extracted_text:
MIND
Contents
 Students with 3 - 12 months of English

Time (minutes)

Page

1 Classroom

alphabet

15

22

2 Countries

nouns, adjectives

20

23

3 The time

to
  be

20

24

4 Colours

ordinal numbers

15

25

5 The calendar

dates

10

26

6 Spot the difference

there
  is, there are, how many?

15

27/28

7 Habits

present simple, can

30

29

8 The human face

possessives

15

30

9 Rooms

30

31

10 Picture puzzles

following instructions

15

32

11 Smileys

keyboard characters, looks like

15

33

12 Quantities

not...enough,
  too

15

34

13 Geography

comparisons

15

35

14 Food and drink

how much? how many?

15

36/37

15 Crazy conundrums

prepositions of place

15

38

  Students with 1 — 2 years of
  English

Activity

Time (minutes)

Page

16 Family members

male vs female

30

39

17 Jail break

can,
  must

15

40

18 Coin game

can,
  must

15

41

19 Work it out

opnons

15

42

20 Numbers

must

15

43

21 School bus

some, any

15

44

22 Guess the object

it vs one

15

45

23 Experiences

superlatives, present perfect

30

46

24 High numbers

will

30

47/48

25 Number games

imperative

15

49/50

26 Farmer's dilemma

first conditional

20

51

27 School jokes

can, can't

20

52

TWISTERS.
  puzzLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

28 Teacher jokes

present simple, present continuous

20

53

29 Lift mystery

present simple

15

54

30 Chatline acronyms

present continuous

15

55

31 Riddles

present simple

15

56

32 Giving directions

imperative

30

57

33 Ask the teacher

irregular verbs, past simple, present perfect

20

58

34 Visual game

following instructions

20

59

35 Horse race

irregular verbs

15

60

36 Maths

first conditional and temporal clauses

15

61

37 Silly maths

quantities

15

62

38 Text messaging

present simple

15

63

   Students with 2 - 3 years of
  English

Activity

Language point

Page

39 Loch Ness Monster

active / passive

15

64

40 Night watchman

past simple, past continuous

15

65

41 Beastly brainteasers

following instructions

20

66

42 Detectives

past simple, past perfect

15

67

43 Hotel mystery

past simple, past continuous

20

68

44 Doctor jokes

imperative

20

69

45 Crack the code

present simple, present perfect

30

70

46 English humour

past simple, present perfect

10

71

47 Shoe mystery

present continuous, past simple

20

72

48 School facilities

should,
  need, going to

20

73

49 Logic games

past simple, past continuous

20

74

50 Alibi

past simple

20

75

51 Barman

past simple, past perfect

20

76

52 Mysteries

can't and must for deductions

15

77

53 Manager's dilemma

first conditional

30

78

54 Enigmas

second conditional

20

79

MIND TWISTERS,
PUZZLES AND GAMES e MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

Introduction

Mind Twisters, Puzzles and Games is a selection of 54
activities based on authentic materials. In fact, nearly all the games,
puzzles, jokes and riddles are ones that kids in Britain and the US love to do
themselves. These materials have been adapted for your students, to make for
amusing and engaging activities through which they will learn and revise their
English, and have fun at the same time.
How to use Mind Twisters, Puzzles & Games
The games in this book can be used in a variety of
ways. Some shorter activities, e.g. of ten minutes duration, are ideal as
warmers at the start of a lesson or time fillers at the end. Other longer
activities can be used as the basis for a whole lesson to recycle and practise
a recently taught language point.
Within each activity there are generally two or more
exercises. Most exercises are linked to each other sequentially, and often one
exercise is in preparation for the next. Consequently, you should always check
your students' answers to one exercise before proceeding to the next.
The overall activities are not designed to present
grammar points for the first time but to practise them. So make sure you revise
any relevant grammar items beforehand. We have tried to cover a broad range of
grammar items typically taught in a student's first three years of English.
This is a photocopiable
book, but you don't always need to make photocopies; in many cases you can
simply copy the information onto the board.
At the top of each activity there is an
indication of the language point(s), the time to allow for the activity, and
the level.
Language point: This highlights whether particular
grammar items or language points are given practice in an activity. Note: not
all the activities cover a specific grammar point.
Time: The clock at the top of each activity indicates
the minimum time that activity will take. However, the actual time will very
much depend on your class, how much they get into the activity, and how talkative
they are. In any case, you should give students a time limit for each
individual exercise (particularly for those that require some logical thinking
and are not simply based on reading or grammar).
Level: This generally corresponds to the vocabulary or
grammar that most students who have studied for a particular length of time can
be expected to have covered:
3 to 12 months
1   to 2 years
2   to 3 years or
more
However, students of higher levels above can also do
activities of lower levels. For example, level 3 students can also use level 1
activities. In fact, nearly all the activities can also be used successfully by
even more advanced students (i.e. with 4 to 8 years of English) — they make
great time fillers.
Activity titles: The activity titles give you a rough
idea of what vocabulary field you can expect and/or the type of activity
(puzzle, riddle, joke, mystery story).
Vocabulary
Because these are authentic materials, occasionally the
vocabulary may seem quite hard. Where possible, such vocabulary items have been
illustrated. In any case, more challenging vocabulary and grammar items are a
good opportunity to get students to deduce what the meaning might be. They can
make such deductions using their native language. Alternatively, encourage
students to use a bilingual dictionary. To help you decide which vocabulary items
need to be pre-taught, we have included a section on the teacher's pages called
'difficult vocabulary'. The words listed are those found on the students' pages
which we think students at this level may not be familiar with, and which are
essential to understanding a rubric or which are not illustrated in the
cartoons or pictures.
Skills

This book is designed to encourage students to practise their oral skills in a
fun and non-stressful context so, in one way or another, every activity
requires students to speak. What students say to each other is actually very
important in helping to resolve the problems/games/puzzles, so they will be
more motivated than usual to listen to their classmates and to you too! In
order to understand how an exercise works, students need to read brief rubrics
and longer brainteasers or stories. In some activities a limited amount of
writing is also required.
Instructions
The instructions on the students' pages are designed to
be clear. However, our advice would be always to give instructions in the
language of your students as they are of vital importance for the success of
these exercises.
Keys
Since one exercise leads into another, give the key
(solution) to one exercise before beginning the next.
The answers for all exercises are given in the corresponding teacher's notes.
However in some cases the answers are visual. These are all on pages 18—21 and
can be photocopied and handed out to students.
Pair and group work
Most of the activities
are designed to be done with students working together either in pairs or in
groups. Where necessary, the instructions to the exercises on the teacher's
pages indicate how many people should be in a group. If your class is not
easily divided into, for instance, groups of four, you may decide to have a
group of five or six, or two groups of three, and divide up any materials as
appropriate.
A note on lateral-thinking games
Activities 21, 29, 40, 42, 43, 47, 50, 51, 52 and 53
are adaptations of traditional lateral-thinking games. In such games the
'teacher' gives the 'students' a situation. For example, Anthony and Cleopatra
are lying dead in a room,
with bits of broken glass around them and a small pool of water. (Activity
42). The idea is that the 'students' have to ask the 'teacher' a lot of 'yes /
no' questions until they discover how Anthony and Cleopatra died. The games are
called 'lateral-thinking' because a normal logical approach isn't necessarily
the quickest or most effective way to reach the answer. In fact, Anthony and
Cleopatra are not humans at all but goldfish! (See key on page 14.)
Typical questions (with related 'yes / no' answers)
include:
Did
someone poison them? (no)
Did they kill each other?
(no) Did someone kill them? (no, not exactly)
Is
the glass relevant? (yes)
Was the glass from a vase? (no)
Was it from a bowl? (yes)
Did the bowl have water in it? (yes)
Did it have anything else in it? (yes)
Were they the real Anthony and Cleopatra from
Is
it important that their names are Anthony and
Cleopatra? (no)
Were they human beings? (no)

Were they animals? (yes)
Were they fish? (yes)
Were they in the bowl? (yes)
So something knocked the bowl over? (yes)
Was it a cat that had come through the window?
(yes)
What the above groups of questions highlight is that
when one line of questioning is apparently exhausted or seems to be getting
nowhere, students need to think of another possible approach. So rather than
thinking in only one direction, students have to think 'laterally'. In
addition, the questions highlight that a variety of tenses can in fact be used
/ revised — in particular, the present simple, past simple and past perfect.
Be aware that:
•students may blurt out questions in their own native language as
they will be keen to get the solution. The way to deal with this is to write
the question in the native language on the board, and get the student concerned
(or other students) to translate it.
•some students may already know the answer. In this case, form
groups with one person who already knows the answer plus three or four (or
however many is necessary) who don't know the answer. So instead of students
asking you the questions, they ask the student who already knows the answer.
You will need to monitor the groups closely to check they are actually doing
the exercise in English!
This traditional way of doing these games is the best
if you have a group of students who are willing to ask a lot of questions (and
it is indeed the most successful way we know of to practise the interrogative
form in English, as students are motivated to ask questions to get the
solution). The more of these games students do, the quicker and the better they
will get at them — and we guarantee that the vast majority of students will
love them. However we have given an alternative presentation, which is less
demanding of the students (e g. by providing the questions students need, by
giving them visual clues). We suggest you try the approach given in this book
first, and then move on to the traditional approach with any other
lateral-thinking games you may find (there are over a hundred on various
websites).

history? (no)
Anna Southern and Adrian Wallwork
MIND TWISTERS,
PUZZLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC

Teacher's Notes

1 Classroom
1
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
rhyme
Students do the exercise alone. Then choose particular students to read
out the whole row to check their pronunciation.
Key: a) Q, b) J, c) o, d)
R, e) v
2
Class work
Difficult vocabulary:
aloud
3
Individual work
4
Individual work
You might want to suggest some lexical sets. Just give students one or two
examples in each category, the Others they can think of for themselves.
Examples:
home: kitchen, sitting room sport: football, skiing family
members: brother, aunt colours: black, blue numbers: five, thirteen
2 Countries
1
Group work
Key: b) Japan, c) Greece,
d) Poland, e) Germany, f) Spain
2
Individual work
Key: b) Japanese, c)
Greek, d) Polish, e) German,
f) Spanish
3   Individual work
then pair work
It doesn't matter how bad
students are at drawing; in fact the worse they are, the more fun they are
likely to have with this exercise. If some students have difficulty thinking of
countries to draw, suggest: Italy, Australia, Argentina, India, Great Britain.
4   Individual work
then pair work
Difficult vocabulary:
dangerous, population
With good groups they can
ask each other questions, e g
Student A: What countries
do you want to visit?
Student B: I want to
visit
Extension
Students can write down
the nationalities / languages of the countries chosen in Exercise 3.
3 The time
1    Individual and
pair work

Once students have done the
exercise, they can ask each other the questions, e.g.
Question: Where are you
usually at five o'clock?
Answer: I'm in bed.
2    Individual or pair work
Difficult vocabulary:
reflect, mirror
Key: b) a quarter past
nine or nine fifteen, c) five to nine or eight fifty-five, d) six o'clock, e)
ten past five or five ten, f) twenty five past four or four twenty-five, g) a
quarter to two or one forty-five
3    Group work
Difficult vocabulary:
solve, brainteaser, take, strike (v), how long
This exercise
requires simple maths. Allow no more than five minutes to solve it and then
explain the solution on the board.
Key: 66 seconds. Between
the first and sixth strokes, there are five intervals of time, and it takes 30
seconds to cover those five intervals. This means that the interval between two
consecutive strokes is six seconds. Between the first stroke and the twelfth,
there are 11 intervals. Therefore it takes the clock 66 seconds.
4
Colours
Equipment: coloured pens
for all students
1  Pair work
Difficult vocabulary:
least
If you are teaching a
higher-level class, choose one or two items to discuss as a whole class, getting
students to give reasons for their choices.
2  Individual work
Difficult vocabulary: row
If students don't have
coloured pens, skip this and move on to Exercise 3.
3  Individual work
Make it competitive by
seeing who can do it the fastest.
Key: There are two
possible solutions. The Xs should not go in the
1) red, blue and pink boxes
2) brown, blue and purple boxes
See page 18.
5 The calendar
1 Individual or pair work
When they have finished,
they can ask each other the final three questions, e.g. When is your birthday?
Key: b) May, c) January,
June, July, d) August,
e) September, f) March, April, g)
December, h) October,
November
2 Class work
Difficult vocabulary:
brainteaser, probability
This a famous
mathemetical problem; we assure you that the answer given is correct however
improbable it may seem. Consult the maths teacher in your school! Or look at
this website:
http•//www.wiskit.com/marilyn/birthdays.html
Find out from the class
if any two people do have the same birthday, or if their best friends or
mothers have the same birthdays. Hopefully, you will be able to prove the
statistics!
Key: b in both cases
6 Spot the difference
Preparation:
this activity is on two pages — one page for each Student A and one for each
Student B. Tip: make it easy to see if all the students have the right pages by
copying A and B onto different coloured paper.
Pair work
Difficult vocabulary:
similar, difference
Set a time
limit and see which pair can find the most differences in the allocated time —
without, of course, showing each other their picture. Make sure they ask
questions, rather than simply describing their picture.
Key: differences (A is first
in each of the following): clock 10.50 / 11.10: round table / square table;
three people at table / two people; they are eating / not eating but talking;
four chairs around table / three chairs; two pictures on wall / one picture; TV
on / TV off; daytime / night time; stereo system in room / no stereo system;
one window / two windows.
7 Habits
I Individual work
Key: 2c, 3d, 4h, 5j, 6b,
7a, 8e, 9g, IOf
2
Individual work
3
Group work
For this activity
students need to know each other quite well
•   Divide the class into groups of five
or six.
•   Choose one person in each group to be
the Questioner.
•   Everyone in the group gives their
questions to the Questioner.
•   All the Questioners leave the
classroom.
•   Without the Questioners in the room,
tell the whole class that they will be asked questions by the Questioners.
However, they must answer each question as if they were the person sitting to
the right of them.
•   If they can't answer for the person
sitting to the right of them, they must say 'l don't know'.
•   Call the Questioners back into the
room and get them to return to their groups.
•   Tell the Questioners that they must
discover the rule of the game.
•

