Vocabulary review activities
Lots of ideas for reviewing Japanese vocabulary with students.
Back to TEACHING IDEAS or HOME
Do you have a GREAT idea?
Submit your idea here!
_________________________________
***NEW***
Karuta flash R. Jeffers Divide the class into small groups. Give each group a set of picture karuta cards with matching word karuta cards. When the Tt says 「はい、スタート。」the Ss match the words with the pictures. The group that matches the cards the quickest gets a point for their team. Once all groups have accurately matched all picture cards with word cards the Tt then says one of the karuta card words in Japanese. The Ss that can show the matching picture card to the Tt the fastest gets a point for his/her team. An extra point is then allocated if the team can say the meaning of the word in English.
_________________________________
Around the world A Suzuki Ss sit in a horseshoe shape. The first Ss on the left of the horseshoe shape stands behind the Ss to his/her left. These two Ss are asked a question related to the target language Eg. “What does this word/kanji mean?” The first Ss to answer continues left around the horseshoe shape (imagine going around the world). This Ss continues moving around the world until another Ss is faster than him/her. The Ss who is the slowest sits down and the Ss who is faster takes his/her place. Once one of the Ss has reached the end of the horseshoe shape they then have a final 3 questions together with the last person in the horseshoe shape. The Ss who wins the final 3 questions competes against the person who moved the most around the horseshoe shape. The two Ss then compete with a final 3 questions. The winner is the Ss who answers the most questions correctly and the quickest. Extra: hiragana/katakana.
Backs to Boards Divide the class in half. One Ss from each team sits in front of the whiteboard facing their team members (back to the board). Tt writes a word, phrase or kanji on the board and each team must elicit it from their team member at the front. The Ss to guess the word first gets a point. Rotate Ss until everyone has had a go.
Balloon afloat www.genkienglish.netPut the students into small groups. Each group forms a circle. Give each group a balloon. As a group they have to keep the balloon in the air, but when it touches a part of someone's body they have to shout out a word or sentence in the target language. (The next person can then translate that word or sentence into English) The group that can keep the balloon in the air the longest is the winner. (A hackey sack is a good alternative to a balloon.) Variation: Give Ss fly swats which they must use to keep the balloon a float. AND, randomly show a flashcard, if the students say the flashcard they get an extra point.
Bank it Give Ss a large set of words and a number of categories. In teams Ss attempt to put the words in the correct categories. 10 points for the first correct word in a category, 20 for the second and 40 for the third. They can stop and throw it over to the other team and bank their points at any stage. Extra: This can also be done with clines eg the strongest to the weakest, formal to informal etc.
Board Memory Blue tack vocabulary cards on the board. Divide the Ss into two teams (eg. girls vs boys). Ss put their heads on the desks with their eyes closed or turn around and Tt removes a card. Ss turn back and try to guess which card is gone. The first Ss to answer correctly gets a point for their team. [Extra: Ss could take control and remove the cards. Or this could be changed to a running game where the Tt says a word and one member from each team runs and remove the correct card. Ss that is first gets a point.]
Call my bluff Divide the class into four teams. Each team gets 6 new words they don’t know. The team then looks the words in the dictionary to find the definition. Ss create a card with three definitions for each word. One correct definition and two incorrect. After all the cards are complete the first team reads their first word along with the three definitions while the other teams guess which is correct. Each team with a correct definition gets one point. Continue around the class until all teams have read and guessed the definitions.
Card Collect www.genkienglish.net Give each student 4 or 5 mini cards with pictures or vocabulary on them. They fan them out so other people can see how many cards they have, but can't see what's on them. The students find a partner. The first student asks 「これはなんですか。」 (or some other target structure i.e. 「なにをしていますか。」「どこですか。」 etc.) whilst pointing to one of their opponent's cards. The other student answers. The student who just answered points to one of the cards from the first student and asks 「これはなんですか。」This student answers. Now they "janken”. The winner takes the loser's card and adds it to their fan of cards. They go around asking different people until someone has a full set of 8 different cards, then they are the winner!! If anyone runs out of cards, they come and ask the teacher who has an infinite supply!
