1.

Complete the story using the verb to be (present/past) (+ or -):

Date:___________________________
Mr. Hoover _____ investigating the murder of Mrs. Elliot. She _____ found in the
swimming poll. He _____ asking questions to all the people who _____ at her house last
night.

Friends

 Leonard _____ a friend. He _____ in the living room waiting for Mrs. Elliot to come
back from the bathroom. He _____ in the house to ask her to lend him money and she
said no.

Employees
 Samantha _____ the cook. She lives in the house and doesn’t like her job. Yesterday,
she _____ crying in the kitchen because Mrs. Elliot _____ mean to her.
 Tom _____ the driver. He _____ in the garage because he _____ washing the car. The
garage _____ next to the swimming pool.
 Lisa _____ the maid. She _____ very happy with her job and says Mrs. Elliot _____
always nice to her. But she _____ happy about her salary. She _____ sleeping last night
because she _____ sick.

Family
  Lead-in: ask if students like murder mystery books like Agatha Christies’.
 Ask them to do exercise 2 by themselves, and then ask them to compare their answers
Date:___________________________
with a partner. Correct it on the board or with a projector.

ANSWERS
Mr. Hoover is investigating the murder of Mrs. Elliot. She was found in the swimming poll.
He is asking questions to all the people who were at her house last night.

Friends

 Leonard is a friend. He was in the living room waiting for Mrs. Elliot to come back from
the bathroom. He was in the house to ask Mrs. Elliot for money and she said no.

o Employees
 Samantha is the cook. She lives in the house and doesn’t like her job. Yesterday, she
was crying in the kitchen because Mrs. Elliot was mean to her.
 Tom is the driver. He was in the garage because he was washing the car. The garage is
next to the swimming pool.
 Lisa is the maid. She was very happy with her job and says Mrs. Elliot was always nice
to her. But she wasn’t happy about her salary. She was sleeping last night because she
was sick.

o Family
 James and Ciara are Mrs. Elliot’s siblings. They aren’t friendly and weren’t very good to
Mrs. Elliot, they are/were always fighting. Yesterday they were in their bedrooms.
 Roy is Mrs. Elliot’s son. He says he is a web designer but people say he doesn’t work.
He wasn’t sad when Mr. Hoover arrived; in fact he was a bit too happy. Last night he
says he wasn’t in the house.
 Carl is Mrs. Elliot ex-husband. He was in the library picking some of his books he left in
the house. People say their marriage wasn’t good because he wasn’t a good husband
and beat her. He wasn’t happy about the divorce because now he is poor.

 Ask them to do n.2, then discuss their answers in group.

 You can role-play the activity by asking students to be each of the suspects; they have
to build over the initial alibi. You can also tell a strong student to be the killer and give
the extra task of not letting the others find out. If it’s a weak class, ask them to write
before the role-play, if not, just hand out the cards.

You are Leonard, You are James, the

 the friend brother
You are Samantha, You are Ciara, the
Date:___________________________

the cook sister

You are Tom, the You are Roy, the
driver (you are the killer, son
don’t say to the group)

You are Lisa, the You are Carl, the

maid ex-husband