Questioners now begin to ask
the questions — they must ask one student a question, and then move on to another
student.
•   Tell Questioners that when they think
they know the rule, they should put their hand up.
Students will probably
love playing this game. So here are some alternatives for future lessons:
The first person who is asked a question says 'l don't know'. Then
everyone else answers the previous question (i.e. Student 1 says 'l don't
know'; Student 2 then answers as if he/she were Student 1).
Students answer the questions as if they were the
Questioner.
Students answer the
questions as if they were the Teacher.
Students answer the
questions as if they were another person in the class who is not in their
group.
8 The human face
1    Individual work
Key: 2a, 3d, 4e, 5b
2    Group
work
Difficult vocabulary:
picture
If students see different
women, they should try to explain to each other how to see the other woman,
e.g. 'nose' or
'this is her nose' or
'this is the old woman's nose'.
3    Pair work
Key: see page 18
4    Individual
work
Difficult vocabulary:
mean (v), trendy, friendly, extrovert, traditional, wise, introvert, genius
9 Rooms
1
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
store, keep
Key: 2a, 3f, 4g, 5b, 6e,
7d
2
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
plan (n)
Tell students just to draw
a very simple diagram. If their house is enormous, they should just draw some,
not all, of the rooms. If their flat is very small, they can add some extra
rooms.
3
Group work
Put students in groups of
any size. Imagining a group of three, students should proceed as follows:
3a) Student A passes his / her drawing to Student B, Student B to Student
C, and Student C to Student A. All three students now write a description of
the drawing they have in front of them.
3b) Student A
passes his / her description to Student B, Student B to Student C, and Student
C to Student A. All three students now do a drawing based on the description
they have in front of them.

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES ©
MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

3c) Students now compare
the drawings they did in 3b with the original drawings from Exercise 2. In
theory the two drawings should be the same, but inevitably they will be
different — with more advanced groups, this could be a discussion point.
4 Individual work
Key: see page 18
10  Picture puzzles
Difficult vocabulary: 1
alternately; 2 straight; 3 upside-down
Pair work
Give students a
ten-minute time limit to solve as many of the problems as possible.
With more advanced
students, divide into groups of three. Give each student one problem with the
related key, plus the other two problems. Their task is to enable the other two
students to do the problem for which they have the key by providing them with
instructions.
Key: see page 19
11  Smileys
1
Individual work
Before beginning the
exercise, draw this smiley :-) on the board. Ask if anyone knows what it is (a
symbol used in emails and chatlines* to denote that you are joking - it
represents someone smiling). As with all western smileys, it can be best
appreciated by being viewed vertically (Japanese smileys are horizontal).
Key: b7, c5, d6, el, f8,
g3, hi0, i4, p
2
Pair work
Encourage the students to
make comparisons, e g.
'Number 2 looks like a
clown'.
Key: 2a, 3g, 4d, 5e, 6h,
7c, 8j, 9f, 10b
*See note about chatlines
on page 11.
12 Quantities
1    Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
earth, belly
Key:
I a+b) not heavy enough,
c) correct
2    a) not tall enough, b) correct, c)
too tall
3    a) correct, b+C) too long
4    a) not old enough, b) correct, c) too
old
5    a) correct, b+C) too old
2 Individual work
Key: 2 too many people, 3
too many bags, 4 not enough chicken/food, 5 not enough money, 6 too much water

13 Geography
1 Individual
work
Difficult vocabulary:
shallow, border, building, populated, crime rate
Key: a) longer, b)
deeper, c) lower, d) smaller, e) longer,
f) younger, g) taller, h)
more, i) further from, j) worse
2 Individual
work then pair work
Difficult
vocabulary: continent, calorie consumption, producer, hemisphere Key:
b) strongest F
c)  most F (it's Africa)
d) greatest / highest T (but there are
more native Chinese speakers than native English speakers)
e) fewest T
f)
longest T
g)  highest / biggest / greatest T
h) biggest T (it's not in the top 10 but
is in the top 20)
i)
richest F (Australia is)
j)
hardest F
14 Food and drink
Preparation: see note at
the top of Activity 6 Spot the difference.
When a student has
finished, they can then check with their picture to see how much they have
remembered.
15 Crazy conundrums
Difficult vocabulary: crazy, conundrum
1  Individual work
Key: b5, cl, d3, e6, f4
2  Individual work
Difficult vocabulary: (a) mouse/mice, mirror; (b) get wet; (c) wear, mask,
blackout, street light, cross (v), headlights, turn (v), hit (v), driver
With very low level
groups only do (a).
Key: (a) 2 in front of, 3
behind, 4 in front of, 5 behind; (b) 6 next to, 7 under; (c) 8 at, 9 towards
3  Group work
Set a suitable time
limit.
Key: (a) The
third mouse is a liar! (b) It is not raining! (c) It was during the day!
16 Family members
1
Individual work then whole class
Key: Margaret:
grandmother; Arthur: grandfather;

Stephen: father; Anna:
daughter; Charles: son

2
Individual work then whole class
Key: in the male section:
brother, nephew, son, uncle; in the middle section (i.e. either male or
female): baby, children, cousin; in the female section: aunt, daughter, niece,
sister
3
Group work
Difficult vocabulary:
brainteaser; (b) three times, twice; (c) sure, that's right; (d) related; (e)
point (v)
Set a time limit.
Key:
a)  grandmother, mother, daughter
b)  12
c)  There are two men and each marries
the mother of the other man. They both have one son from this marriage. So each
of the sons will be both uncle and nephew of the other. (Students may also come
up with other valid solutions.)
d)  Cristina is Emma's mother.
e)  The boy is the sister's son.
f)   Four. The father and mother are
brother and sister, one having one son, and the other a daughter.
17  Jail break
Individual work
Key: 2 must,
3 cannot, 4 can, 5 cannot, 6 must See page 19
18  Coin game
Individual work
Difficult
vocabulary: aim, move Key: see page 20
19  Work it out
1 Pair or group work
Difficult vocabulary: (students will need to know these words) (a) lift,
stuck, bow tie; (b) panda, climb (v); (c) pig, fog; (d) fry; (e) rowing boat
If the students have no
ideas, you could give them the answers in the wrong order and ask them to match
the pictures to the explanations.
Key:
a)  a waiter's bow tie stuck in a lift
b)  a panda climbing a tree
c)  a pig in the fog
d)  a Mexican man frying an egg
e)  a rowing boat seen from above
2 Pair or group work
Difficult vocabulary: (a)
cock, lay; (b) cherry, ice; (c) bull Key:
a)  Cocks of course don't lay eggs
b)

If the river has ice on it, it
must be winter, so there won't be cherries on the tree.
c)  Bulls don't produce milk.
d) There are in fact four crosses in the picture; the
biggest one is the one that divides the four pictures.
20 Numbers
1  Pair or group work
Difficult vocabulary:
password
Set a five-minute
deadline.
Key: eight. The code is
in the number of letters in each number, e.g. 0-n-e has three letters so you
say 'three'.
2  Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
grid, add up to
Key: see page 20
21 School bus
Note: Read page 5 of the
Introduction for ideas on how to conduct and exploit lateral-thinking games.
1  Individual work
Difficult vocabulary: get
off, ride
At this point students do not attempt to answer the
question.
2  Individual work
Difficult vocabulary: on
time
Make sure
students know that some is used in affirmative sentences and any in negative
sentences. N.B. This exercise does not deal with some and any in interrogative
sentences. Key: b) something, c) any, d) any, e) any, f) any, g) anyone,
h) some, i) any
3 Group
work
Difficult vocabulary:
relevant
Key: f) She
gets off at the second stop, and walks downhill to school. If she wanted to do
some exercise, she would get off at the first stop and walk uphill. However,
students may come up with other rational explanations.
22 Guess the object
1
Pair or group work
Difficult vocabulary:
object (n)
Set a five-minute time
limit.
Key: 1 a bicycle, 2 (the top of) a bottle, 3 a chair, 4 (a bar
of) chocolate, 5 an ear, 6 a fish, 7 (the lock on) a suitcase, 8 a shoe, 9 a
plane
2
Group work
Difficult vocabulary:
discover

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES
  MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC,

Put students
in groups of three to six. The person who gets the answer then thinks of
another object. Students should make sure that everyone in their group has an
opportunity to think of an object.
Extension
Group work. In turn, and without the others looking, each student puts an
object into a bag (bags made of some kind of textile are best — plastic and
paper bags tend to get destroyed quite easily, particularly if the objects are
spiky). There should only be one object in the bag at a time. The others in the
group then feel the bag and decide what is inside. This is then repeated with
another object from another student.
23 Experiences
1
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
speed, travel, meal, delicious
Key: a) biggest, b) best,
c) happiest, d) furthest, e) most terrifying, f) highest, g) fastest, h) most
expensive,
i) most delicious j)
worst
2
Individual work 3 Pair work
4 Individual then pair work
Difficult vocabulary:
boring, ridiculous
The questions needn't
contain the present perfect if you are only interested in practice of
superlatives.
24 High numbers
Preparation: see note at
the top of Activity 6 Spot the difference.
1 Whole class
Difficult vocabulary:
guess, lifetime
Use this activity to
revise high numbers in preparation for Exercise 2.
Note: These statistics were compiled from a variety of books and websites,
and supposedly refer to the average American or Briton. Clearly, as with all
statistics, they are open to interpretation and it is not known how many people
took part in any associated surveys or how the researchers arrived at their
conclusions. In any case, they are simply meant to be a fun way of practising
large numbers. If your students contest them, suggest that they do their own
Internet searches to prove you wrong!
Key: Id, 2d, 3c, 4c
2 Pair work
Difficult vocabulary:
blink, trillion, flush
Make sure students understand they have different bits of information that
they are going to exchange with each other.
Key: we blink 682 million times; we eat 7,800 loaves of bread; we flush
the toilet 109,200 times; we lose 136 kilogrammes of skin; we spend 25 years
sleeping; we take 13,650 baths or showers; we use 2,574 toilet rolls; we walk
240,000 kilometres; we watch 12 years of TV; we wear 675 pairs of underpants.

25 Number games
Preparation: see note at
the top of Activity 6 Spot the difference.
Pre-teach
add, subtract, multiply, double and divide by, writing their symbols on the
board.
Now try this game on your
students.
Tell the class to think
of a number; each student can choose their own number. Then give them the
following directions. An example is given in the right-hand column:
Think of a
number — don't tell me what it is               6 Double the number         6 x 2 = 12
Add 4                                        12
+4 = 16
Divide by 2                                                   16/2
= 8
Add 13                                     8
+ 13 = 21
Then choose a
student and ask him / her for the result (21 in the example above). Subtract 15
from their answer and give them the result (6 in the example). This works with
whatever number a student chooses — the answer is always the number first
thought of (but practise doing it with family members first!).
For the games on the
students' pages, put students into pairs.
1 Individual
work
Tell students
that they are going to play a similar mathematical game on their partner. The
example should help them to decide where to insert the verbs and also how the game functions. When students
have completed the exercise, write the answers on the board as follows. It
doesn't matter if they see one another's answers.
Student A: b) don't tell,
c) subtract, d) double, e) add,
f) add, g) divide
Student B: b) don't tell,
c) add, d) multiply, e) subtract,
f) divide, g) subtract
2
Pair work
3
pair work
26 Farmer's dilemma
1  Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
need, attack
2  Group work
Encourage
students to work as a team in resolving the problem.
Key: the
farmer first takes over the sheep and leaves it. He then returns, fetches the
dog, leaves the dog, and takes back the sheep. He leaves the sheep and takes
over the hay. He leaves the hay with the dog. He then returns and brings over
the sheep. (Alternatively, he takes the hay on the second trip.)
3  Individual work

4 Pair work

10

MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW
    MAGAZINES. AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

This exercise
highlights that the if-clause can come in the first or second half of the
sentence.
27 School jokes
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary: (b)
improve, case; (c) quiet; (d) boring, shut something or someone up (e) report
Ask the whole class which
jokes they think are the funniest and check that everyone has actually
understood them.

