I think everyone at least vaguey knows this game. My students generally love it.
Works well with a class of about 6-10. Explain the concept (generally takes a while for them to understand what the heck you're supposed to be doing), read out the situation as a class, make sure they understand and then ask for volunteers to be the suspects. Split them into two groups and put them at opposite ends of the room - they're pretty competitive. Get the two/three/four suspects to come up with their cover story whist the other groups of investigators brainstorm questions. Just before the interview part of the lesson, get the investigators to each pick one or two questions (depending on the size of the group and the amount of time you have) to ask each suspect. During the questioning, you need to get the suspects to leave the room and come in as they are called for their turn.
ALIBI
CRIME: We are in America , in New York City. World Bank, the biggest bank in America, has been robbed, and 5 million US dollars have been stolen.
SUSPECTS: Three people have been accused of the robbery – two men and one woman.
WHEN: Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 10 pm
ALIBI: The three suspects claim that they were together at the time of the robbery, eating dinner in a restaurant on 32nd street.
CHARACTERS: three suspects, investigators
GOAL: Interview the three suspects separately to compare their stories. If their stories match, we will say that they are not guilty. If their stories are different, we will assume that they are guilty.
Give this list to each group to work from - if it is a lower level class, tell them that they have to stick to what is written on the sheet - otherwise the invesigators come up with tricky questions and you find that the suspects are always guilty... Higher level students are able to both think of more difficult questions and also find a way to answer them.
ALIBI
Possible questions to ask the suspects :
- The restaurant – name, description
- What they ate
o Individually
o Dessert
- Time of arrival/departure
- The waiter/waitress – e.g. what he/she was wearing
- What they were doing before/after
- Transport
- Why they chose this restaurant
- Had they been to this place before
- ………………..