The Price is Right

Preparation

Get some flashcards and on each one paste an everyday object; on the reverse put the price in local currency. You can take pictures and prices from sites like Amazon.com or a local shop or online retailer in your country.

You can optionally include a short description but you don't want to give too much away (the description should come from the students themselves).

Running the Activity

Introduce the game by showing a random card to the class. Elicit from them what it is, and go into as much detail as you can about the object.

For example, in the card show on this page begin with just television and then ask for more detail - as much really as the class can know or be expected to know. Thus for a class of children you can keep this basic, e.g. colour television. For a teenage class who might be more knowledgeable about these things it could be Sony colour television, high definition, 55 inch. Of course is this were a class of technicians who work for Sony then this could be far more involved. The idea is to get as much information out of your class as you can.

Once you've done this, ask the class to give you a price for the object. Go around each student and get a unique price from everyone.

Once you have this turn the card over and reveal the price. In the case of the Sony Television it was $2,896 USD from Amazon.com. The student who is the closest "wins" the object.

When the class have understood the the basic principle you can start to play a little more with the game and involve the whole class more. For example, whoever won the previous prize has to come up an "sell" the next object, extolling the virtues and persuading the students that it is the greatest thing in the world.

Alternatively you can have the class work in small teams; once you have explained the object encourage them to get together to work out a reasonable price for it.