This is a simple trick in which you ask multiple volunteers to imagine they are doing a chore, and you are able to read their minds and know what chore they are thinking of, but it can very easily be adapted to other areas.
-
-
- Read your students’ minds.
- A very interactive trick
- Skills: Listening, reading & speaking (interaction)
- For practicing: Chores & housework.
-
Demonstration & Explanation
Think-a-bit tip #1, adapting the trick to other areas: 
This trick is based on a very old magic effect called “Mental Yarn”. Watch it here:
Now, you probably realised that all the even-numbered words in the video were all related to cars, so it doesn’t matter what number you chose, you will always relate your word to the sports car. Using a “to-do list” in order to practice household chores works really well in this trick, because it’s normal to write lists of things we have to do. But if you are a biology teacher or a history teacher, how can you adapt this trick to your classes? Well, instead of a list chores, why not make a list of illnesses? Numbers 1 and 10 can be “arrhythmia” and “cancer” respectively, while numbers 2 to 9 can all be STDs (AIDS, clap, gonorrhea, syphilis… etc.) so now that your student has inevitably chosen an STD, read out a list of organs (“the heart”, “the brain”, “the eyes”, “the genitals”… etc.) and ask your student to associate his illness to one of the organs. The only organ that matches the illness that your student is thinking of are the genitals! To give extra punch to your mind-reading skills, you could also add that your student is thinking of “a sexually transmitted disease”.
Alternatively, if you are a history teacher, you can write a list of historical events. Numbers 1 and 10 can be “the invention of the press” and “the fall of the Berlin Wall” respectively, while numbers 2 to 9 can all be different wars (civil war, the reconquista, the first world war, the French revolution, the invasion of Irak, the storming of the Bastille… etc.) so knowing that your student has chosen a war, read out a list of concepts which your student must associate his historical event with. If you read out concepts like “un invento”, “the end of the URSS”, “a trip”, “a prize”, “a birth”, “a war”… etc. then the only concept that your student can associate his event to is “una guerra”.
Think-a-bit tip #2: As I mention in the video, if you have three or four different lists with different things in positions 2 to 9, then you could repeat the trick. And if you’re able to switch the lists without your students noticing, and you make it look like you are using the same list each time (numbers 1 and 10 will always remain the same but hopefully nobody will ever choose 1 or 10), then the students will actually believe that all the things in positions 2 to 9 are all different, which will give extra credibility to the trick!
Next trick: “The Cluedo Effect” >>