Materials: Flashcards

Roulette Game

Description

The students make groups and get one set of small flashcards. Each group has the same number of ohajiki (or erasers etc.). Students can put their ohajiki on any of the cards. More than one student can put their ohajiki on the same card if they like.

The teacher sets a timer and calls random vocabulary until time runs out. The students repeat. Each group gets one point for each ohajiki they have on the card that was last called.

Notes

In later rounds, the groups start with a certain number of points and lose one point for each ohajiki on the card that is called last.

Roles

Teachers: Demonstration, praise students for good communication. Call the target English until the timer goes off.

Students: Place their ohajiki, repeat the teachers, see how many points they win.

Quick Sequence Game

Description

A timer is set, and the teacher picks a card from the first set, and says the appropriate target English. The students repeat, then a card from the second set is picked, with the teacher saying the target English and the students repeating again. If the two cards match (that is, they form a correct sentence like [Vietnam] is in [Asia]), the class gets one point and a card from the first set is picked again. This continues until time runs out.

Notes

  • The game (when the rules specifically as defined above) only works for units with more than one set of vocabularies.
  • The vocabulary sets need to generally make objective rather than subjective statements, for example countries and continents, animals and habitats, and so on.
  • Subjective statements could be used but vocabulary from both sets would need to be preemptively ‘connected’ by the teacher on the board, for example ‘she is [Hanako], she can [run].’

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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.