Murder in Gorky Park - a mystery in the Past Simple

My 9-11 year olds have been learning the Past Simple and have become so expert in the past forms that we are now beginning to hear things like, "Did you went...?", "What did you ate...?", so I decided it was time to focus less on the verb form and more on the question form. This activity is based on six students but is adaptable for more, and requires a role card for each student and a table in which to collect their findings.

Lead-in: I asked, "What did you do at the weekend?" We had a brief discussion. Then I announced that there had been a murder at the weekend in Gorky Park. "Ooooh!" "And you were all in Gorky Park at the weekend, so the murderer is one of you!" (Lots of giggles)

Grammar Focus: I told the students that they were going to interview each other to find out who had been where at the time of the murder. Because I wanted to focus on the question forms, I had the students complete questions with the correct verb forms, eg. What time .... you ........ (arrive)? Just in case, we verbally drilled the answer form too.

Task: Each student had a role card with information about the time they arrived and left the park, the colour of their cap and shorts, what they took with them and where they were exactly in the park. Nowhere on the cards did it say who the murderer was. They asked each student the same questions and filled the information in to a table.

Conclusion: When all students had a completed table, I asked them to look at their information and compare it with the police's description of the murderers. To make it more interesting for the students, I had two murderers. I then read out that the murderer had been wearing a red cap and blue shorts, had been standing by the fountain etc. Following the facts they had collected, the students were able to work out who the murderers were.

As the students were mingling, they initially relied on the pre-prepared questions, but with time they started asking the questions freely (and correctly). The whole activity took about 25 minutes and provided a fun drill alternative. Since this class, the kids have repeatedly asked me if they could play 'The Murder Game' again. The task is adaptable for different grammar points and topics. We have since played: Who will win the lottery? (Future Simple) and Who is hiding the Leprechaun? (St. Patrik's Day)

Fun with Adults?

"I never play games with adults. They just don't like it."

That's what I heard yesterday at a training session on how to make Grammar more appealing. I almost fell off my chair. I couldn't help raising my eyebrows at a colleague, who made a face to show that she was thinking the same as me, but what surprised me even more was when the teacher trainer agreed with the speaker. Yes, she said, adults don't really like games, they work much better with teenagers. And walking out of the session, the other participants also mentioned that games only work occasionally with adults and only 'if you have a good group'.

I feel so strongly that I just have to express myself on this.

Maybe I have always had very immature, trivial adults, and maybe my teens have always been very stuck-up, serious students who think that enjoying a joke is beneath them, but my experience has been completely the opposite. In fact, sometimes teenagers really do think that a teacher who wants to play is actually patronising them. They want to show that they are growing up, that they are adults already (even if they're not).

I think we all go through these phases. As children, of course we love to play. As we grow up, we worry about what other people think about us and so joking in the classroom seems infantile and we want to prove that we are beyond that. But once we become confident adults, we can relax and enjoy a laugh with our peers again. And teachers need to remember these stages in order to choose the best actvities for the lesson.

I believe in ending a class on a high note, so most of my lessons finish with a game of some sort. I have run 6-week intensive Grammar revision courses where the classroom activities were almost exclusively games and role play. And I know that these lessons were successful because students immediately signed up for more. So what could have made my colleague's students react so badly to playing a game?


1) No explanation of why students were playing games.

Students ultimately have faith in their teacher, they trust that the teacher knows what he is doing and why, but they can sometimes be surprised by the tasks we ask them to carry out. Nonetheless, I really believe that students will do anything a teacher asks if it is presented in the right way and if its purpose is explained. I think that teenagers and adults are able to understand a certain amount of pedagogy and if they ask why we are doing a particular exercise, we can tell them exactly how it will benefit them. The same goes for games.  Just as we never ask them to listen or read without a purpose, explain what they will be practising before you start, and there will be no resistence to your plan.

2) Games for the sake of games.

Perhaps a teacher has been told that his lesson is too dry, or too book-oriented. Perhaps he was told that a private language school has to offer 'fun' lessons to contrast with state education. Perhaps he heard of some great game at a training session and decided to use it no matter what in his lesson that night, regardless of topic or lesson aims.

A game has to have a reason; it has to practice some language point. Students are not stupid. They know exactly when they are just being asked to do something to fill time.

3) The teacher wasn't confident enough with having fun.

Maybe the teacher chose the game too fast and wasn't sure of its effectiveness. Maybe he was new to the group and felt less comfortable in their midst than the students did. Maybe he likes complete control and can't cope with the spontanaeity that is innate in many games.

Whatever game you choose, you have to know exactly why you're doing it and for how long you should play before it loses its effectiveness. But also, put yourself in their position. After a long day at the office, wouldn't you like a little bit of fun?

4) The wrong game at the wrong time.

If you teach young learners, you know that activities can be stirrers or settlers, and if you teach Russians, you know that they absolutely hate to change chairs. Perhaps the students had just been slaving over some complex point after a very tough day at work, and now the teacher was asking them to complete some very complicated logic task. Perhaps they'd been asked to make a fool of themselves in front of students they'd only just met. of course there would be reluctance and a lack of enthusiasm.



I keep thinking about those poor adult students who never have any fun in class because the teacher made the wrong choice one time and has used it to form his principles on teaching. We are all capable of choosing the wrong game, but we mustn't give up at the first sign of resistance. A student who has fun while learning is a motivated student and will keep on coming back for more!