Recommended level: Elementary grade 6

Damsel in Distress

Description

Students are in groups. Each group gets a game board, a set of quest cards, a set of small flashcards and a die. Student’s place their ohajiki at the stairs of the castle. The set of small flashcards is shuffled and placed in a pile face down. The quest cards are shuffled and placed face down in the spaces on the game board.

The group asks the first player the question. The first player then rolls the die and moves their ohajiki to the number on the board. They then take the top card from the set of small flashcards and answer the question using the target English. Once the student has said the answer, they turn over the quest card associated to the number they rolled. Each round has certain rules for certain cards:

Round 1: If the quest card is the key, potion, shield or sword, nothing happens. The card remains face up and the next player has their turn. If the quest card is the dragon, all quest cards are shuffled and reset. All players are moved back to the stairs and the game continues. If the quest card is the princess, the player that found the princess gets 1 point. All quest cards are shuffled and reset. Players are moved back to the stairs.

Round 2: In round 2 there are 3 dragon defeating cards. If the potion, shield or sword is found BEFORE the dragon is, then the dragon card has no effect if found. If the dragon is found before the potion, shield or sword, then the quest cards are shuffled and reset. 

Round 3: In round 2 the key must be found BEFORE the princess. Once a player finds the key, any player who finds the princess after gets the point. Once the princess is found, the quest cards are shuffled and reset. Players are moved back to the stairs. The rule about the dragon, shield, potion and sword remains the same as round 2. 

The player at the end of the game with the most points is the winner!

Notes

I played this game with my 5 graders for ‘what do you want’ ‘ want~’ and it worked pretty well. We only did the rules for round 1 (but we did 2 rounds of it) but I plan to play it again sometime this year with a rule escalation. 

I have also made a 2nd version of the cards in case you don’t plan to use the key rule (I have replaced the potion card also). I added a ‘nothing’ card in which nothing happens when that card is revealed. There is 2 per set. 

This game was designed for question and answer lessons, but should also work for answer only lessons too.

Balloon Pop 2.0

Description

There is a PowerPoint with five balloons. Behind each balloon is a point. Have the ALT/teacher choose a number. The vocab flashcards should be on the board and labelled 1-5. You can add more balloons if you have more vocabulary or you can put two flashcards under one number, i.e. “Red, yellow” – 1, “blue, green” – 2. It’s up to you how you manage it.

Set the timer and have the students repeat, when the timer goes off, you can pop the balloon that matches the number flashcard you landed on. The goal is for the students after three tries to have beaten the ALT/Teacher’s number. You can pop the balloon each round or wait until the game is over to pop them.

Hit and Blow

Description

Students play in pairs. Each student gets a matching set of vocabulary cards (i.e. dog, cat, chicken, lion, panda, koala and kangaroo), and each pair gets one set of 5 set of X cards.

Ss do RPS. The winner is the 1st Master. Master chooses 5 cards and an order, and places them face down on the desk in a line.

One by one, Master points to a card and asks the target dialogue, for example, “What’s this?”. The other student picks one of their own cards and places it next to the indicated card, saying, for example, “It’s a ____.”

After Master has asked all 5 cards, they will then indicate if the answers are correct.

If the card is one the Master has chosen and in the same position as the Master, the Master will turn that card over. If the card is one the Master chose, but in a different position, the Master will do nothing. If the card is not one the Master chose, they will put down an X card next to the other student’s card.

The other student can then change their card position or which cards they had selected from the initial set of cards to try and guess the correct cards and order. The student has 3 chances (including the first round) to guess the correct cards and their correct order.

After 3 chances, the other student gets 1 point for every upside-down card, and 2 points for every card face-up. No points for any cards with an X.

Then students switch roles.

Depending on students grade level and difficulty of vocabulary, adjust the number of cards in the original set, but, in general I’ve been using 7 cards in the initial set.

Notes

The demo is very important for the students to understand this game. When working on it, even ESG3 could understand quickly when they saw a good demo.

– The X cards, for ease of understanding, should be placed next to the cards chosen by the other student, not the master to indicate that the card chosen by the other student is incorrect.

