The Lying Game!

Materials: pen, paper. Directions: First, you, the teacher, write down three things about yourself, two of which are lies. (For example: a) I have been to Japan b) I have eaten a snail c) I have ridden a horse.) Read them to the students, who then write down a, b, or c, to guess which statement is true. After everyone has guessed, reveal the true answer, and give each student who guessed correctly one point. (If no one guesses the correct answer, award the liar one or two points!) Then, everyone has 5 minutes or so to write down three things about themselves, of which two must be lies. Have the first student read his/hers, and have everyone guess which one is true, assigning points for correct guesses as before. Then go on to the next student, and proceed until everyone has read their three statements. Students tend to really enjoy this game. I usually buy a tea or give a prize to the student or students who have the most points at the end.

To make this game much more interesting, after the student has read the 3 sentences about him/herself, allow anyone to ask that person one question (or more, if you like). This way, the student must actually try to lie convincingly, and the game lives up to its name!

Three Dice
This is a great way to break up the monotony of classes. Great for all levels.

Materials: Three dice and a cup. Directions: Put the three dice in a cup and shake it up. When the dice settle, add the sum of the dice together (if the dice say 3, 5, and 1, then the sum is 9). Then, start with one student and go around the room. The students have to count, starting with "one," until one of the students says the "sum" of the dice. Each student can say one, two, or three numbers. (The first student might say "1, 2." The second student could say "3, 4, 5." The third student might say "6." The fourth student could then say "7, 8." The next student would say "9." This student loses, because 9 is the sum of the dice. By the way, this game only works if the students are unaware of the sum of the dice in the cup. It keeps them guessing and creates suspense. The student who says the "sum" of the dice must perform the task that you determine. I often use this game in the most mundane of ways: when we're doing our reading book or magazine, instead of just taking turns reading, I use this "game" to determine who the next reader will be. Or you can make the "loser" say a sentence with a vocabulary word, or ask a question, or review whatever aspect you are currently teaching. Always keep a cup and three dice on your desk, just in case.

Here are some suggestions to make it more interesting.

1. Answering the questions could be the punishment in games such as "Three Dice" (the student who guesses the sum of the three dice answers a question) 2. Instead of simply taking turns answering questions, you could read one question and then go around the room, having each student say ONE WORD until the question is answered (the final student says "period"). I sometimes start classes with this activity. 3. You can give each student a question, one at a time, but to ensure that they don't respond with "I don't know," or some other lazy variant, have his/her classmates rate the response on a scale from 1 - 10. If the average falls below 5, for example, the student gets a second question. (I did this in my class, and the quality of the answers magically improved.)

I've Never...
Materials: Brain, mouth. Directions: Students take turns trying to think of something that they have never done, but which everyone else has done. As a teacher in Taiwan, I often give the example of, "I've never spoken Chinese to my parents." because I am the only person in the class for which this statement is true. This is a great game to introduce after you teach the present perfect tense (I have gone..., I have eaten..., I have never been..., etc.) There are many ways to score this game: 1. Each person says an "I've never. . . ." statement, and whoever has never done that thing gets one point. (This encourages creativity while making the game easier and faster-moving.) 2. Each person says an "I've never. . . ." statement, and he/she receives one point (or candy or whatever) ONLY if he/she is the only person for whom this statement is true. (This is harder, as it can be really difficult for some of them to think of something that ONLY THEY have never done, especially if there are many students in the class.) 3. Think of your own way! I often use this as a class starter - I bring 10 pieces to chocolate to class, and whoever can name something that ONLY THEY have never done gets one piece. For more advanced classes, you can be a grammar stickler and only award points / chocolate if they say the correct past participle (for example, "I've never gone..." instead of "I've never go...").