Celebrity Heads Select two or more Ss. Sit each Ss in a chair at the front of the room facing the class and with their backs to the board. Write a word or phrase on the board for each Ss. The aim is for the Ss at the front of the class to guess the word on the board before the other Ss at the front. Each Ss at the front of the class takes turns asking yes/no questions to the rest of the class. Eg. 「おおきいですか。」 The class may answer 「はい」or 「いいえ」 only. If the question is answered with a 「はい」 then the Ss may ask another question. Continue asking questions until one person guesses the word written on the board behind them.
Challenge Round L Brandis Two Ss stand up. The Tt shows a flashcard with the words being studied. (Cards can be in English or in Japanese). The Tt flashes the card to the two Ss. The first Ss in the pair who says the word correctly can sit down. (I.E. If the Tt flashes 'あし’ the Ss must say in English 'foot'.) The next Ss in the class stands up and challenges the remaining Ss. Continue around the class. If both Ss in the pair don’t say the word quickly enough or are wrong they both remain standing and the next Ss challenges both of them. The last students standing come to the front of the class and do an individual challenge at the front of the class.
Cowboy www.genkienglish.net Ask 6 students to stand at the front of the classroom. Put one chair behind the each student. Give everyone a word card. The teacher says one of the words on the flashcards they are holding. The student who is holding this word card quickly sits down. The students on either side of this student turn to face each other and say the word that is on their opponent's card. For example: student A has a いぬ card, student B has a ねこ card, student C has a うし card. If the teacher says: 「ねこ」, the student who is holding the 'cat' card sits down, students A & C quickly face each other, student A will say out the word うし. Student C will say the word いぬ. See who is the fastest. He/she is the winner. The winner goes back to the rest of the class a new student replaces him/her.
Disappearing Pirates A Suzuki Give Ss a piece of paper with medium sized circles in 8 rows by 5 columns. Next to the rows are words and columns are target words. Eg. 8 different hobbies next to the rows – horse riding, swimming, playing tennis, computers, playing rugby, playing soccer, Karaoke, baseball. Eg. 5 different adjectives under the columns - interesting, fun, boring, difficult, easy. Ss need to draw randomly in 15 of the circles little pirate faces. Tt reads a sentence using the target words. Ss cross off the circles corresponding to the words Eg. Playing tennis is fun. (Ss cross off the circle that corresponds to tennis and fun.) The first person to cross off all of his/her 15 pirates yells out “Pirates” (Little bit like bingo!) and wins. Extra: Tt can be replaced by a confident Ss and create appropriate sentences. (Other word combinations are: days of the week/activity, subject/adjective, object/adjective, object/location, body parts/adjective, time/activity, name/activity)
Dominos Get a dominos template. Split two words in half over two dominos. Put a picture (or kanji or katakana) on one side and the word (or hiragana) on the other. Word on one side definition on the other etc.
Fan Memory Give Ss a ½ an A4 piece of paper. Fold the paper like a fan. Ss write on the first section of the fan a word in the target language and then in English on the next fan section. Continue until the fan is completely full of words. Ss fold up the fan and test each other by slowly unfolding the fan.
Fan tastic To review vocabulary (or hiragana or kanji) put the word you want Ss to learn onto a piece of A4 paper. Fold the paper in a fan shape. Slowly reveal the word fan section by fan section. Ss have to guess what the word is before the fan is completely opened.
Farrago Ss have a list of words that are numbered. Tt reads the definitions and Ss write down the corresponding number to the word being described. (Words can be replaced with pictures)
Flies on the wall Divide the class into two teams. Put the words on the board in fly shapes. The Tt yells a word and the Ss have to swat the corresponding word.
Fruit Basket A Suzuki Ss sit in a circle with one Ss in the middle. The Ss in the middle says a statement that reviews a target structure. Eg. 「バナナが好きです。」 Ss with the same opinion then they must stand and swap chairs. The last person standing becomes the new person in the middle. (To make this more challenging the Ss can’t take a seat that is next to them they must move at least two seats away.)
Fun Grammar Cards A Suzuki Tt writes a sentence on the board leaving only particles . Eg. (person a) は(place)で(person b)と (verb). All Ss write on a piece of paper “person a”. Tt collects them all and puts them on a separate desk labeled “person a”. Repeat for all the other missing words. Ss then go around and collect one random card from each pile of cards. They then read to the class their sentences. (Which are grammatical, which are funny?) etc.
