The Super-Duper Pair

“How about playing a game today? I’m sure you all will enjoy playing the game called The Super-Duper Pair.” I thought of starting the class with the above statement but changed my mind at the last moment. True, the game was hugely popular with one section of XI a few weeks back but that does not guarantee its success in the other sections. Students can never be the same in all sections and enthusiasm does not rub off on to them like hair cream!

So, I started off in the usual, monotonous tone (from a student’s point of view) by asking them to make a couple of questions from the essay entitled ‘African Noel’ we finished reading a couple of days back. Then very smartly I talked about the rules of the game without telling them directly that they were the rules to be followed. The class would be working in pairs (there were 37 students present at that time, so besides the 18 pairs, I asked one of them to try to frame the questions by himself). Each pair was to try to make 2 MCQs in 5 minutes and copy the questions down on a piece of paper next. The answers to their questions should be recorded in their notebooks to avoid any confusion and ensure some sort of fairplay. Then one member of the pair was to go round trying to collect as many questions as possible in the next 25 minutes from the other pairs. They will be given 30 minutes altogether for making and collecting the questions. They were to get back to their seats at the end of the stipulated time and correct their answers in consultation with the teacher. The pair with the highest number of questions collected and answered correctly was to be declared the winner.

The game started off at a leisurely pace, but picked up momentum after 5 minutes. The students’ sincere attempts to try to collect as many questions from the other pairs as they could were for all to see. At my signal, after the stipulated time, the students got back to their respective seats. I had the question papers handed to me. We had scarcely finished discussing the answers when the gong was rung. I tried to save some time by not reading out the repeated questions ( I have typed some questions at the end of the blog for the benefit of any teacher who may be interested in playing a similar kind of game with his/her class).

Finally, Krishna and Kabita informed me that they had 42 questions (in the heat and rushof the moment, they actually counted the number of questions answered incorrectly)! Though they told me honestly that they were not sure about the number of questions they had answered correctly.

Anyway, the positives were that by playing the game, students learnt something about the technique of making questions. They might have also realized that making questions is never an easy job. They must have had a lot of fun during their interactions while collecting questions and trying to figure out their correct answers in pairs.

On the reflective side, I should have ensured somehow that they were speaking to one another in no other language than English (Difficult if the room happens to be as large as Class XI Com). And I should have told them in a clear-cut manner that only MCQs were to be accepted (A couple of students made short questions while one more made Fill in the Blanks type questions). Such questions are to be considered null and void with the erring pair penalized by asking them to stop going ahead with the game and start making new MCQs instead.

A game like The Super-Duper Pair may be a welcome change once in a while. Thus energized, the students are expected to be mentally more alert and prepared for the next lesson.

Here are some of the questions made by the students:

Ø  What indicates the wealth of the Chief?

A.     Sunglasses.  B.  Swiss Army Knife.  C.  L.L.Bean Shirt.  D.  Turban.

Ø  What does the sentence ‘Je comprends’ mean?

A.     I understand.  B. You understand.  C. We understand.  D. They understand.

Ø  The genre of this essay is-

A.     Narrative.  B.  Descriptive.  C.  Argumentative.  D. Persuasive.

Ø  “Avont’ is a French word meaning-

A.     Before.  B. after.  C. that day.  D. the day before.

Ø  The writer of this essay is –

A.     Khuswant Singh.  B.  Nancy Dorey.  C.  Mark Patinkin.  D. H.L.Hendricks.

Ø  The nomads have lost their land due to –

A.     Landslide.  B. earthquake.  C. drought.  D. famine.

Ø  How many people were there in the tent during dinner?

A.      15.  B.  5.  C.  16.  D.  6.

Ø  The parting gift given to the author by the Toureg Chief, was a –

A.      Silk turban.  B. blue silk turban.  C.  Blue turban.  D. turban.

Here is anyone willing to give The Super-Duper Pair a try, all the very best of Luck and Success.