Summarise and Shrink

Students write progressively shorter summaries: 50 words, then 25, then 12, then 6.

Procedure

1. Students read a text.
2. Write a 50-word summary.
3. Shrink it to 25 words — what can you cut?
4. Shrink to 12 words.
5. Shrink to 6 words. Compare final versions in pairs.

Tips

• Each cut forces a decision about what's truly essential.
• The 6-word version reveals whether students grasped the core message.