Materials: Small cards

Lucky Combination Hunt

Description

Students are in groups and each group has two sets of flashcards (the two sets that make the target sentence). The groups shuffle the cards and place them face down in their group.

ALT/HRT sets a timer and calls the target English at random, creating random combinations of one card from each set. When the timer sounds, the last called combination is the lucky combination. Continue this until all combinations have been created (e.g. if you have 9 flashcards in both sets, make 9 combinations).

Once all combinations have been created, students then take turns in their groups to turn over the cards, trying to find the lucky combinations. When they find a matching combination, the group gets one point. If the two cards they opened do not match the combination on the blackboard, both cards are turned face down. 

Notes

I play this as an input/output hybrid game so when students are turning over the cards in their groups, have them challenge the target English as a group. I did this with the schedule unit for grade 4 and found it was quite effective and the groups were able to say the target English to a level that I was very happy about. 

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Secret Bingo

Description

Students are in groups or pairs and each group/pair is given a set of small flashcards. Students shuffle their cards then make a 3×3 bingo grid with the cards remaining face down. ALT/HRT sets a timer and calls the target English. Students repeat. When the timer sounds, the last called flashcard is that round’s lucky word. Mark it on the board with either a magnet or any other identifiable mark (I circled the card on the board). Continue this pattern for another 4 or 5 rounds. When all the rounds are finished, students turn over their flashcards and check how many bingos they got based on the keywords!

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Secret Alphabet Colouring

Description

Each student is given a small flashcard which is kept secret. For round one, give them one card of ‘E’, ‘T’, ‘A’, ‘I’, ‘J’, ‘H’, ‘P’, ‘Y’, or ‘Q’, and a worksheet (for round one the worksheet with ‘E’ in the top left space). Students colour in the square corresponding to the secret card they were given. 

Students make a pair and janken. The loser tells the winner their secret card. The winner colours in the square corresponding to the letter they were told. Students then make a new pair and the flow continues. As students colour in more letters, the shape of a specific letter should become apparent on the grid. This is the secret letter (Round 1 = ‘F’). 

Notes

For round 2, the flashcards that need to be handed out are ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘G’, ‘L’, ‘M’, ‘N’, ‘S’, ‘X’, ‘W’, ‘V’ and the worksheet is the one with ‘A’ in the top left corner. Secret letter = ‘S’

Janken Elimination

Description

Students are in pairs and each pair has one or two sets of small flashcards. They shuffle the cards and place them face down between themselves. On the blackboard, assign each of the big flashcards a point value.

Students janken. The winner gets to choose and turn over a card. The pair says the target English together. The winner of janken gets that card. This continues until there are no more cards face down. Students then count how many points they won!

Missing Word Hunt

Description

Before the lesson, set aside sets of flashcards made up of 5 out of the 9 words. Make sure there is enough flashcards for each student to get 1 card. Each student is given a worksheet and a small flashcard. They keep the flashcard secret from their friends. There are 4 secret flashcards that no student has been given. The student’s goal is to work out what these 4 flashcards are.

First students mark on their worksheet what flashcard they have been given. Students all stand up and make a pair. Pair exchanges the target English and they mark down what flashcard their friend told them. At the end of the round, all students then write down their guesses for what the 4 secret flashcards are. Reveal the answer and check how many students got right!

Notes

I played this with just vocabulary but it can probably be played with answer only and question/answer.

For the demonstration, I only had 3 cards: 2 which were handed out (one to ALT and one to HRT) and we had to guess what the 1 secret flashcard was. Then we explained that during the game there is actually 4 secret flashcards and 5 flashcards that friends might have.

Donut Prediction Game

Description

After reviewing all of the necessary vocabular and grammar, students make two donuts for two connected grammars, for example country and food or time and daily activities.

Students decide who starts, and that student tries to guess what cards they will turn over, for example: “I get up at 6”. Then they select and turn over a card from only one of the donuts. If that card matches their prediction, then they can get 1 point. If not, for example, they turn over the 7 o’clock card, they then use that card to make a new prediction: “I get up at 7”. Then they select and turn over a card from the other donut. If this card is a match, they can get 1 point, for a second chance at getting points. They can get 0, 1 or 2 points for each turn. Then play moves to the next student.

Notes

This game was originally shown to me by Aireen in a kenshu.

This should only be used when students can produce the language. The outcomes are limited, but not decided, so they will need to know the vocab and target grammar.

I sometimes use this as a single donut and a single vocab after playing the donut game. I did this with 3rd grade students with the vocab “what do you want? / I want a red heart”. We played it immediately after the normal donut game.

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Up vs Down

Description

Students make pairs and get one set of cards and a die. The first player gets points for face down cards and the second gets points for face up cards. The students place all their cards face up in a 3×3 grid. A timer is set for 1 minute.

The first player rolls the die and turns over as many cards as the number they rolled. Both players say the target English for each of the cards as they’re turned face down. The next player then rolls the die and can turns that many cards back face up, again, with both students saying the appropriate target English as they go.

When the round is finished, the winner is the player with the most cards facing in their direction. Players then switch who is the face up and face down player. After that, the pairs can be rotated.

Notes

Rounds should be short, though the length depends on the length of the target English they’re using.

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Secret Vocab

Description

The teacher picks a small flashcard and keeps it a secret. Students repeat the teacher until the timer goes off, and whichever card is called last becomes the keyword. If the keyword matches, the class wins one point, and the teacher picks a new small flashcard. This continues until all the rounds are complete.

Quick Janken Discard Game

Description

Class vs the teacher. The flashcards are on the blackboard. ALT/HRT sets a timer and calls the target English. The students repeat. When the timer sounds, the last called flashcard is the keyword. Using a set of small flashcards, the ALT/HRT discards cards one at a time until the keyword is found. The amount of discarded cards is the amount of points to be won. One student volunteer plays janken against the HRT. The winner of janken wins the amounts of points indicated by cards discarded. After a few rounds the team with the most points is the winner!

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Line Bingo

Description

Place 4 flashcards on the board. Students are put into pairs and each pair is given a set of small flashcards. The pair takes out the 4 flashcards that are on the board and arrange them into a line in any order they want.

ALT/HRT sets a timer and calls the target English. Students repeat. When the timer sounds, the last called flashcard is the keyword. All pairs who placed that card at either end of the line can turn it over. If the card is in the middle, they cannot turn it over. The card that was next to the card that was turned over becomes the new end card and can be turned over if it is the keyword in another round. The first group to get bingo are the winners!

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