I made this Murder Mystery review game by borrowing from a lot of the materials already out there on this site so thank you to all who contributed! I hope that others find this helpful and easy to change to fit their own lesson plans.
This lesson reviews material from lessons 6-8. The idea was to have students practice the key expressions as well as review the information in other parts of the textbook by wrapping the whole thing up in a murder that happened at their school. I got permission from my co-teachers to use their names and create fake stories for each of them to complete this lesson. I also included myself in the lesson as well. The whole story, suspects, and clues are included in the materials, you just have to change the names.
There are 4 major steps to this Murder Mystery game and I found that it's easier to explain to the students as they go through the steps rather than give them all the information at once.
1. Introduce the game, tell the story, and give the students the facts about the suspects. I largely rely on the PPT for this part because students will be able to read the information in addition to hearing me say it.
2. Give each team their envelopes and allow them to discuss their clue. In my classes, I had students create 6 groups of four. In each group, everyone got the same envelope with the same clue inside and were given a few minutes to discuss and understand their clue with their group.
3. Split up the original groups to make clue-finding groups. Each of the students' envelopes has a different number (1-4) on it. All 1's, 2's, 3's, and 4's group together and share their different clues. I wanted to add a speaking component to this so, in order to share their clue with another person in their clue-finding group, I had them practice a short dialogue using the key expressions from lessons 6-8 (See picture of the envelopes at the end of the PPT). This wasn't easy to enforce but if you have a good class they may actually follow the rule.
4. After giving them ample time to trade and discuss the clues with their clue-finding group, all students return to their seats and work to find the final clue with their original group. They must complete a textbook scavenger hunt crossword puzzle and use it as a key to decode the final clue. Once they have done this, they can take a guess at who the murderer is and get a reward! (See picture of the finished worksheet at the end of the PPT)
Murder Mystery Review Game PPTClues - Print, cut up, and put in envelopes. This doc also includes the final clue which you need to update to include the names of you and your co-teacher. The key is provided for reference.
Textbook Scavenger Hunt Crossword Worksheet - Print out a copy and add numbers to make a key for students to solve the final clue (see image of completed worksheet at the end of PPT)
