Hi Esther,
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What I make my students do in such a case is :
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step 1 : underline the main words in what is asked to do
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step 2 :write as many words they can think of (in their mother tongue if they do not know them in English in order to find synonyms or equivalent expressions) linked to the subject as possible. It does not matter if there are verbs, nouns or adjectives. They are ideas to be used or not but it is like a "skeleton" is some way.They will "build" the sentences of their text with the words they have chosen adding some new or cancelling some. These words are like a thread.
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step 3 : write the beginning AND the end of their text. This makes them clarify and improve the coherence of their ideas.
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Make them temember that they must answer to the wh- questions : WHO ? WHEN ? WHERE ? WHY ? HOW ?
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Then they must remember the 5 steps for a story :
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1) Initial situation
2) What or who caused the problem
3) The consequences of the change
4) The solutions found by the character(s)
5) Final situation
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If you work in class you can try to work with them : send a student to the blackboard and try with the whole class. Some kind of brainstorming. It is not a student but the whole students to gather their ideas and write a text. You may even put it on internet to encourage their creativity. Why not ? It works !
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Here are some way to help them. I hope this may be useful for you.
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Maryse.