Gone fishing Divide the class into two teams. One person comes out at a time. Put all of the vocabulary you want Ss to learn on to fish shapes (attached is a paper clip at the mouth). Ss get a fishing rod (chopsticks and a paper clip bent as a hook). The Tt yells out a word and the Ss have to collect the corresponding fish.
Grid Scrabble A Suzuki Give each pair of Ss a grid (about 10 x 10 squares). Put a word that the Ss already know in the middle of the grid (or the Ss can select one). Ss take turns to add as many words as possible to this original word (obeying the basic scrabble rules). For each word added to the grid they get points. Each letter (or character) added equals one point. The winner is the Ss who collected the most points. DOWNLOAD SCRABBLE BOARD.
Hangman Wheel of fortune Dave's ESL Café You need: Photocopied Japanese yen. 3 dice. A pre-typed sheet of paper indicating what each number between 3 and 18 is worth. Example: 3=1,000, 4=5,000, 5=10,000, 6 and 15 = miss a turn, 7 and 14 = bankrupt and so on. Write a sentence on the board, hangman style. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 。 「きょうはげつようびです。」.The first student rolls the three dice. They roll a 10. Look on the sheet. 10 = 5,000. They then say a hiragana. If they say う, then you write on the board. _ _う_ _ _ _ う _ _ _ 。 The student will then receive 10,000 from you as they have two う's at 5,000 each. If someone says a letter that has already been said, then they forfeit their turn. If someone knows the whole sentence, they must put up their hand and say 「こたえます」 If they are right, give them 10,000 and let them start the next round once you have put a new sentence on the board. If they roll a 7 or a 14, then you take all their money back.
Line Quiz www.genkienglish.net Split the class into two groups. One lines up on the left side, one on the right. Show the first student in each group a flashcard. The first student to say the word correctly in Japanese gets to sit down. The other goes to the back of his/her team. The winning team is the first team that has everyone sitting down! (With younger classes or classes with behaviour managment problems select 9 students ie 3 groups of 2, rather than getting the whole class to stand up).
Mastermind Put dashes on the board as in hangman. The Ss try to guess the complete word. Put a cross for incorrect letters and a circle for correct letters ie. The dashes on the board represent: げつようび but the Ss guess かようびl you would write XXOOO. Continue until the word is guessed.
Matching Cut two groups of words on slips of paper for the Ss to match with the correct synonym or opposite. Ss work in pairs to share existing knowledge then through a process of elimination to work out the remaining words. One pair joins another pair. Comparing answers. Finally as a whole class.
Michikusa A Suzuki Use a grid (about 8 by 10). Write one type of vocabulary ie travel vocabulary from one side of the grid to the other (randomly but still making sure that students can make a line from the start to the goal). Label where the first vocabulary is with "Start’ and on the other where the last vocabulary is with the ‘Goal’. Complete the grid with other vocabulary (ie not related to travel). Ss draw a line from the start to the goal finding all the appropriate vocabulary. (Extra: hiragana vs katakana, numbers vs kanji, travel vocabulary vs other vocabulary etc.)
Mime Race Divide the class into two or more teams. Allocate a leader and a scribe for each team. Have a list of words Ss have studied. Take the two leaders outside the classroom and show them one of the words on the list. When both Ss know what the word is they return to their group and mime the word. The team members must guess what the word is and when they know the word the scribe writes the word on the board. The first team to get the word written on the board gets a point. Allocate bonus points for correct spelling etc. Deduct one point each time the mimer says something.
Miming Crossword P Little Create a crossword with all of the target words (no clues required). White out numbers 1,3,5,7 etc on the cross word for student A and 2,4,6,8 etc for student B. Give each pair of students a copy of the crossword (ie student A pairs up with student B). The students then mime the missing words to their partner who has to guess the word and write it in the crossword. (Rather than miming the words student can also be asked to define the words using relative clauses.)
Mobile madness I Korver Copy the keypad of a mobile phone and blow it up to A3 size. (Downloadable from the Internet). Tt selects a set of words to revise. Tt writes on the board the SMS codes for each word. (A=2, B=2, C=2, D=3, E=3 etc) Eg. inu = 468 or doubutsu = 36828878. Divide Ss into small groups. Ss need to guess the words and write them down. First group to have all the codes cracked win.
