level: Junior High
target_English: Question forms
Materials: A number of small items (e.g. rubbers, small plastic letters). Nothing sharp!
Time: Up to ten minutes - great for an end-of-class activity. Best played at a table.
1. If there are 6 students, place five of your small items in a line in the centre of the table, spaced out so that all students can reach at least one of them.
2. Explain the 'question of the day'. If you are studying past simple, for example, a question like "Did you (gerund) yesterday?" would be appropriate.
3. Choose a student to begin. They ask their neighbour the question of the day, inserting an infinitive (e.g. "Did you go shopping yesterday?").
4. If the response is "Yes, I did", nothing happens and the respondee then asks a different question using the same structure (e.g. "Did you eat pizza yesterday?") of the next student around the circle.
5. If the response is "No, I didn't", all students make a grab for the nearest small item. One student will miss out; you can either run a points table (player with the least points wins) or design a forfeit system. Sometimes it's fun to just 'grab and groan' to keep things moving along.
This is rowdy, and great fun. The only rule is "Don't break any fingers!" Your question of the day can include any tense, or be based on festive days (e.g. "Did you get a (...) for Christmas?") - as long as a yes/no question is used. Students go for the grab on a negative answer only (hence the title). Some groups will need the question and short answers on the board for reference, and you may need to throw around a few sample questions beforehand.
Enjoy!
by Ger
