Alibis game - bank robbery story with narrative tenses

Instructions

(1) Pairs - past question forms
Students read gapped text (A or B) and prepare questions from prompts to find missing information
They then ask a partner who has read the other text.

(2) Individual / paris - past question forms
Dialogue with detective questioning suspect. Students make questions from given answers.

(3) Pairs / whole class
Tell students that they are suspects in the bank robbery story.
Give them 10-15 minutes to prepare a story accounting for their movements at the time of the robbery with a partner. Emphasize that the students are each other's alibi - they will stay they were together at the time of the robbery.

(4) Whole class
Each pair is questioned by the rest of the class.
One of the pair leaves the room while the class questions the remaining student. They then change places and the student who was outside comes in to be questioned by the class while the first student leaves the room.
If their stories are the same, they are innocent; if there are any differences, they are guilty.

Tips
Set a time limit for each interrogation - about 2-3 minutes.
Prompt students as to the kind of the questions they can ask - refer to the dialogue completed earlier.

Concept check instructions carefully - this is a complex activity - especially for lower levels.