👮 🚨This is a good way to practice past tenses.
A crime (usually a hideous murder) is said to have been committed the previous evening. Build the tension by suggesting that three students in the class are suspected. Choose the students and name them.
Procedure
✏️Ask these three students to leave the classroom (or move out of earshot) and devise their ‘alibis’ for the previous evening. Stress to them that they must know the exact details of what they did and where they went. Also stress that they must claim to have been together the whole time.
✏️While the three students are deciding on their story, split the rest of the class into three groups, each of which will interview each suspect in turn. If they have a pen and piece of paper, they can nominate a note-taker; otherwise the whole group will, like good detectives, have to rely on memory. Together, group members decide on some good questions to ask. They can also decide who will ask the questions, and where the suspect will sit (or stand).
✏️After 5-10 minutes, bring the three suspects back into the classroom. One goes to each group for questioning, which can last for about five minutes, and then the groups swap suspects. All three groups get the chance to question all three suspects separately.
✏️Any difference between the suspects' stories will be seen as proof of guilt. Maybe not all the suspects are guilty - it is up to the interrogating groups to decide. At the end of the questioning sessions, gather the evidence from the three groups orally, and take a class vote to decide which (if any) of the students is guilty.
✏️If you have any time remaining, the class may wish to decide on a suitable punishment.
Acknowledgement
This method of setting up the activity comes from Penny Ur's book Discussions That Work.