Guess Who?: An ESL Teacher's Favorite Teaching Game

Practicing various grammatical structures is often as boring as it sounds for people working on learning another language. Teachers don't like doing long lessons of drilling any more than students do. Usually, we simply ask questions or create situations that give opportunities to practice a particular structure. It is with delight, therefore, when a game comes along that allows students to practice what they're learning in a fun way. Guess Who? is such a game.

Guess Who? is a question and answer game that requires kids to determine who the mystery person is on their opponent's game board. They do this through deductive reasoning and process of elimination. Each player gets a rack of face cards. The faces are all different and include men and women. They have different hairstyles. Some wear glasses. Some have facial hair.

Each player chooses a mystery player for their opponent to guess. The opponent then begins asking questions such as, "Does this person have a moustache?" or "Is this person wearing glasses?" The player answers the questions. If they answered the question about glasses yes, the opponent would then eliminate all the characters who are not wearing glasses. Eventually, a player should be able to guess who the mystery person is. This game is great for an ESL classroom where it stimulates social interaction and thinking and learning skills. It also allows students who are learning structures such as "Does he have....?" or "Is she wearing...?" to play alongside native speakers on a close to equal footing after some practice.

The game comes with two frames which each hold 24 face cards. One frame is blue and the other is red. There is a separate deck of 24 face cards from which the mystery person is chosen. The game requires some assembly as the pictures are not attached to the frame to begin with. Because I'm using it in a classroom, I never take it apart.

The game does come with an instruction book. Within the instruction book is an address to write to if there are problems. Since I use mine in a classroom, it gets a lot of wear and tear. Also, the occasional piece can go missing. Happily, this is a game that can be played with a couple of missing pieces. However, using the address it is possible to get pieces replaced fairly quickly.

Perhaps most important, this is a game that the students can play on their own with minimal supervision. It is a good way for ESL learners to practice their yes and no questions. It is a good way for everyone to practice their skills of observation, deductive reasoning and memory. I really enjoy playing this game with my classes. I have used it with students as young as 7 and as old as 85. Everyone enjoyed it. I recommend it to both teachers and parents.