This fun activity uses a crime scenario to practice vocabulary, reported speech and past tenses.Guy Brook-Hart

Were you really at the theater?

Time: 30 minutes

Before class

Photocopy the Suspects and Detectives cards on the right and cut them down.

In class

1. Divide the students into pairs or groups of three.

2. Tell students to imagine the following scenario.

Yesterday evening somebody broke into the school or college where they study and a large amount of money was stolen.

Half the groups in the class are suspects of the crime. They have to invent a story to prove that they are innocent.

The other groups are detectives investigating the crime. They have to ask the suspects questions to find out if their stories are the same. If their stories are the same, they’re probably innocent. If not, they’re guilty.

The suspects’ story is that they went to the theater together last night.

3. Hand the “suspects” their cards and ask them to invent the details of what they did and what they saw. Tell them not to write anything down. Give them four or five minutes to discuss their story.

4. Tell the “detectives” that they must ask questions to find out if the suspects’ stories are the same. Hand them their cards and ask them to think of questions using the prompts.

5. Suspects and detectives should work apart.

6. When everyone is ready, ask each group of detectives to interview their suspects in turn. Tell the detectives that they needn’t just ask the questions they have thought of — they can invent other questions as well.

7. When the groups have finished, they should decide if they think the suspects are guilty or innocent, and report their verdict to the whole class. When they report their verdict, encourage them to use reported speech to do so.

Suspects

You are going to be interviewed by detectives about a crime which happened yesterday evening. Your story is that you spend the evening together at the theater.

1. Invent details about the following things

Name of theater and name of play

Where you met

Type of play and some of the plot

What you did before going to the theater

What you talked about in the interval

Leading actors — names and roles

What you did after going to the theater

Which actor gave the best performance

What you and the others thought of the play

Number of people in the audience

2. Invent details about other things you think the detectives might ask.

3. Take turns to be interviewed by the detectives.

Detectives

You are going to interview each suspect in the group in turn. If the suspects’ stories are the same, they’re probably innocent. If their stories are different, they might be guilty.

1. Think of questions about each of the points below and other questions you can ask.

Name of theater and name of play

Type of play and plot

Leading actors — names and roles

Which actor gave the best performance and which actor gave the worst performance

Number of people in the audience

What the other suspects thought of the play

Who each of the suspects sat next to and which part of the theater they sat in

What they did before and after the play

What they did and what they talked about during the interval

The last scene of the play

2. Interview each of the suspects in turn. *

3. Decide if the suspects are innocent or guilty and report your decision to the rest of the class.

* When you interview the suspects, you can ask extra questions. For example, “X said you were sitting in the front row, but you say you were sitting in the middle. Who is telling the truth?”