Key: 2b, 3d, 4a, 5f, 6e
b) can, c) can't, d) can,
e) can't, f) Can
28 Teacher jokes
1
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary: (b)
chew; (c) copy, check (v); (d) keep doing something; (f) manage
Key: b)
Are you chewing, c) are you copying, am just checking d) do you call, e) like, f) do you manage,
arrive
2
Pair work
Difficult vocabulary: joke, riddle, at this very moment As an alternative,
you can put the phrases on separate pieces of paper. Then follow this
procedure:
• Divide class into groups of three.
• Give two slips of paper to each person in the group.
• In turn, each person reads one slip of paper.
• Without showing one another their slips of paper, they
try and work out what the order is.
• If this proves too difficult, they can put the slips
of paper on a desk, and then order them together.
Key: b, e; c, h, g, d
29 Lift mystery
Warning! This
game is perhaps best not played if you have any members of the class who have
an inferiority complex about their height or are frequently teased about it.
Note: Read page 5 of the
Introduction for ideas on how to conduct and exploit lateral-thinking games.
I Individual work
Note. As
students read, check to see if anyone already knows the story (it's a very
famous one), but make sure they don't tell anyone the solution.
2
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary: do
some exercise, superstitious, vertigo, claustrophobia, relevant, alone
These are the typical questions people ask when trying to solve this
puzzle. They are put here so that weaker students have a chance to ask
questions. With more advanced groups, get students to invent their own
questions without looking at the ones on their sheet.
3
Group work

MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES,
  AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

11

Divide the class into groups
and tell one student in each
group the solution (or use the students who already know the game). Then
the other members of the group ask questions until they find the solution.
Alternatively, the whole
class can ask you the questions.
Key:
Does he know someone on
the 13th floor? No.
Does he want to do some
exercise? No.
Is he superstitious? No.
Does he
suffer from vertigo or claustrophobia? No. Does the lift go from the 13th floor
to the 20th floor?
Yes.
Is it relevant that he
works in a bank? No.
Does he
always get out of the lift at the 13th floor? No. If he's not alone in the
lift, does he get out at the 13th floor? No.
Does he have a particular
problem? Yes.
Answer: Joe is too small
to reach the 20 button in the lift. Clearly, if he is with someone else in the
lift who is going to his floor, he will be able to get out at the 20th floor.
30 Chatline acronyms
Difficult vocabulary:
acronym
Remind students of the
potential dangers of using chatlines and chatrooms — tell them they should
never arrange to meet someone without their parents' permission and never give
out phone numbers or addresses.
1
Whole class
2
Whole class
Before doing the exercise,
ask students if they recognise the three acronyms below (each letter stands for
one word).
101 = (l am)
laughing out loud wayd = what are you doing?
paw = (my) parents are
watching
N.B. in chatline acronyms auxiliary verbs (am, have, do, did,
etc), articles (the, a) and possessive pronouns (my, your, etc) are usually
omitted. Key: 2f, 3d, 4a, 5g, 6e, 7c, 8b
3
Individual work
Key:
2  crbt h) crying real big tears
3  hhoj               e) ha ha only
joking
4  lho  f) laughing head off
5  pal  b) parents are listening
6  rotfl                a) rolling on
the floor laughing
7  sete g) smiling ear to ear
8  toy  c) thinking of you
31 Riddles
1
Class work
Difficult vocabulary:
riddle, as long as
Key: fire

2
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
touch, hidden, hold, hole, take away
Key: b) use, c) comes, d)
is, e) holds, f) has, g) becomes,
h) spell, i) moves, j)
has
3
Pair or group work
Key: a) the sun (1), b)
your name (4), c) the letter M (5),
d) an iceberg (7), e) a
sponge (3) f) a box of matches (2),
g) a hole (6), h)
'incorrectly' (8), i) a mirror (9), j) half a centipede (10)
32 Giving directions
1
Individual work then group work
Difficult vocabulary:
travel, underground, preference, both, platform
Students read the text individually, then in groups they try and resolve
the problem (it is one of simple mathematics).
Key: imagine that the
train for the Central Train Station leaves at 12.00, 12.10, 12.20, 12.30, etc.
If the train for the Cathedral leaves one minute later at 12.01, 12.11, etc.
then the only time Julia would be able to catch the Cathedral train would be in
the interval just after 12.00 and before 12.01. Whereas if she arrives after
12.01 there is a nine-minute interval in which she can catch the train for the
Central Train Station.
2
Pair work
Difficult vocabulary:
stop (n), get off/on
33 Ask the teacher
Warning! In this
exercise, your students will be asking you personal questions. Make sure you
think all the questions are acceptable. If you think some are too personal,
then you can delete them with whitener. In any case, remember you don't
necessarily have to be truthful if that will avoid embarrassment or simply make
the lesson more interesting.
1    Individual
work
Key: b) break broke
broken, c) do did done, d) drive drove driven, e) fall fell fallen, f) have had
had, g) lose lost lost,
h) meet met met, i) see
saw seen, j) take took taken
2    Pair work
Difficult vocabulary:
scout, girl guide (female scout), ghost, speed limit, expensive
The idea is to practise
the difference between the past simple and the present perfect. In this
context, i.e. in relation to you the teacher, the past simple is used for an
action that took place in some defined period of your past, e.g. when you were
a child or were at school / university. The present perfect is used for an
experience you have had at some unspecified point in your life and which could
take place again now or in the future.

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES O
  MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC

3

Pair work
Difficult vocabulary:
definitely not
4    Class
work
     You can either go around the class or
get students to ask questions at random.
     Tell students they are only allowed
to ask one question. Remember that they will have two of their own questions to
ask.
     With a good group, encourage them to
ask follow-up questions. Example:
Student: Have you ever
met anyone famous?
You: Yes.
Student: Who have you
met?
You: I once met Britney
Spears.
Student: Where did you
meet her?
34 Visual game
1  Pair work
Difficult vocabulary: a)
match, coin
The idea of
this exercise is to add a new element to the task by getting students to
analyse how potentially difficult the problems are. This makes the problems
more interesting to solve as they turn out to be more or less difficult than
imagined.
2  Pair work
Key: see page 21
35 Horse race
1
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
ride (v)
Make sure students
understand that some of the parts are correct and others contain mistakes.
Key: a)
become becAme becOme, b) chOOse chose chosen, c) cost COST COST, d) fall fELL fALLEN, e)
find FOUND FOUND, j) teach tAUGHT tAUGHT
2
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
horse race, make up (invent), rules, cross (v), get on / off, gallop
N.B. Only
ride from Exercise 1 appears in this exercise, since it is not a common
irregular verb.
Key: 2 rode, 3 began, 4
got, 5 came, 6 said, 7 got, 8 won
3
Group work
Set a three-minute time
limit.
If they need
a clue, tell students that when the girlfriend gives them the solution, they
are not on their horses. Then the text says: they both got on a horse (not
their horses).
Key: she
said: 'Change horses'. Remember the rule was the horse (not the jockey) that
crosses the line last wins, so if they change horses and win as jockeys, then
their horse, ridden by the other jockey, will win the race.
36 Maths
1 Individual work
Difficult vocabulary: a)
mouse / mice; b) blow (v), smoke;
c)  encyclopaedia, numerical, cover,
volume, thick, travel;
d)  get ready, be about to, sock, drawer;
e) haystack;
f) tunnel
Key: b) is going, is
blowing, c) starts, stops, d) will / do, get,
e) puts, will, f) will,
is
2 Pair or group work
This 'test' actually
requires more logical (or illogical!) thinking than mathematical ability, but
don't tell students this as part of the fun is realising that you have been
approaching the exercise in completely the wrong way.
•   Tell students to do as many of the
questions as they can in 15 minutes.
•   Possibly give a prize to the group
who manages to answer the most questions within 15 minutes.
•   Give the answers. The answer to c)
you will need to explain on the board.
Key:
a)  an hour and a half
b) There won't be any smoke because the train is
electric!
 c) 0.6 cm — the thickness of the two covers. In fact, if you  put two books together and see where
the first begins and the second ends, you will see that the two closest covers
to these points are adjacent to each other.
d) three
e) one
f)   two minutes: it takes one minute for
the train to go
into the tunnel and
another minute for the whole train to be out the other side.
37 Silly maths
Pair work
Difficult vocabulary: a)
tied, rope, hay; b) sack, corn; c) ark;
d) butcher, weigh; e)
dirt, hole, ground; g) envelope, at random
Make the activity competitive by giving a time limit of ten minutes. The
pair that gets the most correct answers in that time wins.
Key
a)  The rope is only tied to the horse,
not to anything else.
b)  Your friend, because three sacks of
corn weigh more than simply four (empty) sacks.
c)  It was Noah's ark not Moses'.
d)  He weighed meat
e)  It's a hole so there's no dirt in it.
f)   Josh.
g)  Nil — if four are correct, then all
five must be.
h)  21. This is the only one that
requires a calculation. Imagine there are seven people called A, B, C, D, E, F
and

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES ©
  MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLAST C INC.

G. A will shake hands with B-G (six
handshakes), B with C-F (five, A and B have already shaken hands ), C with D-G
(four), D with E-G (three), E with F and G (two), and F with G (one).
6+5+4+3+2+1 = 21.
38 Text messaging
1
Pair work
Difficult vocabulary:
mobile phone, maniac, features, technophobe, cool guy
Students discuss their
answers as they complete the quiz.
2
Individual work
Key: a) 4, b) 1, c) 3, d)
2
3
Group work
Key: a) how are you?, b)
see you later today, c) are you free tonight?, d) wait for me at the cinema
Extension
Students could write some
of their own text messages.
39 Loch Ness Monster
1
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
photographic equipment, camera, smash, leak, oil slick
Key: 2 was sent, 3 put, 4
spent, 5 found, 6 was smashed, 7 doubled, 8 became, 9 was covered
2
Group work
Key: one more day (if it
doubles every day, then the next day it will be covered completely).
40 Night watchman
Note: Read page 5 of the
Introduction for ideas on how to conduct and exploit lateral-thinking games.
1
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
night watchman, fire (v), temperature
Key: 2a, 3e, 4f, 5d, 6g,
7c
2
Pair work
Key: he was sleeping
instead of working (i.e. he shouldn't have been sleeping during work time).
41 Beastly brainteasers
Difficult vocabulary:
beastly, brainteasers
1 Pair
work
Difficult vocabulary: a)
chain, link (v/n), jeweller, manage;
c) coin, edge; d)
triangle
The
idea of this exercise is to add a new element to the task by getting students
to analyse how potentially difficult the problems are. This makes the problems
more interesting to solve as they turn out to be more or less difficult than
imagined. 2 Pair work
Key:
a)  If you undo all the links in one of
the chains (four

operations), you can then
use these opened links to join the other five chains together (another four
operations).
b) see page 21
c)  see page 21
d) see page 21
42 Detectives
Note: Read page 5 of the
Introduction for ideas on how to conduct and exploit lateral-thinking games.
1
Group work
Difficult vocabulary:
detective, relevant, witness
Pre-teach 'witness' (i.e.
someone who is at the scene of a crime and sees what happens).
Note. Check to see if
anyone already knows the story, but make sure they don't tell anyone the
solution.
2
Class work
If no one already knows
the solution, students ask you their questions. If one or more students do
already know the solution, then form groups in which one person in each group
knows the answer.
Key:
Anthony and Cleopatra were two gold fish, not the famous historical figures. A
cat had come in the room through a window and knocked the fish bowl onto the
floor. The glass from the bowl broke into many pieces and obviously the fish died.
43 Hotel mystery
Note: Read page 5 of the
Introduction for ideas on how to conduct and exploit lateral-thinking games.
Preparation: photocopy the picture story, bearing in mind that each
photocopy will be enough for five students. Cut the story up into its five
parts. Paste each onto a card (you will then be able to re-use the game in
other lessons).
Group work
•
Put students into
groups of five.
•
Give each student
in the group one of the five pictures. *
•
Tell students not
to show their picture to anyone else.
•
In turn, students
must describe what is in their picture. They can ask each other questions to
clarify.
•
When they have
all described their pictures, they should try and decide the most logical order
for the pictures.
•
Finally, they
should answer the following question, which you can write on the board: 'Why do
you think the woman made the phone call?'
•
If you have four
students left over, then give one of them two pictures; with three students,
give two of them two pictures or make two groups of four with one person in
each group having two pictures. If you have two students left over, make three
groups of four with one person in each group having two pictures.

