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ESL forum >
Games, activities and teaching ideas > Find the Mystery Person (Game)
Find the Mystery Person (Game)
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frenchfrog
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Find the Mystery Person (Game)
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I have been playing a game with my students over the last month (to encourage them to speak...) and I would like to share the idea with you. I call it "Find the Mystery Person". We play it at the beginning of each lesson. It last no more than 5-10 minutes.
The objective of the game is to guess who the Mystery Person is. (Make sure you choose a celebrity everybody in the class will know. This celebrity can be dead or alive. This celebrity can be from your students� own country.)
1. First, I put some prompts on the board to help the weakest students. Then I place the Mystery Person with the question mark visible to the class on the board.
2. Two questions are forbidden: �Who is it?� and �What is his/her name?� Ask the students to stand up and tell them that they can sit down only if their questions are grammatically correct!! (Note: it worked well the first three / four lessons, then the students asked me if they could remain seated and play the game!!!) Those who help a schoolmate ask a question correctly can also sit down (see the prompts).
3. Ask for 5 questions minimum before hearing any suggestions about the identity of the Mystery Person. You can write the questions asked on the board. Write a few notes about the answers to the questions (ex: man, singer, Jamaican, �).
4. Once a student has found who the Mystery Person is (make sure the student says �I think I know who it is�, because it is sometimes difficult to identify the winner when several students have the answer), ask this student to introduce the Mystery Person and say why he/she is famous, using the notes you have written on the board (ex: This is Bob Marley. He was a Jamaican singer. etc.). Then ask this student his/her opinion about the Mystery Person. Feel free to ask any questions related to the Mystery Person and his/her domain (ex: Do you like reggae? Is reggae your favourite music style? What kind of music do you listen to? Who is your favourite singer? ...). Finally, ask the rest of the class their opinions on the Mystery Person.
5. Ask the student who found the Mystery person to bring a photo of a new Mystery Person for the next lesson. He / she must also bring a few notes about the Mystery Person in order to be able to answer his/her schoolmates� questions. (Make sure you have a list of celebrities in case your students forget to bring their Mystery Person.)
If you are interested, I can provide you with the material to start with! 
TRY IT, you will NOT be disappointed. You will have �real � conversations with your students and you will also learn about what they like! Your students will get INVOLVED!!
(Note for my French colleagues: the game is great for �PPC � and PPI � ) |
24 May 2009
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Mietz
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Hello back! What a fantastic entry! I �ll try it right away with my (unfortunately only) class that I �m teaching at the moment. I �m sure they �ll like that. :-)
Thanks for being and providing a treasure - again... :-) Hugs Mietz
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24 May 2009
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izabelbello
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Frenchfrog,
You �re simply FANTASTIC !!!!  I �m very interested in the material.
Thank you so much for your brilliant ideas !!  I �m SURE I won �t be disappointed.
Izabel |
24 May 2009
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Olindalima ( F )
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i am glad you are back. ( you were missing people, weren �t you ? )
This sounds quite interesting, I �d like to try it, it seems it can be done with different ages, so, why not. my school year is coming to its end ( I can �t believe, I am desperate for holidays ), so I have some free time I will try.
But, of course, I wouild like to have a look, could you email me, Froggy?
Thanks a lot, you are a super friend
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24 May 2009
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frenchfrog
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You can indeed make the rules a little bit more complicated by allowing YES / NO questions only (no WH- questions).
I think you could also make your students guess a famous place / monument / city or even a famous event. But it might be too difficult... I don �t know.
The thing is the students really get involved!
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24 May 2009
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libertybelle
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Hey you guys!
Great ideas! thanks for sharing them, sounds like fun!!
Happy Sunday
Hugs
L
ps - with my younger students - 3-4 graders I play a game called I am thinking of a person.
I walk around the class and look at what all the kids are wearing.
Then I go to the front of the class and say "I am thinking of a person in here".
Like Silke - they may only ask questions that I can answer yes or no to.
for ex. "Is it a girl" Is she wearing blue pants" etc.
They must ask me 10 questions before I say - Who knows who this person is?
It´s a bit easier for the smaller kids, but they love it.
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24 May 2009
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Victoria-Ladybug
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I love this idea too!
thanks for sharing it with all of us! |
24 May 2009
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wakebeauty
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I �ve pmed you frenchie and Silke...
by the way, what is PPC AND PPI? |
24 May 2009
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JulietaVL
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Great ideas! thanks for sharing... speaking is hard in the classroom, most of my students are very shy, I will follow your suggestions, thank you! |
24 May 2009
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HARIM
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Hi frenchfrog!
Thanks a lot for this interesting activity.We are very delighted to read your interesting posts again.
I use "the mystery person" activity both as a speaking and a writing activity to review physical appearance, clothes and colours with my students.Every Student has to write about another student without letting him/her know.Once they finish,they have to stand up in turns and read their paragraphs.As soon as the writer sits down, the one being described has to stand up.This is the skeleton of their paragraphs
"The mystery person is tall.....;......;..This person has got a small nose........;.....;..This person is wearing....;........;.."
Thanks again frenchfrog |
24 May 2009
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almaz
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Hi!�
Adapting old Victorian parlour games for our classroom activities never goes wrong. All it needs is a wee bit of imagination........ and occasionally a wee bit of work, of course.
All the best,
Alex |
24 May 2009
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