School for butlers

Explain that using past tense in an offer makes it formal and polite. Tell the students they are trainee butlers and that they should change your sentences into past tense, replacing you with Sir/Madam, using appropriate intonation (slow and dignified), and body language (arms at the side, perhaps a bow).

T. Do you want anything else?

Ss. Did Sir/Madam want anything else?

T. What time do you want lunch?

Ss. What time did Sir/Madam want lunch?

T. Are you ready to have tea now?

Ss. Was Sir/Madam ready to have tea now?

Courtroom questions

In pairs, students roleplay a lawyer and a witness in court. The lawyer gives a picture for the witness to look at for a very short time, just a few seconds, and then takes it back and then questions the other student. Example:

Lawyer: How many people were there?

Witness: (hesitant) err... three?

Lawyer: Are you certain/sure/positive there were three people?

Witness: ...err not certain, no

Lawyer: What was the weather like?

Witness: (confident) Sunny

The lawyer asks a direct question first, and, if he hears any uncertainty in the answer, follows up with an indirect question to find out whether the witness is really sure. Of course, the witness must guess if not sure.

Logic puzzles

Solving the following logic puzzles depends on understanding the meanings of verb tenses. The focus is especially on the perfect tenses.

The book is 240 pages long and I am half way through. I read twenty pages a day. How long have I been reading? Answer 6 days

I have been reading a book for 3 days. On Monday I read  6  pages,  on Tuesday, 14  pages, on Wednesday, 25 pages. I am half way through the book and I am planning to finish the book tomorrow because I have to give it back. How many pages will I read tomorrow? How many pages will I have read in total? Answers 45, 90

I finished a 250  page book last night. Yesterday I read 100 pages because it became very exciting. Before then, I had been reading the book rather slowly  for ten days. How many pages had I read every day, on average, during that time? Answer 15.

For a follow up, ask the students to write their own simple puzzles for each other.

The determiners game

Write the following on the board: everyone, nearly everyone, most people, many people, some people, not many people, a few people, very few people, noone. Read sentences such as:  _____ think football is boring, ____ can drive, _____ have got a TV, _____  live in a hole in the ground, ____ would like to be rich, ______ want to get married, ____ can sing very well, _______ live to be 100, _________ earn 1 m dollars, _____ have been into space, ____ believe in ghosts, _______ have played roulette.

Ask students to write the words that they think best fills the blank for each sentence. The most suitable answer is likely to be the one chosen by most students. Eliminate people who have different answers from the majority each round until only two or three are left.