Collected by Shaney Crawford, Former Participant of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET)

Programme (Fukushima)

These games and activities have been collected from various sources: past issues of the Fukushima

JET newsletter, games books, various CLAIR and AJET teaching resource guides, and stuff left over

from my predecessor. I apologize for not quoting sources, but I collected them in such a hurry

when I first got here that I can’t find the original sources in most cases. It is safe to assume that I

did not come up with all of these games, so please do not give me credit for doing so. You can,

however, assume that all mistakes are mine.

1. ‘A’ and ‘AN’

Draw a large ‘a’ and a large ‘an’ on separate pieces of paper. It is best if these words are written

inside amusing animal shapes. Divide the class into two teams. The first child from each team puts

their hands on their heads. Show the children a vocabulary flashcard. They both touch (or slam)

the ‘a’ or ‘an’. The one to touch the correct paper first gets a point for her team, provided that she

says, “It’s a …” or “It’s an …” correctly. If she makes a mistake, the other child is offered a chance

to make the correct sentence. After the class gets the idea, one of the children can hold up the

cards instead of the teacher.

2. A-B PAIRWORK

Student A is given half of the information and Student B is given the other half. Students have to

work together and ask each other questions to fill in the missing information on each of their

sheets.

3. ADJECTIVES 1

Write down three adjectives and ask pairs of students to write down as many things they can think

of that all three adjectives apply to. For example, “big, cold, beautiful” might apply to snowman,

mountain, Alaska… Get students to come up with their own adjectives. See who can get the most

number of words.

4. ADJECTIVES 2

Choose some advertisements with big print and not too much writing on them. Number them

clearly. Black out two adjectives from each and make a list of the missing words. Before the lesson,

post the ads on the walls of the classroom somewhere. Dictate the list of adjectives and tell the

students that these are the words that have been blacked out on the walls. The object is to match

the adjectives with their ads. Students write the number of the ad that they think that adjective

appeared in.
5. ALPHABET 1

Use big cards. Go through the alphabet once in order then mix them up. Introduce the

pronunciation of B and V, M and N, and L and R carefully.

6. ALPHABET 2

Use chalk as a baton. Arrange teams behind a line before the blackboard. The first student writes A

in her/her team’s designated space, then passes the chalk to the next student. The fastest team

wins. The Japanese teacher monitors the kids to keep them behind the line. Friends can call out

from behind the line to help. Give points for speed and neatness. When the students are confident

with A to Z, get them to try Z to A. If some students can write the whole alphabet, pit them

against each other. Instead of running to the board, you can try having wheelbarrow races or

hopping races. The movement and the competition are important in an elementary school.

7. ALPHABET 3

Use sets of alphabet cards. Make groups of 5 students. In the classroom, clear the desks to the

side. The students must make an alphabet line, card to card, from A to Z. Can use to check

recognition of capitals and small letters.

8. ALPHABET 4

Make two sets of alphabet cards, each letter about half the size of B4. Divide the class into two.

Distribute the two sets of cards amongst the students. Some of the students may get two cards.

The teacher selects a word for spelling. Each team has to spell the word by its members rushing to

the front and holding up their cards in correct sequence. The fastest team wins.

9. ALT’S APARTMENT

Draw an empty apartment on the board. Have students try to guess the contents. Draw them in as

they name them. For example, the students could ask, “Is there a chair?”.

10. ANAGRAMS (WORD SCRAMBLES) 1

Mix up vocabulary words and get the students to unscramble them. Can be played in teams, in

pairs, or with the whole class. The team who can unscramble the word (i.e. say it in English) and

give its meaning in Japanese gets a point. The team with the most points wins. You can also get

the students to spell the words correctly for points.

11. ANIMAL GAME

Give each student the name of an animal. After practising the different animal sounds, the students

make the sound in order to find the other students who are the same animal. Japanese animal

cries (nakigoe) are different from their English counterparts. Explain the sounds using pictures. The
kids find the differences amusing. They tend to know ‘dog’ and ‘mouse’ (after you mention Mickey).

I also used ‘kangaroo’ with a ‘tch, tch’ sound. Have a card for each student, but make sure they

don’t show it to anyone else. After finding their partners, they can show their cards to each other,

then the JTE and ALT. Presentation is important as without the preparation of cards and the

explanation (i.e. “you can’t show your card to anyone else”), this game can be a flop. It took some

fine tuning before it succeeded.

12. ANYTHING GOES

Students try to come up with as many different answers to one question as they can. The teacher

asks something like, “How many fingers do you have?”. The first student will probably say, “I have

ten fingers.”. The next student can say, “I have more than nine fingers.” The next, “I don’t have

sixteen fingers.”. The next, “I am an alien, so I have sixty fingers.”, etc. Try to get them to use any

grammar point that they have ever covered.

13. BACK TO BACK

Teams of two stand back to back and hook their arms around each other’s arms. Race to a marker

and then back to the starting line giving both the chance to run forward and backwards once.

14. BACK WRITING 1

After reading a text, each student selects about 5 new, difficult or unusual words. In pairs, they

write the words one at a time (with their fingers) on their partners’ backs. The partner guesses the

word. Variation: the partner must use the word in a sentence. Books closed makes it a memory

game. Books open makes it a scanning activity.

