Guilty - Fun Classroom Conversation Game

"Guilty" is a fun classroom game which encourages students to communicate using past tenses. The game can be played by all levels and can be monitored for varying degrees of accuracy. The game gets students interested in detail which helps to refine students' questioning abilities. "Guilty" can be used as an integrated game during lessons focusing on past forms, or just to have fun while communicating.

• Aim: Communicating with Past Forms
• Activity: Question and Answer Game
• Level: All Levels

Outline

• Start by describing a crime which happened last night. Each student pair will be interrogated by the rest of the class and will create alibis to prove they are innocent.
• Have students get into pairs.
• Have the students develop their alibis for where they were when the crime was committed. Encourage them to go into as much detail as possible when discussing their alibis.
• Go around the classroom getting an alibi statement from each group (e.g. We were away for a weekend trip to the countryside).
• Write the individual alibis on the board.
• Once each group has developed their alibis, ask them to write down 3 questions about the other alibis on the board.
• To begin the game, ask one student from the beginning pair to leave the room. The other students ask the first student the questions.
• Ask the other student to return to the classroom and have the students ask the same questions. Take note of how many differences there were in the students' responses.
• Repeat the same with each student pair.
• The "guilty" pair is the pair with the most discrepancies in their story.

For more information on teaching past tenses, here are some how-to guides:

• How to Teach Past Simple
• How to Teach Past Continuous
• How to Teach Past Perfect Continuous
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