One of the classic games that people play during leisure time is 20 questions. People usually play this game to enjoy their leisure time and learn more about grammar facts. You may only require a group of willing players to play this game. This game also teaches useful facts to ESL students to learn about grammar.
How to Play The Basic Round Of 20 Questions?
Gather A Group of 2-5 People to Play This Game: This game is the best for small to medium-sized groups. This is to make every people participate in the game and get a chance at least once while playing. In the case of a big group of people, some may miss out on participating till the end of the game. Thus, this game recommends people in the small-sized group, probably 10 to 20 members.
- Choose The 1st Person:
You can pick anyone in the group to participate first in the game. You can choose the age factor as the criterion in choosing the participants. It can be better to assign the youngest person in the group.
- Topic can be A Person, Place or Thing
Always think of an easy topic so that everyone in the group can answer well for your questions. If you choose a person or place, or thing, ensure that the people should be aware of them. For instance, you should choose ‘Marylin Monroe’ as your topic and ask questions related to her. Since the people are familiar with her, they can answer well. Other topics you can choose to create questions about include New York City, the Great Wall of China, etc.
- Begin With ‘Yes’ Or ‘No’ Questions
It’s better to start with general questions so that you can reply easily with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to them. This will not let the people in the group think difficult about answers. To say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is just a guess for them; thus, they will feel it easier to answer you. Here the patterns of questions could be:
- Whether it is a place?
- Is it a person?
- Is it an object?
- Whether it is a fictional or real story?
Now, after asking questions, all in a group should at least get one chance to answer them. Ensure that you correctly phrase the questions so that the people can reply with ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
For instance, you shouldn’t ask, “What is her age?” or, “What is her hairstyle?” Instead, ask, “Is she older than 60?” or, “Did she have blonde hair?”
- Look for More Specific Questions to Ask
Have a look at the previously-asked questions and go ahead to ask new questions. For instance, if the previous questions are about size, you can ask the next related smell or color. This will help people answer faster; thus, one can win the game.
So, how to frame questions in an above-mentioned way? You can ask, “Is it smaller than the breadbox?” If you get the answer to this question, you should ask “whether the box color is red?”
So, you continue playing the same pattern of questions to people until you reach 20 questions. To count the questions, you can ask someone to get the count of questions. You will win the game if you are finished asking 20 questions and the group doesn’t guess the right answer. Now, you can tell the answer to the group.
But if any person guesses your question rightly in a mid-way, then the game is over. Thus, you can’t complete asking 20 questions here, as the game gets completed with the right answer.
- Run The Game in Such A Way To Get A Chance for All in A Group
While playing in a group, every person should get a chance to answer once. In such a condition, if someone fails to answer, you can give a chance to the next person. Likewise, you can pass the questions to all in a group even after someone guesses the right answer. Everyone playing the game will create more fun for people in a group.
How To Add Variations While Playing 20 Questions for ESL Learners?
- Choose 10 To 15 Topics and Narrow Down The Topic
The first step is to choose different topics of 10 to 15 cards. For instance, it can be anything like famous landmarks, popular foods, celebrities, etc. Now, ask one of your best students to come and pick any of the topic cards. Soon after the student picks one topic card, you can ask the student to read loudly in the class. This helps narrow down the subject and the students may guess the answer.
- Note The Item That The Player Thinks of
Ensure that the participants are asking grammatically correct questions to you based on the topic. So, one may get an idea after reading about the topic. If the topic is ‘types of animals’, then one can guess like ‘rabbit’ and note down this thing.
- Maintain Track of Students’ Questions
While asking questions, you need to keep track of the students’ questions. Also, check how many questions are grammatically correct and only give points to those with a proper phrase. Finally, you can tally up the questions to check whether the count reached 20.
- Three Points for Those Who Guess Correctly
You can assign three points to the one who guesses the answer correctly. In case no one guessed correctly after reaching 20 questions, you can reveal the answer to them. If no one answers right, you can ask for a volunteer to get the answer. Sometimes, you can repeat playing new rounds to make the game interesting.
The Bottom Line
This is all about the game of 20 questions, and it is a good time pass game for students and others. This game will add knowledge, and people in the game group will enjoy a lot of fun as well.
Also read: A Series of Thought-Provoking “Would You Rather” Questions: A Challenge for Daring People
