In celebration of the publication of Discussions and More Second edition, we’re sharing ‘Alibi’. One of the many activities featured in the handbook, this helps teenage and adult learners practice past simple and past progressive tenses and question forms.
Outline
Two students construct an alibi for the time of an imaginary crime and are interrogated by the rest of the class.
| Level: Upper Intermediate–Advanced (B2–C1)
Age: Adolescent–Adult Time: 25 minutes Language focus: Past simple and past progressive tenses; question forms Preparation: None |
Procedure
1. Tell the class that a crime has been committed at a certain time and place: for example, that the local bank was robbed between 10 and 11 a.m. two days ago.
2. Choose two students to be the ‘suspects’, and tell them that they have to construct an alibi showing that they were together at another place at that time.
3. These two students go outside and start planning their alibi.
4. The rest of the class starts thinking of questions they might ask the suspects in order to break their alibi. For example: ‘What were you doing?’, ‘What did you talk about?’, ‘Who else did you see?’.
5. After two minutes, call one of the students back into the classroom for ‘interrogation’, leaving the other suspect outside.
6. After about two minutes of ‘interrogation’, the second student is called in and asked the same questions. The idea is for the ‘interrogators’ to find inconsistencies which would demonstrate that they are lying and therefore guilty of the crime!
Variations
For larger classes, put students into two groups. While the two students are outside, each group prepares its questions, which are noted down by a ‘secretary’. Both students are then called back into the classroom, and each is interviewed simultaneously by a different group. After five minutes, the students change over and are interviewed by the other group. Each group then presents its verdict: are they guilty or not guilty?
Follow the same procedure as in Variation 1, but use three suspects and three groups instead of two.
Tip!
Sometimes adults object to ‘playing games’ in the classroom, because they feel this is not serious learning. It may be worth spending a little time explaining that game-like tasks in oral fluency practice can provide an effective basis for serious language work and are not done just for fun.
Read our interview with Penny Ur here.