15. BACK WRITING 2

Each row is a team. The last person in each row comes up to the teacher’s desk and looks at a

flash card. When all students have returned to their seats, the teacher says “Start!” and the game

begins. The students at the end of the row write the word (with their fingers) on the back of the

person in front of them. When that person seems to understand the word, they write it on the back

of the person in front of them. The person in the front of the row writes the word on the board,

then goes to the teacher’s desk to look at a different card. Once he has remembered the card, he

goes to the back and writes it on the back of the person who used to be at the end of the row. (All

the students should move forward one seat while the person at the front of the row is looking at

the new card.) The winning team is the one that can write the most (correctly spelled) words on

the board.
16. BASEBALL 1

The class is divided into two teams. Four chairs are placed in the shape of a baseball diamond. The

AET/JTE proceeds to ask each team member a question which must be answered in a complete

sentence. If the correct answer is given, the player moves to first base. If the answer is wrong, the

player is “out”. When the team has three “outs” the other team comes up to bat.

17. BASEBALL 2

Draw a baseball diamond and a score board on the board. Students, in turn, are “at bat” and

choose how difficult a question to attempt: a single, double, triple, or homerun. If a student

answers correctly, s/he moves ahead the appropriate number of bases. The students who are

already on base advance the appropriate number of bases. Players who advance to homeplate

score a point for their team. If a player answers incorrectly, s/he is out. Once a team makes three

outs, the other team is up. This works well with spelling practice because it is fairly easy to compile

lists of easy to difficult words.

Note from Steve Mendoza

I teach at a Japanese high school, and I have some additional ideas for the game “Baseball 2″. It

may be a good idea to use playing cards, i.e. ace = single, 2 = double etc. Also the joker card can

be an automatic walk, and king can be an automatic strikeout. The cards are put face down and

the students pick one randomly. This adds a more random element to the game. In Japan, most

students would just pick single each time, if given the choice.

18. BASEBALL 3

Draw a baseball diamond on a piece of paper and place a pile of flashcards in the middle of it.

Divide the children into two teams and give each team some counters. The team takes turns at

bat. The first child on the batting team puts her counter on home plate and draws a card from the

top of the pile. Either the rest of the team or the pitching team ask her one or more questions

about the card (e.g. What is it? What colour is it?). If she answers the questions successfully, she

moves her counter to first base. There are various ways of proceeding from here. (1) The same

child can draw more cards. If she gets three more correct, she gets a home run. If she makes a

mistake, the turn passes to the other team. (2) The next child on her team draws a card. If four

different children make correct answers consecutively, their team gets a home run. (3) She can

choose not to go to first base, but to try for a two-base hit. If she makes another correct answer,

she can choose to move to second base or try for a three-base hit, etc. Each team is allowed three

outs before the turn passes to the other team.

19. BATTLESHIP

Students get into pairs facing one another. Each student gets a game sheet. The game sheet

includes two grids. One grid is for the students to place his battleships on. The other grid is for the

student to record his guesses on. On the student’s own grid, he places various “ships”. For

example, one battleship (taking up 4 connecting squares), two cruisers (3 squares) and one

submarine (1 square). Ships can be placed anywhere on the grid (horizontally, vertically, but not

diagonally). Students must not show their game sheets to other students. To make the game

sheet, put beginning parts of sentences in the squares of the first column (for example “I am”,

“You are”, “He is”). Then put the endings of those sentences in the squares of the first row (for

example “Japanese” “a good baseball player” “a high school student”). Students then say these

sentences to indicate which square on the grid that they are going to guess. For example, “He is

Japanese”, might indicate the square that is in the first row, third column. If the partner has placed

a ship in that square, he says “hit” and marks that square with a big “X”. If the partner has not

placed a ship there, he says “miss”. Then the other student makes his own guess. Students record

their own guesses on the grid made for that purpose. Students try to “sink” each other’s

battleships in this way. The student who sinks their partner’s entire fleet wins.

20. BINGO

The game board can be any size as long as it is square (3X3, 4X4, etc.). If you are teaching

elementary school children the alphabet, use a 5 x 5 grid, which allows the children to fill in almost

every letter of the alphabet. Students are given the bingo grid and a bunch of words that they are

supposed to fill the Bingo grid with — have more words than spaces — once they have finished,

start calling out words or sentences that contain the words. Can also be played with vocabulary

words. Call out words and the students write them on the bingo grid wherever they like. Then call

out the vocabulary words one by one until someone gets bingo. Vary the ways to win. Sometimes

make it one row, sometimes make it two rows or a special design (e.g. “T” or “X”)

21. BINGO WITH NAMES

Prepare a bingo grid with a question and YES/NO written in each square. For example, “Do you like

to swim?”, “Are you a good baseball player?”, or whatever target sentence you are currently

studying. Students interview each other by asking the questions on the grid. For example, Kenji

asks Kanako “Do you like to swim?” Kanako says “Yes, I do”. So Kenji circles “Yes” underneath the

question and Kanako signs her name at the bottom of the square. Students cannot ask the same

person more than one question. Give the students about 10 minutes to fill their grids with names.

Then, students sit down and the teacher calls out the students’ names. Keep playing until someone

gets Bingo. This can also be played with students racing around to make Bingo with the students

names themselves. Students who answer “yes” sign their names on the sheets, students who
answer “no” don’t sign anything. A straight row of students who answered “yes” makes Bingo.

After a few students call out Bingo, get all of the students to sit down and check the answers of the

winning students. Ask the students who signed their names if they really answered yes to the

question. If they answer “no”, you know that the students haven’t been playing correctly.

22. BLINDFOLD

One of the children is blindfolded and counts to ten. While she is counting, the other children can

move around the room. The blindfolded child can also move. (If the room is large or the game is

played outside, it may be necessary to restrict the area). On the count of ten, the children have to

stop moving immediately. The blindfolded child then asks the children where they are by saying,

“Emi, where are you?”. The children answer, “I’m near/in/on/under …”. After any answer, the

blindfolded child can move and try to catch any of the children. As soon as she moves, all the other

children can move too. If she catches a child, she must guess who she has caught. If her guess is

correct, that child is the next to be blindfolded.