New words pass Present, elicit, model and drill new vocabulary using flashcards. Put Ss in a circle or line. Show first flashcard to first Ss and ask. Tt: 「これはなんですか。」Ss: 「それは...です。」 Tt: 「よくできました。」 That Ss then turns to the Ss next to him/her and asks the same question. Tt gives the first Ss another flashcard. Repeating the above process till all of the flashcards go around the room back to the Tt. To make it more challenging Tt can send cards from another direction around the circle. Extra: Use this to study target structures.
Numbers mingle www.genkienglish.net Put large number flashcards on the floor around the room. The students stand by a number. Throw a dice (later get the students to do this) and ask what’s the number? Show the student on that number a flashcard. If the student can say the word in Japanese correctly he/she gets a point card (or equivalent). Shout change and continue. The person (or team) with the most points at the end is the winner.
OHT memoryA Suzuki Put up an OHT with pictures, vocabulary words, phrases, Kanji or other script. Ss have one minute to remember the words. Tt removes the OHT and Ss write down all the words that were on the OHT. The Ss who remembers the most words wins.
Over-under Divide the class into two or more teams. Allocate a leader for each team. Line the teams into rows. Give each of the leaders a flash card. When the Tt says 「いきますよ」, the first in line says the word and passes the flashcard over their head, the next Ss says the word and passes the card under between their legs, the next Ss over, then under, etc. The last Ss in line races to the front to hand the flashcard to the teacher and says the word (or writes the word on the board). The first team to reach the teacher (or write the word) gets a point for their team. Continue passing flashcards down the lines.
Pair Flip L Brandis Two Ss come to the front of the class. Both are given a card. They are to hold that card facing them. The Tt and the class count down from 3. When they reach 1 the Ss at the front of the class both turn over their cards and show their partner. The Ss to say the word corresponding to their partner’s picture is the winner. The winner selects the next Ss to come to the front of the class. Extra: Ss can be asked to make a sentence using the word on this card. Verbs - students can change the verbs.
Pictionary Divide the class into groups of four. Tt shows the captains of each team a word. They return to their group and draw the word. The first person in each team to guess the word is the winner and becomes the next drawer. Extra: Using a stopwatch and giving Ss 30 seconds to draw will add to the excitement. Those teams that do not guess within the time cannot play the next round. Other: Divide the class into four large teams. These teams allocate a drawer and a scribe. The drawer draws the object on the board while the team members tell the scribe what they think the object is and then the scribe writes it on the board. The first team to have the correct word on the board is the winner.
Plane target Draw a target in the middle of the board with different points in each ring. Two Ss come to the front of the class. Tt shows a flashcard or says a definition of a target word. If the Ss knows how to say the word in Japanese they can throw the plane. The Ss plane that first hits the target gets a chance to answer the question. If the Ss answers correctly they keep the amount of points they hit with their plane on the target. This person then sits down and is replaced with another Ss.
Play dough mania Divide the class into two teams or more teams. Each team has a bucket of play dough (different colour per team is preferred). Each team selects a sculptor. The sculptor comes to the Tt who flashes a card with a word on it. The Ss with the play dough run back to their team and make a shape corresponding to the word on the flash card in one minute. The Ss in their team must guess what the object is in Japanese. The Ss write down on the board what they think the object is. The team that guesses correctly gets a point. (To make it more challenging the team the loses also loses half of their play dough. Continue the game until one of the teams doesn’t have any play dough left.)
Rollie Make a large dice with the target vocabulary ie. きょう、あした、あさって、etc Ss roll the dice saying 「なにがでるかな」. When the dice stops the Ss that threw the dice must say a sentence using the word on the dice eg. きのう、かいものをしました。 (This can be made into a competition by dividing the class into two teams. Each team gets a chance to say a word and points are allocated for correct sentences.)
Row and Columns www.genkienglish.com Ask everyone in the class to stand up. Ask a question in Japanese. The first person to correctly say the answer in Japanese can sit down and is given the option to choose ひだり、みぎ、まえ、うしろ. The students sitting in that direction can also sit down. (ie. If the student who correctly answers says "forward" all the students to the front of him/her can sit down as well). Continue until there is no one standing.
