Playing Games for Learning: "Guess Who?"

Literacy Network tutors had an in-service on how to use games for learning recently. Many ideas got a good working out by presenter Jennifer Peterson (thanks, J.P!) and workshop participants. One game that seemed easy to adapt for the tutor-learner environment was a variation on Milton Bradley game, "Guess Who?" 

The original version (see illustration at right) was a cartoon guessing game. Each player chooses one cartoon for their opponent to guess. The Wikipedia entry on it describes the rules:

Players alternate asking various yes or no questions to eliminate candidates, such as "Does this person wear glasses?" The player will then eliminate candidates by flipping those images down until all but one is left. Well-crafted questions allow players to eliminate one or more possible cards.

To make the game more adaptable to adult learners, we can create a grid using Microsoft Word instead of relying on the kid-friendly cartoons of the original. As with bingo games, players can put a marker—say a penny or dried lima bean—on a square as it is eliminated. Below is a table I created in Word in a very few minutes. Some of the statements repeat across a row, so asking one question only eliminates some of the characters. 

Alana at the office reading a book sitting on the couch relaxed	Brian at the office typing on the computer listening to music sleepy	Carlos at the office looking for a book typing on the computer nervous	Delta at the office reading email listening to music sleepy
Ella in the library talking to someone sitting on a chair relaxed	Franny in the library typing on the computer reading email relaxed	Gina in the library talking to someone looking for a book nervous	Homero in the library sitting on the couch talking to someone relaxed

 
Changing the repeating phrases lets a tutor focus on grammar skills that he or she wants to reinforce. The grid above inspires players to ask questions using prepositional phrases and present progressive tense, like the following: "Is your person in the library?  Is he sitting on the couch?"  You could save this grid and change the key phrases to teach different language structures. To practice simple past tense, change some of the phrases to reflect what they might have done last weekend:  "watched a movie...went for a bike ride...visited her mother." Changing the phrases is as easy as using the Find and Replace function in Word. If you would like to download a copy of the word document, just click here.
Forming questions is a skill that many learners need to practice in many different tenses. Like any good game, "Guess Who?" is one you can play again and again. 
Extra thanks go to Literacy Network Interns Caitlin MacKesey and Stephanie Beckman for introducing and refocusing this helpful game.