Recommended level: Elementary grade 4

Self-Introduction Teacher Quiz

Description

Students use their picture dictionary and an eraser to participate in the game.

Teachers show a page from the picture dictionary. In the example file, we used only what ~ do you like? questions. Teachers take turns asking students to guess which color, animal, food, etc. the teacher likes. Students can discuss in pairs briefly, and then put their eraser on their guess. If they are correct, they can get 1 point.

Notes

In the included example file, there are only 3 different questions to be asked to each teacher. But, it was not intended to use all of them for both teachers. The intention was to use this file for 10-15 minutes in the 1st lesson as a review of previous English while getting to know their new teacher and a reminder about what their ALT likes. It’s easy to adjust and add more questions to match the time limit you have.

For questions which have multiple answers, students can get 1 point if their eraser is on any of the correct answers. They do not need to correctly guess all answers or use multiple erasers.

Janken Soccer

Description

Students make pairs and each get game board with a soccer pitch on it, and a ‘soccer ball’ card. They also get a set of cards with the vocabulary on them. They shuffle these and put five on to the game board. First they janken. The loser asks the question. The winner answers. The winner moves their ‘ball’ one space towards their goal.

If one student wins enough times in a row and moves all the way to their partner’s goal, they score one goal (get one point) and the ‘ball’ goes back to the centre, while shuffling a new set of cards onto the board.

After a few minutes, pairs can change.

Notes

  • This game can be used to practice vocabulary, grammar and questions and answers.
  • If using the template version, print it at A3 size and the spaces will be the right size for small (roughly 9.2 x 6.5cm) cards to go on top. You can print and use the small ‘soccer ball’ cards, or the students can use an ohajiki or an eraser (or something similar) from their pencil cases.
  • If using the worksheet version, change the images in each section as needed to fit the current lesson’s target English.

Similar Games

Matching Game

Description

Students get one card each. They make pairs, and use them to say the target English. They then switch cards.

If both students have the same card, they win one point each and both get new cards from the teacher.

Notes

  • This game can be used to practice vocabulary, grammar and questions and answers.
  • If many students get a match at the same time, a large queue can develop in front of the teacher and slow the game down. It’s also possible to have a few decks of cards at the front of the class where students can take a new card themself as they need.

Typhoon (PowerPoint version)

Description

The students make groups. Each groups take turns to pick a number, which leads to a question. There’s then a certain amount of talking time where the groups can discuss the answer with each other.

After the thinking time is over, the students can volunteer. The class asks the question to the volunteer. Once they get the right answer, they win or lose points, or cause another group to lose points.

Notes

  • In the PowerPoint file, click the numbers in the grid to go to each question. Click the icon in the bottom right hand side of the question slide to show the reward. Then, click on the bottom right icon again to return to the question selection slide.
  • When adding your own questions, you can copy the content of the first question slide to keep a consistent format, but please note not to copy the bottom right icon – otherwise every question will link to the same reward!
  • Asking for a single volunteer creates quite a high pressure environment. It may help to have the students make groups. Then, the group can be picked to volunteer together.
  • Alternatively, again in groups, each student can assign themselves a number. Then, after the thinking time, the teacher calls one number and every student who matches that number from each group can volunteer. For example, if the teacher calls ‘2’, every student who is number 2 can volunteer. This means students can’t know who will be picked beforehand, and encourages peer support.

Point Quiz

Description

Students break into lunch groups. Each group receives a mini whiteboard to write answers on. Each group nominates a writer for the first question.

Display the first question and give all teams time to write and hold up their answer. Once everyone’s finished, reveal the answer and check for correct teams. Teams that answered correctly can then choose a prize for a chance to win/lose points. I tend to let teams chose in order of who answered first.

Rotate the whiteboard after each question so everyone writes at least once.

Notes

There’re enough slides for 12 questions. I’ve never gotten to the end in a lesson.

Zombie Game

Description

The whole class is divided into groups (usually based on the line they are sitting in) and each group is assigned a word. 