Key:
A man is snoring in his
hotel bed.
A woman in the next room
is trying to get to sleep.
She gets up, goes to the
telephone and dials a number.
She waits for the man to
answer and immediately puts the phone down.
She goes back to bed and
goes to sleep.
Solution: The person she
rings was snoring, so by phoning she wakes him up and thus can go back to sleep
herself.
Extension
Students could write the
story out in full, using the past simple and past continuous.
44 Doctor jokes
1
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
joke, yo-yo, keep doing something, ignore
Check answers with the
whole class and make sure they understand the jokes!
Key: 2a, 3e, 4c, 5b
2
pair work
Difficult vocabulary: 1
bite (v); 2 wonder, bored, shut up;
3
what seems to be
the trouble; 5 invisible, optician;
6 tell the truth
The answers
given in the key are the 'correct' ones, but students may think of reasons for
finding the other answers funny.
Key: 2a, 3a, 4b, 5a, 6b
3 Pair
work
Difficult vocabulary:
muddled up, keep doing something, see double, lift, strength, pill, couch, get
something off
Key: 2 b, f, k; 3 c, e, j; 4 d, h, i
45 Crack the code
Difficult vocabulary:
crack, code
1
Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
chatline, cheat (v), ride, prize, poem, crash, stay up, tell lies, travel,
hovercraft
This exercise is in
preparation for the game in Exercise 2.
Explain that
Do you ever is for habitual events in the present, and Have you ever for past
experiences. Divide the class into two groups. Students in Group 1 invent
questions using the phrases in the first column, and students in Group 2 using
the phrases in the second column.
2
Group work
Form new groups with some
members from Group 1 and some from Group 2.

In addition, form one
other group: the Interviewees.
Tell the Interviewees
that the other students will ask them questions. They must reply, for example,
'yes, I have' or 'no, I don't' depending on the last letter in the question. If
the last letter is from A-O they must answer 'yes', if the last letter is from
P-Z they must answer 'no'. Give them some examples, e. g. 'Have you ever
cheated in an exaM?'
'Yes, I have.' 'Do you
play any sportS?' 'No, I don't.'
Now put one Interviewee
into each of the other groups.
Tell the whole class that
in their groups they must ask the Interviewee questions. The Interviewee will
answer 'yes' or 'no' on the basis of some code. Their task is to discover what
code the interviewee is using
Extension
If there is time, change
Interviewees and try one of these alternatives.
Interviewees answer
questions on the basis of whether the questioner:
— is a boy ('yes') or
girl ('no')
— is wearing
glasses ('yes'), is not wearing glasses ('no') — has brown eyes ('yes'), does
not have brown eyes ('no')
There are obviously
various other alternatives to the game, which you will be able to invent
yourself. It is a game that students will love and can be repeated in several
lessons.
46 English humour
1
Pair work
Difficult
vocabulary: joke, handwriting, memory, should have been, happen, see into the
future, borrow, prove Key: 2a, 3g, 4f, 5e, 6c, 7b
2
Individual work
Key: a) forgot, b) have
changed, c) started, e) did not play,
f) did what happen, g)
happened
47 Shoe mystery
Note: Read page 5 of the
Introduction for ideas on how to conduct and exploit lateral-thinking games.
1    Group
work and individual work
Students should discuss
the solution together before individually writing the explanation.
2    Group
work
Students exchange stories
with another group and see if they have come up with the same solution. Take a
class vote to see which picture they used in the solution. Then give students
the 'real' solution. Note, however, that the students' own solutions may be
equally good.

Key: Picture 3.The woman is the
assistant to a circus knifethrower. Her job is to stand in front of a target as
knives are thrown around her. She has bought new shoes that have a slightly
higher heel than her normal shoes, so the thrower doesn't get his aim right and
hits her.
48 School facilities
Note: the time this
exercise takes and its success very much depend on the level of the group and
how communicative they are. Do not attempt it with very reticent classes.
1
Group work
Difficult vocabulary:
governor, exchange trip, pottery, school trip, canteen, playground, heating,
air conditioning Put students in groups of four or five.
Make sure they understand that their budget of €10 will only cover some of
the items in the list, since the total value of the list is €20.
Explain the costs are of
course only symbolic and that in reality they would be hundreds of thousands of euros.
2
Group work
Rearrange the groups so that you have a new group consisting of at least
one member of each of the original groups.
Students then explain
their choices to each other.
Finally, as a whole
class, see if they can agree on how to spend their €10.
49 Logic games
1 Individual
work
Difficult vocabulary: a)
lie (as in 'not tell the truth'), elder;
b) blow, pick
up, belong, windy, chances, get back, own (adj)
Note: Make sure students
understand the difference between the past simple and the past continuous. In
this particular exercise, the past simple is used for a short action or a
series of actions. The past continuous is used to describe a long action which
was interrupted by a short action. Key:
a) 2
went, 3 was cooking, 4 ran, 5 looked, 6 was listening, 7 knew, 8 were telling,
9 told, 10 knew, 11 was lying, 12 lied, 13 was listening, 14 came b) 15 was, 16
were walking, 17 blew, 18 was passing, 19 picked, 20 belonged, 21 gave 2
Pair or group work Key:
a)
It was Anna. Julia
told the truth when she denied listening to the CD; Richard told the truth when
he said it was one of the girls; Adrian lied when he accused Richard; and Anna
told the truth when she said that Adrian was lying.

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES
  MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC,

b)
If nine people
get their hat back, then the remaining person must get their hat too. So
exactly nine is not possible.
50 Alibi
Note: Read page 5 of the
Introduction for ideas on how to conduct and exploit lateral-thinking games.
I Individual work
Difficult vocabulary: DJ
(disk jockey), alibi
Key: 1, 5, 9, 6, 3, 4, 2,
8, 7, 10, 11 or: 1, 5, 9, 6, 4, 2, 8, 3, 7,
1
0,
1 1
2    Pair work
Set a time limit and then
elicit answer from whole class.
Key: picture 10 shows that the CD had got stuck and was repeating itself,
which happens when a CD is dirty or defective. His alibi was thus blown because
the police would know that he wasn't really at work,
This is the complete
Story.
A DJ wants to kill his wife but needs an alibi. so he goes to the radio
station where he works, puts on a CD, slips out to go home, kills his wife,
drives back to the radio station and, while driving, turns on the radio to his
own programme. He hears the CD repeating itself; he thus knows his alibi has
been blown.
Extension
Copy the
following onto the board. Students write (in the past simple) the Story of the
DJ, using these words and phrases as prompts:
radio station — programme — puts on a CD — leaves — drives home — goes
inside — kills wife — gets back in car — turns on radio - hears ???? — shoots
himself
51 Barman
Note: Read page 5 of the
Introduction for ideas on how to conduct and exploit lateral-thinking games.
With more
advanced classes, don't give the students the photocopy but just tell them the
story. They then have to invent questions of their own to ask you.
The story:
A woman goes
into a bar and asks for something to drink. The barman takes out a gun and
points it at her. She says 'thank you' and leaves.
I Individual work
Difficult vocabulary:
arrange, shocked, pills, medicine, solve
Key: b) had, c) had, d)
did, e) were, f) had, g) was, h) did,
i) was, j) did, k) did,
l) had, m) did
2 Whole class
Students ask you the
questions. Alternatively, put students in small groups and tell one person in
each group the solution. The members of the group then ask questions.

16

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES
  MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC

Remind them that they must be
yes/no questions, not wh- questions.
Key: she had hiccups and
the fright cured her.
a)  yes, probably, but not necessarily
b) perhaps, but it's not very important
c)  perhaps, not important
d)
yes
e) irrelevant
f)
irrelevant
g)  yes
h) no
i)
good question, no
j)
good question, no
k)  yes I) probably
m) yes
52 Mysteries
Note: Read page 5 of the
Introduction for ideas on how to conduct and exploit lateral-thinking games.
I Group work
Difficult vocabulary:
1   smoke
2   search party, blood, building, shoot
(v), evidence, arrest, murderer
3   stranger, pay in cash, Clerk
4   lawyer, grant bail, be allowed
5   suspect (v), leave something behind,
evidence
Get students to cover the
bottom half of their page, where the solutions are.
Students read the
mysteries and try to solve them in their groups. Tell them that if they can't
solve them, it doesn't matter. Allow not more than ten minutes to complete Exercise 1.
2
Group work
Difficult vocabulary: alone, cell, perfume, blind, reveal, toilet seat up
Students try
and match the solutions with the mysteries. Because the solutions are so short
(i.e. without much explanation) and because there are extra solutions, this
activity will involve discussion. Get students to give explanations for their
choices.
Key:
1 d (She is in prison in
a cell, so she can't do anything about it.)
3
f (Teresa is
blind so she won't be able to count out the money. She goes to a bank where she
knows the bank clerk will count the money correctly.)
4
i (It is Petra's
lawyer who is being held in prison, not
Petra herself.)
5
h (Mrs Smith lives
alone with Natasha, so the toilet seat would always be down unless a man came
into the house.)
53 Manager's dilemma
Note: Read page 5 of the
Introduction for ideas on how to conduct and exploit lateral-thinking games.
1 Individual work
•   Tell students to look at the pictures
and to try and understand what is going on in each picture.
•   Identify any vocabulary problems.
•   Now read the story below very slowly
and clearly, with long pauses between paragraphs to enable students to find the
relevant picture. Make sure the students realise there is one picture per
paragraph.
•   Read the story again, either more
slowly or more quickly depending on how successful students have been in
understanding it on the first reading.
•   Give them a couple of minutes to make
their final decision about the order of the pictures — they can do this in
pairs or groups if you wish.
Alternative with higher
level students: only give students the photocopies of the illustrations after
they have listened to the story. Then in pairs they can try and work out the
correct order. Key: Id, 2f, 3a, 4c, 5e, 6b
2 Group work
Key: Arnie notices that Mr Gold has put two black stones in the bag, but
he says nothing. Arnie then picks out one stone from the bag and drops it
immediately onto the ground (where there are thousands of white and black
stones). He then says 'Sorry, but if we look into the bag
54 Enigmas
Difficult vocabulary: enigma
1    Individual
work

Difficult vocabulary: punchline
Key: a) 3, b) 5, c) 2, d) 4, e) 1
2    Group
work
Difficult
vocabulary: thirst, tell lies (not tell the truth) Give them a chance to solve
it by themselves, then put them into groups or pairs to see if they can work
out which is the correct solution. Key: c

and see which stone is left, then we will know which one I
dropped.' Clearly, the one in the bag is black, so the other
one should have been white.
3    Individual work

The story
A football manager needed 20 million Euros to
  rebuild his club's football stadium. He went to a rich businessman, Mr Gold,
  who gave him the money. (pause)
It took six months to rebuild the stadium. But on
  the first day of the new football season, some hooligans burnt down part of
  the stadium. (pause)
Mr Gold, who was worried about this situation,
  immediately telephoned the manager to ask him for the 20 million Euros. But
  the manager said he didn't have the money. So Mr Gold told the manager to
  meet him at his office car park and to come with his best player, Arnie Ball.
  (pause)
The three men met and Mr Gold said, 'If you give me
  your best player, I will cancel your

debt.' The manager replied, 'If I
  give you Arnie Ball, no one will come to watch my team play.' (pause)
'OK.' said Mr Gold, 'Look at these stones on the
  ground. They are all black or white. I will pick up two stones, a black one
  and a white one, and put them into this little bag. If Arnie picks out the
  black stone from this bag, then you will have to give him to me. But if he
  picks out the white one, then he will be free and I will cancel your debt.'
  The manager agreed as he had no ehoice. (pause)
Mr Gold picked up two stones and put
  them in his bag, but Arnie noticed that Mr Gold had put two black stones in
  his bag. How did Arnie resolve the situation?

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES a MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN
IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

4    Colours

18

MIND
  TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES C MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF
  SCHOLASTIC INC.

