Hansel, Gretel and the police (no-prep lesson idea)

We’re done with Halloween, but long murky evenings, cold days, hot chocolate and sweater weather simply invite you to do some nice storytelling, with a mandatory twist. And if you were to think of dark stories where you can come up with a twist, your first idea would probably be the Grimm brothers and their wickedly educational masterpieces.

I used brothers Grimm as an inspiration for a great lesson idea that worked well for my students (both for my teens aged 13+ as well as adults), so naturally I want to share it with you – so whenever you feel slightly mischievous and have no lesson plan ready, you may go with a tale and a twist.

And the twist is extremely simple: the tale is over, the good side wins, the bad side is severely punished (and usually mauled or dead)… and suddenly a police officer appears ready for collecting statements and asking with a frown “well, well, well… and what has happened here?” – and this is exactly where our lesson begins.

Whole class – warm-up and reviewing the story: 15 mins

If you want some pre-class preparation, ask your students to either revise a tale (like pre-read Hansel and Gretel – it’s a good exercise for weaker groups as they will revise vocabulary) or just do it together in the classroom. Just don’t read the story aloud, make it a storytelling experience.

Groupwork – who is who: 5 mins

You will need to divide the groups in teams. The first team will be culprits and/or accomplices, the other team will be the police/prosecutors. In the case of Hansel and Gretel I divided my group in three teams. One team would be Gretels, the other Hansels and the third – the police.

Groupwork – creating alibi/making questions: 20 mins

Now it’s time to divide your students in teams and ask them to prepare their plans. The culprits prepare their version of the story, the accomplices their own, trying to corroborate the version of the culprit and the police creating the list of questions to help them find the perpetrator.

The important thing is that the culprits and their accomplices do not prepare their versions together – that means all Gretels work together and all Hansels work together, and both teams work independently.

Groupwork – acting out the interrogation: 30 mins

This activity is the main part of the lesson. We create teams with one culprit, one accomplice and one police officer and ask them to act out the interrogation scene. If you know students might need more help, you may assign more “police” to the interrogation (perfect for good and bad cop cliche). Give them 30 minutes and ask to find out the real course of events.

Whole class – summing up the interrogation: 10 mins

Each team will definitely want to present their own story – give them an opportunity to discover the truth! Probably each team will have their own version, but that’s something that will make this activity even more interesting. Enjoy and let them laugh!

Whole class – summing up the lesson + vocabulary/grammar: 10 mins

Every lesson should end with a proper summing up, all the lexis and grammar covered, asking for feedback etc. Don’t forget to include it in your lesson – it might have been fun, but your students have learnt something. Be sure to show them the educational value of the lesson!

Now, I showed my idea on Hansel and Gretel as this story provides many opportunities for twists: “But, sir, our father and stepmother told us to leave and never come back! It’s literally child neglect, that’s what!” Imagine, though, such scenario with Little Red Riding Hood and an evident murder of a wolf (“which is a crime as it’s a protected species! – and you say, miss, it pretended to be your grandma and ate her whole though she’s standing right here next to the carcass? And the hunter was so conveniently nearby?”), or even Hamlet (“you say the Prince was a mass murderer?”).

This lesson works best when your students are clearly tired and going like “can we just talk in English today” – they will love this idea and won’t even realise how much they’ll learn. More than that, you can use this scenario as a project for a crime-related lesson. I’m sure your students will enjoy this as much as mine did.

Enjoy!