Cluedo - a fun and engaging way to teach the passive voice

 Ok, here's a blog post strictly for Foreign Language teachers: possibly my favourite use of board games in the classroom - using Cluedo* to teach the passive!

*Clue for US readers.

It may be mildly morbid, but having students play this game (ideally in 3s or 4s) is a great way to have them practise the target language:

"I think Dr Black was killed with the gun in the kitchen by Professor Plum."
"I suspect Dr Black was murdered with the knife in the dining room by Ms Scarlet."

Up the ante by making them mix in modals of hypothesis:

"I believe Dr Black may have been killed with the rope in the living room by Reverend Green."

Plus, if you want to be really gruesome, you can always introduce the weapon-specific verbs: stab, shoot, strangle, bludgeon, etc. 

I like to start off the lesson in role as a police officer, miming locking the door, announcing that there has been a murder and that nobody is leaving until the culprit has been found. A game of taboo is a great way to get students talking and to introduce the rooms and weapons. Then, if you've a B2 or higher class, perhaps go into an open cloze listening activity with King Creosote's You've no clue, do you? to introduce the suspects (differentiate for weaker students by giving them the missing words to fill in the gaps).


Then it's probably time to play! Do you need lots of copies of the board game? Err.... no. I'm mean, it's great if you do, but all you really need are the evidence cards, which can be as simple as just the words on bits of paper. I find the games themselves usually take around 15 minutes or so (cutting out the whole dice-rolling bit saves time).

Follow it up by stealing some toys, creating some "crime scenes" and having the students perform role-plays as crime scene investigators: "It looks like Buzz Lightyear was stabbed in the back with a banana."

Great fun! 

Does it work in other languages? Well, I've seen a Spanish teacher use my lesson plan for this, so I think it translates. But you tell me. 








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