This is a great game for those logical-mathematical thinkers.

Author
Jo Budden

Procedure

  • Think of a word (start with a four letter word until you get the hang of it, then you can do it with longer words) and mark four lines, like you would in a game of hang-man.
    ___ ___ ___ ___
  • Ask the students to guess four letter words and write them up on the board under the four lines.
  • The key for telling students how close they are to the target word is:
    two ticks = right letter in the right place
    one tick = right letter but in the wrong place
  • As students make each guess, you must give them the results in key form.
  • To give an example, you are thinking of the word HOME and a student guesses the word HELP.
  • They would get two ticks for the H as it is the right letter in the right place and one tick for the E which is in the word but in the wrong place. They keep on guessing until they find the pattern and guess the whole word. You can set a limit of 20 guesses.

Thanks to Ray Smith for demonstrating this one so well in a recent training session.

Language Level

Research and insight

Browse fascinating case studies, research papers, publications and books by researchers and ELT experts from around the world.

See our publications, research and insight