For example, if the sentence structure is, “I like + food” then group 1 will be assigned the word ‘pizza’, group 2 will be assigned the word ‘pasta’ and so on. Students will talk with each other (depends on the lesson goal – I like pizza, how about you? / What food do you like? I like pizza) and then play janken.

The winner ‘infects’ the loser: so if the winner likes pizza, the loser now likes pizza, too. They say goodbye and talk with other students and the ‘infection’ spreads. At the end of the game, students can see which group ‘infected’ the most students and are therefore the winners. 

Notes

In the demonstration, make sure to show that when you have been ‘infected’ once, you continue to talk with friends. The game does not end when you have been ‘infected’!

Also demonstrate what happens if you meet someone who likes the same food as you to avoid confusion (and unnecessary janken bouts) in game.

Remember to do a good/bad demonstration. Students must produce the English before playing janken (as with most janken games, students can bypass the English entirely) and encourage peer support. Remind them it’s not a race because sometimes students can forget which word they must use in that moment as it changes often throughout the game.

Before the game, you can write how many students are in each group under the relevant flashcard. At the end of the game, you can count and write the new number underneath. This provides students a visual aid to see what team won/lost and by what margin.

You can play this game in rounds very easily.

Pictionary

Description

The students make groups. Each group gets one set of small vocabulary cards, one whiteboard and one pen. The first player takes a random small vocabulary card without showing anyone else. They then draw a picture of that vocabulary on the board within a short time limit.

When the time limit is up, the students asks try to guess the vocabulary, using the target English. The first student to guess correctly wins one point. The whiteboard is erased, and next student then picks their card and draws their picture.

Notes

  • The time limit should be very short, even around 20 seconds. The idea is there is not enough time to draw a perfect picture.
  • For younger students, it’s better to have every group ask and answer their questions at the same time to keep the rhythm for the game going smoothly.

What’s This? Quiz

Description

The students make groups. Taking turns, each group picks a space on a grid shown on the TV (for example, red 3, green 2 etc). The matching space is then removed and part of a picture underneath is revealed.

The class asks: ‘What’s this?’. The group either replies with ‘It’s a ___’ or ‘I don’t know’. If they get it wrong or don’t know, the next group has a turn. When a group guesses the right answer, the whole picture is revealed and they start on the next hidden picture.

Letter Exchange

Description

The students first get a worksheet that has 6 random letters. The students draw the letters in the squares using whatever colour/design they like. When they’re finished, they cut them out.

The students then get a sheet of paper with their name on it written in English, and six letters which were made in the previous lesson (they don’t need to be the ones they made originally). They use the paper to make pairs and ask for letters. If their partner has the letter they asked for, they give it to them.

When they have all the letters to make their name, they can glue them (in the correct order) to their paper.

After class, students can add their own design to the rest of the paper, and glue it to their new name card to use for the next year.

Notes

  • It takes the students a long time to draw their letters, so it is best to split the activity into two lessons.
  • If using lower case letters, the first letter of each name is left for the student to draw on their own name card as a capital.
  • When making the worksheets, make sure you have enough letters for each student’s name – certain letters will be much more common than others. One way to do it is to take each student’s name, shuffle the letters and put them all on one worksheet. This worksheet doesn’t need to be given to the student whose name it was, however. If there are more than 6 letters, add those letters onto the next worksheet that has a short name. If there are left over spaces, fill them with common letters so there are some spares.
  • It’s recommended that the name cards are laminated once finished. The letters will often fall off the card throughout the school year otherwise.

Mystery Friend

Description

The students fill out questionnaires to give their answers relating to the target English. The teacher collects all their papers and picks a random one. The students ask questions and the teacher answers as the ‘mystery friend’ (the student whose paper they picked). Students can volunteer to guess who the mystery friend is, and when they guess correctly the teacher picks a new questionnaire.

Notes

  • It is worth spreading this activity into multiple lessons – one for the students to write their own answers and interview each other, and one to play mystery friend. If the students write their interview answers on a separate worksheet, they can use this in the mystery friend game to help them guess the answer.