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Business English Alibi Game (Past Perfect/ Past Continuous)
Rules of the game:
Yesterday at 2:35 pm a laptop with very important data on it was stolen from a manager’s desk. The police are questioning all the people who work in that office to try to find who is guilty of this crime.
Your teacher will give you a list of things you did that day. Using your imagination, first of all decide which thing you were doing at 2:35 pm and put that in the middle of the table next to the “2:35 pm” card. Then arrange the other things in the order you imagine you did them (you can put two pieces of paper side by side if you were doing them at the same time, or put a slip of paper vertically if it took a long time and you did many other things before you finished it). Use at least half of the cards. Any you don’t use can be left face down on the table.
Try to remember everything you did and in which order, because the police will question you on every detail.
Leaving your slips of paper on the table, swap chairs with your partner so you can see each other’s. With a textbook or similar, block your partner’s view of their slips of paper and question them on everything they did, e.g.
- “What were you doing while you were drinking coffee?”
- “When the meeting started, had you already finished emailing?”
After you have finished questioning each other, tell the whole class any differences between the slips of paper and your partner’s story, e.g. “Jose said he had drunk his coffee before the meeting, but actually he was drinking his coffee during the meeting”. The person in the whole class with the most differences is guilty.
“My work day” Playing cards
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2:35 pm yesterday |
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Board meeting starts |
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Board meeting ends |
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You arrive at the board meeting |
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Emailing foreign subsidiary |
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Filing |
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Telephoning suppliers |
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Writing memo(s) |
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Proofreading a report |
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Interviewing job applicant(s) |
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Give PowerPoint presentation |
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Give clients a tour of the company |
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Arrive at work |
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Your boss arrives at work |
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Drinking coffee |
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Signing for deliveries |
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Lunch break |
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Leave work |
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Listen to your mobile messages |
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A cigarette break |
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Complaining |
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Apologising |
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Tidy up |
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Get a text (mobile vibrating in your pocket) |
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Read your text(s) |
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Dismiss someone |
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9 o’clock in the morning yesterday |
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5 o’clock in the afternoon yesterday |
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Chatting with colleagues |
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Someone leaves a note on your computer screen |
Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com
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