Games: Alibi for Murder

I am a teacher in Beijing, and my students aren't always the most creative.
Games often flop, but this is a game I heard about from a fellow ESL teacher
in Nanjing.

Materials:
none, but students and a teacher.

Prep time:
none

Time:
50 min. per game, my students liked it so much, they wanted to play twice!

Write the word "Alibi" on the board and explain what it means.

Invent a crime, when it was committed and where. I picked a bank robbery
at a real bank, close to the university where I teach. Then I said that
four university students where suspects of the bank robbery.

Next, divide the class into groups, my class has 20 students, so I divided
the class in to 5 groups of four. Say something like, and the four suspects
are members of this class. Ask one group to volunteer to be the suspects.
Tell them their alibi, they couldn't have committed the robbery because
they were eatting dinner in a resturant far away from the crime scene.
The students who aren't suspects, the investigators, must try to find holes in their alibi.
They way they do this is by interviewing each of the suspects separately and then comparing the stories to see
if they match. So, send the suspects out of the room to try to get their stories straight.
While the suspects are talking about the details of their stories, the investigators in each group
come up with a list of questions about the "suspects" alibi.
They can ask things like, "what was the waitress wearing, how long did you stay, how did you get there?"
After the students are finished preparing invite the suspects back in, one suspect goes to each of the
groups to be interviewed. Once each group has interviewed each suspect, compare with the class.
If they suspect's stories match, they are off the hook, if not, they are officially accused.

My students enjoyed this, you could make the crime less serious, kidnapping a neigbor's dog or something.

As an extension, you could also hold a trial in class. In China, capital punishment is widely accepted, so perhaps
make the crime less serious so you don't have to execute one of your students. My students liked the gore.

Alexis
Beijing, China