23. BOARD GAMES

Make up a board game for any grammar point. Model the game after a well-known game, such as

Snakes (chutes) and Ladders, or make your own. Have squares for missing a turn, getting an extra

turn, rolling again, etc. You can use true/false questions, questions and answers (i.e. trivia), or

scrambled words or sentences.

24. BOGGLE

4X4 grid with letters. Students try to make words out of the connecting letters in any direction (as

long as the letters are in fact touching one another).

25. BOP, BOPPITY, BOP

Students sit in a circle. One student goes in the middle. The person in the middle must approach

one of the people in the centre and say either “bop” or “bop, bippity, bop, bop, bop”. If the person

in the middle just says “bop”, then the person in the circle must say nothing. If the person in the

middle says “bop, bippity, bop, bop, bop”, the person in the circle must say “bop” before the

middle person has finished saying “bop, bippity, bop, bop, bop”. This continues until someone slips

and says “bop” when they are not supposed to, or doesn’t say anything when they are supposed to

say “bop”. The person who makes the mistake must go into the middle. If everyone has caught on

to this, let the middle person say some different things. She can say “Aliens, 1, 2, 3″. The person

in the circle who this is said to must react by contorting his face to look like an alien. The people on

either side of the “alien” must hold their hands up to their faces and scream. Or, she can say “Hula,

hula dancers, 1, 2, 3″. The person in the circle must jump into the middle and do a hula dance and
the people on either side of the victim must wave their hands from side to side, hula-like. Or, she

can say “Viking ships, 1, 2, 3.” The person in the circle must put two fingers pointing outwards by

his forehead to resemble a Viking ship and the two people on either side must do a rowing action

with their arms. Play this game as quickly as possible.

26. BROKEN TELEPHONE

Someone whispers something to a student. Message must travel through the class. Last person

says what s/he hears.

27. BULLRUSH (BRITISH BULLDOG)

The students stand at one end of the gym. There are one or two students in the middle of the gym.

A student in the middle calls out the name of one of the students at the end. That student has to

run from one end of the gym to the other without being tagged. If tagged, he joins the students in

the middle. If not tagged, he can call “Bullrush” which means that all the students have to run from

one end of the gym to the other at the same time.

28. CARD GAMES

Adapt any card games you know to a grammar point. E.g. Old Maid, Go Fish, Crazy Eights, Speed,

etc. Also, these games can be taught to an English club.

29. CAR RACE

Place some flashcards end to end to resemble a race track. Include two or three brightly coloured

blank cards in the track and place a starting and finishing line at a convenient part of the track.

Each child chooses a car (or counter) and places his/her car on the starting line. Decide the

number of laps. The first child draws a number or throws a dies, says what the number is, and

moves her car around the track that number of flashcards. When s/he stops on a card, she must

say what it is, make a sentence about it, or answer a question about it. If she makes a mistake,

s/he returns the car to its original position. If a child’s piece lands on a brightly coloured card, s/he

has another turn. Either make a “crash” flashcard, or say that throwing a “6″ on the die will make

you crash. The student must move his/her marker to the side of the track and wait out one turn.

30. CHARADES

It’s usually best to introduce this game after playing Pictionary a few times. This game works well

for verbs. Students pick out a verb card then they act out the verb. The other students try to figure

out what the verb is. Can be played in two teams. For advanced students, ask for a full sentence

response. For example, “He is running.” instead of “run”. Can also be done with nouns and

adjectives. Another way to play is to get the whole team to act out a word so that one of their
members can figure out what the word is. The team has one minute to figure out what their team-

mate is trying to act out. If they guess properly, the team gets a point. If at the end of one minute

the team still hasn’t guessed, the other gets to try to steal the point. Yet another way to play is to

give one team a limited amount of time to go through as many cards as they can (e.g. give them

90 seconds to do as many cards as they can).

31. CHUNK READING

Good for all levels, but first years in particular really get into it. The AET reads the text at a certain

pace. At various stages, the JTE raises his/her hand and the students mark with a pencil the part of

the text where they think the AET was reading when the JTE’s hand went up. You can also use brief

pauses and get them to try to guess where they occurred.

32. CIRCLE MIME

The children sit in a circle. One child stands in the centre and mimes an occupation/animal, etc.

The other children try to guess what she is miming by asking, “Are you…?” The rules of the game

are as follows. (1) Any child can ask the question. If her guess is incorrect, she loses one point. If

she is correct, both she and the child who is miming get a point and they change places. (2) If

three children’s guesses are incorrect, the whole class asks “What are you?” and the child who is

miming answers, “I’m…”. Nobody gets any points. Another child (possibly the one who is sitting to

the left of where the child in the centre was originally sitting) changes place with the child who was

miming. (3) The child in the centre cannot mime something that has already been mimed. (4) It is

probably a good idea for a child who wants to guess to put her hand up first. When this happens,

the child in the centre has to stop miming immediately. If more than one child put their hands up,

the teacher (or a child) decides who should ask the question (usually the fastest, but this can be a

good chance to cheat a little and let some of the quieter children ask the questions). Or, the

children can janken to see who gets to ask first.

33. CLOZE

Make two copies of a passage, each with (different) words missing. Blanks identify the missing

words. The students read the passage aloud together to fill in the missing parts. Alternately, the

students can ask each other questions about the missing parts after reading the passage silently.

For example, a student might ask, “What is the mother’s name?”.

34. COLLECTION

Collect one thing from every student and put it into a bag. Get students to close their eyes and

take things out of the bag one by one. Students go one by one and ask each other “Is this your…?”

