Can anyone recommend any good games or activities that let students practice expressing differing degrees of certainty about a given topic?
Im hoping to help intermediate students use hedging devices and mitigation. Any help would be greatfully appreciated.
Speculation Games...
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Hi
If you want them to speculate about the past, I've found that riddles of some sort are good for relatively controlled practice. The ones below are pretty much lifted straight of a great little book called Keep Talking. I used them on posters around the wall and in groups, student had to write a different possible explanation for each sitaution. It worked for me; be prepared for a lot of groaning when you give the answers.
1.He had been a hostage for years. his wife watched him leaving the plane and called out his name excitedly. He didn’t respond. Why not?
A: She had seen the release on TV
2. It was late at night. ‘I love you, he said, kissing her. ‘I love you too, darling’, she replied. Suddenly, her husband walked in. What happened next?
A: He kissed him too- it was their son.
3. A man was injected with deadly poison but it didn’t kill him. Why not?
A: He was dead already.
4. “I’ll marry you,’ she said. But I knew she wouldn’t. How?
A: It was a movie I had seen before
5. Everyone around him knew who he was, but nobody knew his name. Why not?
He was a newborn baby; he hadn't been named yet.
6. ‘Go away!’ he said. This made her very happy. Why?
A: He had just woken up from a coma.
7. She gave me an injection and took some blood, but I knew the results would be bad. How?
A: She was a mosquito.
If you want them to speculate about the present, you could try a problem page/empathising exercise where they have to make excuses for a person's behaviour: He might be shy, They might not know what you want etc.
Hope this helps
If you want them to speculate about the past, I've found that riddles of some sort are good for relatively controlled practice. The ones below are pretty much lifted straight of a great little book called Keep Talking. I used them on posters around the wall and in groups, student had to write a different possible explanation for each sitaution. It worked for me; be prepared for a lot of groaning when you give the answers.
1.He had been a hostage for years. his wife watched him leaving the plane and called out his name excitedly. He didn’t respond. Why not?
A: She had seen the release on TV
2. It was late at night. ‘I love you, he said, kissing her. ‘I love you too, darling’, she replied. Suddenly, her husband walked in. What happened next?
A: He kissed him too- it was their son.
3. A man was injected with deadly poison but it didn’t kill him. Why not?
A: He was dead already.
4. “I’ll marry you,’ she said. But I knew she wouldn’t. How?
A: It was a movie I had seen before
5. Everyone around him knew who he was, but nobody knew his name. Why not?
He was a newborn baby; he hadn't been named yet.
6. ‘Go away!’ he said. This made her very happy. Why?
A: He had just woken up from a coma.
7. She gave me an injection and took some blood, but I knew the results would be bad. How?
A: She was a mosquito.
If you want them to speculate about the present, you could try a problem page/empathising exercise where they have to make excuses for a person's behaviour: He might be shy, They might not know what you want etc.
Hope this helps
Nice idea Joanne. I've copied it and will do a quick ten minute exercise with one of my groups tonight. As for Pudding's suggestion I have actually done something that isn't exactly Cluedo but it does tend to liven up the teenagers. It's also good for pronunciation and comprehension practice. If you're any good at drawing, draw a dead body in a room (try not to make it too detailed) with certain clues such as money on the table, broken glass outside rather than inside, forced door, two glasses, cigarettes in the ashtray etc. Also write up a short summary of suspect interviews (about a paragraph each) and make sure one of them makes a mistake. For example, they could mention something such as Sydney being the Capital of Australia or that they went to see Elvis play at wembly stadium in 1972 (Elvis never visited the UK, only passed through) and other things. They then have to name their suspects and say why they think they are the killers (the mistake) but also speculate as to why they think they did it. Well, it always works for me 