Point Scoring Games and Ideas
Add some spice to your lessons by playing some games where students compete against each other and earn points to win! These ideas will certainly get your students excited to learn Japanese!
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Noughts and Crosses Marking www.germanteaching.com Write the question numbers in a grid on the board and give each team a colour or symbol. Teams take it in turns to choose a question to answer and if they are right, they 'win' that number. To win the game, teams need to try to get three numbers in a row (just like noughts and crosses)
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Basketball (Vocabulary, Grammar) Divide the class into groups. Assign a team captain and a buzzer noise for each group. Ask a question or show a flashcard. The first team to buzz will answer the question. If it is correct then they can have a shot at shooting a beanbag or ball into a basket. If the ball goes in they win an extra 2 points. The team with the most points wins.
Blow fish (Vocabulary, Grammar) Divide the class into teams. Cut up 1 fish shape for each team. Put on either side of the room some masking tape. One side is the start line the other is the goal. Tt asks the Ss a question or asks them to tell them the meaning of a word. The Ss that answers first can then blow the fish once (propelling it forward). Continue asking questions until one of the teams has blown their fish across the room and over the finish line.
Car Race (Vocabulary, Grammar, Listening) Tt draws a racetrack with a starting line, several squares and a goal line. Divide the class into teams. Each team is allocated a coloured car. Ask the Ss questions, show them a flashcard, or get Ss to use a word correctly in a target structure. Each question the team answers correctly the car can move one step closer to the goal line. The car which passes the goal line first is the winner.
Get the bananas (Vocabulary, Grammar) www.genkienglish.net Put the students in groups small groups. Draw pictures of trees on the board, one tree for each group. Each tree has 9 "rungs" (add more or less depending on the amount of time you wish to play), and some bananas at the top. This takes about 1 minute if you're quick! Each team then has an animal which will climb the tree (e.g. Monkey, Koala, but also things like "cow" or "helicopter" are very amusing!). Explain that the aim of the game is to eat the bananas at the top! During the game you play some music (something fast and dancey). When the music plays the students pass a ball around (no throwing!!). Stop the music then ask the person holding the ball a question using the target vocabulary or structure. If the student gets it right then their team's animal climbs one rung up the tree! Repeat until one team reaches the top - and gets the bananas! (Variation: For Junior High students you could use Spiderman and the villains who need to rescue Mary Jane at the top floor of a building.)
Hoop board game www.genkienglish.netYou will need a hoop board (a board with numbers on it and large protruding pins in each number). Ss through a small hoop or ring at the hoop board. If the ring catches onto one of the pins in the board they answer a question or say a sentence using the target word or structure. If they get it correct they receive the number of points corresponding to where their hoop landed.
Junken with a difference L Brandis Rather than the standard rock, paper, scissors use mouth closed, mouth open, and poking the tongue. Divide the class into two teams. Show a flashcard. The Ss junken (using their mouth etc). The winner of the junken then gets to say what the word is on the flashcard in the target language (or uses the word in a target structure) and receives a point for their team.
Samurai Race adapted from genkienglish.com Print, laminate and magnetize four different coloured Samurais (blue, red, yellow, and green) and four castles. Put the samurais and castles on the board. Then draw three or more circles (depending on how long you want the game to last) between them. Divide the students into four groups by randomly distributing coloured cards to each student (blue, red, yellow and green). Explain the aim of the game is to get the castle first. During the game you play some music (something fast and dancey). When the music plays the students pass a ball around (no throwing!!). Stop the music then the person holding the ball should tell the teacher in the target language which team they are on. Then ask the student a question using the target language. For example: (Grammar) Make a sentence using ‘I am going to…”(Vocabulary) Make a sentence with the word “funny” in it. If the student gets it right (including the pronunciation) then their team's Samurai climbs one circle up closer to the castle. Repeat until one team reaches the top - and gets to the castle!
Scrunch it (Grammar) Dave's ESL cookbook S Walker You need a sheet of paper with the base form of the verb, or the vocab item, or the error written one to each sheet of paper. Put the pile of papers face down on a chair halfway down your classroom. At the other end put a waste paper bin on a table or on a chair. Put your class into teams. In turn, a person from each team steps up to the chair, picks up the first sheet of paper, shows it to everyone, and either gives the verb conjugations, or explains/translates the vocab, or corrects the error. The rest of the team must be quiet when they do this - no prompting allowed. If the answer is not correct, the sheet of paper goes back into the pile. If the answer is correct, the student's team gets a point. Now, for another point, they can scrunch up the paper and try and throw it in the bin.
Space Invaders www.genkienglish.netYou need a blackboard, a suction ball that will stick to the blackboard, or wet tissues. A little like the arcade version, draw a number of aliens on the blackboard. Each Alien is worth x number of points. Divide the class into 2 or more teams. Ask them questions. If they get the answer right they then get to throw a suction ball (or wet tissue) at the blackboard. Aliens, which have been hit, are wiped off the board. Options are to also draw earthlings or something that they are not supposed to hit. These hits are worth minus points. Another option is to draw aliens and earthlings on the blackboard and have the children divided into earthlings and aliens and they have to hit the opposition’s pictures. Last alien / earthling standing is the winner. You can change the aliens/earthlings to fish/sharks, flowers/insects etc etc etc.
Three-in-a-row Put a grid on the board. In two teams. Ss answer questions to get three in a row. (Like naughts and crosses). Synonyms. Explain the word. Give the word etc.
Tug of War www.genkienglish.netDraw on the blackboard 7 or 9 lines (or stones) (red team - - - - - - - - - blue team) Choose 3-5 students to come to the front of the class. Divide the rest of the students into 2 teams. (red/blue) Place one of the 3-5 students in front of the board covering the middle line/stone. (red team - - - - S - - - - blue team) Ask the teams questions. The team that answers correctly 'pulls' the student closer towards them. (red team - - - - - S - - - blue team) Ask another question. The winning team pulls the student closer towards them. When the student has been pulled all the way to one of the teams, the next student is placed in the middle. The idea is to try and 'pull' as many of the 3-5 students to your team as possible.
Typhoon Flashcards (pictures or questions on one side, numbers on the other), 'Typhoon Cards' (flashcards with numbers on one side and a typhoon picture on the other). Stick the numbered cards on the board with either pictures or questions on the back facing the board. Also include 6 Typhoon cards and mix them in with the picture cards. Ss then choose a number card. If they answer the question correctly then their team can draw a line to draw a house. If they choose a typhoon card then they blow down their opposing teams part drawing of a house. The first team to draw a house wins.
Wheel of fortune Write a word or phrase on the board with lines for letters. Cut up some dollar amounts (or use monopoly money) and throw them with some free spins and a bankrupt into a bag. Ss pick out a money amount and they get the cash if they guess a correct letter, another turn for a free spin and miss a turn for a bankrupt. The Ss with the most money at the end is the winner.