They have three chances. Then they must go in front of the class and ask “Whose … is this?”
35. COLOURS

Draw up an alphabet chart. Each letter is a different colour, but stick with about 5 colours. Review

these colours, then say the alphabet. Then, tell them from now on, they must clap on the colour

orange instead of saying the letter. If they get good at doing that, get them to do something else

for another colour.

36. COMMANDOES

Make up even teams. The first student falls down and then says go and then the next student

straddles the first student and falls down and says go. This is repeated until the team has reached

the end of the gym.

37. CONCENTRATION 1

Chant “Concentration, concentration now begins!”. Select a category. Students must say a member

of that category within a time limit (usually within four handclaps).

38. CONCENTRATION 2

Magnetic cards are put on the board with blank backs. The cards are arranged in pairs so that

English words match Japanese words. Students must turn over the cards until they find a match. If

they find a match, they can go again. Team or student with the most cards wins. For beginners,

get the students to leave the cards overturned. Then, if a student turns over a card that has a

matching card already showing, they have made a match. For advanced students, get them to tell

you which cards to turn over. E.g. Go up three and left two. Also, you can ask students about the

cards. E.g. What is it? What colour is it? Do you like it? If the student answers incorrectly, they

don’t get to keep the cards.

39. COUNTING CARDS

Use about 20 flashcards. Have a student say a number between one and twenty. Then start

reading the flashcards. If the number is “7″ for example, stop and do something special on the

seventh card — and on any multiple of seven. The special thing can be shouting, or not saying the

card, etc. Do this in a group at first, but later go through the class one by one. Any student who

does the wrong thing on the special number is out.

40. CROWS AND CRANES

The students make two straight lines. One line is called “crows” and the other “cranes”. The

teacher calls out “crows”. The crows try to catch the cranes before they reach the wall. If a crane is

caught, they become a crow and join the crow team (and vice versa).
41. DICE GAME

Make dice (saikoro) about 10cm x 10cm or larger. Go through the numbers with the students. I

explain eleven (7-11) and twelve (difficult) for 5th and 6th graders. I play boys vs. girls in a line.

The first girl and boy come forward. They roll the dice, then the teacher calls out a number

between 1 and 6. The students must add the dice number with the number the teacher says. The

quickest gets a point and the next two students come forward. No hints from team-mates allowed

– instant penalty. The Japanese teacher keeps score.

42. DICTIONARY ADVICE

Using one or more English dictionaries, present some common problems, such as: not enough

money, relating to a difficult person, the future, etc. After the class picks a problem, you open the

dictionary at random and pick a word from that page and read it aloud. The word must be used to

give advice on the problem. For example, if the problem is “not enough money” and the random

word is “macaroni”, then a sample solution might be: “You are so poor that you must eat macaroni

everyday.”

43. DRAW THE MONSTER

The teacher instructs the students to draw a monster according to his oral directions. The teacher

says things like, “My monster has three heads. It has one long green arm and a short blue arm. It

has a pointy nose…etc.” Compare notes at the end.

44. DROP THE HANKY

Make a circle and sit down. One person is IT and has the hanky (handkerchief). She walks around

the outside of the circle and drops the handkerchief behind someone. As soon as that person

realizes that the hanky has been dropped behind him, he gets up and runs around the circle twice,

trying to tag IT. If IT manages (after two runs around) to get to the vacated place in the circle, IT

is safe and the other person is IT. If IT drops the hanky and the person doesn’t realize it, and IT

walks around the circle once and tags that person on the shoulder, that person becomes IT.

45. DUCK, DUCK, GOOSE

Make a circle and sit down. One person is IT. She walks around the outside of the circle and taps

people on the head and says “duck”. She can repeat this as many times as she wants, but at some

point, she will tap someone one the head and say “goose”. The goose and IT run opposite ways

around the circle and the first person to get back to the vacated spot is safe. The other is IT.

46. ERASE A DIALOGUE

Model the dialogue or key sentence. Write it on the board. Read it line-by-line and have the
students repeat it. Practise then erase a part of it. Have the students repeat replacing the erased

bit. Keep erasing until the students can recite the entire sentence from memory. Good for “Let’s

Read”.

47. ERASE A SENTENCE

Write a target sentence on the board. Read the sentence and ask the students to repeat it. Have all

of the students stand up. Erase one word from the sentence. Have a student from the first row try

to say the sentence including the first word. If the student says it right, her row may sit down. If

she says it incorrectly, her row remains standing and a student from the next row tries.

48. EXPLANARY

Show the students several flashcards that they are familiar with. Tell them to try to remember the

cards. Then, shuffle the cards and start describing the top card without showing it to the students.

For example, if the top card is “apple”, you could say “It’s red. You eat it.” That might be enough to

let them guess the word if the cards are “apple, sun, jet, frog, milk”, however, you might need to

be more specific if the cards are “apple, banana, strawberry, orange, tomato, cherry”. The first

student to guess correctly gets to keep the card. The student (or row) with the most cards at the

end wins.

49. FAMILY TREES

This activity can be used to introduce members of the family (Mike is my brother), review

possessive adjectives (shoyuukaku), and the possessive ‘s’. Draw your own family tree and explain

its history. Better still, include photos. Explain and practise new vocabulary words. You could use

flashcards. Get the students to draw their own family trees and explain them to a partner (pair

practice). Check the students’ understanding by listening to them during pair work and ask a few

students to tell the whole class about their family, or introduce their partner’s. You could make it

an assignment and have them include photos. Good for building up essential vocabulary.

