Notes

List of games/ short activities

1) Getting to know you
tell your partner your name
ask your partner what their name is
tell your partner where you are from
ask your partner where they are from
think of 3 things you would like to know about your partner
think of questions you could ask your partner in order to find out these things [grade 1: teacher writes questions on board; grade 2: students write down questions on their own piece of paper with assistance from teachers; grade 3: students write their own questions down or ask them from memory only]
think of one extra question you are going to ask
find a new partner and repeat the question-asking exercise
feed back to class/teachers – how did it go? Where can we improve? Write down in journals? Teachers make notes? Some kind of feedback/improvement mechanism.

2) One minute conversation
in 2012, Goo Research asked 2'000 Japanese people aged 15-44 what their favourite Manga is.
Can you guess the top 4 manga for men and for women? Pick from this list: Hunter X Hunter, One Piece, Kimi ni Todoke, Fairy Tail, Naruto, Attack On Titan, Bakuman, Dragon Ball, Slam Dunk, Gintama, Bleach and NANA. [provide visual images to increase interest] [Answers: men: One Piece, Dragon Ball, Slam Dunk, Naruto; women: One Piece, Kimi no Todoke, Slam Dunk, NANA.]
Students write down what they think were the top 4 manga for men, and then again for women, from the survey
Were there any surprising results? Can the children explain why some manga were so popular?
Prepare to have a one-minute conversation with your partner about what manga they like. Useful phrases: So, what's your favourite manga? I like ____. It's about _____. Why do you like it? Who's in it? What other manga do you like? Sensei, help me please! How do you say ____ in English?
[Model using these phrases between JTE + ALT, then DRILL THESE PHRASES]
Pupils to carry out the one-minute conversation [JTE/ALT observe during this time, or assist]
Feed back to class/teachers: how did it go? What did you find difficult? JTE/ALT feed back to pupils on what they noticed.
Repeat the conversation with a new partner.
Follow-up/plenary: Allow pupils to volunteer to ask their teachers what manga they like // Pupils try to guess which manga their teachers like.
Optional: poll the pupils on which manga characters are their favourites. Put the answers into a box and count them when out of lesson time, then use it next lesson as a refresher/repeat/revision.

2b) One-minute conversation (Food/restaurant)
Pupils will plan a one-minute conversation on the topic of food/restaurants. The results of the conversation will enable them to design a meal for their partner (OUTCOME). Their partner will then grade the meal depending on whether they would like to eat that or not!
First: place pictures of food in each area of the class (e.g. four corners). Pupils to walk by each area and investigate.
'Freeze' the children. Ask them what foods they can see. Write the names of the foods on the board (ENGLISH!). When all foods have been noted on board:
Then blow whistle: pupils have 10 seconds to go stand by a food they like. (If there is time, can play a game: guess which foods will be the most popular, write on little pieces of paper/rank them on the blackboard)
Note the popularity of each food.
Build grammar/vocabulary: model using the right language between JTE/ALT: What food do you like? Do you like ___? What is your favourite food? Why do you like ____? What other food do you like? [DRILL THESE PHRASES]
Give pupils preparation time for their one-minute conversation
Pupils engage with their partners in one-minute conversation [JTE/ALT observe + assist]
Feed back to pupils on our observations; ask them to feed back to us, how did it go? What did you find difficult?
Repeat conversation with new partner.
Follow-up/plenary: are our choices healthy? Could we eat this every day? What do you think of the foods your partner has chosen?

3) Giant pelmanism game
8 + 8 matching phrases
Goku uses a powerful ability // called the Kamehameha
Naruto's favourite jutsu // is Kage Bunshin
Hanamichi Sakuragi's rival // is called Kaede Rukawa
Gon Freecss uses // a fishing rod
In Bleach, characters release // powerful abilities called Bankai
Ashirogi's first published series // is called Detective Trap
People are afraid of // Sawako Kuronama
Monkey D Luffy gains special powers // by eating a Devil Fruit
Split class into teams of 4/5, pupils decide on team names. Pupils take it in turns to lead/speak – use Janken to decide who goes first.
Pupil picks a number. Reveal what is behind the number: JTE/ALT speaks the words. Pupils try to remember what it said. This team tries to pick a second number which matches – if it matches, they get a point (write their team name in the boxes).
Next team picks a number, etc.
Follow-up: students write their own examples (ENGLISH!) and take it in turns to be 'teacher' and 'students'.

4) Chain game
organise into groups of 4
make a circle
first person says a sentence about themselves e.g. I have been to France.
Second person repeats sentence then adds their own.
Keep going until you forget.
Most 'laps' wins.

5) Question swap mingle
hand out pieces of paper with Have you ever ______?
pupils write in the empty space to create a question.
Ask your partner your question.
Swap papers with your partner.
Find a new partner, ask them the question.
Swap papers, etc.
Follow-up: play the game without pieces of paper.

6) Board game 'What would you do if __?'
see British council booklet
roll dice, move, answer the question you land on or go back.
Your group members can ask follow-up questions – if you can't answer, you have to go back one space.

7) TWINE game
see British council booklet
groups of 9 etc
write a question on your sheet
pass it around the group
pupils to write answers
good English!
No rudeness!

8) Visualising game
write 4+ words on the board
pupils to illustrate the words on a piece of paper split into 4+ box grid, illustrate in random order
4 minutes to illustrate
can work with partner to assist/share ideas
swap pictures with another pair – they must figure out what each picture represents, one minute to figure each one out
feed back to each other and say what you think the pictures mean
Feed back to class/teacher: how did you find it? What did you find difficult?

9) Classifying game: animals
place these animals into two groups: tiger, sheep, gorilla, giraffe, cow, pig, chicken, elephant, bull, panda, horse, monkey, rooster, polar bear, hippopotamus.
Name your two groups

9b) Classifying game: sports
place these sports into 3 groups: skiing, football, kendo, baseball, swimming, judo, hiking, rugby, tennis, karate, ice-skating, hockey, gymnastics, cycling, badminton.
Place into the following groups: play, do, go.

10) Mindmaps
begin with a word surrounded by a circle. Pupils add words around the circle, related to the word. E.g. pharmacist ----> white coat.
Pupils think of a job. They write 5+ words/phrases that are related to the job (clues).
Ask partner to guess the job by giving them each word one at a time. Can they guess with only one word?
Follow-up/alternative: same activity but different vocabulary type, e.g. instead of job could be animal, etc.