A Tasteful Cliche

Engaging Language Kits by Brian McCabe

2010-01-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

A Tasteful Cliche is a new website by Brian McCabe, the author of AVKO's Engaging Language Kits. AVKO is a non-profit organization devoted to providing free and low-cost language arts materials for dyslexics, homeschoolers, and teachers. The Engaging Language Kits are designed to complement AVKO's Sequential Spelling program, and there is one kit per level of Sequential Spelling. The Kits have activities that correspond to the word families and words presented in the various levels, giving students a chance to use the words and retain them better, and have fun doing them. This is a much more fun and useful alternative to rote memorization, copying lines, or simply looking up and writing out definitions. There are also many activities to cater to the "right-brained" children and those who prefer more creative/visual modalities.

Learn more about Engaging Language Kits and AVKO

Engaging Language Kits 1-7 on Amazon.com

Buy Engaging Language Kits for only $12.95 each from Amazon.com

Creative Writing Prompt: Song Titles

2010-01-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

Get inspiration for a creative writing piece from song titles! There are some amazingly descriptive song titles that you can muse on and take in a completely different direction. These could be inspiration for poems, short stories, or even drawings/other art projects. Here are some examples of good, potential prompts:

Cowboys Don't Cry
Cry Wolf
Dark Horse
Devil or Angel
Dixie Chicken
Every Day is a Winding Road
Feelin' So Good
Friends in Low Places

For more titles, look up song lists like the following:

New Creative Writing Resource! Puppy Dog Tails

2010-01-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

Another creative writing prompt has been added to the A Tasteful Cliche e-book webstore on Scribd.com. For this prompt, students have to create a "recipe" for various occupations, using various characteristics, qualities, and personality traits in whatever ratios and quantities the student thinks is appropriate. They are creating their own recipe in the same way that, from the famous poem, boys are made of "snips, snails, and puppy dog tails."

This set of 118 worksheets is available for e-book download for only $2.99 from Scribd.com

Puppy Dog Tails Worksheets

Visit A Tasteful Cliche | Browse ATC's e-book store on Scribd.com

New Creative Writing Resource! Dull Product Advertisement

2010-01-06T20:47:00.000-08:00

Another new set of creative writing prompt worksheets has been added to the A Tasteful Cliche e-book webstore on Scribd.com! This set of 100 worksheets is a writing and an art exercise. For this exercise, the students have to create an advertisement for a rather dull product (e.g., light bulbs or paper clips), including some innovative uses, a picture of their ad copy, or create a video commercial for the product. This is a great exercise for those students who are creative but express themselves better through more artistic means.

This set of 100 worksheets is available for e-book download for only $2.99 from Scribd.com

Dull Product Advertisement Worksheets

Visit A Tasteful Cliche | Browse ATC's e-book store on Scribd.com

New Creative Writing Resource! What Am I Doing Here?

2010-01-06T19:59:00.000-08:00

Here's another great creative writing exercise that will allow your students to think outside of the box and create a story that will entertain themselves and you! For this exercise, the students are given two pieces of information: a character and a setting; their task is to create a story incorporating both of those elements. Some wacky prompts are included, included fantastical settings and characters, characters from history, etc.

This set of 120 worksheets is available for e-book download for only $2.99 from Scribd.com

Character and Setting Writing Prompts

Visit A Tasteful Cliche | Browse ATC's e-book store on Scribd.com

New Creative Writing Resource! Alien Observer

2010-01-06T19:51:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite resources to provide are those that get people to write, and to write creatively! Here, I have created a set of worksheets, each worksheet containing a creative writing prompt (100 in all). With each worksheet, the student writes a journal entry from the perspective of an alien observer reporting back to his alien comrades on the topic of something that takes place here on Earth. Your students will have lots of fun with this exercise that will get them thinking outside the box and outside of their own skin.

This set of 100 worksheets is available for e-book download for only $2.99 from Scribd.com

Alien Observer Worksheets

Visit A Tasteful Cliche | Browse ATC's e-book store on Scribd.com

New Website and Blog for Creative Writing and English Help

2010-01-06T19:47:00.001-08:00

I have created a new website and blog to provide homeschoolers, teachers, and students of English alike with resources for creative writing, improving their English skills and fluency, and to let people in general have more fun with the English language. I have named the website "A Tasteful Cliche" because I want to provide clean and fun resources that deal with all aspects of English fluency, which includes cliches, proverbs, homonyms, heteronyms, other tricky words, quotes, and lots and lots of creative writing prompts to get people using the language.

Visit the website now!