50. FILL IN THE GRID

Draw a grid with the names of countries down one side and verbs across the top — e.g. Canada,

Italy, Japan, India, UK and play, speak, eat, study, use. Then fill in the middle with appropriate

answers (i.e. in Canada, we play hockey). Mairi used this for passive voice — i.e. Hockey is played

in Canada. Students are given an empty grid with the names of the countries and verbs already on

it. They must fill the chart with the words that you give them, then write sentences or read them

out to teachers.
51. FIND THE MISTAKES

Working in pairs, one student has a copy of a passage and the other student has a copy with

factual errors. These copies are identifies as correct or not. The student with the correct version

reads the copy aloud. The other student listens and identifies the errors on his/her sheet. This

game can also be played with both readers reading their passages silently and then discussing the

content and trying to find the mistakes.

52. FIND YOUR GROUP

Every student is given a card with some information on it. Students have to ask each other

questions to find out who belongs in the same group as they do. For example, if a card says, “high

school student, Japan, volleyball”, then student must ask others, “Are you a high school student?”

or “Are you from Japan?” or “Are you a member of the volleyball team?” Students who answer

“yes” to all three of these questions belong to the same group. When all the members of the group

have gathered, they must sit down. The first group to get the prescribed number of members

(perhaps five), wins.

53. FIND YOUR MATCH

Divide the class into two teams. Give one team Vocabulary cards and the other team Japanese

Meaning cards so that one card goes to each student. When the teacher says “start” students from

one team try to find the card that corresponds to theirs in the other team. To control the chaos,

you may want one team to stay sitting while the other team stands and walks around. The

students in the team that is walking around collects the cards from the students in the team that is

sitting. After a few minutes, the teacher says “stop” and all of the students sit down. Each student

holding a matching set of cards scores one point for his team. Play again with the opposite teams

sitting and standing. The team with the most points wins.

54. FIND YOUR PARTNER

Prepare a set of cards with different names, occupations, friends’ names, and likes and dislikes. For

example, one card might say “My name is Yumi. My friend is Chikako. I work at a university. I like

pickles and yakisoba.” This student would have to find her friend Chikako and find other people

who like and dislike the same things as her. In the end, the student could write down the answers.

For example, an answer might be “My name is ______. My friend is _____. I work at a _____.

_____ also works there. ______ also likes ______.” etc…

55. FIND SOMEONE WHO

Make a list of qualities or actions, etc. Students must “find someone who” fits those qualities — i.e.

Find someone who likes natto.

56. FISH

Give each student 3 or 4 cards and put the remaining cards on the teacher’s desk. The object of

the game is to get as many pairs as possible. Students janken, and the winner asks, “Do you have

a ~~?” The other student replies, “Yes, I do. Here it is.” or “No, I don’t. Go fish!” If the student

gets the card they asked for, they keep the pair, then ask the same student again. If the student is

told to “go fish”, they must take a card from the “fish pond” on the teacher’s desk. Then the

students ask other students in the class (jankening first to see who will ask who). Set a time limit,

or make play end when the fish pond runs dry. The student with the most pairs wins. Can be used

for vocabulary review, or review of target sentence (Do you have…, I want a…, I’m looking for…,

Please give me…”).

57. FIZZ BUZZ

The first student in a row starts counting with “one”, the next student says “two”, the next “three”,

etc. The number “seven” is unlucky, so no one is allowed to say it. Whenever “seven” should be

said, students must say “fizz”. This includes “seventeen, twenty-seven”, etc. The pattern should

sound like, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, fizz, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, fizz, 18, 19, etc”. If the students

get very good at that, try adding another forbidden number. That number is “buzz”. For example, if

3 is “buzz”, then 37 is “buzzfizz”. If they can still manage that with ease, make is so that multiples

of “fizz” and “buzz” are also unlucky. That would result in something like, “1, 2, buzz, 4, 5, buzz,

fizz, 8, buzz, 10, 11, buzz, buzz, fizz, buzz, 16, fizz, buzz, etc”.

58. FLAP THE FISH 1

Cut some fish from paper, drawing on gills, fins, and colours. Then get a few uchiwa (Japanese fan

with a handle). Move the desks to one side of the room (if you’re in a classroom) and divide the

students into two teams. The idea is to wave the fan next to the fish and make it move without

touching it. It’s a race and the first to cross a finishing line (use a skipping rope) wins. You can play

this in a relay, or one on one, or boys vs. girls. This game is perfectly suited to Japan because in

the UK we used to use newspapers. Uchiwa are much better. I have used this game with my 1st

and 2nd years with great success by pitting the girls against the boys, one by one, with 2 points for

a win. Explain the technique of bending your knees. Although this has nothing to do with learning

English, it’s important to mix in an international type game and get the students moving about.

59. FLAP THE FISH 2

Make a starting and finishing line on the floor. Each child draws and cuts out a paper fish and

places it on the starting line. Each child also has a magazine (or uchiwa). One child, or the teacher)

stands at the finish line, holds up flash cards one by one and asks questions about them (e.g. What

is it? What colour is it? What does she do?). The children who are taking part in the race either
answer individually directed questions in turn or try to answer the same question first (in this case

there should be a judge). If a child answers correctly, she hits the floor behind her fish with her

magazine (or uchiwa), making the fish move toward the finishing line. The first child to make her

fish cross the finishing line is the winner. If there are more children than can race at the same

time, there could be a knockout tournament (the winner of each race goes through to the next

round) or the game can be played in teams (each winner gets a point for her team, or team-mates

take turns answering and flapping).

