Games for Single Student Lessons - "20 Questions" Modified

In the classic version of "20 Questions", one person chooses a subject then tells the other person a broad category (animal, vegetable, mineral or other) into which the subjects falls. The "guesser" can ask up to 20 'yes' or 'no' questions in order to guess the subject the "chooser" has chosen.

For ESL students, particularly those of low to low-intermediate level, playing the game in this fashion is too difficult so it is necessary to modify it to narrow the scope of subject and to allow an unlimited number of questions to be asked. It's best to choose a topic in a very specific category of item such as:

• food (or specific food such as fruit, sweets, drinks, etc.)
  
• animals
• furniture
• clothes
• jobs
  

The first time you play the game, it's good to use "animals" as the category since it's easy for even the lowest level student to think of common animals (dogs, cats, birds, etc.). In future games, you can use other categories. Animals work well for the initial game to help the student learn how it is played.

The student should always choose an animal first and the teacher should ask questions so that the student may use the teacher's questions as a model for how to play the game. Once the teacher guesses the student's animal, the teacher chooses an animal and the student asks questions to help him guess the target animal.

By taking turns in this fashion, the student gets to practice both asking and answering questions. With higher level students, the teacher can have the student question her first as it is a greater challenge to ask questions when the vocabulary hasn't first been introduced by the teacher.

Explaining the game to the student:

The teacher should ask the student to think of an animal but not to tell her the name of the animal. Tell the student that the players can only ask questions which need a 'yes' or 'no" answer in this game. Ask the student simple questions requiring a 'yes' or 'no' answer to guess the animal he has chosen to demonstrate how the questioning is done.

If the student is a low level student, the teacher may want to write some basic questions on the white board or a piece of paper so the student may reference them when it is his turn to ask questions.

Here are some examples that work with an animal as the subject:

• Does this animal sometimes live inside our homes?
• Is it big/small?
• Is it dangerous?
• Is it always the same color?
• Does it have feathers/fur/scales?
• Is it noisy/quiet?
• Does it usually eat meat/plants?
• Is it fast/slow?
  

Purpose of the game:

The purpose of this game is to practice asking and answering simple questions as well as practice vocabulary related to the chosen subject.

Classroom use:

This game is good as a good way to review or reinforce a lesson on vocabulary related to a certain theme or simple question structure as well as a good warm-up or wrap-up.