Run and erase Write vocabulary you wish to revise on the board. Divide the class into two teams. Allocate a runner for each team. Tt defines a word or shows a flashcard and the Ss then run to the board and erase (or draw a circle) around that word. The person to first do this gets a point. The team with the most points at the end is the winner.
Run and write Divide the class into two teams. Allocate a runner for each team. Tt shows a flashcard in English the Ss then run to the board and write the word in Japanese. The person to first do this gets a point. The team with the most points at the end is the winner.
Running Dicatation Groups D Powell Pin up a list of vocabulary. Divide the class into teams of two or more. Allocate a scribe and a runner. The runner must run to the vocab list and remember the first word then run back to their team. Tell the scribe the word who then writes it down. The team then swap jobs. A new runner and a new scribe. Continue until the entire list is complete. The first team to complete gets 5 points. Second gets 4 and so on. Then the Tt reads the script or puts a copy of it onto the OHT. Ss check what they have written. 1 point is allocated for each correct word. The group with the most points at the end wins.
Scattegories Give a list of five to fifteen categories and one hiragana. The Ss find one word for each category starting (or containing) that hiragana.One point for each correct answer. Eg: き- Food, Animals, Clothes: ケーキ、 きりん、きもの
Sensei Machigatta L Brandis Tt shows a picture of the words being studied. Tt says the word. If the Tt says the word matching the picture then the Ss says the word. If it is wrong the Ss says nothing. Extra: All Ss stand. If they say something when there should be silence they sit down. The last person standing is the winner.
Sentence Race Write on small pieces of paper vocabulary you want to revise, write each word twice eg. once on a blue card and once on a green card (different colours will help distinguish who is on what team). Divide the class into 2 teams. Distribute the cards between the Ss. Every Ss should have a paper and both teams have the same words. When you call a word, 2 Ss should stand up, one from each team. The Ss must then run to the blackboard and race to write a sentence using their word. Points can be allocated to the Ss who wrote it first and the Ss who wrote it grammatically correct.
Shiritori Race M Herbert Divide the class into 4 or 5 teams. Divide the board into the same number of sections. Nominate one leader. Tt writes one of the words the Ss have been learning in each column. eg.りんご. The leader must then write another word starting with the last letter of the previous word. Eg. ごはん Then the next person in the team comes to the board and writes a word with the last letter of that word. Continue until all the members of the team have written a word. The team to finish first is the winner.
Shopping L Brandis Teacher has vocabulary flashcards. Ss ask the teacher which vocabulary they would like by using the phrase 「～ください」 Eg. 「ねこをください。」(ねこis the new vocabulary.) Tt gives the card to the Ss.「はいどうぞ」「ありがとう。」 Then the next Ss asks for a vocabulary item. Repeat until all the vocab cards are gone.
Shyuwa L Brandis Introduce new vocabulary assigning a particular hand signal to it. Then create symbols for the particles in Japanese or artilces in English. Finally create sentences or a story using this sign language.
Simon says (body parts, action words) Ss stand up for this activity. Tt stands at the front of the class and says: 「先生いわく」 Eg. 「先生いわく耳をさわります。」 Ss need to follow the teacher’s instructions. (Ss touch their ears.) Tt speeds up once Ss know what to do. Tt occasionally doesn’t say "Sensei Iwaku" before the word. If Ss do what Tt says (even though he/she didn’t say “Sensei iwaku") then they need to sit down. The winner of the game is the last standing. (Tt can be replaced by a confident Ss.)
Simultaneous Chatter L Brandis Three students would go to the front of the room. The teacher tells them a word each. When the teacher says go they would then say the words all at once. The audience members have to guess who said what.
Snap (Karuta) P Little Give each pair of Ss a set of flashcards with pictures on it. The tt says words that relate to the pictures. The Ss challenge each other to grab the card first. The Ss that does gets to keep the card. If both snap just as quickly they need to do rock, paper, scissors to see who keeps the card.
Spin the bottle www.genkienglish.net Have everyone sit boy-girl in a circle then spin twice to choose a boy and a girl. Instead of kissing, they have to wave meekly to each other then stand in the middle of the circle. Each is secretly given a word that they must act out for their respective genders. The first team to guess their gender's word gets a point.
