Animal Game

 Animal Game

This is a version of the popular classroom game Twenty Questions. In Twenty Questions, the students have twenty yes/no questions to use up in order to guess what thing the teacher is thinking of. The teacher can only say, “Yes”, “No”, “Sometimes”, or “I don’t know”.

For example:

Is it big? – No.

Is there one in this room? – No.

Can you find it in a house? – Yes.

Can you find it in the bathroom? – Sometimes.

Is it soft? – No.

Is it hard? – Yes.

Does it have something in it? – Sometimes.

Can you pick it up? – Yes.

Is it useful? – Yes.

Do you use it every day? – Yes.

Can you break it? – Yes.

Is it dangerous? – No.

Is it hot? – Sometimes.

Is it cold? – Sometimes.

Do you have one? – Yes.

Do I have one? – Yes.

Can you see it in a school? – Yes.

Can you see it in a kitchen? – Yes.

Do you use it to eat? – No ... not eat.

Do you use it to drink? – Yes.

Is it a...? – Sorry, you’ve run out of questions!

Twenty Questions is ok for some classes but it is a little difficult. With the Animal Game the students know you are thinking of an animal so there are fewer options.

It is possible to start the Animal Game off with lower levels. Then, as the students build up their vocabulary you feed them questions of greater complexity. I also allow them to ask, “What colour is it?” which is an especially useful question for lower levels; and for the same reason I am not always so strict with the rule of the question having to be a yes/no question. For example if a student asks, “Where does it live?” or “What does it eat?” I may tell them. Also, to give them a clue I might show them exactly how big it is when they ask, “Is it big/small?”

The Animal Game is also scored in a different way:

Draw a ladder on the board (usually with about ten to fifteen rungs). Put two board magnets – one for each team – on the bottom rung of the ladder (if you do not have magnets, then just draw two big dots to take the role of the magnets). Students raise their hands to ask questions in order to guess which animal flashcard the teacher has (if you do not have the FC for the animal you are thinking of, you can sketch it on a piece of paper). When a student asks a question, their board magnet can progress up one rung of the ladder, whether the answer is yes or no. If they take a guess, however, they cannot move up. This places a greater risk on taking a guess – otherwise you may get students simply asking, “Is it a dog? Is it a cat? Is it a lion? etc. However, if a student takes a guess and is correct, their board magnet can shoot to the top of the ladder and their team is the winner.

To run through an example: the game begins with the [#3s] from team A asking, “Is it big?” The teacher’s reply is, “No, it isn’t.” Despite the answer being to the negative, the team A board magnet goes up one rung of the ladder. Next a Team B student is chosen to ask a question. “What colour is it?” they ask. “It’s white and black,” replies the teacher, moving the team B magnet up one rung of the ladder. The [#2s] from team A is now raising their hand enthusiastically. “Is it a zebra?” they ask. “Good, but no,” says the teacher. This time the board magnet cannot progress up one rung of the ladder. Instead it stays where it is. “Can it fly?” asks the [#4s] from team B, eager to get their team in the lead. “No, it can’t,” says the teacher. The team B magnet moves up one rung of the ladder, above the team A magnet. And so the game continues ... the first magnet to get to the top is the winner. Teams can thus win by asking the most questions or by taking a risk and guessing correctly. When the correct guess has been made, you can reveal the FC (or picture you have drawn) and show it to the class.

You will have to randomly choose which team can go first of course, because that team will have a slight advantage. Spin a marker pen on the floor and the team that it ends up pointing to can go first. Alternatively you could flip a coin, or get a student from each team to do a “paper, scissors, stone”.

As already stated, this game works well if you start it off by feeding your class with simple questions to use. Then after a while you can teach them more difficult questions to ask. To encourage them to ask more complex and imaginative questions, you can let a team move up two rungs of the ladder if one of their members asks a ‘good question’. After you have been playing for a while, students can take turns in being the teacher.

Typical questions in order of difficulty:

What colour is it?

Is it big?

Is it small?

Is it pretty?

Is it ugly?

Can it swim?

Can it fly?

Can it jump?

Can it climb a tree?

How many legs does it have?

How many eyes does it have?

How many ears does it have?

Does it live in a house?

Does it live in the sea?

Does it live in the forest?

Where does it live?

Does it eat meat or vegetables?

Can it be a pet?

Is it noisy or quiet?

Is it strong?

Is it dangerous?

Is it cute?

Can we see it in a zoo?

Can we see it in [Taiwan]?

Can people eat it?

Can it eat people?