60. FORTUNE TELLER (in progress)

Instructions:(make the origami fortune teller, then use it for whatever in class)

61. FRUIT BASKET

Make a big circle with chairs. Write 4 or 5 fruits on the blackboard. Practise pronunciation then give

each student the name of a fruit. The teacher calls out a name (e.g. apple). All the apples must

switch chairs. Have one less chair than students so there is always one student left standing. This

student calls out the next fruit. This game can be played with any vocabulary category or

grammatical pattern (I like…, I play…). You need visual aids with small kids to get their attention

and monitor their understanding. You can also cross-reference the game by using the colours of

the fruit. If a student is in the middle three times, think of some suitable punishment. For third

years, the person in the middle can call out sentences like “I play volleyball” and those students

who play volleyball must trade seats.

62. FUKUWARAI (PIN THE TAIL ON THE DONKEY)

Use the traditional Japanese New Years’ game ‘fukuwarai’ and turn it into an easy English game.

We made eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. First, teach the students the parts of the face in English,

and last the words “up, down, left, right, stop”. Then, blindfold a student. The other students tell

him/her where to place the parts of the face. This can also be played with a drawing of a face

without a nose and a magnetized picture of a nose. Students give the blindfolded students

instructions on where to place the magnet. Also, you can put circles (like an archery target) around

the nose and give more points to children who put the nose exactly on target.

63. GIVE ME…

Like “show me”. Students must give you the objects that you ask for. Can be played as row race or

by the whole class at once.

64. GO TO SLEEP

Divide the class into groups. Let students decide their order within the group (1 to 6). The students
in each group put their heads down except for the number ones. Think of a sentence and write one

word of the sentence for the number ones to memorize. Then tell them to go to sleep and wake up

the number twos. Give the number twos a word to memorize, and so on. When all of the students

have seen one word, get them to consult with the other members of the group to put the sentence

together.

65. GRAMMAR GAMBLE 1

Make a list of sentence pairs. The sentences can be either correct or incorrect (grammatically).

Students get into teams. Give each team voting cards. XX means both sentences are wrong. OO

means both sentences are right. XO means one is wrong and one is right. Give each group $500.

Read the two sentences then ask the students for their bets. Then get the students to hold up their

voting cards. Teams that are wrong lose their bets. Teams that are right win the amount that they

bet. Teams can bet for bonus money if the think they can correct the sentences. The team with the

most money wins. Can be played with betting minimums and maximums.

66. GRAMMAR GAMBLE 2

The teacher writes a sentence on the board. Students, in teams, decide whether the sentence is

Correct (C) or Incorrect (I) and hold up the appropriate letter on a pre-made card. The teams who

raised the “I” card must write the correct sentence on a piece of paper and hand it in to the

teacher. If the sentence is correct, the team scores a point. If the sentence is still incorrect, no

points are given. If the sentence was correct, the teams who raised the “C” card get points.

67. GUESS THE COLUMN

Students play in pairs. Each student has a sheet of paper with a grid on it. The columns are

labelled A, B, C, D, etc. The row contain various possibilities and some repetitions. For example,

one row will have various times (1:00, 1:15, 1:00, 1:15, 2:00), the next row will have various

names (John, Paul, Mary, John, Mary), and the next row will have various clubs (basketball,

baseball, tennis, baseball, basketball), etc. Students circle one of the letters at the top of the

columns. Then, they work in pairs to figure out which one their partners circled. Student 1 asks

Student 2 questions. For example, “Did you finish lunch at 1:00?”, or “Are you John?”, or “Are you

a basketball player?” When Student 1 has figured out which letter Student 2 circles, she says “Are

you ‘D’?” Then Student 2 asks Student 1 the questions. The winner is the student who needed to

ask the least number of questions to find out their partner’s choice.

68. HANDS DOWN

This game can be played on the ground, on a table, anywhere that is flat and big enough to fit all

of your buddies. Everyone intertwines their hands, palms facing downwards and you are all in a
circle. Introduce the game by explaining the hand motions. A palm-down slap on the table = a

move in the clockwise direction, one hand. A palm-down slap done twice = skip the hand next to

your hand. A palm on its side = reverse direction. Play this really fast. Anyone who makes a

mistake must take their hands out of the game. The last surviving person is the hands down

champion!

69. HALF AND HALF

Students are given half of a sentence and have to find the person with the other half. Can be used

with boring dialogues. Students must go to front of class and arrange themselves in order. Then

they have to read their part of the dialogue in turn.

70. HANG HIM

Variation on the normal game where the sole purpose is to hang a heinous suspect. The blanks __

__ __ represent words instead of letters. Target a key sentence/grammar point practised in class.

Usually played at the end or beginning of a class. If hung, draw a beard on the stick man, or better

still, have a magnetised cut out of the hidoi boy himself. Recommended for 3 year junior high and

older.

71. HANGMAN 1

Variation on the normal game. Students compete against each other in rows. One hangman’s

platform is drawn on the board for each row of students. Hanged man is already drawn. Use

chalkboard eraser to erase the parts of the person when someone in the row makes a mistake.

Good for practising spelling and new vocabulary. You can also get the students to tell you which

part of the man to erase if you want to practise the words for body parts and left/right.

72. HANGMAN 2

Involve competition. Each row is a team. The first student of each row says a letter, then the next

student in the row, etc. For every correct letter, award 1 point. Any student can guess the word.

The first hand up, if correct, gets 3 points to that row. If incorrect, minus 2 points. After you’ve

done a few words, get a student to think of a word and take your role.

73. HIDDEN CARDS

Hide vocabulary flash cards around the room (the game can also be played outside), making sure

that they are all clearly in, on, or under something. Tell the children how many cards have been

hidden. The children move around he room with notepads, writing sentences about each card (e.g.

“The shark is under the desk.”). The first child to write sentences for all of the cards is the winner.

