALLOWEEN
by Eleni Svina
It was a cold day in Octomber and I was very happy because that it was Halloween. It was raining so I was more happy the rain created a scary atmosphere like it had to. We were ready to go out and scary them so much that they had not even predict. But nobody would predict the event that happened to us.
We wore our costumes and we began to share the fear. All the neighbours were really frightened. My mom said to me that they had nightmare and they could not sleep in the night. Thankfully they gave us many sweets, so we had not to scare them more. We had a really great time, to the time we heard scary screams and voices. We were really scared. The screams heard everytime from closer and closer, suddenly we were surrounded from ghosts. three minutes later, we managed to juggle them and quickly we got inside my home and I locked the door. We were so scared that we could not even to talk. To make things worse, my family were not in there.
"Did you see my parents?"
"No, why?"
"Because they are not here and if there would be a reason, I would not know it."
"What do you think could happen?"
"I have no idea."
Suddenly, I heard that a glass broken but we were in the hall and the glass were in the saloon.
"What happened?" I asked, scared.
"I do not know, something broke down."
"Yes, but how?"
"I do not know."
I unlocked the door. We ran as quickly as we could to my friends house because we believed we would be safer. As we ran these same ghosts surrounded us, take us into their hand to eat us.
"Just leave us, we will find food for all of you but just let us down."
They began to laugh. They dropped their masks and their costumes. These ghosts were our families. They participated in the scaring fest too. I was just unpredictable. I was shocked about one hour. It was really scary.
In the next fest, even when all our families will not participate in the fest we will scare them more than everyone else to tell what we felt. We will push the limits.



Level B2
TRICK OR TREAT?
by Panagiotis Psarris 
Once upon a time in a really spooky neighbourhood it was Halloween.
I was cruising around on my bicycle when suddenly i heard a noise from the passage right next to me. I took a quick peek but it was pitch black, so i walked in blinded. A couple minutes later i noticed that i had a flashlight so i turned it on and guess what I saw, i saw a shadow, a tiny shadow growing bigger. Then shaking like a leaf i keep on walking with my flashlight low on battery. Slowly a light was coming and a noise was coming so I got to the other side of the passage and I heard the noise next to me. I got sweaty and slowly turned my head, and i saw...A pumpkin with a puppy stuck in it. That calmed me down and I got all the stress away. I putted the puppy in my jacket and ran to the vet.
Now the puppy is my pet, and his name is Oscar.


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
by Apostolos Psarris
A rainy evening when I was just coming back from my english lessons a thuder suddenly struck the ground, that was the moment I was completely terrified but a folded paper landed right on my leg I unfolded it with curiosity and on it there was a house adress on it, I ran back home, slept and the morning I went to that specific adress:(x0127ae*, I know... weird. So I went to that adress and there was a sign with this template: under the mail-box. I was freaked out while entering the dark yard slowly and I took a sneaky peek under the mail-box, I saw a note it was writing something on it: out in the hole. I searched everywhere and found a hole above the mail-box when I put it inside the hole reptiles flew out imidiately, scorpions, spiders, snakes, lizards. I shouted for help but then I realised they were gummy candy! Well I guess it was my 'sweetest' scare!



Level B1
SPOOKY SUMMER CAMP
by Theodore Damagas
Do you want to scare the living daylights out of you, do you want some adventure, do you want to do something special, then come to Spoocy Sumer Camp. It's a very good place for children who want to learn special facts. The text below is an example for our camp.

1st September 2019.
It's morning, the sun is shining and nothing is scare. We are, now, climbing a mountain. Afternoon: I'm too tired! Evening: Something is making noise outside my tent. I'm to scared. Next, I looked and saw... a... a... a bear!
2nd September 2019.
Today, we are learning how to use guns! Then we are going for hunting in the forest. When we were walking a scary noise is hearing. Next, a green zombie came out of nowhere. All started shooting. Actually we killed it. From then we were have, all the time, the guns in hand.
3rd September 2019.
Now, we have been here in big wooden, haunted house. It is night. Everything in there does spooky noises. Then a vampire, a murderer and 5 zombies start to fighting us...

