Recommended level: All junior high grades

Character Battle

Description

Students make groups. One volunteer from each group quickly draws a character on the board. Each character is given 20 ‘HP’ life bar. A flashcard is placed over each character.

Groups are randomly chosen. The chosen group first picks who to attack by making a sentence using the flashcard above it. They then roll a dice to see how much damage they do, taking that many ‘HP’ from their life bar. A group that is attacked gets a ‘shield’ for the next round and can’t be attacked. If a character’s life bar drops to zero, they lose – but can attack as a zombie, where the damage they roll is doubled.

Notes

It’s best to put a very strict limit on how long the students have to draw their character, or they’ll get too distracted!

Up vs Down

Description

Students make pairs and get one set of cards and a die. The first player gets points for face down cards and the second gets points for face up cards. The students place all their cards face up in a 3×3 grid. A timer is set for 1 minute.

The first player rolls the die and turns over as many cards as the number they rolled. Both players say the target English for each of the cards as they’re turned face down. The next player then rolls the die and can turns that many cards back face up, again, with both students saying the appropriate target English as they go.

When the round is finished, the winner is the player with the most cards facing in their direction. Players then switch who is the face up and face down player. After that, the pairs can be rotated.

Notes

Rounds should be short, though the length depends on the length of the target English they’re using.

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Secret Number

Description

Vocabulary cards placed on the board are assigned even numbers from 2-18 (assuming 9 cards). The students make groups and each group gets a whiteboard and pen. The teacher randomly picks an odd number from 1-19.

The students repeat the teacher calling the target English until the timer goes off, and whichever card is called last becomes the keyword. Each round, the teacher says if their chosen number is ‘up’ or ‘down’ from the keyword’s assigned number. Each group writes what number they think the teacher might have picked.

One group can volunteer to guess at the teacher’s number. If they get it right, the groups that had the correct number get one point and the teacher picks a new number. If they don’t, the teacher keeps the same number into the next round. This continues until the rounds are up, and the group with the most points wins!

Secret Vocab

Description

The teacher picks a small flashcard and keeps it a secret. Students repeat the teacher until the timer goes off, and whichever card is called last becomes the keyword. If the keyword matches, the class wins one point, and the teacher picks a new small flashcard. This continues until all the rounds are complete.

Quick Janken Discard Game

Description

Class vs the teacher. The flashcards are on the blackboard. ALT/HRT sets a timer and calls the target English. The students repeat. When the timer sounds, the last called flashcard is the keyword. Using a set of small flashcards, the ALT/HRT discards cards one at a time until the keyword is found. The amount of discarded cards is the amount of points to be won. One student volunteer plays janken against the HRT. The winner of janken wins the amounts of points indicated by cards discarded. After a few rounds the team with the most points is the winner!

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Red Riding Hood

Description

On the blackboard, draw a house and 15 spaces going toward the house. Split the class into two teams and designate one team as Mr Wolf and the other team as Red Riding Hood. Place Red Riding Hood on space 5 and place Mr Wolf on space 1. 

ALT/HRT sets a timer and calls the target English and students repeat. When the timer sounds, 1 student from the Red Riding Hood team rolls the dice. ALT/HRT moves the game piece that many space forward. Next 1 student from Mr Wolf team rolls the dice. ALT/HRT moves the game piece that many spaces forward. If Mr Wolf lands on the same space as Red Riding Hood, team Mr Wolf wins. If Red Riding Hood makes it home without Mr Wolf landing on the same space, Red Riding Hood team wins. 

Janken Discard Game

Description

The students make pairs. Each pair gets a set of small flashcards, and the teacher picks one card to be the keyword. The cards are shuffled and placed face down. The students take turns in turning over a card and using the vocabulary to practice the target English. The card is then discarded in a separate pile. This continues until the keyword comes up. After saying the target English, the students janken. The winner gets one point for each discarded card (including the keyword card).

The cards are then shuffled and placed face down again, and the students continue. After a few minutes, the round finishes and the student with the most points wins. The teacher then picks a new keyword and the next round starts.

Notes

  • Changing pairs between rounds may help keep the game more interesting for the students and will increase opportunities for peer support.

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Table Flip

Description

Players: 2-4

Card Types: There are five types of cards in this game.

• FOOD (target English card): placed on a player’s plate. Worth 1-3 points.

• ‘FLIP’: Placed on one of the corner spaces of the board. The game ends when all four ‘FLIP’ cards have been placed on the board.

• STEAL 1: A player may steal one food card that’s on the board from another player.

• MOVE 2: All food cards on the board are moved two spaces to the right. Cards may move to another player.

• -1 FOOD: Choose and remove one of your food cards on the board.

1. Players shuffle the deck and place it in the center of the board. All players then play janken to decide who starts.

2. The first player flips over the top card of the deck. If it’s a food card, they repeat the target English and place the card on one of their three plates. If it is a non-food card, the player follows the card’s instructions and the card is then removed from play.

3. The next player takes their turn and the game continues for each player.

4. Once a player has placed down three foods, they get to keep those three cards and the points are added to their total. The cards are removed from their plates.

5. If a player flips over a ‘FLIP’ card, it is placed on one of the corner spaces on the game board.

6. Once the 4th ‘FLIP’ card is placed on the table, the game ends. Any food cards still on the table are lost and not counted towards the point total. Players then count up their total points from the cards they’ve collected. The player with the most points is the winner. Teams can reset and play a second or third game until time is up.

Notes

• The food cards can be changed for any target English your class is currently studying.

• You can omit the non target English cards if you want. The ‘FLIP’ cards need to be in the deck though.

• You can use mini cards you already have on hand, just assign them point values on the blackboard. You will still need to print a set of ‘FLIP’ cards for each group. Alternatively you can select four cards and label them as ‘FLIP’ cards.

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Plus, Minus, Double

Description

In groups or pairs, each get one set of cards. Groups divide cards into Plus cards, Minus cards, and Double cards (For a standard set of 9: 4 Plus, 4 Minus, 1 Double). Repeat with timer. Groups see where they put the last card called, and get (or lose) a point. If the card is their double card, their current points double. 

Notes

  • Feel free to play around with the third card and what its effect is!
  • After a few rounds they can shuffle the cards.

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Block Build

Also known as:

  • Tetris

Description

Draw a 10 block wide by any height square. Pick a random group to answer the question. Show the first card (or ask the question). The group answers with the corresponding sentence/answer. One member from the group picks a random piece out of a box/bag, and places it on the game board. The pieces can’t be suspended in the middle of the board (must follow gravity like Tetris). The group that hits the top line is eliminated, or the game resets. 

Notes

  • If groups are eliminated, it would be best as a warmup game with a small game board.
  • I made this for G5 Unit 8, or any unit where there is no question. For Unit 8, I would pull a random building card, and the group would have to use it’s English phrase, and it’s matching activity (*pulls library* – “We have a library,” “You can enjoy reading”)
  • This should also work with simple question/answer, or anything really.
  • There is probably a way to make this into an input/output game.
  • The file should be printed on A3 so the pieces are large enough.