Children can be disqualified for making too many mistakes or writing too untidily.
74. HOW MANY THINGS

Students have to write down as many things as they can that fit the description you give. For

example, “How many things can you think of that are bigger than you?” Other categories: are

round, are long and thin, make a noise, work on electricity, are made of wood/paper/glass, you can

use to sit, people enjoy looking at, have handles, etc.

75. HOW TO

Take the instructions for doing something simple (making toast, doing the dishes, etc.). Cut the

instructions up. Students have to put the instructions in the right order. Don’t forget to include

words like “first”, “next”, “then”, and “finally”.

76. INDIANA JONES GAME

Draw 2 cliffs, and a river with two crocodiles. Name the crocodiles after the teachers. Draw Team A

on one cliff and Team B on the other. They want to cross the river. It’s too far to jump (show

unlucky athlete falling to his doom). Draw a bridge and demonstrate that it’s shaky. Get the JTE to

be A and you are B. Pretend to be crossing the bridge and meet in the middle. Get ready to FIGHT

IT OUT (the kids crease up laughing when they realize it’s only janken). The loser of the fight has

to return, while the winner can continue along the bridge. Set up the classroom. Two middle rows

of desks are needed. Get the students to push them together to make two bridges. Six desks and

chairs squashed together make bridge. Use 2 bridges, one for each crocodile/teacher. Divide the

class into 4 teams: A, B, C, D (two teams for each bridge). Prepare about 20 questions on slips of

paper. (e.g. First year: Are you a banana?, Second year: past tense practice). Put about 4

questions face down on each bridge. To cross the bridge, team members have to read the question

out loud and answer correctly. Mistakes (e.g. “Yes, I’m not” or “No, I do” are penalized by one

point (crocodiles keep a look out!). Eventually, team members will meet on the bridge and janken.

The winner continues, the loser returns to the back of his/her team. There are always 2 students

trying to cross the bridge. Students who make it across get 5 points, and they can keep score.

Keep changing the slips of paper so the students can’t just memorize the questions. Remember,

one teacher per bridge. You can try having team tournaments. This game works well to get the

students familiar with responding — great pattern practice. One good point is that the students

seem to help each other, giving hints for reading and answering questions. Very exciting if you

have the energy.

77. INSTRUCTIONS

One person stands at the blackboard with their back to the class. The other students can see a

picture. The other students give instructions to the person at the blackboard. Compare the picture

with the blackboard.

78. INTERRUPTIONS

Give the students instructions like “Clap when you hear a word that starts with S. Snap your

fingers when you hear the EEE sound. Stand up when you hear the end of sentence.” Then read

through a passage and get them to follow your instructions while you read.

79. INTERVIEW 1

Can be used with any grammar point. Make up a list of questions that the students must ask each

other. Leave a blank space after each question so the students can insert the name of the person

who they asked, and that person’s answer. It’s best if the students can write down a longer

answer, i.e. “No, Akihiko doesn’t know how to climb mountains” rather than, “No, he doesn’t”. Can

also be made competitive by giving one point for asking a student of the same sex, two points for

asking the opposite sex, and three points for asking a teacher.

80. INTERVIEW 2

JTE and ALT dress up and act out a TV interview. Students must listen and take notes. Quiz at the

end.

81. INTERVIEW 3

Write the names of famous people or the names of countries on the backs of a set of cards. Shuffle

these interview cards and place them on a pile face down on the table or floor. Each child takes

turns to pick up a card and answer questions asked by the other children. The child with the card

takes the role of the person whose name is on the card or the role of the country and answers

questions as if she were that person or that country. The children should first be encouraged to ask

questions like “What do you do?” or “Where are you?”, etc. The other children must guess who the

person or what the country is. This can also be played in reverse where the class knows who the

person at the front is, but the person at the front doesn’t. Then, the child at the front asks “What

do I do?”, etc.

82. JANKEN QUESTION GAME

Give each student five playing cards. Each playing card is a grid with five names down the side and

five actions on the top (e.g. James, Hannah, Gail, Peter, Sanjit and wash the dishes, clear the

table, mow the lawn, clean the house, walk the dog). The grid is filled in with X’s and O’s — X

means no and O means yes. All playing cards are identical. Students circle one name on every card

and then move around the room looking for an opponent. The students janken to see who asks

first. The winner (A) asks B a question like “Do you wash the dishes?” B looks at the card and

decides whether their person washes the dishes. An X in the spot means that the person doesn’t

wash the dishes, an O that they do. B must answer truthfully. Next A can guess who B is. If A
guesses correctly, A can take B’s card. If A guesses incorrectly, both players keep their cards. In

either case, students janken again and the winner asks another question. After this round, the

students must change partners. The student with the most cards at the end of a time limit wins.

Colour coding the cards for points makes ties less likely.

83. JANKEN SHOULDER RACE

Students get into pairs and stand up. When the teacher says “start”, each pair jankens. The loser

must say something in English or ask a question. Then, the loser must hold onto the winner’s

shoulder. The pair then find another pair and do the same thing. The game ends when all of the

students are in one row. The winner is the student at the front of the row.