– Can be used for only vocab, question or answer. 

– Definitely demo this game in your meeting with your TT beforehand. 

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The Rugby Game

Description

Players: 1v1 or 2v2

Each group receives a game board, a deck of red mini cards and a deck of green mini cards. Students decide who will be the red team and who will be the green team.

The red team starts at the ‘start’ line and green team starts at the ‘goal’ line. Both decks are shuffled and placed face-down in front of each team. The red team’s goal is to make it to the ‘goal’ line while the green team are trying to stop them.

Start a timer for 3-4 minutes.

The red team draws the top card of their deck and places it on the field while repeating the target English on the card. They can place their card anywhere on the starting line. The green team then draws the top card of their deck and places it anywhere on their starting line while repeating the target English.

Players repeat their turns, placing cards on the field. Cards can only be placed either on the starting line or where an arrow from a previously placed card is pointing.

If a team wants to take over an occupied square, both teams play janken. The winner places their card on the space and the loser card is returned to the bottom of the deck.

If the red team reaches the goal line, they receive 6 points and all cards are shuffled into the deck. Play then repeats until the timer ends. If the red team has not made it to the goal line when the timer ends but have placed a card on either the 2 point or 4 point line, they receive that many points. The red team then adds up their total points.

Teams then switch starting positions. Green team is now attempts to score while the red team tries to stop them. A new timer is set for round 2. After the timer ends, both teams compare points to determine the winner.

Notes

The images on the cards can be changed to match the target english for the unit. 

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The Unlucky Donut Game

Description

This game can be played 2v2 in teams.

1. Each group receives a deck of mini cards that contains 3 donut bomb cards and one dice. The cards are shuffled and arranged on the desk in a circle shape.

2. Team 1 rolls the dice. They then flip over cards into the center of the circle up to the number they rolled (minimum 1). They do not have to flip over every card, they can stop at any time. Everyone repeats the target English on each card that is flipped over. If they have not flipped over a bomb card, the team keeps the cards they have flipped over.

3. If a donut bomb card is flipped over, the turn immediately ends. The team does not receive any cards. All cards flipped over are returned to the circle and the bomb card is removed from play.

4. Team 2 then take their turn. Turns repeat until all cards have been collected. The team with the most cards wins 1 point. All cards are then shuffled and the game is reset for round 2.

Notes

  • The cards in the attached file can be edited for any target English. ‘Right click’ + ‘change picture’ is the easiest method.
  • Feel free to make any changes to the rules. Variations are welcome.

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Shut the Box

Description

This game can be played 1v1 or 2v2. 

Each group receives a game board, 12 mini cards and two dice. The mini cards are shuffled and placed face-up in the spaces on the game board. Repeating cards are ok if you have less than 12 target English terms. Students then decide which pair will go first.

Team 1 rolls both dice and adds the two numbers together (e.g. 3 + 5 = 8). They then flip as many cards on the board face-down as possible adding up to their total (e.g. 8 = card 5 & 3 or card 7 & 1 or card 4, 3 & 1 etc.) Students repeat the target English for each card as they flip it over. Team 1 then takes a second turn rolling both dice and flipping over cards. Team 1’s round ends when they can no longer flip over any cards. Team 1 then count how many cards they managed to flip over. 

The cards are then shuffled and returned face up on the board. Team 2 roll the dice and take their turns. Once team 2 can no longer flip over any cards, both teams compare how many cards they flipped over and the team with the most cards wins 1 point. Both teams can continue playing until the teacher calls ‘finished.’ Pairs can then shuffle around the room if time allows for more rounds.

Notes

  • This game can be played 1v1 but playing 2v2 allows for more peer support. 

    A potential variation is to have one team trying to flip cards face-up while the other team tries to flip cards face-down. That way teams can alternate their turns. Feel free to try any variations to the rules.

Pass the Bomb

Description

Each group receives a deck of cards and a bomb token. Each deck contains a mix of target English cards and ONE explosion card.

The deck in shuffled and placed in the center of the group. Students play janken to decide who starts with the bomb token. Each student starts with 5 points. The starting student flips over the top card of the deck and repeats the target English on the card.