8

The human face hair
9
Rooms

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN
  IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

19

10

Picture puzzles

18
Coin game
The
four moves are:
1)
2 and 3 to 9
and 10
2)
5 and 6 to 2
and 3
3)
8 and 9 to 5
and 6
4)
1 and 2 to 8
and 9

2           3            4            5           6            7            8           9          10

20
Numbers

4

2

3

5

7

8

I

6

MIND
  TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES a MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF
  SCHOLASTIC INC.

34 Visual game
a)
b)

41 Beastly brainteasers
b)c)
e
alphabet
1
Classroom
Which
letter does not rhyme with the first letter?
            Example: E F                   D
 b) B g D E e ' P T V

Read aloud
the letters in the word circles, starting at the top.

     a)                   b)
       c)
                  e)g)                          h)

Now circle the first letter Of the
word in each word circle.
Example:
What are the words?
Invent your
own word circles.

MIND
TWISTERS, puzzLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLAST C
INC.

nouns, adjectives
2 Countries
0) What are the
countries?

Picture

3) Country

Language I Nationality

a)

France

French

b)

c)

d)

e)

f)

a)
d)
Now write the
languages / nationalities.
Work in pairs. Draw three countries.
Show them to each other and guess what
they are.
Write two or more countries that:
a)
you want to visit
b)
you think are very very beautiful
c)
you think are dangerous
d)
have English as their first language
e)
have very large populations
e

3 The time
Where are you usually at these times?
05.00 .

08.00 .
13.00
16.00 .
22.00

These clocks are reflected in a mirror.
      Underline
what time it really is.
a)ten thirty / eleven thirty 000
b)a
quarter to nine / c) five to nine / five past nine d) twelve o'clock / six
o'clock a quarter past nine
000
e) ten to four / ten past five                          f)
twenty five past four /   g) a quarter to three / twenty five past five     a
quarter to two
Work in groups. Solve the brainteaser.
It takes a grandfather clock 30 seconds to
strike 6 0'clock.
How long will it take to strike 12 0'clock?
(The answer is NOT 60 seconds!)

MIND
  TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAEAZINES. AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC
  INC

ordinal numbers
4
Colours
Work in pairs.
What is your favourite colour?
And your least favourite colour?

good

bad

a) your
  bedroom walls

  ye!.l.Qv

       .pu.r.R/e.

What
are good and bad colours for the following:
b)
a bicycle
c)
a T-shirt
d)
a car
e)
your classroom
walls
f)
a mobile phone
Colour the grid using these colours:
first row: first box red, second box green, third box brown
second row: first box yellow, second box blue, third box black third row: first
box purple, second box orange, third box pink

Place six )(s on the grid without making
three in a row in any direction.
dates
5 The calendar
Write down the months.
a)
The month that only has 28 days.February......
b)
The month that only has 3 letters
c)
Three months that begin with 'J'.
d)
The eighth month of the year.
e)
The month that begins with an 'S'.
f)
Two months that have five letters.
g)
The last month of the year.

h)
The two months that contain the letter 'o'.
In which month is; your birthday?
your best friend's birthday?
your mother's
birthday?
Solve the brainteaser!
There are 50 students in one classroom.
What is the probability that two people have
the same birthday:
a) 3 in 100 b) 97 in 100? And in a
class of just 25 students:
a) 1 in 100 b) 50 in 100?

MIND
  TWISTERS, puzzLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC
  INC.

there is, there are, how many?
6 Spot the
difference
Work in pairs. Your partner has a
very similar picture to your picture. But there are 10 differences. Ask
questions to find the differences.
Example:
Is there a television in your room?
Yes, there is.
Is it on or off?

©
there is, there are, how many?
6 Spot the
difference B
Work in pairs. Your partner has a
very similar picture to your picture. But there are 10 differences. Ask
questions to find the differences.
Example:
Is there a television in
your room? Yes, there is.

present simple, can
7 Habits
words below with the pictures.
a) computer                                 b) football
c)
glasses
                                                       3
d)
ice cream
e)
mobile phone
       f) newspaper
g) piano
        8                                                           h)
skis
    i) television                      j) tennis racket

Now use the words to write ten questions in the present
simple.
Write each question on a different piece of paper.
Examples:
Your teacher will now tell you how to play the Question Game.
©

possessives
8 The human
face
parts of the body (1-5) with the definitions (a-e).

1 mouth

a) what
  you see with

2 eyes

b) what
  you hear with

3 nose

c) what
  you eat with

4 hair

d) what
  you smell with

5 ears

e) what is on top of your head

Work in groups. Look at the picture.
What can you see — a young woman or an old woman?

Work in pairs.
Write the parts of the face: single lines for the young
woman, double lines for the old woman.
(4) Read.
What does it mean?
•
If you see a young woman, you are: trendy, friendly, extrovert.
•     If
you see an old woman, you are: traditional, wise, interesting, introvert.  If
you see both the young and the old woman, you are: a genius! What are you?

9 Rooms

hall

kitchen
store room

gedroomarents'

dining room
sitting room

my bedroom

bathroom

rooms rooms (1-7)
with with their uses (a-g).
I bedroom a) where you wash 2 bathroom b)
where you eat
3
sitting room         c) where you sleep
4
kitchen  d) where you keep things
5
dining room         e) where you go into your house
6
hall          f) where you relax
7
store room           g) where you cook
Draw a plan of your house / apartment, as
in the example.
Now work in groups.
a)
Pass your plan to the next student. Then write a description of
the plan you are given.
b)
Pass your description to the next student. Then draw a plan from
the description you are given.
c)

Compare your original plan with the final plan of your house / apartment. How
different are they?
Find your way.
The apartment below has nine rooms (A to
I).
Starting and finishing from the
outside, visit each room at least once. You must not go through the same door
twice.

B

c

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN
IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

10
Picture puzzles
Work in pairs. Discuss how to solve these puzzles.
Look at these glasses.
The 3 glasses on the left are full of
orange juice.
The 3 glasses on the right are empty.

MIND
  TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC
  INC.

Move just one glass so that the glasses are alternately
full and empty.

Z.) Look at the 2
arrows.
Using only 2 straight lines, make
a third arrow.
Use 10 coins to make the triangle.
Now turn the triangle
upside-down by moving only 3 coins.
11 Smileys
g.) Match the pictures with the people and
animals.

a) clown

e) pipe smoker

h) skateboarder

b) frog

f) punk

i) very unhappy

c) pig

[21  g)
  Santa Claus,

person

Father
Christmasj) wearing glasses
d) Pinnochio

Z.)
Work in pairs. Match the smileys with the people and animals.

                                                  5
                       7
                                                            10
8)

MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN
IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

12 Quantities
d I) Write not .enough,
too . or correct in the spaces, as in the
examples.
Examples:
How long was the longest human nose on
earth?
               a) 9 centimetres
...nQ.C..lQng..enouø.h.. b) 19 cm .              ..GQrreç.C...c) 29 cm .         ..CQQ../Q!IØ.
How large is the largest human belly?
            a) 137 centimetres ..GQrr.eç.Ç..              b)
157 cm              CQQ..(arge..c) 177 cm .           .tQQ..(arge...
1     How heavy
was the heaviest man on earth?

a) 300
kilos  b) 400 kg  c) 600 kg
2     How tall
was the tallest woman on earth?
a) 2.0 metres . b) 2.5 m  c)
2.8m .
3     How long
are the longest human legs on earth?
a) 125 centimetres . b) 150 cm  c) 175 cm
4     How old
was the oldest person on earth?
a) 1 12 years old  b) 122  c) 132
5     How young
is the youngest graduate (someone who has finished university)?
a) 10 . b) 12  c) 14

13 Geography
g.) Underline the correct adjective and
then form a comparison.
Example: Russia is (big / small) than the
United States. .....þjgger......
a)
The Nile is (long / short) than the Amazon.
b)
The Pacific Ocean is (deep / shallow) than the Atlantic.
c)
K2 is (high /
low) than Everest.
d)
Great Britain is a (large / small) island than Greenland.
e)
China has a (long / short) border than Russia.
f)
The population of Africa is (old / young) than the population of
Europe.
g)
New York has (short / tall) buildings than Washington.
h)
Tokyo is a (little / much) populated city than Calcutta.
i)
Sydney is (close to / far from) London than Mexico City.
j)
California has a (bad / good) crime rate than Texas.
Z) Put the words below into the spaces.
Then work in pairs and decide if the
statements are are true (T) or false (F).

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES & GAMES

comparisons

biggest,
fewest, greatest, hardest, highest, hÿáát, longest, most,
richest, strongest
a)
Africa has the .hQ.tf£.ât...... temperatures in the
world.
b)
Most of the .   hurricanes are on the west coast of the USA. T F
c)
The continent with the . states is Europe. T F
 d) English has the  number of
speakers throughout the world. T F
e)
Africa is the continent with the  telephones. T I F
f)
The country where people generally live the . is Japan. T F
g)
One of the countries with the . calorie consumption is
the USA. T F
h)
Turkey is not one of the . producers of turkeys. T F
i)
None of the .countries in the world are in the southern
hemisphere. T F
j)
Women work thein the home in countries in the northern
hemisphere. T F

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN
IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC

14 Food and drink A
Look at your picture for one minute. Try to
remember as much as you can.

Your partner will now give you his / her picture. Ask questions to test your
partner's memory. Then give your picture to your partner.
Examples:
Question: How much
bread is there? Answer: There is one kilo of bread.
Question: How many bottles of water are there?
Answer: There are four bottles of water.

14 Food and drink B
Look
at your picture for one minute. Try to remember as much as you can.
Now
give your picture to your partner. Your partner will ask you questions to test
your memory. Now it's your turn! Take your partner's picture and ask questions
to test your partner's memory.
Examples:
Question: How much bread is there? Answer: There is one
kilo of bread.

MIND
  TWISTERS, PUZZLES & GAMES

how much? how many?

 Question: How  bottles of
water are there? Answer: There are four bottles of water.

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES O
MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC

15 Crazy
conundrums

2) Put
prepositions into the correct spaces.
a) There are three mice in a box all
facing the same direction.
              The
first mouse says: 'There are two mice (1) behind        me.'
The second
mouse says: 'There is one mouse (2) . me and one mouse (3)
a)
next to
b)
towards
c)
under
d)
in front of

38

MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN
  IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

f) behind
.
me.'

The third mouse says: 'There are two mice
(4)  me and two mice (5)me.'
There are no mirrors in the box.

,iidl

nwiniillw

      Explain.
b)
There are three large people standing (6)each other (7)  one
small
umbrella. But no one gets wet.
How is this possible?
c)
There is a man is dressed entirely in black, wearing a black mask
and standing (8)  a bus
stop.
There is a blackout and none of the street lights are on. Suddenly the man
decides to cross the road.
At
the same time a car, with no headlights on, comes very fast (9)  the man. But
the car
easily turns in time and doesn't hit the
man. How does the driver manage not to hit the man?
Work in groups. Solve the three conundrums.

16
Family members
Complete the family tree with these words:
Margaret =
Arthur daughter
father
Julie
= Stephen
grandmqther grandfather
             son                                                                                Anna                           Charles

Z)
Put these words into the correct place in the circles.

-attrÉ, baby,
Þpothãr , children, PUSin, daughter, nephew , niece, sister, son, uncle
Work in groups. How many of these
brainteasers can you solve?
a) Three women walk into a room: two
mothers and two daughters. Explain.
 b) A brother is three times as old as his
sister. But in four years, he will only be twice as old. How old is the brother
now?
c) Girl: Are you sure Mr Jones is your uncle?
Boy: Yes, and I am his uncle!
Girl: So you are his nephew and he is
your nephew!
Boy: Thays right. Explain.
d)Emma met Cristina in the street. 'I'm
sure I know you.' 'You certainly do know me,' replied Cristina. 'Your mother my
mother's only daughter.' How are they related?
e) A brother and
sister are in the supermarket. a boy and says: 'That boy is my nephew.' 'Well,
he isn't my nephew.' Explain.
f)  If a
group of people contains: a father, a aunt, a sister, a brother, a nephew, a
niece is the smallest number of people they can be?
Jail break

Put the words in the box into the spaces. Then resolve the problem.

The prison has 36 cells in it. You are a prisoner in cell X
and you want to escape. You also want to release all the other prisoners. So
before you (I) ......en............. escape you
(2)  visit every cell once. You (3)  go
back into any cell that you have already visited, apart from cell X. You (4)  go
out of a cell from any of its four walls, but you (5) . go out from its
corners. And, of course, the final way out (6)  be through cell Y.

MIND
  TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC
  INC.

Coin game
Follow the instructions.
Take eight coins — four big ones and four
small ones.
ÞWce the coins as in the first
picture.
00000000
Your aim is to finish with the coins
as in the second picture by moving two coins at a time.
00000000

You must move two coins at a time, you cannot just move one. The coins you move
must be next to each other.
When moving, you can jump over as
many other coins as you want; but you must always move two coins together and
keep them in the same order.
So, if you move a big coin and a small coin together, and the
big coin is on the left and the small coin is on the right, you must put them
down with the big coin still on the left and the small coin still on the right.
You can solve
the problem in only four moves.

