Article, games and worksheet- Q&A Games

Q&A Games When I was asked to give a teacher’s workshop on the topic of EFL Games I didn’t really know where to start. You only have to see how many of the books in the teachers’ room have games in them to be overwhelmed. The same was true whenever I wanted to find a game to practice a particular point, especially for more ‘obscure’ and ‘marginal’ points not related to verb forms- you can spend hours flicking through books looking. Luckily, my workshop didn’t have to have the title ‘Some random games I like and I hope you like too’ because as I looked at my favourite games most of them had something in common- the simple interaction of asking and answering questions. As I compiled the games into different types of ‘Q&A games’ more and more variations sprung to mind. While I still like to flick through books looking for something new, I now have the ultimate back-up plan- a few categories of Q&A games that always work and are adaptable to literally everything. They have also provided me with answers to the majority of the difficult questions teachers ask me, such as ‘How do I make a beginners class fun and communicative?’

Q and A Games Part One

Lying Games

There are only so many times a student can say ‘I’ve been to America’ until everyone in class already knows and saying it ceases to be real communication. The best solution is, of course, lying!

1. Only in my dreams

Description: Some students answer questions about a real experience, whilst others improvise a made up story. The students asking the questions must guess if each story is true or false.

Organisation: groups of 3 or 4

Time: 15-20 mins

Materials and preparation: 1 role card per student (see Worksheet)

Procedure: (examples given are for the photocopiable worksheet- My last holiday)

Choose a very unusual holiday, real or imaginary, and write it on the board- e.g. ‘My last holiday: I went big game hunting in Africa’. Tell students they can ask you 10 questions about it. If they need prompting, write question words up and elicit one question for each.

Answer all 10 questions, then ask them if they think you are telling the truth . Tell them whether you are.

Give out one role card per student. Give time for students to remember their real holiday/ picture their imaginary ones.

Divide the class into groups and nominate a person in each group to be questioned first. After 10 questions, the other students guess whether the story was true.

Feedback as a class about what the most interesting real holiday was.

This game can also be used for:

Present Simple (I always drink goat’s milk), Present Cont/ Family and friends (My father is flying to NY as we speak), Present Perfect Cont (I’ve been learning French since I was two), the Arts (I’ve seen all of Shakespeare’s plays), Education, Hobbies, Abilities

2. 40% Lies

Description: Students try to work out which 2 of 5 statements are not true by asking questions

Organisation: groups of 3 or 4

Time: 20-30 mins

Materials and preparation: you will need to prepare 5 statements about yourself, 3 true and 2 false

Procedure: (examples given are for ‘Families’)

Put your 5 statements up on the board, e.g.

My sister has twins

I have 5 sisters

If I’d been a girl, I would’ve been called Gaby

My family never had any pets

I don’t want children

Ask students how many they think are false. Tell them there are two. Tell them they have to work out which by asking you questions and watching your reaction (sweaty palms etc.) and seeing whether your story ties together (e.g. forgetting the names of your 5 sisters)

Let them ask questions until they have decided which ones they believe. Ask each student which 2 they think are false. Tell them the real answer.

Discuss why they decided on the ones they did and why they were/ weren’t fooled.

Ask students to write down similar statements for themselves - 3 true and 2 false.

Divide them into groups and repeat as above.

Variation: For a class with no imagination, you can prepare the 2 false ones for each student.

Extension: Students tell the class what they learnt about each other

Can also be used for:

all the points in ‘Only in my dreams’ above

3. The student that couldn’t say ‘No’

Description: Students answer ‘Yes’ to all the questions they are asked. The other students ask 3 more questions to work out if they are lying.

Organisation: groups of 3 or 4

Time: 20-30 mins

Materials and preparation: 1 pack of cards per group

Procedure: (all the examples given are for the photocopiable worksheet- Present Perfect)

Take one of the cards (e.g. seen) and write the word on the board. Brainstorm yes/ no questions using this word (e.g. Have you ever seen a dolphin?)

Choose the most unusual question. A student asks you the question and you answer ‘Yes, I have’, whether it is true or not.

Ask students whether they believe you. They can ask you 3 more questions to find out whether they believe you or not (by spotting your facial ticks etc).

If students need prompting, brainstorm addiotnal questions onto the board (e.g. Where did you see Big Foot?) and let students choose three.

Ask students whether they believe you, and tell them the truth

Split the class into groups and give a pack of cards to each.

One student takes a card and shows it to the group. The other students ask them one yes/ no question. They must reply ‘Yes’. The other students ask 3 additional questions and guess whether that person was lying. If no-one guessed whether they were lying, they keep the card and score one point.

The next person takes a card and the game continues.

Stop the game when one group has finished their cards.

Can also be used for:

Possessions (Have you got a car?), Simple Past (Yesterday, did you watch the film on Channel 3?), medical vocab (Have you ever broken your leg?), house and home vocab (Do you have a Jacuzzi in your bathroom?), phrasal verbs (Do you generally put things off as long as you can?), love vocab, personality vocab (Did you do anything generous last week?), music, second conditionals, modals of obligation and permission (Could you leave your food if you didn’t like it when you were a child?), adverbs (Do you always walk quickly?), do and make, passives (Have you ever been mugged?), relative clauses (Do you have something that massages you while you watch the TV?), opinions

Photocopiable Worksheet 1

My last holiday ‘Only in my dreams’

Photocopiable Worksheet 2

‘The Student That Couldn’t Say No’ Question prompt cards

This article was originally published in English Teaching Professional magazine
Reprinted with permission of Keyways Publishing
© Alex Case/ Keyways Publishing