
The Moon Is Round
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This is a parlour game we did as kids in England. While tracing a simple picture of a face on the desk in front of you, you say "the moon is round, has 2 eyes, a nose and a mouth." and invite everyone else in turn to do exactly the same as you. BUT the secret is, you must do a little cough before you start, and this is the key to doing it correctly. Students will concentrate very hard on saying the sentence correctly but invariably miss the cough. Sometimes people get the cough by mistake, feel triumpant, and are then dismayed to find they get it wrong next time round. As it slowly dawns on people what the secret is, you can end up with everyone doing it together, putting in an enormous chorus of coughing and choking at the start, and the one or 2 still in the dark STILL don't get it...
In the same vein, there's passing a pair of scissors around the group saying "I hand these scissors to you crossed" or "... uncrossed" and the secret involves crossing your legs as you say it. In fact you can contrive almost anything, maybe using target sentences or pronunciation, and whatever obscure physical mannerism you wish to append.
Be aware of cultural nonos among the students you're working with, of course...
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