The owl and the hat

One of my students, Sebastian, told our Conversation class this experience: “I was on a hike in the Hundred Acre Woods (a forest near campus).  It was a beautiful morning.  The sun was shining through the tree branches.  Suddenly, I heard a wooshing sound near my head.  Something attacked my head.  And then my hat was gone.  I looked up and notice an owl flying away with my hat.”

Then Sebastian left the room, and Kenji came in and told this experience:  “One day, I was walking in the Hundred Acre Woods.  I had a small backpack with my lunch in it.  I was wearing a jacket and a baseball hat.  All of a sudden, I heard a sound near my head, and before I could look up, an owl took my hat and flew away with it.”

Which of these students, Sebastian or Kenji actually had this experience?  Finding this out is the goal of this “Truth or Lie” game.  The students love it.

This activity seems to be most effective with low-intermediate to advanced students.  It involves speaking (monologs), listening, asking and answering questions and discussion.

Here are the steps:

1) The teacher tells the students to think of an interesting or frightening or funny or exciting experience that they once had.  Students are given a few minutes to think.  They are told not to tell anyone yet.

2) The teacher “finds” two students (Student A and Student B) to tell the story.  They can volunteer or the teacher can directly ask them or even choose two at random.

3) The teacher explains to the class that the two students will soon leave the classroom.  In the hallway, they will tell each other their stories and then decide which one of their stories they will both tell the class.  They should practice telling the story as if it actually happened to both of them.  Both of their goals is to make the class believe that s/he was to one who had the experience.

4) First one student (Student A) comes in the room, but the other stays in the hall.  Student A tells the story.  Then the students can ask question (interrogate Students A) to try to get a sense if Student A is tell the truth that the story really happened to him/her.

5) Student A leaves the room and Student B comes in.  Student B tells the story and the students ask questions (interrogate Students B).

6) Student A returns to the room and joins B up front.  The students then tell which one they think is telling the truth/lying and why they think that.

7) The students vote on who they think is telling the truth.  The truth-teller steps forward.

To give examples of the “interrogation questions,” here are some that students asked:

-What season was it?
-Can you describe that hat were you wearing?
-Why were you walking in the woods?
-Why do you think the owl did that?  Usually owls fly at night?
-Who was with you?

To give examples of the discussion, here are what some students said:

-I think Kenji is telling the truth.   He immediately describe the hat as a Seattle Seahawks    one, but Sebastian hesitated and said it was a red hat.
-I think Sebastian is telling the truth.  His eyes brightened up when he told how the owl          attached him.
I’ve used this in several different teaching contexts and found the students very engaged.  One nice point is that it’s all students centered.  And surprisingly, it seems that the majority of time, they are fooled, which always creates a lot of laughter.

By the way, Sebastian was telling the truth.

David Kehe