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN
IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

Work it out

g.) Work in pairs or groups. Look at these pictures. What are they?

a)

b)

c)
d)

MIND
  TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF scHOLAsnc
  INC.

Numbers
             Solve the problem.
To get into a top-security prison
you must say the password to the guard. There is a certain system that you must
follow:
If the guard says I, 2, 6 or 10, you must say 'three'.
If he says 4, 5 or 9, you must say 'four'.
If he says 3, 7 or 8, you must say 'five'.

If he says I l or 12, you
must say 'six'. What must you say if he says 13?

4

6

Z) Complete the grid.
To complete this grid, put one of the other numbers
from 1 to 9 in each space. Use each number once.
The total of each line, horizontal ( vertical ( l ) or diagonal ( / \ ),
must add up to 15.

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES
AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

School bus
Read.
Every day a girl takes the bus to
school. She can get off the bus at two stops. The first one is 100 metres
before her school. The second stop is 200 metres after her school. She always
rides past the first stop and gets off at the second.
Z.) Read these explanations and underline
some or any in each sentence.
                                                                                very            quite   not
at all
a)
She doesn't want to get to school on time, because she still has
4.2.2£_1 any homework to do.
b)
Her boyfriend comes from the opposite direction. He gets off at
the same stop as her and always needs to give her something / anything.
c)
Her school is a school just for girls; it doesn't have
some / any boys.
d)
She doesn't have some / any lessons in the first hour.
e)

It doesn't cost her some / any more money to get off at the second stop.
f)
Her school is half way up a hill and she doesn't want to
do some / any exercise.
g)
It's Sunday and there isn't someone / anyone there.
h)
She doesn't want to arrive at school early because there
are some / any people that she doesn't like who wait for her outside the
entrance.
i)
She doesn't have some / any friends.
Z.) Work in groups.
Put ticks in the boxes to show how
relevant the explanations are:
•
very relevant
•
quite relevant
•
not at all relevant
Your teacher will then give you the
'correct' solution.
MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES e MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF
SCHOLASTIC INC.

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES e
  MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC

22 Guess
the object

1)
   6)
2)
  7)
3)
   8)
4)
   9)
5)
Z.) Work in
groups. Play this game.
One person thinks of an object. The others
ask a total of 20 yes / no questions to discover what the object is. Think
carefully about your questions — the answers can only be 'yes' or 'no' —
nothing else.

23 Experiences
           Put
the adjectives in italics into the superlative form.
Examples:
             What's
the        Jo.nge.ât...... you've ever had your hair? long
What's the
.1TlQ.ât..WQtIderfUl... holiday you've ever had? wonderful
a)
What's the .mistake you've ever made? big
b)
What's the .. video game you've ever played? good
c)
What's the —day you've ever had? happy
d)
What's theyou've ever been away from home? far
e)
What's the .experience you've ever had? terrifying
f)
What's the .. point you've ever been to? high
g)
What's the .. speed you've ever travelled at? fast
h)
What's the .thing you've ever bought? expensive
i)
What's the .meal you've ever had? delicious

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES & GAMES

superlatives, present perfect

j)

What's the .movie you've ever seen? bad
Z) Write answers to three of the questions
in 1.

Z) Work in pairs.
Read and memorize the questions in 1.
Now take it in turns. One of you
reads out an answer. The other one must say the question that matches the
answers.
Example:
Your
partner: Australia.
You: What's the furthest you've ever been away from
home?
e.) Work in pairs.
Write two questions using the
superlative of some of the following adjectives. Then ask your partner your
questions.
beautiful boring exciting fat incredible interesting
ridiculous silly strong

46

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES e MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES,
  AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

24 High numbers A
Al..) What do you think?
In your lifetime:
I How many times will your heart beat?
                      a)
2 million           b) 20 million             c) 200 million           d) 2,000
million
2
How many years will you spend on the Internet?
a)
2 months   b) 2
years              c) 12 years            d) 22 years
3
How many times will you eat at a fast food restaurant?
a)
18 times     b)
81      c) 1,811 d) 18,111
4
How many times will you hear the words 'l love you'?
a)
34 times     b)
348    c) 3,480 d) 30,348
Guess the missing information.

The numbers below refer to how many times we will do certain things in our
lifetime. Try to guess the missing information and then ask your partner for
the correct number. You begin the exercise.
Example:
You: I think I will blink a trillion times, but how
many times will I blink?
Your partner. You will blink 00000
times. I think I will eat 00000 loaves of bread, but . . etc.
I will blink times.
You will eat 7,800 loaves of bread.
I will flush the toilet  times.
You will lose
136 kilogrammes of skin.
I will spend  years sleeping. You will take 13,650 baths or showers. I will use  toilet rolls.
You will walk 240,000 kilometres.
I will watch  years of TV.
You will wear
675 pairs of underpants.

MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES e MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN
IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC,

24 High numbers B
What do you think?
In your lifetime:
I How many times will your heart beat?

      a) 2 million           b)
  20 million             c) 200 million
2 How many years will you
  spend on the Internet?
       a) 2 months           b) 2
  years                    c) 12 years

d) 2,000
  million
d) 22 years

3
How many times will you eat at a fast food restaurant?
a)
18 times           b)
81      c) 1,811 d) 18,1 1 1
4
How many times will you hear the words 'I love you'?
a)
34 times           b)
348    c) 3,480 d) 30,348
Guess the missing information.
The numbers below refer to how many
times we will do certain things in our lifetime. Try to guess the missing
information and then ask your partner for the correct number. Your partner will
begin the exercise.
Example:
Your partner. I think I will blink a trillion times,
but how many times will I blink?

You: You will blink
682 million times. I think I will eat 500 loaves of bread, but how many will I
eat?
Your partner: You will eat 00000
loaves of bread. I think I will flush the toilet 00000 times but etc.
You will
blink 662 million times.
I will eatloaves of bread.
You will
flush the toilet 109,200 times. I will lose  kilogrammes You will spend 25 years sleeping.
I will take  baths or showers.
You will use 2,574 toilet rolls. I will walk  kilometres.
You will
watch 12 years of TV.
I will wear  pairs of underpants.
48 MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT
OF SCHOLASTIC INC.
25 Number games A
L) Put these verbs into the spaces:
add, add, divide, don't tell, double,
subtract, tþiKk

a)
  .....T.h.it1k..                                                                                .
  of a number, and remember it!
b)
                                                                                me
  what it is.

Example: 5

c)

5 - 1 = 4

d)

. the
  result.

 the first number
  you thought of.

6+5 = 13

f) Now .

          2.

13 + 2 = 15

g) Then .

           by
  3.

15/3 = 5

The result is the number you first thought
of.
Now work in pairs.
Try the game on your partner, and your
partner will do a game on you.
Z) Work in pairs.

Now do this game on your partner, and your partner will do another game on you.
             Think of a number, and remember it!                                        Example:
6
             Add its successor (the number after it).                                      6
+ 7 = 13
               Add nine.                                                                                13
+            22
               Divide by two.                                                                                22
/ 2 = Il
             Subtract your original number.                                                       11
—6=5
The result.is 5. (The result is always 5.)

O

MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY
GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC 49
25 Number games B
Put these verbs into the spaces:
add, divide, don't tell, multiply,
subtract, subtract, tþ6Í

           ..Thjnk.        of
  a number, and remember it!
b)                                  me
  what it is.

Example: 5

                                                                                3.

5+3=6

d)                                  by
  2.

ex 2= 16

                                                                                4.

16 - 4 = 12

f)  by
  2.

12/2 = 6

g) Now .. the number you first
thought of. 6 — 5 = I
The result is 1. (The result is always 1.)

Z.) Now work in pairs.
Try the game on your partner, and your
partner will do a game on you.
Z.) Work in pairs.

Now do this game on your partner, and your partner will do another game on you.
                    Think
of a number, and remember it!                                       Example: 10
Add 7.17
Multiply by 2.34 Add 12.        34
+ 12 = 46
                      Divide
by 2.                                                                                46/2
= 23
                     Subtract
the original number.                                                    23 - 10
= 13
The result is 13. (The result is always
13.)
o

                                MIND                                 AND
GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC

26 Farmer's
dilemma
Read.
A farmer
has a dog, a sheep and a bale of hay.
The farmer
needs to cross a river. But his boat is very small.
He can only
take one animal or the hay with him.
If he
leaves the dog alone with the sheep, the dog will attack the sheep.

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES,
  AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC

51

If he leaves the sheep alone with the hay, the sheep will eat the hay.

Work in groups.
How does the farmer resolve the problem?
Z) Finish these sentences.
a)
If I don't do my homework tonight,
...my..teacher...will.b.e..cr.oeø.wj.th..me...
b)
If I talk during today's lesson,
c)
If my mobile phone rings now,
d)
I will go to the cinema tonight if .
e)
I will go to university if
f)
My parents will get very angry if .
S.) Work in pairs.
Read out just the endings of your
sentences in 3. Your partner has to guess the beginning.
27 School
jokes
Match the jokes
with the cartoons. Then put can or can't into the spaces.

a) Teacher: Really!
I know children who are three years old who . .çan. solve this
problem.

Pupil: Well, that's the trouble — I'm thirteen.

c)
Teacher: Caterina, you know you . sleep in my class.
Caterina: You're right, but maybe if
you were a little quieter I could.

b) Pupil: How
I
improve my guitar playing?
Teacher. Leave it in its case.

d)
Pupil: What's the difference between a boring teacher and a
boring book?

Another pupil: You .

MIND
  TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC
  INC

28 Teacher jokes
S) Read these
jokes and underline the correct form of the verb.
a)
Teacher. What comes / is coming before eight?
Pupil: My school bus, usually.
b)
Teacher: Do you chew / Are you chewing gum?
Pupil: No, I'm Henry Taylor.
c)
Teacher. Charles,
do you copy / are you copying Martin's answers?
Pupil: No, Miss, I
just check / am just checking to see if his answers are correct.
d)
Pupil: What do you call / are you calling someone who keeps
talking when people-have stopped listening?
Another pupil: A teacher.
e)
Pupil: What's the difference between teachers and chocolate?
Another pupil: Children like / are liking
chocolate.
f)

Teacher. Harry, how do you manage / are you managing to get so many things
wrong in a day?
Pupil: Because I arrive / am arriving here
early, Miss.
Work in pairs.
Each line below is one line from a
joke or riddle.
Put the lines together to make two other complete
jokes.
Example:
a) Why is it that you always find
something in the last place you look?
f) Because when you find it, you stop looking.
Why is it that you
always find something in the last place you look?
b)
What is everyone in the world doing at this very moment?
c)
What are you writing, Simon?
d)
I don't know, I won't receive it until tomorrow.
e)
Growing older.
Because when you find it, you stop
looking.
g)
And what does it say?
h)
A letter to myself, Miss.

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN
IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC

29
Lift mystery
        Read this story.

the

24b

24

Joe
lives on the 20th floor of a block of flats in London. Every day when he leaves
his flat to go to work at the bank, he gets in lift on the 20th floor and gets
out on the ground floor.

When he returns home from the
bank, he gets in the lift on the ground floor, but he gets out at the 13th
floor and walks up the stairs to the 20th floor. Why?
Z.) Try to memorize these
questions.
Does he know someone on the 13th floor?
Does he want to do some
exercise?
Is he superstitious?
Does he suffer from vertigo or claustrophobia?
Does the lift go from the 13th floor to the 20th
floor?
Is it relevant that he works in a bank?
Does he always get out of the lift at the 13th floor?
If he's not alone in the lift, does he get out at the
13th floor?
Does he have a particular problem?
Work in groups.
Ask questions to find the answer to the problem.

MIND
  TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF
  SCHOLASTIC INC,

30 Chatline acronyms
Chat
about chatlines.
Do
you use chatlines?
How
often? Who do you chat with?
Z) Match the phrases with the
cartoons. a) I am rolling on theb) My parents are listening floor laughing
2
c)
I
am thinking of you
d)
I
am hanging my head in shame
e)

Ha ha I'm only only Joking
g)
I am smiling ear to ear
                     h)   I am
crying
Match
the acronyms below with the phrases in 2.
            1
hhis            2 crbt                  3 hhoJ                 4 (ho
                 5 pal               6 rotfl                    7
sete                   8 toy
MIND
TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND EAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC
INC.
31 Riddles
1.) Can you
solve this ancient riddle?
Ås long as I eat, I live - but
when I drink, I die. What am l?
Z) Put the
verbs from the box into the spaces.
becomes comes -sees has has holds is moves spell use
a)
What .  ..ØQE......... round the house and in the house
but never touches the house?
b)
What is yours but others . more than you?
c)

What .. once in a minute, twice in a moment, but
never in a thousand years?
d)
What is it that is lighter than what it . made of and more of it
is hidden than is seen?
e)
What do you use in the bathroom that . water but is full of
holes?
f)
What . 50 heads but can't think?
g)
What  bigger the more you take away from it?
h)
What word does every dictionary  incorrectly?
i)
What turns everything round but never .
j)
What . 50 legs but can't walk?
         Work in groups.
Can you work out the answers to 2?
If you can't, then match each question to
one of the pictures below.

