Suspects and Detectives

This activity is a game of “whodunit” or guessing who the “criminal” is based on information supplied by the students. Students get a lot of practice asking and answering questions to find out who the guilty party is.

Preparation

This activity can be done with the detectives and criminals changing seats for interviews or moving around class. Think of your class setup.

Procedure When to Use It

• To get students thinking critically and creatively • To get students to work together • To have students practice question formation in a communicative manner

Level

High beginning to Intermediate + (depending on concept used)

1. Tell half of the class that they are suspects and half of the class that they are detectives. 2. Have those students who are detectives remain facing the board; have the suspects turn their seats to face away from the board. 3. The suspects will write down what they were doing yesterday at four specific times. 4. Let them know that during one of those times they should write something they were doing alone. 5. They will also write down what they were wearing. 6. Then have the suspects close their eyes. 7. On the board, you will write what time the crime was committed and what the criminal was wearing. Only the detectives can see this information. 8. Then the detectives will interview some of the suspects and see if they can find anyone who was alone at the time of the crime and was wearing the same clothes as the criminal.

Skills Practice Preparation Time

1–5 minutes

Activity Time

7–15 minutes

Variation

To make this more challenging, you can work with one student to be “It” and be vague about the time and clothing.