Statues (actions words) Tt plays music. When the music stops Tt yells a target word or phrase and the Ss need to stand like a statue in that shape. Ss who is the slowest has to sit down. The winner is the Ss still standing at the end. (Tt can be replaced by one or some of the Ss who had to sit down.)
Story Rebuild L Brandis Tt writes a few sentences on the board in English. Tt then gives a bag of words to the Ss in Japanese. The Ss have to rebuild the story on the board in Japanese.
Story with Hidden Words C Morgan Ss are put into small groups. Give each group a set of words they need to use in a short story. Each group reads their story and the other groups listen and try to identify the target words. Listening teams get a point for each word they identify and lose a point for wrong guesses. The story telling team gets a point for each one they slip by their peers.
Student Cull Divide the class into three (one captain for each team). Line each group at the back of the classroom with their captain at the front. On the opposite side of the classroom place three chairs. On each of the chairs place a different word. Call one of the words and the first SS from one of the three teams to run and sit on the correct chair earns a point for their team. The captain goes to the end of the line and the next Ss run and sit.
Taboo Divide the class into groups of four. Create cards with one word at the top and under it four related words. One pair of Ss have to elicit from their partner the word without using the related words. The other pair watches to make sure they don’t say the related words. One minute to do as many cards as possible – with points for each card completed.
Tatte Swatte Give each Ss an English card with one of the vocabulary on it. Tt flashes a Japanese card (saying the English if necessary). The Ss with the matching English card needs to stand up and say the Japanese word. Flash the cards as quickly as possible to get the Ss moving up and down a lot. (Extra: the person who stands up the fastest gets a point, the person who says it correctly gets one point).
Team Charades Divide the class in half. One Ss from each team stands in front of the whiteboard facing their team members (back to the board). Tt gives show Ss a card with a word, phrase or kanji on it and then mimes what the word is to their team. (Or defines it.) The team to guess the word first gets a point. Rotate Ss until everyone has had a go.
Team Vocab J Badke Divide the class into 4 or 5 teams. Nominate one leader. Tt writes the first hiragana letter of each vocabulary vertically on the board (repeat for each team). ( Eg. Your class just learnt the days of the week, write the first hiragana of each day vertically on the board.) The leader must complete the rest of the word receiving help from their teammates. The first team to write all of the words correctly (could include correct kanji) wins. This can also be done with grammar. Eg. Rather than writing the first letter of each word, write a verb and the Ss have to change the verbs into another tense.
The Weakest Link All students stand up behind their desks. Tt asks a question or shows a flashcard with vocabulary recently learnt. The first Ss to put up their hand and answers the question or says the vocabulary correctly can then select 3 other students to sit down. Continue. The last person standing is the winner.
Throwing words around Dave's ESL cafe Write the words you want your students to learn/remember in large letters on A4 paper, say 6 to 8 words. Hold up the words and drill them. Then screw all the pieces of paper into balls. Point to each ball in turn and ask students to say the word. Then take three balls and put them at the front of the table. Ask students to tell you which words they are. Then tell them to watch very carefully, as you quickly move them around, as in a three card trick. Ask them again which is which. Finally, throw one of the balls to a student, saying the word it represents. Ask him to throw the ball in the same way to someone else, and say the word. The catcher then throws it to someone else and so on. Once the students understand what they should do, throw all the other balls to the class and stand well back!
Time bomb You need a timer (such as an egg timer or a fake bomb from a toy shop) for this game. Set the timer, ask a question and then throw it to a Ss. S/he must answer and then throw the timer to another Ss, who in turn answers and then throws it to another Ss. The Ss holding the timer when it goes off loses a life. This can also be done with categories (e.g. food, animals, etc.).
Toss the Ball Put Ss standing in a circle. First Ss says a word (related to the topic or unit being studied) then throws the ball to another Ss who has to come up with another word. Continue throwing the ball around the circle. Ss sit down if they don’t throw the ball nicely to another Ss, if they can’t say a word, or repeat a word that was already said. Slight changes: last letter of the word is first letter of next word. Eg. Animals: ねこ、コアラ、ライオン、Word - sentence – word. (To make it more challenging or fun give a time limit (eg 10 seconds) to answer and throw the ball.)