PUZZIES b
32 Giving directions

AIRPORT
                        New
  Line                                                                                NORTH
 North Line            WEST EAST  Pentagon
  Line   SOUTH

I.) Read and answer the question.
Julia
lives near the university. She has two boyfriends: Tim and Jim. Tim lives near
the Central Train Station, Jim lives near the Cathedral. When she goes to see
them, she travels on the underground. She loves them both equally. So Julia
invents a way to see either Tim or Jim without deciding before which one she is
going to see. In this way she will show no preference for one of them in
particular. The trains for the Central Train Station and for the Cathedral
leave from the same platform. Both trains leave at intervals of ten minutes.
Julia doesn't have a watch or a mobile phone so she doesn't know what time it
is when she arrives at the platform, and there are no clocks at the station.
She then takes the first train that arrives — she doesn't know if this train
will be for the Central Train Station or the Cathedral. But 90% of the time she
goes to the Central Train Station.
Why?
Work in pairs.
You are at the Central Train
Station. Choose another station on the map. Don't tell your partner. Now direct
your partner to the station without saying the names of any stations.
Example:
Take the Pentagon Line going north.
Get off at the sixth stop and get on the New Line going south-east. Get off at
the third stop. Where are you?
Answer: Cathedral.
MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES O
MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC

33 Ask the teacher
1) Write the
past simple and past participle of these irregular verbs.
a)
be         vvas           been.        f) have
b)
break     g) lose
c)
do           h) meet
d)
drive      i) see
e)
fall        j) take
Z) Work in
pairs.
Now use the verbs and the phrases
below to make personal questions to your teacher. Add two questions of your own
at the bottom. The questions must begin:
         Have
you ever       ?
or
Did you when you were younger? (for something finished in the past)
Examples:
Have you ever been to America?
Were you a girl guide when you were
younger?
to America               a
b c a scout / girl guide a b c
a ghost       a b c a different job before
becoming a teacher a b c to university           a b c part in a marathon      a
b c asleep during a lesson        a b c much faster than the speed limit   a b
c someone famous  a b c
something expensive  a b c your wallet / purse a b c on
television a b c long hair    a b c
                                                      a b c
                                                      a b c
Z) Work in
pairs.
Before you ask your teacher the questions,
think about her / his answers.
Will the answer be: a) certainly b)
perhaps c) definitely not? Circle the answers you think.
S) Now ask your teacher the questions and
check your answers to 3.
Are you surprised???!

58

MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES.
  AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

34 Visual game
          Work in pairs.
First read all
three puzzles (a, b, c) below and decide how many minutes you think it will
take to solve them. You have a maximum of five minutes for each one.

For each puzzle, put a mark in one of these
boxes 1—5.
a)
b)
c)
a)

These four matches represent the shape of a wheelbarrow with a plant inside.
Leaving the plant where it is, move two matches to remake the wheelbarrow so
that the plant is outside the wheelbarrow.
Use four matches (or pens) and a
coin to make the wheelbarrow and plant.

b)
Draw this envelope with one continuous line and without going
back on the same line.

c)
Use twelve matches (or pens) to make the picture below.
Now move three matches to new positions
to make three squares.

Z) Work in pairs. Now do the games and see
how long it really takes!

MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES,
  AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

59

35 Horse race
1) Look at these irregular verbs.
Correct the ones which contain a mistake.
Example:
                        take                                     taken               took
a)
become        become became
b)
chose            chose     chosen
c)
cost                costed    costed
d)
fall felt         felt
e)
find               founded              founded
f)
give               gave      given
g)
know            knew    known
h)
meet            met       met
i)
ride               rode      ridden
j)
teach            teached               teached

Z) Put these verbs into the text in the simple past.
1 make 2 ride 3 begin 4 get 5 come 6 say 7 get 8 win
Two friends decided to have a horse race.
They (1) made.. . up new rules: the horse which crosses the line first loses
the race. So they started the race and (2) . very slowly towards
the finishing line. They stopped about 20 metres from the finishing line. They
(3)  to
wonder how they could finish the race and they (4) . off their horses. Then
a girl friend (5)  to talk them. She (6) . something to
both of them and immediately they both (7)  on a horse. Then they
galloped very fast towards the finishing line and one of them (8)  the
race.

What did the girl friend say to the two
men?

.

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES,
  AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC

36 Maths
Underline the correct form of the verbs in
italics.
a)
If a cat and a half eat/ will eat a mouse and a half in an
hour and a half, how long will it take ten cats to eat ten mice?
b)
If an old electric train is going / will go east at 80 km an hour
and the wind is blowing / will blow from the south at 40 km an hour,
which way will the smoke from the train
blow?
c)
You have a ten-volume set of encyclopaedias, which are
arranged
in numerical order on your desk. The
cover of each volume is 3mm thick and the pages take up 3cm. If a bookworm
starts / will start on page 1 of Volume 1 and stops / will stop on the last
page of
Volume 2, how many centimetres will
it travel?

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZIES & GAMES

first conditional and temporal
  clauses

d)
You are getting ready to go to the disco. You are just
about to take some socks out of your drawer when the electricity goes off and
you can't see anything. In your drawer there are only red and blue socks. How
many socks do / will you have to take out before you get / will get two socks
of the same colour?
e)
Farmer Giles has six and a half haystacks on one side of his
field
and seven and a half haystacks on
the other side of his field. If he puts / will put them together, how many
haystacks does / will
f)
A train that is 1 km
long is moving at 60 km an hour. It goes into a tunnel that is I km long. How
long does / will it take until the train is / will be out of the tunnel
completely?
g.) Work in pairs or groups.
Answer the questions in I .
MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY
GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC

37 Silly maths
Work in pairs to solve the problems.
 Be careful, only one requires a real
calculation!
a) A horse is tied to a rope which is
fifteen metres long.

Twenty metres from the horse is some hay, but the horse is still able to eat
it. How?

d)
An assistant in a butcher's shop is one metre ninety tall. What
does he weigh?
e)
How much dirt is there in a hole in the ground which measures
1.5m by 3m and is 1m deep?
f)
Josh's mother has three children: one is called April and one is
called May.
What is the other one called?
g)
Krystal has five letters and five addressed envelopes.
If she puts the letters in the envelopes at random (i.e.
without looking at what she is doing), what are the chances that only four
letters are in their correct envelopes?
h)
Seven people arrive at a business meeting.
Each person shakes
hands once with each of the others. How many handshakes does that make?
MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF
SCHOLASTIC INC.
38
Text messaging

l) Work in pairs.

Quiz: Are you a mobile maniac?
Do you
  have a mobile phone?
If you don't have a mobile phone, imagine you are
  one of your friends who has one.
I
  How many mobiles do you have?
a) one
  b) two c) three d) four or more
2     When did you buy your first
  mobile?
a)  last month b) last year c) three
  years ago
d)
  more than five years ago
3     What colour is it?
a)  grey or black b) blue or green c)
  red d) orange or yellow
4     How often do you use it?
a)  once a week b) once a day c) four
  or five times a day
d)
  more than once an hour
5     How much do you spend a month on
  phone calls / messages?
a)  nothing b) less than most of your
  friends
c) the
  same as your friends d) more than your friends
6     What percentage of the features /
  characteristics of your mobile do you know how to use?
a)  1-25% b)    c) 75% d) 100%
7     How many text messages do you
  send every day?
a)  1
  b) 2-5 c) 6-10 d) 10 +

           Match the text messages with their
meanings.                  Work in groups.
Can you work out these text
messages?
      a) bcnu        1 1
like you
      b) ilq           2 are you alright?          a)
how r u
         c)
oic                3 oh I see
      d)
ruok        4 be seeing you             b) c u 16er 2day

      a                 c                                     c)
r u free 2nite

d) wa 4 me @
the cinema

MIND
TWISTERS, puzzLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC
INC.
39 Loch Ness
Monster
!8) Read the story below and underline the
correct form of the verbs.

The Loch Ness monster exists
and last year a super rich Texan decided / was decided (I) to prove it.
All his photographic equipment sent / was sent (2) from Texas to Loch Ness,
where the Texan and his team put / was put (3) it on an enormous boat. The Texan
spent / was spent (4) a week on the Loch waiting for the monster to appear.
Suddenly one night there was a terrible crash and the Texan found / was found
(5) himself face to face with the monster under the water (unfortunately he
didn't have his camera with him). His boat smashed / was smashed (6) to pieces
by the monster, and the oil, which powered the boat, leaked onto the Loch.
Every day the oil slick doubled / was doubled (7) in size and Scottish
environmental groups became / were become (8) very worried. After
64
days half the Loch covered / was covered (9) by the oil slick.
Z) Work in
groups.
Read the story again and decide how
many more days it took before all the Loch was covered.

MIND
  TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF
  SCHOLASTIC INC.

40 Night watchman

I.) Look at the pictures and then
put the sentences into the correct order.

a)
His boss, Mr
Briggs, had an important business meeting in Paris on Wednesday.
b)
It was Monday
night. Bernard was a night watchman at a bank. His job was to make sure that no
one tried to rob the bank.
c)
On Thursday
morning, Mr Briggs called Bernard to his office and fired him.
d)
On Wednesday Mr
Briggs had a high temperature and he couldn't go to the meeting.
e)
That night
Bernard dreamt the plane his boss was flying in to Paris crashed, killing
everyone on the plane.
f)
The next
morning, Bernard told Mr Briggs about his dream. Mr Briggs said nothing.
g)  The
plane to Paris on Wednesday crashed, killing everyone.
I L-1

Z)
Work in pairs.
Why
did Mr Briggs fire Bernard? Complete the answer below.
Mr
Briggs fired Bernard, because on Monday night Bernard was ..ing instead of -Ing.

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES
AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC

41 Beastly brainteasers
el) Work in pairs.
First read all
the puzzles (a, b, c, d) below and decide which two are the easiest and which
two are the most difficult.
a)   The Duchess of Sasso Ritto had six
pieces of silver chain, with four links in each piece.
She
went to a jeweller and asked him to make it into one long chain, open at both
ends. The jeweller said: 'The cost will depend on how many times I open and
close a ring. The more rings I open and the more rings I close, the more it
will cost you. So, if I open the end of each chain and link it to the next,
that will be ten operations, because each opening is one operation and each
closing is one operation.'

The Duchess replied: 'That
would cost too much. Please do it in eight operations.' Did the jeweller manage
to do it in eight operations?

b)   Look at the
four lines below. Draw in five more lines to make ten.

c)   Use 14 coins
and place them along the edges of your desk, so that there are the same number
of coins on each edge.
d)   Make two
triangles using five matches or pens.
Work in pairs.
Now solve the two puzzles which you
thought were easiest.

MIND
  TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES e MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF
  SCHOLASTIC INC.

42 Detectives
g.) Work in
groups.
You are detectives. Look at the
picture and decide how Anthony (A) and Cleopatra (C) died. Note: some details
are relevant, others are not relevant.
Imagine your teacher was a witness.

Write down some questions to ask her / him.

Z) As a class,
ask your teacher your questions and try to solve the case.
MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES g
MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC 'NC.
43 Hotel mystery
Look at your picture. Don't show it
to anyone else. Describe it to the other students and find out what is in their
pictures.
Then decide what order the pictures
go in to make a story.
Look at your picture. Don't show it to
anyone else.
Describe it to the other students and find
out what is
0 in their
pictures.
Then decide what order the pictures
go in to make a story.

Look at your picture. Don't show it to anyone else. Describe it to the other
students and find out what is in their pictures.
Then decide what order the
pictures go in to make a story.
Look at your picture. Don't show it to
anyone else. Describe it to the other students and find out what is in their
pictures.
Then decide what order the
pictures go in to make a story.
Look at your picture. Don't show it to
anyone else.
Describe it to the other students and find
out what is
0 in their
pictures.
Then decide what order the pictures
go in to make a story.
68 MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF
SCHOLASTIC INC.

