ENG482/582
Dr. Peterson
Young Koo Han
Mad Libs for the Classroom
Colleen Tujie
I. INTRODUCTION
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A Mad Lib, a play on ad-lib, which is spontaneously improvised speech, is a type of word puzzle that
ESL teachers at any level can use, with modification, for the particular goals of the classroom.
A collection of cloze-style prose pieces that students can complete with particular word classes (e.g.,
nouns, verbs, adjectives), then read aloud with the inserted words (inserted words are elicited through
a request for a random part of speech, the final, integrated cloze passages are often entertaining
because the word selections are made blindly and, therefore, may not be possible in English.
The effectiveness of Mad Libs and their use in classroom instruction is threefold:
1. they may be altered to request only parts of speech currently being addressed in classroom
instruction(A part of speech (also word class) is any of the grammatical groups into
which words are divided depending on their use. 'Verb', 'noun' and 'adjective' are
examples of parts of speech. (From Cambridge International Dictionary of English)
2. The prose will not work without appropriate parts of speech supplied.
3. They offer effectively entertaining vocabulary practice.
II. PROCEDURE
1. Before Class
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For each group of 4-5 students, select a Mad Lib prose passage from one of the many websites
available
After selecting an appropriate passage, type the text double-spaced on a worksheet with numbered
blanks where the requested words should be inserted. Make sure to indicate the group number and the
Mad Lib title on the passage so that the appropriate blanks can later be coordinated with the
appropriate cloze passage. On another worksheet, indicate the group number and prepare a numbered
list that the students must fill in with the requested word types.
Incorporating the numbered blanks into the prose is the trickiest part of editing Mad Libs for
education use. Great care must be taken to specify the type of word requested (i.e., liquid, part of the
body) so that the passage, in its final form, will make grammatical sense.
animal: monkey
adjective: tall
color: green
singular noun: book
food: milk
plant (plural): flowers
singular noun: car
verb ending with –ing: sleeping
noise: sheeeeeek
exclamation: uh-oh
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This year our class is doing a special science project.
We have a monkey that we are taking care of. It is very
tall, and it has green eyes. It lives in a book in the back
of our classroom. We feed it milk and flowers every
day, but I think it really wants to eat my car. Everyone
likes our monkey.
One day the monkey got out of its cage and started
sleeping all around the room. It made a loud Sheeeeeek.
I think it was trying to say, "uh-oh!"
2. In Class
After selecting the Mad Lib prose passages, divide the students into as many groups as you
have passages. Give each group the word list worksheet with their set of blank and have the
members of each group work together to choose a different word for each blank, according to
the instructions.
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Remind the students that the more variety in their word choices, the funnier the activity will
be. Allow 5-10 minutes for this part of the exercise.
 After students have filled in the blanks on their word lists, give the appropriate cloze
passages to each group and instruct the students to fill in the blanks of the prose with the
words they have selected on their word lists. Once the words are fit into the prose, students
can self-correct the passage to make grammatical sense
 At this time, the students or instructor may read the completed prose aloud. Orally presenting
their Mad Libs is rewarding to students because the passages they read are often very
entertaining for their classmates. The students who participated in my class had a hard time
reading their Mad Libs aloud without laughing, and they left this class with smiles on their
faces.
III. VARIATION
This exercises may be adapted to any age group, classroom subject, and group size (i.e.,
individual, pair, or whole class work)
IV. CONCLUSION
Mad Libs can provide an enjoyable and effective summary to a lesson, particularly in cases
where the teacher wants to encourage self-correction. The exercises also provides ESL
students, who may find humor in English difficult to express, the opportunity to write
something entertaining.
V. REFERENCE
Price, R., & Stern, L. (1988). The original #1 mad libs. New York: Penguin Putnam Books for
Young Readers.
Suggested Mad Lib Web Sites
- www.eduplace.com/tales Wacky Web Tales (for grade 3 and above)
- www.oceancat.com/madlibs (Monique’s Mad Libs)
- www.madlibs.org
- www.elibs.com
- http://rinkworks.com/crazylibs
- http://www.mit.edu/storyfun