Quick Acchi Muite Hoi!

Description

Students repeat the target English until the timer goes off. The teacher then counts to 3 and everyone looks either up, left, right, or down at once. If a student looks in the same direction that the teacher picked, they lose that round.

Quick X and O

Description

Draw a 3×3 noughts and crosses/tic-tac-toe board. Label each square from A-I. Set the timer for ~30 seconds, and repeat the target English until the time is up. The teacher then picks one of the spaces (referencing the letter in that square) and marks it with an ‘O’. A random student then picks a space, which the teacher marks with an ‘X’. For the second round onwards, toss a coin or roll a dice to see who goes first out of the teacher or students. If either the teacher or the students can get three of their ‘O’ or ‘X’ marks in a row, they win. If there are no spaces left at the end, it’s a draw. 

Notes

  • This game will last between 3 and 5 rounds, depending on when one team wins.
  • It’s best for the teacher to not pick the centre space first, as better to give the students a chance to pick it to have an advantage.

Teacher Battle

Description

The students repeat the target English with the teacher until the timer goes off. A dice is then rolled two times, once for the class and once for the teacher. This continues each round and each score is added to that ‘team’s’ total. The ‘team’ with the highest score at the end is the winner.

Notes

Alternatively, you could roll the dice once each round, the first round going to the class’s score and the second round to the teachers, and so on. However this way you would need to do an even number of rounds for the game to be ‘fair’.

Similar Games

Quick Zone

Description

The students are split into groups. The first row of students is the first group, the second row is the second group, and so on. Give each group a ‘zone’ on the board, and put one or more flashcard in each zone.

A timer is set for around 20-30 seconds, but kept hidden from the students. The teacher points at one card and says the target English, and the class repeats. They then move to the next card, repeat, and so on. Whichever group’s zone the last called card is in when the timer goes off wins one point. The cards can be shuffled for the next round.

Quick Lucky Roller

Description

The teacher draws 3 groups on the board – 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6. The students repeat the teacher until the timer goes off, at which point the teacher rolls the dice. If they roll a 1 or a 2, they put a check mark under the 1/2 group, and so on. This continues each round. If the dice roll results in a group that has already been checked in a previous round, it doesn’t count. If all 3 groups can be checked off before the game finishes, the class wins!

Notes

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.

Touch Game

Description

The teacher puts up flashcards on the board, where all the students can see them. The students make groups and put an ohajiki (or eraser, etc.) between them. The teacher calls out the target English and the students repeat. When the teacher touches one of the cards, all the students try to grab their ohajiki. The first student to grab the it wins one point.

Notes

  • It’s best to always gesture towards each card as you call it regardless of if you intend to touch it or not, so the students can associate what you’re saying with the flashcard.
  • Make sure to stand to the side of the flashcards when gesturing towards/touching the cards so all of the students can see clearly!
  • Students who grab the ohajiki at the same time should play janken to decide who gets it.

Similar Games

Quick Janken

Description

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. 

Notes

The whole class picks rock, scissors or paper when the teacher counts to 3. Make sure to keep the timing consistent!

Boss Game

Description

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.

Notes

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!

Lucky Wheel

Description

You can use the wheel however you want for different activities. Here are some examples:

“Me too!”

  • Everyone starts with 5 points.
  • Call out a phrase that the class has been practicing e.g. I like green/I like PE/I can play tennis. Something that they can form their own opinion about. Everyone then repeats the phrase.
  • Then, all students who agree with the sentence i.e. They like green/PE etc. Stand up.
  • Spin the wheel and all students standing receive the result. You can choose what the treasure chest and skull mean (e.g. +10 points/lose all points)
  • Students sit down and repeat with the next sentence.

“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.

  • All students start with 5 points.
  • Randomly select a student to stand up and share their sentence. E.g. During winter vacation, I tried omikuji.
  • All students who also did the same thing during winter vacation stand up. It does not have to be the same as what they’ve written, they just have to have also done that activity.
  • Spin the wheel and all students standing receive the points from the wheel.
  • Students sit down and a new student is chosen to share.

Lucky Group

Description

The class is broken into groups, and each group is given a number. The teacher puts number cards (as many as there are groups) face down on the board in a random order. One flashcard for the target English’s vocabulary is put on top of each number card.

A timer is set, and the teacher randomly picks one of the vocabulary cards to model the target English. Students repeat them and this continues until time is up. The teacher then reveals which group number was under the last card that was called, and that group wins one point. This continues for as many rounds as needed.

Notes

Even though the cards are being placed face down, the teacher can cheat and have some kind of mark small by each card, to rig the results and keep things more even!