DISCOVER THE LIE

As promissed, I'm including a new classroom activity which can give food for thought.
I'm sure you can improve it and use it to motivate your students.
Hope it helps!

Discover the lie.

Organise students in groups of four or five. Give each student a card to fill in with personal information. (The kind of information will vary according to students’ level of proficiency). 

They will prepare a speech introducing themselves as the character they have constructed in their cards. They will include a piece of information which is not true and the other members of the group will have to discover which the lie is. Each member is allowed to ask one yes / no question to check their perceptions. The student who guesses will be the next to introduce his / her character.

You can give students some examples like:

I’m Martin. I’m 14 years old. I came alone to Canada 10 years ago. I’m a student at high school. I love skiing and playing video games. I’m filling in this form because I would like to participate in the W & T Programme.

Obviously, it is impossible for a 4-year-old boy to travel alone to another country. So the second piece of information is the lie.

I attach a template you can use with your students. In this case, there is an extra demand. Students have to add an image that represents them. This is a good opportunity to help them to develop creative thinking. They will have to decide which image is suitable and then, give reasons in front of their peers. They will express emotions. This will give the chance to work on issues such as stating individual points clearly, respecting others’ choices, and developing empathy.

The fact that students will be working on the basis of a character they will create will help them to avoid face-threatening situations. All issues can be addressed without spotting any special student.