Recommended Level: Junior high grade 1

Maths Line

Description

Each flashcard is assigned a random multiplier, for example ‘x2’, ‘+10’, ‘/3’, ‘-20’. A ‘high score’ is written on the board, which is the number to beat (this can be an arbitrary number, the previous class’s score, etc). Students repeat the teacher until the timer goes off, and whichever multiplier that is under the card that’s called last becomes the first part of the ‘maths line’ sum. This continues until there are no more rounds. The result of the sum is written down, and if it beats the ‘high score’, the class wins.

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Quick Crossfire

Description

Place the flashcards in an square grid (i.e. 2×2, 3×3, etc). Students repeat the teacher until the timer goes off, and whichever card is called last becomes the keyword. The dice is rolled. If it rolls a 1, the vertical line of cards the keyword card is on are turned to be face down. If it is a 2, the horizontal line is turned around. 3 is left diagonal, 4 is right diagonal, 5 is both horizontal and vertical and 6 is both diagonal directions, all centred from whichever card is the keyword. If a card is already face down when it is selected by the dice, it is turned back to face up.

Notes

If you don’t have enough magnets to turn the cards face down on the board, you can just remove them and put them back up as necessary.

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Lucky Carousel

Description

Place six flashcards in a line and roll a dice. The flashcard that matches the number rolled is the lucky keyword. The students repeat the target English with the teacher, who calls out the target English in order from left to right in a loop until time runs out. If the last called target English is the lucky keyword, the class wins one point. Roll the dice again and pick a new keyword for the next round.

Quick Discard Game

Description

The students repeat the target English with the teacher until time runs out. The teacher then shuffles a deck of small flashcards cards and discards one card at a time until the keyword is found. The class gets one point per discarded card. The deck is then reshuffled and continues for the next round.

Discard Game

Description

Students make groups and get a deck of small cards each. They shuffle the cards face down and put them in the middle of their group. The teacher then calls the target English randomly using the large flashcards, and the students repeat. When the timer goes off, the last card that was called becomes the keyword. Each group then discards the top card from their deck. If the card matches the keyword, they get one point. If it doesn’t match, they can discard another, until they find the keyword card. They get one point per card they discard (including the keyword card).

Notes

In later rounds, you could add a new rule that instead of getting one point per additional card they discard, they start with points that equal however many cards they have total, and lose one point per card that is discarded.

Tug of War

Description

Split the board into two halves, one half is the students’ side and one is the teacher’s side. Draw a horizontal line between these two sections, with 5 dots either side. Place a circle magnet in the centre of the line. The students repeat the target English with the teacher until time runs out. The teacher and one random student janken. Move the circle magnet one circle towards the winner’s side. When the rounds are finished, the winning team is whichever team has the circle magnet in their half of the board.

Lucky Pyramid

Description

Flashcards are arranged on the board in a pyramid shape – e.g., 4 along the bottom, 3 on the middle and 2 on the top and a ‘winner’ space at the top. Each group picks one card on the bottom row. The students repeat the teacher until time is up. Whichever groups chose the final card that was called out ‘ascend’ to the next row. Whichever groups are the highest at the end win. Any groups that reach the top of the pyramid in the meantime can win one bonus point and reset to the bottom.

Notes

Depending on the number of flashcards you have in your set, you may need to exclude some to make a proper pyramid shape. You could also include multiples of the same flashcard if you need to make the pyramid larger.

Card Drop

Description

Students make groups and divide small vocabulary cards between themselves. They repeat the teacher until the timer goes off. If the last called target English matches one of their cards, they can put it down.

After a certain number of rounds, whoever has the least cards wins one point. If more than one student has the least cards, they each win one point. If any student has no cards left, they win five points.

Notes

If, for example, there are 9 cards in your set, it’s good to have 3 students each with 3 cards in their hand. Any left over students could be put in groups of two, and the remaining 3 cards in their set can be left aside.

Lucky Guess

Description

Students make groups and get a set of small vocabulary cards. They shuffle the deck and place them face down. The students ask the first player the target English question, who answers with a guess as to what the top card of the deck is. They then turn over the card. If it doesn’t match, they discard it face up. If it does match, they win one point for that card and each remaining card in the deck. They then shuffle all the cards and reset the deck.

In later rounds, a ‘joker’ card could be added – if the joker is found before a student guesses correctly, that player could lose a certain number of points.

50/50

Description

Each group gets a set of cards. Each group splits these cards into two sets – ‘yes’ and ‘no’. They can put as many cards as they like into either set.

The students then repeat the target English with the teacher until the timer runs out. The teacher puts the last called card into their own ‘yes’ or ‘no’ set, depending on what their last answer was. Once all the cards have been sorted into one of the sets, the groups check their own cards. They get one point for each card that is in the same set that the teacher chose.

Notes

  • Generally this game works best grammar that has two possible choices, like ‘yes’/’no’ questions, ‘can/can’t, ‘do/don’t’, and so on.
  • Every card doesn’t need to be used in in every round. The teacher could pick, for example, 4 cards that the students need to put into a set then use those. More cards could be added every round.
  • A simple rule change for later rounds could be to have all groups start with as many points as there are cards being used, and they lose a point for each matching card at the end of the round.
  • Another rule escalation could be that the students need to turn their cards face down before putting them in groups, and they can’t reveal what they are until the round is finished.