Compulsive Liars

On the site ESL Go I found an interesting activity called "Unbelievable Story," which basically has a student tell a story about having met Tom Cruise during an LA taxi ride. Then another student must argue and say they don't believe the story. I thought a starter like this might be good, but imagine how great our students would speak English if they were compulsive liars! Maybe a day should be set aside for students to exaggerate everything!

I know in my Russian, I tend to give an awful lot of "normalno"s when people ask how I'm doing. Maybe on this particular day, you could begin the class by telling students you felt like you were hit by a bus--and then proceed to insist that it really happened, with each detail making the accident seem worse and worse. After the students begin to insist that it's not true, you can explain the day's mission: lie as you have never lied before!

This should also provide some great synonym practice. When it's the students' turn to say how they are, they don't just feel "okay." They feel great, awesome, wonderful, magnificent-- or bad, awful, terrible, miserable, wretched! (And if they insist they're only okay? Well, then they're ambivalent or nonchalant, which will be a lot harder on them!)

And, of course, I will ask the students just why they happen to feel this way, which should elicit some fun results. After one student has exhausted their lying capacity, I might ask if any student can top their experience. The discussion can focus on whatever you wish, so long as you ask the right questions. If we happen to be working on time expressions, for example, the conversation might go like this:

S: I'm tired.
T: How long has it been since you slept?
S: Four days.
T: Well, that's nothing. I bet Dima isn't just tired. He's exhausted. How long has it been since you slept, Dima?
S: Two months.
T: You haven't slept in two months? Why not?
S: I flew to the moon.
T: I fly to the moon every weekend, but I still sleep every night. When will you finally get some sleep? (etc.)

I think young adults would have a lot of fun with an activity like this. It could also be adapted into a writing activity, or a getting-to-know-you session. Students could tell stories about their lives and discuss whether they though each others' were true or false.

It could also work well with other activities listed on the site, just to spice them up, such as "Restaurant Interview." In this activity, some students are restaurant owners, and some are applicants who have no experience but really need the money. Lying seems to be the only option, but what if the interviewer wants to try them out in the kitchen? Maybe they happen to be a master chef allergic to salt, or the lack of feng shui in the kitchen is giving them too much of a headache to work right now. In America, you can't refuse to hire someone because of their health issues!

Whatever you decide to do, just make sure they know you're not lying about the homework!