The student then passes the bomb token left/right/across depending on the direction of the arrow on the card and the number or places (e.g. 2 left, 3 right etc). The student who receives the bomb token then flips over the next card. If a student flips over the explosion card, the round ends and the student loses one point.

All cards are then shuffled back into the deck and the next round is played. Play continues until the teacher calls ‘finished.’ Students then count how many points they have remaining and the student with the most points left is the winner.

Notes

  • The file attached is for the target English “I want to be a~” but can be changed for any other target English. 
  • The first sheet of cards is enough for one group. 
  • You can add more than one explosion card to the deck but the students tend to find it more exciting if there’s only one in the deck.

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Joker Game

Description

Playing cards are placed face down on the board, one for each group. Set a timer and call the target English. The students repeat the teacher, and when the timer sounds, all the playing cards are revealed. The group that has the ‘joker’ is out. This continues until only one group is left, who are the winner!

Notes

  • The ‘playing cards’ do not need to be actual playing cards. Anything where there is one ‘out’ card will work. For example, every card could be ‘red’ except for one ‘blue’ as the joker.
  • The quickest way to make groups is just have each line of students be a group – this way, no one needs to move their desk or shuffle around.
  • Normally it’s problematic to have groups or players eliminated in a game, as it takes away their motivation. In this case, the whole game should take less than 5 minutes and there is still the interest of who will win or lose. As with all warmup games, it comes down to presentation!

Card Attack

Description

The students make groups. Each group is assigned a vocabulary card and picks which Card Attack card they want to use (from a choice of any random 3 cards). Each group’s chosen card is put on the board, below their vocabulary card.

A group is randomly picked. The class asks the target English question to that group, who then pick another group to attack by giving an answer that uses that group’s assigned vocabulary card.

Depending what card they have, they will do from 1-3 damage. They also do bonus damage, or have their damage reduced based on what type of card they are attacking. Red cards do +1 damage to green cards but -1 damage to blue cards, and so on. Stronger cards do more damage but have less health. Any group that lands the final attack that reduces their opponent’s health to zero or below wins one point. Groups whose card is defeated get to pick a new card.

Notes

  • There are three sets of card types, each with a ‘triangle’ of effectiveness. The most simple way to play the game is to first only use one set of cards (for example, red, green and blue), and introduce the other two sets later in the game (or from the second time the game is played onwards, after the students have become familiar with the rules).
  • It is advisable to print out and show the effectiveness charts (see ‘Card Attack Chart.pdf’) and leave them on the board so the students can refer to them while they play.
  • You can either print and cut out the ‘marble’ images (also in the ‘Card Attack Chart.pdf’ file) and put small magnets on them to use as damage counters, or just keep track of everything by drawing marks on the board manually.
  • In this version of the game, the whole class plays together in their groups. In this case, you’ll want to use the full page cards in the latter part of the ‘Card Attack.pdf’ file.
  • This game can also be played within groups (or in pairs) by printing and using the small cards at the beginning of ‘Card Attack.pdf’. It’s recommended that you play this version of the game after the whole class has played together before.
  • While the game may seem rather complicated, many students are familiar with how this type of game generally works! Just make sure to demonstrate that attacks do +1 damage to cards they are strong against, -1 damage to cards they are weak against, and that the team who deals the final blow to a card wins one point.
  • An easy way to ensure a different group is picked randomly each time, while still ensuring that each group gets a turn, is to have use small number cards. Shuffle the deck and pick a card, and the group that matches the card has a turn. Leave that number card out of the deck for subsequent turns, until all groups have been selected at which point all the cards are shuffled back together and used again.

Quick Lucky Dice

Description

The entire class versus the teacher. Assign 3 numbers to the class and 3 to the teacher 1-6 (e.g class = 1,2,3 and teacher = 4,5,6). Set a timer and call the target English. Students repeat the teacher. When the timer sounds, roll a dice. If it lands on one of the three numbers assigned to the class, the class gets 1 point. If it lands on one of the three numbers assigned to the teacher, the teacher gets 1 point. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game is the winner!