When I was nine, I managed to get my hands on a copy of the Hobbit and I read it ravenously - a lot of the time hidden under the bed covers with a torch. One of my favourite parts in that story is when Bilbo gets lost in caverns under the Misty Mountains, happens upon the frightful Gollum, and ends up engaging in a riddle contest with him.
Here are two of the many riddles from the chapter "Riddles in the Dark" that have - for whatever reason - stuck with me ever since:
Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.
Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.
The answers (just in case you're not familiar with The Hobbit, or else can't guess them straight off!) are "teeth" and "fish" respectively.
My main point here is that almost everybody likes riddles. They capture our imagination and throw down a sort of cognitive gauntlet that human beings just can't seem to resist! You'll hear riddles in playgrounds, but also around the table at dinner parties, or around campfires.
Bearing in mind this "irresistible" aspect of riddles, I've always enjoyed using them in English language learning classrooms as well - and they are surprisingly appealing across a very broad range of ages and levels.
I've used certain riddles time and time again in my classrooms. These are more situational cause-and-effect style riddles (where we state the main broad "effect", and it is up to the learners to ask a variety of questions to flesh out the relevant details and then make an accurate guess as to the "cause"). Basically, once they hear the summary, the learners are then allowed to ask me any questions they like - bearing in mind that I can only answer "Yes", "No" or "Maybe". This gives them very active practice with Yes/No question formation, but within a very context-rich and motivating communicative activity.
Here are some of the most common riddles I've used!
1. A man is driving down a highway late at night, and he's quite tired. He eventually pulls over at a motel, but sees that it is on fire. He gets out of the car, stares at the flames and screams "Nooooo!"
So why is the man so upset?
Okay - this one is easy, and I usually use it as a warm up for students (if you'll forgive the potential pun there). The man is upset because he is the owner of the motel, of course!
2. Mr. Higgins lives in a seven-floor apartment building. He lives on the sixth floor. Every morning, Mr. Higgins comes out of his apartment, gets in the elevator and goes down to the first floor, and then goes to work. He comes back from work around 5 p.m., gets in the elevator and goes up to the third floor. He gets out there and walks up the stairs to his apartment on the sixth floor. He does this every day.
So why does Mr. Higgins get out on the third floor and take the stairs? Why not take the elevator all the way up to the sixth floor?
I'll let you try to work this one out, but for now I can tell you that Mr. Higgins doesn't take the stairs to get exercise each day, and he doesn't visit anybody on the 3rd-5th floors, etc.
3. There is an old log cabin deep in the woods. Inside, there is a man tied to a chair, covered in blood.
What happened?
This one is my all-time favourite, and gets my learners really absorbed in figuring out the mystery. The man is dead, but hasn't been murdered. He hasn't committed suicide, though he was the one who tied himself to the chair. Further questioning can reveal nobody has visited the cabin in years, the man didn't drive or walk there, the cabin door is locked, there is a mess of broken wood covering the floor, and a whopping great hole in the roof...
I'm sure you can figure that one out now, but it sure has my learners guessing and asking loads of questions for a long time before the actual answer emerges.
So what about other educators out there?
Do you use riddles in your language learning classrooms? Which ones go down well with your learners?
How do you use riddles to maximise not only interest/motivation, but also language learning and application?
:-)