Triangles (Sankaku) A Suzuki Play rock, paper, scissors (じゃんけんぽん). Each time a player wins they can draw a small circle. After three wins they can make a complete triangle and then put their initial in the triangle. The player with the most initials in the triangles wins. (Extra: Tt can give Ss a list of words after each Rock Paper Scissors game the winner needs to explain the meaning of the word before he/she can draw a small circle.)
Triple Say L Brandis Tt shows a flashcard and then says the English word three times. All the Ss must say the Japanese equivalent before the teacher says the word for the third time. If the students beat the Tt then they get a point. If the Tt beats the Ss then he/she receives a point. (Ss should try to get more points than the Tt.)
True or False betting Take some words you would like to revise and put them either truly or falsely into sentences. Eg. いぬはどうぶつです。(T) ねずみはおおきいです。(F) Ss to guess if the words are used correctly or not (T) or (F). (In pairs or alone.) Ss bet points from 100 to 0 on how confident they are. For each correct answer they keep the betted points and for each incorrect answer they lose the bet. Calculate all the points and see who got the most points!
Verbal Dominos Create a set of cards with two words on each card but repeating one of the words from the previous card. Eg. Card one: やきゅう、テニス, Card two: テニス、サッカー Card three: サッカー、すもう etc. Give one card to each Ss. Tt reads out one of the target words. The student that has that word on their card reads the next word on their card. The Ss that has that word on the card must read their next word. Continue until all words have been said. (This game is similar to Dominos.) Extra challenge: Ss need to remember the order then when everyone has finished saying their words, without looking at their cards, stand in the same order as the words were read.
Vocab Box Keep a box full of blank pieces of coloured paper (different colours for different topics or units). Get a volunteer Ss from the class to write the new words of the day on the cards. Grab a bunch of cards. Ss can do the following (in pairs): In pairs Ss explain the meaning of the words and their partner guesses the word put the word in a sentence and the partner guesses the word write the clues for a crossword and create it for another Ss to complete play Pictionary (draw a picture and guess the word). In pairs one Ss models the word with plasticine and the other guesses the word.
Wall of Correct One wall of the classroom is ただしい. The other side of the classroom is まちがいっている. The Tt shows an English flashcard and then says the corresponding word in Japanese or definition (or vise versa). If what the Tt says was correct they go to the "Correct" Wall. If it is incorrect they go to the other wall. (Ss can replace the teacher.) Make this a fast paced game so Ss are running from one side of the room to the other. (This can be a game with just words all whole sentences.) EXTRA: Divide the class into teams. Points can be allocated for the first person to reach the wall or the number of team members correct. The team with the most points in the end wins.
Whiteboard holdup Select two Ss. Give each Ss a small whiteboard (purchase from a toy store), rag and a whiteboard marker. Call out a hiragana (or word) and have the Ss draw it and then hold up the whiteboard when finished. The Ss who is the fastest sits down and passes the whiteboard to the next Ss. The slower Ss stays standing. The next two Ss challenge each other. Continue around the whole class.
Word association Ss sit in a circle. Tt says a word. Ss go around the circle saying one word related to the one the Tt said. (Or Ss can say a word related to the previous Ss’s word.)
Word battleships Give Ss a grid of about 15 squares (number 一 to 十五) by 15 squares (あーそ or any other hiragana). Ss then write 5 words on the grid (horizontal or vertical). In pairs one Ss gives the coordinates (eg 一：あ or 十二：し) if there is a letter in that space the other Ss then needs to tell their partner the letter. Ss swap and continue until they guess all the words on their grids. The first person to guess all the words is the winner.
Word Webs Divide the class into small teams. Write a word, kanji or topic on the board. In two minutes which team can think of the most words related to the word, kanji or topic? (Eg. environment, environmental, environmentalist OR. 気：元気、気温、気性 OR animals: cat, dog, mouse etc.) One point for each correctly spelt or written word, deuct points for those that are not. (This can also be done with collocations or word combinations: blood bank, blood donation…etc)
Yukidama www.genkienglish.netTt draws words on the board. Divide the class into two or more teams. One Ss from each team gets a wet tissue (yukidama) and stand at the front of the class near the whiteboard. Tt shows the audience a flashcard. The audience yell out the word. The Ss at the front throw their wet tissue. The person who hits closer to the item called gets a point.
| Grid scrabble board.doc | |
| File Size: | 79 kb |
| File Type: | doc |