- Students are standing in line at the entrance. You are the classroom's bouncer. Do your best impression, wear sunglasses if you have to. Have a poster with all the months on it not too far.
- Pick a rule to assign the password to the classroom. Here are some examples:
- Summer months: June, July, August & September
- -er months: September, October, November & December
- -y months: January, February, May & July
- On a whiteboard, write down one of the months. Students cannot say that month, but they should use it as a clue.
- One at a time, students come up to you and whisper their answer in your ear. If they're right, they can go in. If not, they go to the end of the line. Once they're inside, they have to (quietly) try to find the rule together. The JTE/HRT can be inside with them and help.
- Once a same student is back at the front, write down one more month on the whiteboard.
- Re-do steps 5 & 6 until everyone is inside or the 4 months have been written down on the whiteboard.
- Go back inside and reveal the rule.
I will play this game three or four times with my students, on different dates. The first time, it will be the last activity of class and I will take my time to explain it. The second and third time, it will be the first activity. If your classroom is really noisy, the gym, lunch room, or any spare room away from other classes for that matter, could be used instead.