The teacher picks one flashcard as the ‘keyword’. The teacher then points at random cards and models the target English, and the students repeat until the keyword is picked. The class then plays janken with the teacher. If they beat the teacher, a students gets one point. If they lose, they lose one point. If they have the same result, there’s no change.
The whole class picks rock, scissors or paper when the teacher counts to 3. Make sure to keep the timing consistent!
A flashcard or drawing of a monster is put on the board, with a ‘health bar’. The ‘health bar’ shows the monster’s ‘HP’. The students repeat the teacher until the timer goes off, at which point the teacher rolls the dice. Whatever number is rolled is subtracted from the monster’s ‘HP’. If the monster’s HP goes to 0 before the end of the game, the class wins.
It’s useful to draw boxes on the board to show how many rounds are going to be played, and check them off as you finish each round.
If you play this game for 5 rounds, then you probably want the monster’s HP to be around 17-20 points. If the class gets very lucky and beats the monster before the game is finished, then you can always draw a new monster on the board!
Draw Mt Fuji on the board, add lots of markers along the way. The goal is for the students to advance up the mountain and one marker is one space. Use a timer and have the students repeat after the HRT/ALT. When timer goes off, spin the wheel (wheel 6) and allow the hiker to advance up the mountain based on how many spaces the spinner assigns them. For example, if the spinner lands on three, the hiker goes up three spaces.
You can make two hikers, if you want: one is for teachers and one is for students. The first one to reach the top wins. It adds a level of competition! Round 1, the teacher moves, round 2 the students move. It could also be adapted to a horse race, a car race, tug of war…there are many options. It doesn’t have to be Mt Fuji. Or you could change it each class.
You could also change the colors of the wheel to just two colors. One for the teachers team, one for students. The PowerPoint game is highly adaptable to suit your needs!
You can use the wheel however you want for different activities. Here are some examples:
“Me too!”
“Me too! – Writing Edition” (this version is similar and can be geared towards JHS as a main activity.)
Hand out the sentence sheet to each student. Give them 5 minutes to complete the sentence with their own unique answer. You can change the topic of the sentence to whatever you’re studying as long as it can be a unique answer.
This is the classic game of connect four. There are two team colors, red and blue. It’s up to you how you want to divide the class. You can split the class in 1/2 and within each half make groups or do something different. On the connect four board are present tense verbs such as write, read, sit, teach etc. you choose a team to “answer” and they choose a verb. They then announce the past tense of that verb. If it’s correct, you click on the verb to reveal the answer – you then choose which team claims that spot and choose the color. The goal is for teams to get as many rows of four as they can!
Don’t use this as is. The vocabulary needs to be chosen for the class and their level/what they’ve studied. It’s easy to edit. You can add other things, too. For example, you can write a Japanese word and the students need to translate it correctly.
Split the class in half. Assign group A and B (or whatever is appropriate) and set the timer. When you begin pointing and saying the flashcard, the JTE/HRT will point at the A side. The students will repeat. When you move on to the second flashcard, the JTE/HRT will point at the B side. The students will repeat. This will go on until the timer beeps. Whichever team the JTE/HRT is pointing at when the timer goes off gets one point. Repeat the process.
You know your students. If they’re going to complain about the winning/losing team, don’t play it. I’ve had a class where the students really went after the teacher for their choices in selecting groups and points. If you think this might cause your teaching partner grief, avoid it. It’s not worth killing the atmosphere for your teaching partner and students!
The game plays similar to the standard map game with a few changes. Please refer to the attached pdf for rules and how to prepare the slides.
Put your flashcards on the board. Ask the HRT/JTE to write a number on the board. The goal of our game is to beat that number! Start the timer, begin the process of pointing at the flashcard, saying it and having the students repeat. When the timer beeps, roll the dice and write the number under the 1st flashcard. Continue the process. Between rounds you can point to the numbers under the flashcard, wince/look happy (depending on how well you’re doing) and then point to the HRT/JTE’s. At the end of the game, see who is the winner: the class or the HRT/JTE.
We have a lesson plan and flashcards – we know how many words the students are going to be using. Before class, quickly do the math. Say there are seven flashcards, the biggest number on the dice is six therefore on an insane lucky streak, the highest possible number is 42. Ask the JTE to choose a number up to 42. If they choose 100, of course that’s impossible. We need to be able to beat them!
If you have time you could print a picture of a trophy, stick a magnet on the back and put it under the JTE’s number. If we win, we can move it to our number.
It doesn’t matter where the timer stops, we’re writing the rolled number in order. So if we’re on the first round but the timer stops on the fifth flashcard, we still write the rolled number under the first flashcard.
Draw a cluster of balloons on the board – nothing fancy, as long as they’re distinct oval shapes with string coming down. Put the flashcards on the board and split them in to two distinct categories: -1 and +1. Set the timer. Point at the flashcards, say the English and have the students repeat. Go between the two categories. When the timer beeps, have the JTE/HRT erase or add a balloon depending on what category the last flashcard was in. The goal of the game is to have at least one balloon left!
If you want, you can quickly draw a house (like UP!) or whatever character (Anpanman) or animal you sketch up very quickly and attach them to the bottom of the strings. Give the students something to invest in.
At the start of the game, tell the JTE/HRT briefly that they need balloons. When the first round is done, have the JTE react. If they’re -1, make a show of erasing one balloon. “Oh no!” or make a worried face. If they’re +1, have them cheer or react. Or you can react on their behalf!
Rules are the same for playing the Asleep/Awake game.
Prepare the slides with individual words from a target sentence. Arrange students into groups of 5. Determine who will be Player 1, 2, etc.
All students put their heads down and ‘go to sleep.’ One by one they wake up and note their sentence part on their sheet then go back to sleep. When all students have finished, everyone ‘wakes up’ and shares their words. They then work together to complete the sentence and write it on their sheet. I usually walk around with a stamp and stamp their sentence when it’s correct. Repeat for each round of sentences.
A variation for Elementary School can be done with spelling instead of making sentences. Same rules apply but each player receives a letter. After about a minute of thinking time, I then give them a hint e.g. “It’s a food” or “Picture dictionary page 24”.
