I have some good news....and I have some bad news.
Good News/Bad News
Okay I've been lifting games and ideas off this site for far too long with out submitting any of my own…that's the bad news…but here's the good news…I'm submitting one for your enjoyment!!!
I suggest this game for high school or intermediate students.
First off give the students examples of good news and bad news. *You can get as extreme as you like depending on your class's comprehension level.* Bad news: extra homework, bad weather, car accident, death…basically whatever gets the point across. Good news: less homework, class finishing early, wedding…etc… After these elicit more ideas from the class… Teach them sentence: “The good news is…….., however, the bad news is………..” After all or most of the students understand split them into two teams. One team will write good news on strips of paper, while the other team writes bad news. Give them a few minutes for this. When everyone is finished collect the strips keeping the bad/good news separate from each other. Flip a coin to see what team goes first. Have a member of the first team come to the front of the class and choose either a bad news or good news preferably whatever they were not responsible for. They then have to read the good/bad news out loud for the class and think of a matching good/bad news. Eg.. The bad news it's raining outside, but the good news is now we have more time to study!! ~I'm not kidding, one of my students actually said that!!!!!!!~ If they are able to come up with a correct response within 20 seconds their team gains a point, if not then the other team is given a crack at it.
You can adapt this game depending on the level of your students. For more advanced learners I give the opposing team the option to challenge the news given. “Why is more time to study good news?” If they can defend it they get a bonus point, if not then the other team gets a bonus point.
Nicole
Ruian, China