44 Doctor jokes
'a) Match the beginnings of these jokes with
their endings.

1   Doctor, doctor! My
  little girl has swallowed a pen. What can I do?
2   Doctor, doctor! I
  feel like a yo-yo.
3   Doctor, doctor! I
  can't stop myself stealing things.
4
  Doctor, doctor! Everyone keeps ignoring me.
5   Doctor, doctor! I
  keep thinking there are two of me.

a)  Sit
  down, sit down, sit down.
b)  Don't
  both talk at once please.
c)   Next please.
d)
  Use a pencil until I get there.
e)
  Have you taken anything for it?

Z) Work in pairs.
Decide on the best answer in each joke.

FIRST LINE

SECOND LINE

THIRD LINE

a) Doctor, doctor! I keep seeing
  double.

e) Bring
  him to see me then.

i) I can't get the top off the
  bottle.

b) Doctor, doctor! I keep seeing
  fish.

f) Have
  you seen an optician?

j) I can't, he doesn't stop at your
  floor.

c) Doctor, doctor!
My husband thinks he's a lift.

g) Lie on the couch,vplease.

k) Look I told you, it's fish that I
  see.

d) Doctor, doctor! Those strength pills
  you gave me aren't doing me any good.

h) Why
  not?

l) Which one?

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES O
  MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

1

Doctor, doctor! I think I'm an     4 Doctor, doctor! I've
only got apple.     59 seconds to live.
a)
Are you red or green?   a) I haven't got all day.
b)
Come over here — I won't bite  b) Wait a minute please. you.
2      Doctor,
doctor! I can't stop         5 Doctor, doctor, I keep thinking talking to
myself.          I'm invisible.
a)
I wondered why you were          a) Who said that?
                looking
so bored.                              b) Well, see an optician.
b)
Well shut up then.
3      Doctor,
doctor! I get this              6 Doctor, doctor. No one

feeling
  that no one can hear

believes a word I say.

what I'm
  saying.

a) Are you
  sure?

a)
What seems to be the   b) Tell me the truth now, what's
trouble?            your REAL problem?
b)
Yes, I know what you mean.
3D Work in
pairs.
These four 'doctor, doctor' jokes have got
muddled up.
Separate them and put them in the correct
order. Each one has three lines (first, second, third)
45 Crack the code

I)
Use the phrases below to write questions.
Your
questions should begin: Do you (ever)...? and Have you (ever) .
Examples:
              use / chatlines                      Do
you ever use chatlines?
lose / your mobile
phone Have you ever lost your mobile phone?

Group 1 cheat / in an exam
cook / at home forget / to do your homework go / to school on foot listen / to
classical music meet / an American person read / Harry Potter books ride / a
motorbike shop / for food steal / something from a shop swim / at midnight
watch / films in English win / a prize write / a poem
Group 2
be / sent out of class break / a window eat / Chinese
food get / top marks in a test go / to the cinema make / your computer crash
not study / for a test play / any sports speak / in English outside class stay
/ up all night talk / to your friends during lessons tell / lies to your
parents travel / by hovercraft visit / the capital of another country

You
will now play a game where you ask questions and work out a code!

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW
  MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

46 English humour
pairs. Match the beginnings of the jokes
(1-7) with their endings (a-g).
1       Teacher:
Frederick, this letter from your mother, it looks like your handwriting.
Pupil:
.

2       Teacher. Where's your homework on
memory?
Pupil:
.

3       Teacher:
Isabelle, you should have been here at 9 0'clock.
Pupil:
.

4       pupil:
Help, I've lost my memory. Teacher: When did this happen?
Pupil:
.

5       Teacher:
You weren't at school last Friday, Thomas. I heard you were out playing
football all day.
Pupil:
6       Pupil:
Please Miss, there's something wrong with me, I can see into the future.
Teacher: That's incredible. When did your problem start?
Pupil:
7       Teacher:
Which country do you like the best?

Pupil: Kyrgyzstan.
Teacher: Can you spell it?
Pupil: .
a)
I forgot / have forgotten to take it home, so I couldn't do it.
b)
I changed / have changed my mind, Spain.
 c) It started / has started next
Thursday.
d)
That's because she borrowed / has borrowed my pen.
e)
That's not true Miss, I did not play/ haven't played football.
I've got the cinema tickets to prove it.
f)
When did what happen / has what happened?
g)
Why, what happened / has happened?
2_) Now
underline the correct form of the verbs in italics. Then write the endings of
the jokes in the spaces.
MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES O
MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

47 Shoe mystery
I)                       groups.
Can you solve this mystery?
 young woman buys a pair of new
shoes. She goes to work and dies.

MIND
  TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC
  INC.

Look at the four pictures below and decide which one offers the best
explanation for her death. Then write the story, explaining why the new shoes
were responsible for her death.

2) Work in groups.
Read the stories written by the other
groups. Decide whose is the best story. Your teacher will then give you the
solution.

48 School
facilities
groups.
You are the
governors of your school.
You have €10 to
spend on making your school better.

MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES

GAMES u MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN
  IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC.

Look at the list below and decide how best to spend your money.

Work in groups.
Now explain your choices to another group.
Example:
We are going to have a new science laboratory so we
can do more experiments.

49 Logic games
Put the verbs into the texts.
The verbs should be in the past simple
(e.g. she came) or past continuous (e.g. she was coming). a)
1 come 280
3 cook 4 run 5100k 6 listen 7 know
                       8
tell 9 tell                                            10 know 11 lie 12 lie 13
listen 14 come
A mother (1)
..catne..........home from work one evening. She (2) . into the kitchen where her
husband (3)  dinner.
She could hear a CD playing in the next room. She (4) . into the room and turned off the
music. She then (5)  at
her two sons and two daughters, and asked angrily;
'Who (6)  to an Eminem CD?'
'I wasn't,' said Julia, her elder
daughter.
'It
was one of the girls,' said Richard, her younger son. 'No it wasn't,' said
Adrian, her elder son, 'it was Richard.'

MIND
  TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES O MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF
  SCHOLASTIC INC,

'Thaes
not true,' said Anna, her younger daughter.
The mother (7)  that on this occasion three of her
children
(8)the truth because they always (9)  the truth. But she also (10)that one of them (11)  because that child
always (12)
so, who (13)to the CD when their mother (14) home?
b)
Z) Work in
groups. Solve the two problems.

50 Alibi
Look at the pictures below.
They tell the story of a DJ who
murders his wife and thinks he has the perfect alibi. But something goes wrong
and his alibi is blown!

Put the pictures in order (pictures 1, 10 and 1 1 are already in the correct
order).

Z) Work in pairs. Decide what happened in
picture 10.
Here's a clue: what did the DJ hear on the
radio?
                                                                                MIND
TWISTERS, puzzLES       GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC
INC.
51 Barman
3.) Look at the
pictures.

Why did the barman point a gun at the girl? Why did the
girl say 'thank you'?

4

3

To help you answer these questions,
underline the correct form of the verb.
a)
Did the barman know / Had the barman known the girl?
b)
Did the barman see / Had the barman seen her before somewhere?
c)
Did the girl ever go / Had the girl ever been to this bar before?
d)
Did she only ask / Had she only asked for something to drink?
e)
Were there / Had there been any other people in the bar at that
moment?
f)
Did the girl arrange / Had the girl arranged to meet someone else
in the bar?
g)
Was the girl / Had the girl been shocked when the barman pointed
the gun at her?
h)
Did the barman shoot / Had the barman shot the girl?
i)
Was the girl / Had the girl been thirsty?
j)
Did she want / Had she wanted to take some pills or medicine?
k)
Did the girl have / Had the girl had another type of problem?
I) Did the girl ever have / Had the girl
ever had this problem before?
m) Did the barman solve / Had the barman
solved this problem when he pointed the gun at her?
Memorize some of the questions.
Now cover the page and ask your teacher
the questions.
76 MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF
SCHOLASTIC INC,
52 Mysteries
          Work
in groups. Here are some mysteries for you to solve.
1
Emma wakes up
in the middle of the night and smells smoke.
She
knows she is in danger from the fire. She does not try to leave the room where
she is sleeping. Why?
2
Helena had not
been seen for 24 hours. The police sent out a search party. They discovered her
in a couple of hours covered in blood in an abandoned building. A few hours
later, it was confirmed that she had been shot twice. Even though the police
had no other physical evidence, they arrested the murderer.
How did the police know the identity of the murderer?
3
Teresa decides
to buy a new stereo system and to sell her old one to a stranger. The stranger
wants to pay in cash. Teresa accepts but says that the stranger must give her
the money in front of a bank clerk in a bank. Why?
4
Petra is
talking to her lawyer in prison. They are both angry because the judge didn't
grant bail. But at the end of their discussion, Petra is allowed to go home.
Why?
5

Mrs Smith, who lives alone
with her daughter Natasha, suspects that Natasha's boyfriend has been staying
in their house. But her daughter says that she has spent the day by herself and
that her boyfriend was out with his friends. In reality, the boyfriend has
spent the day in the house, so Natasha has made sure that he has not left anything
behind. But Mrs Smith soon finds evidence that Natasha's boyfriend really has
spent the day with Natasha in the house.
What evidence
does Mrs Smith find?
Work in groups.
Here are ten solutions, but only
five can be matched to the mysteries. Decide which ones can't go with any of
the mysteries, and then which ones must go with one particular

mystery.
a)
She was a police officer herself.
b)
She was alone.
c)
She lives next door to the bank.
d)
She is in a prison cell.
e)
She can smell perfume.
f)
She is blind.
g)
She wasn't dead when she was found. So she was able to reveal the
identity of her killers.
h)
She sees that the toilet seat is up.
i)
She was only visiting.

MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES
  MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES, AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC 'NC.

k) She kisses the guard.

53 Manager's
dilemma
Look at these pictures.

Your teacher will tell a story. As you listen, put the pictures in the correct
order.

Work in groups. Can
you think of a solution?
Write the whole story.
78 MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES e MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN IMPRINT
OF SCHOLASTIC INC

54 Enigmas

1) Match the beginnings of these jokes with their
punchlines.

a) What
  would you do if you saw an elephant sleeping in

1 Very very ugly.

your bed?

2 Ten euros. I don't have a sister.

b) If you
  had five cakes and the boy next to you took three, what would you have?

3 Sleep somewhere else.

c) Hugo,
  if you had ten euros and you gave five to your

4 1 would have the wrong clothes on.

sister, what would you have?
d)
  If you had 100 dollars in one pocket and 50 dollars in the
  other pocket, what would you have?
e)
  If you saw something with two mouths, three noses and four
  eyes, what would you call it?

5 A big fight.

Z) Work in
groups.
Solve the brainteaser.
You
are in the middle of the Sahara desert, dying of thirst. You meet two men who
know where there is water. One of these men always tells the truth, the other
always tells lies. What question would you ask one of them if you wanted to
find out which was the road to water?
If you can't think of a solution, decide
which of the three solutions below is the correct one.
a)
Ask the one who tells the truth: 'If you were the liar, what
would you say?' Then do what he says.
b)
Ask the liar: 'What would you say?' Then do what he says.
c)
Ask either the one who tells the truth or the liar: 'If you were
him, what would you say?' Then do the opposite.
MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES e
MARY GLASGOW MAGAZINES. AN IMPRINT OF SCHOLASTIC INC

alt: Guess the object it vs one 15 45 23

alt: Did someone poison them? (no)

alt: Teacher's Notes 1 Classroom 1

alt: Key: (a) The third mouse is a liar! (b)

alt: Individual work then whole class

alt: Key: 1 a bicycle, 2 (the top of) a bottle, 3 a chair, 4 (a bar of) chocolate, 5 an ear, 6 a fish, 7…

alt: Pair work 3 pair work 26

alt: Detectives Note: Read page 5 of the

alt: Difficult vocabulary: crack, code 1

alt: In addition, form one other group: the

alt: 1 Colours

alt: MIND TWISTERS. PUZZLES AND GAMES

alt: MIND TWISTERS, PUZZLES AND GAMES

alt: Coin game The four moves are: 1) 2 and 3 to 9 and 10 2) 5 and 6 to 2 and 3 3) 8 and…

alt: I 6 MIND

alt: Beastly brainteasers b) c) e alphabet 1

alt: Countries 0) What are the countries?

alt: Now write the languages / nationalities

alt: These clocks are reflected in a mirror

alt: Work in groups. Solve the brainteaser

alt: Qv .pu.r.R/e.

alt: The eighth month of the year. b)

alt: Spot the difference Work in pairs

alt: Spot the difference B Work in pairs

alt: Habits words below with the pictures

alt: B c

alt: Picture puzzles Work in pairs

английский язык

group: Дисциплины

title: ГРАММАТИЧЕСКИЕ ИГРЫ