1.

Three-minute questions race

Pre-activity(5 minutes)

Aim
To ask questions to elicit as many words
from a list as possible in three minutes

Ask a student to come to the front of the class and sit with his/her
back to the board. Tell the class that you are going to write a
word on the board and they are going to ask questions to help the
student guess the word on the board. Tell the class they cant say
the word at all. Write Rome on the board.

Students call out questions to elicit the word. Make sure students
ask questions and dont simply describe the word or give
synonyms or act out, e.g., Where is the Coliseum? or Whats the
capital of Italy? not Its in Italy.

Follow the same procedure with restaurant and then journalist,

e.g., Where can you eat dinner out? not You can eat dinner out
here. Who writes for newspapers?

Language
Questions
Fluency practice

Skills
Speaking and Listening

Lesson link
Use after Unit 1, SB p. 5

Materials
One copy of the worksheet cut in half for
each pair of students

Procedure(1520 minutes)

Students are going to play a similar game to the Pre-activity, but

this time they are racing against the clock. Explain that they will
work with partners in teams, and they will have three minutes to
ask questions for as many words on their worksheets as they can.

Divide students into pairs. Give Students A worksheet A, and

Students B worksheet B. Give students several minutes to look
at their sets of words and the instructions for the activity. Check
that everybody understands what to do.

Start the activity. Give Students A three minutes to ask questions

of Students B to elicit as many words from worksheet A as
possible. When Student B says a word, Student A crosses it
out. Go around the room listening, checking that students are
forming questions correctly.

After three minutes, say Stop! and tell Students A to write in the
box the total number of words their partners guessed.

Next, give Students B three minutes to ask questions of Students

A. At the end, have Students B write in the box the number of
words their partners guessed.

Ask pairs to add up the total number of words correctly guessed

by Student A and Student B. The pair with the highest total is the
winning team.

Extension(10 minutes)

6 Unit 1.3

Three-minute questions race

In small groups, students come up with a new set of 20 words,

including everyday objects/places, jobs, famous people, items
of clothing, sports, names of countries/cities, or any other set of
topic vocabulary you choose to get your students to focus on.
Students follow the same procedure as above, working in teams
of two students from each group against two students from any
other group.

Teachers notes

American Headway 2 Resource Book

WorksheetA

twelve

en

Stev
sugar

Frida

mo China

re

dictionary

r
the

d
ran

rg

lbe
Spie

Kahl

ars

ive

rs

doll

pt

Bra

2. Now student B will ask you questions for

three minutes to help you guess the words in
his/her box.

Frenc

ity

Egy

Example:
How many months are there in a year? (twelve)
Where are the pyramids? (Egypt)

he
teac

un

summer

t
Pit

Number of words guessed

by Student B

er

Decemb

coffee

pos

sixt

1. Ask Student B questions to help him/her

guess the words in this box. You have three
minutes to ask your questions.

to
ffic
e

hotel

Total number of words guessed

by Students A and B

WorksheetB

lle
wa

pilo

hambu

rger

1. Student A will ask you questions for three

minutes to help you guess the words in
his/her box.

Jim Carrey

se

Germany

u
Ho

e
hit
Brazil
eW
Th
nis L
n
e
eon
t
ar

Eng

ves

lish

nurse

coat
do

da

Ree
u
n
Kea
yellow

New York

butter
et

rk
ma

er

sup

2. Now ask Student A questions to help him/her

guess the words in this box. You have three
minutes to ask your questions.

husband

Oxford University Press Photocopiable

Example:
Where can you change money? (bank)
Where is the Statue of Liberty? (New York)

Vin

ci

seven

Number of words guessed

by Student A

Total number of words guessed

by Students A and B

bank

Unit 1.3

Three-minute questions race 7