We found this page on the base camp. It came to us with the river. If you want to learn the end of the story, come to spoocy sumer camp!


THE HAUNTED HOTEL
by Konstantina Triantafillou
The story took place at a little town near Texas. In Brown 2 Street there was a 5 stars hotel that was the most popular in the area. But one day when one family went there creepy things happened...
Thomsons family (the family that went on the hotel) was included by mr. John, mrs Kathrin and their kids, Anna and Bill. After their trip they were very tired so they let their baggage and went at the mini cafe at the ground flour[floor] of the hotel. Anna and Bill wanted toplay so they went to their room. Suddenly there was a blackout and a scary voice said: "If you wanna stay alive live[leave] this place until tomorrow morning." After a while when the lights came up everyone thought it was a joke and laughed. But it wasn't...
When John and Kathrin arrived at their room they saw their kids choked and they saw a ghost holding a knife. The ghost killed them too. The receptionist heard screams and ran to the room and he saw the ghost. It was too late. It hanged him at the chandelier.
But did everyone die? Has anybody servived? Did the hotel close? Why this ghost killed the Thomsons? No one knows.
Maybe the ghost visit your house too!


UNTITLED
by Natalia Sophia
It was Halloween, at midnight. Mary and her friends had gone for pranks. They walked and saw a huge house. But this house has a vampire and Mary and her friends isn't know. They hit the door but nobody answer sudenly the door is open. The girls go insite the house. Sudeny they listen a a strange voice the girls want to go out but the door is closed and they don't up [open] it/ They find secret stairs and they follow it. Sudenly they lisen again the strange voice, on the floor had blood. On the wall its wrote with blood I KILL YOU. Mary it open her eyes and she saw her mother where she said: "Wake up it's time for school." She [Mary] understand that this is a nightmare.



Wednesday 5 October 2016

HINTS FOR (SPOOKY) SHORT STORY WRITING!

October = Hallowe'en

If you know me, you know that I love spooky stories!

What do you need to do to write a (spooky) short story?

Here are my hints and tips for short story writing.
  • Keep it simple! Don't have too many characters. Usually one or two are enough if you are writing up to 350 words.
  • Use adjectives and descriptive verbs (rather than a verb-adverb combination) to build atmosphere. He sprinted is much more exciting that He ran quickly.
  • Use direct speech to carry the story on and give your characters personality. The way someone speaks can tell you how educated they are, where they are from and what they think of the other characters. Compare these examples: "'Sup?" "What's up?" "How are you?" "How do you do?" Check out punctuation for direct speech.
  • Use a variety of linking words to carry the action forward or backward. And then... and then... and then... is dull and repetitive. First of all, secondly, previously, before that, then, later (on), all of a sudden, suddenly, until, (just) when, in the meantime, not until then, at that moment, only after that, as soos as, while, although, even though, so that, finally, in the end.
  • Stories are usually narrated (told) as if the action has happened in the past. Use a variety of tenses to help you do this. Past simple for completed actions, events that happen one after the other, or which interrupt a long action. Past continuous for longer actions or for things that happen simultaneously (at the same time), for setting the scene. Past perfect for an event in the deep past (before other actions in the past). Past perfect continuous for events that were happening before the past perfect action.
  • Use vocabulary appropriate to the theme. For spooky Hallowe'en vocabulary you can look at the following resources: Hallowe'en vocabulary word list, Hallowe'en vocabulary with definitions, My Hallowe'en vocabulary
  • A story has to have a beginning, a middle and an end. That is the reader needs to get to know the characters in the beginning, then she/he needs to experience the conflict (a difficult situation which is, or leads to the main event/action) and finally to feel the pleasure of the resolution (finding a solution to the problem) at the end. Use paragraphs to make these distinctions clear.) I also found a great story map to help you plan ideas. (It has a Minecraft theme, but your story can be about anything!)

Here are some spooky stories for you to read and listen to. Perhaps they will inspire you!
The Riddle of the Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe.

Here are a few of mine:
Jack be Nimble