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SUBMITTED BY: Patrick Bickford     BORROWED FROM / INSPIRED BY: Niigata's English Connection (1993)    EDITED BY: まだ

Character Riddles

GRAMMAR: Comparative     EXAMPLE: I am prettier than Mary.     DATE ADDED: 04-30-10 

 
 
 
 
20-30 min.
 
3 votes: 5-star
Brief Outline: Students practice reading comparative sentences of four people to figure out which person is the prettiest, oldest, tallest and fastest.

 

Materials Needed:

 

Detailed Explanation:

  1. After handing out a worksheet to each student, have them read over the passages and write the names of the people based the order they belong.  NOTE: the boy/girl icons on the worksheet are clues to the order they go.
    • Riddle one - prettiest: Judy, Helen, May, Rose
    • Riddle two - youngest: Helen, June, Tom, Bob
    • Riddle three - tallest: Helen, Bob, Tom, June
    • Riddle four - oldest: Mike, May, John, Rose
    • Riddle five fastest: Carl, Ben, Jane, Mary

 

Variations:

  • Instead of making this simply a reading exercise, you can split the class into groups of four, where each person in the group becomes one of the characters.  In a group, they must figure out and stand in the correct order.  The first group to do so then introduces themselves to the class as that character. 

 

Teaching Suggestions:

  • This activity is very effective and can be easy or as difficult as you wish.
  • You could also change the riddles to include Superlatives (est).

 

 Comments:

  • (Feb 22, 2011) Elaine said: Thank you very much for the really great activity! However, on the worksheet there are too many boy icons in the `young` answers and the `tall` answers.
  • (Jan 28, 2011) Anonymous said: I think the youngest answers are in reverse order, it says right away that bob is younger than helen.

 

 

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