Who Ate the Christmas Pudding? (A2+)

Objective & content

A Christmas detective puzzle for pairs, about 15 to 20 minutes. On Christmas Day, between three and four o'clock, somebody ate Grandma Rose's Christmas pudding. Page 1 gives the case, five suspects and seven clues, written in the past simple with times ("until quarter past three", "at twenty past three"). Page 2 has a time grid, with the first suspect's line done as an example, and four questions. Pupils fill in the grid, cross out the people who could not do it, find the one who did and explain why in English. Page 3 is the teacher page.

Pedagogical guide

The puzzle makes pupils read for detail: each clue gives a place, a time or a witness, and only one person is left with nobody to say where they were. The grid turns the reading into a picture pupils can see and discuss. Question 2 is the language work: pupils write one sentence for each person who could not do it ("It wasn't ... because ...", "At ..., he was ...", "Nobody saw ..."). Question 4 is open. The teacher page shows the solved grid, the answers, and why there is only one possible answer.

Suggested procedure

1. (3 min) Read the case together. Look at the time grid and the example line.
2. (10 min) Pairs read the clues and fill in the grid.
3. (5 min) Pairs answer the four questions. Then a few pairs say who did it and why; the class agrees or not.

Adaptations

[S] Read the clues aloud with the class first, and fill in a second line of the grid together.

[A] Pairs present their solution to the class without notes, one clue at a time.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of pages 1 and 2 per pair (or per pupil), in colour or in black and white; keep page 3 for yourself. Pupils need the past simple and the time (quarter past, half past, twenty past).