84. KARUTA (SNAP) 1

Most Japanese children already know this game. It’s a great way to introduce new vocabulary, in

that it only requires recognition — or even partial recognition — of the new material. First spread

out whatever cards you are using face up in front of you. Between 10 and 20 cards is usually best,

but more or less can often work better. Gather the students around the cards, then say the name

of each card as you touch it. Have the students repeat after you. The game is played by slapping

whatever card is called with either hand (or a fly swatter). Demonstrate this once or twice by

calling out a card and hitting it yourself. Then choose two students to begin. Call the first card. If

neither student responds correctly in a reasonable length of time, say “stop” and touch the card

yourself. Then call the next card. Once a student hits the correct card, give it to him/her and pass

the turn onto the next student. Play continues in this manner until all of the cards have been

correctly identified. Once students are comfortable with the basic game, you can add the rule that

an incorrect response loses a turn. This allows you to make false calls (e.g. of cards that have been

removed, or cards from a previous game), and is especially useful with only a few cards remain in

play. After the last card is won, have the students count their cards and ask them how many they

have. Then, either have each student say the name of the card as they give it back to you, or ask

for each card in order. For reviewing vocabulary, or if one student is much better than the others,

have the winner of the first round be the caller for the next round. Take over or help if they get

stuck. Stop to review when students are stuck. Can be used with any vocabulary (e.g. numbers,

colours, time words). A good idea for a phonics lesson is to use letter-cards and call out words (or

use picture cards) — students have to slap the first letter. For advanced students, you can play a

guessing game (e.g. It’s a number. It’s bigger than four. It’s smaller than six. It’s an animal. It’s

green. It likes to jump.).

85. KARUTA 2

Spread some flashcards on the table or floor. The children put their hands on their heads. When
you call out a card, they try to touch or slap their hands on it. The successful child says what the

card is or makes a sentence using the word or picture on the card (preferably repeated by the

whole class). The successful child calls out another card, and the other children try to slap their

hands down on it.

86. KATAKANA READING

Read a passage pronouncing some of the words as if they were written in katakana. Give students

a copy of the passage and ask them to circle words that were pronounced incorrectly. Assign points

for each correct answer. Can also be done as a listening exercise without a passage. Use word

pairs such as “park” and “parku” and get the students to circle what they hear.

87. KENDO

Review the names of the parts of the body. Get a student to draw pictures of people with all of the

parts studied. Using wrapping paper rolls, students must hit the drawing on the spot that you call

out. Pit teams against each other.

88. KIMBERLY’S GAME

Spread out a number of flashcards or real objects. Have students repeat after you as you name

each one. Then, cover all the cards or objects. The students must write down what they saw. Or,

take one object or flashcard away and get the students to guess which one is missing. Can also be

played in pairs. One partner looks at the flashcards or objects and tries to memorize them. The

other partner “goes to sleep” during this time. After a few minutes of memorization time, the first

student returns to the sleeping partner and tells him what he remembers. The partner writes down

what the other student saw. Can also be played with competition. Make the list too long for

everyone to remember every word. Present the list and get the students to try to remember as

many as they can. Then erase the list. Students write down the words they can remember. Give

them around 10 minutes. When the time is up, ask the students for suggestions of what they

remembered. Write the words on the board as the students suggest them. When a word is

suggested, find out how many students remembered that word. If more than ten students

remembered, that word is worth 1 point. If less than ten remembered, it is worth 2 points. If only

one person remembers a word, it is worth 5 points. Student with the most points wins. (Can be

played in teams with the same rules.)

89. KOCHO-SENSEI’S MONKEY 1

Have a handout with a picture of a monkey. On the top write, “Kocho-sensei’s monkey is…” then

list the alphabet beneath. Students have to find one adjective for every letter in the alphabet.
90. KOCHO-SENSEI’S MONKEY 2

The children sit in a circle or around a table. Start a chant, “Kocho-sensei’s monkey is a clever

monkey.”. Then gesture to the child on your left and help her make the same sentence with a

different adjective (e.g. K-S’s monkey is a good monkey.) Continue around the circle until they get

the idea. Get a rhythm going by snapping your fingers with your left hand and then with your right

hand. Encourage the children to do this with you. Start the chant by referring to a different teacher

or student (e.g. Kyoto-sensei’s monkey …) and keep the chant going in time to the rhythm. In the

strict version of the game, a child is out if she cannot think of an adjective, or does so too slowly.

It is not always appropriate to make the chant competitive, though.

91. LADDER

Students get in two lines facing each other. Both lines must contain the same number of people.

The students then sit down, pairing up with the person who is in the same position in the other

line. They sit with their legs extended and the soles of their feet touching each other. Then, each

pair is given a number. When the teacher calls a number, the pair must get up, run around

everyone to one end of the line, and then run “up” the ladder (made by everyone’s legs), past their

spot, then around everyone to get back to their original spot. The person who makes it back first

scores a point for their team.

92. LEARNING TO DANCE

You need a large tarp or a large sheet of plastic, a tarp that you’d take camping works best, and

you’d always have it for the day when there’s 15 minutes left of the class and your teacher says

“OK, what do we do now?” Divide the tarp (using duct tape) into 6×6 squares. Then, design a

similar pattern in a notebook, and mark off a path from one side to the other. This activity is best

played with 5 to 12 people. The object of the activity is that the sensei has the pattern (the correct

squares marked off that are safe to walk on) and the group is given 10 minutes to devise a system

to get everyone over to the other side of the tarp in 20 minutes without talking. Gestures are one

way to create a system of communication for the group as talking is outlawed. This game promotes

group and individual leadership, co-operation, and creativity. Once the ten minutes of group

planning is up, one explorer is set forth to brave the tarp and discover the pattern hidden in it. The

person starts by stepping on a square of their choice. If the square is correct (i.e. it matches the

sensei’s pattern), then they are free to continue to the next step. If their step is incorrect, the

sensei uses a signal (a whistle, harmonica, boooo sound) to announce the wrong step. The other

students are using what they discussed as their communication device or are memorizing the

correct and incorrect squares or are gesturing the right square to step on or avoid. Remember, one

student on the tarp at a time and no talking. If a mistake is made, the person must backtrack

through the pattern the same way that he came. New explorers are encouraged to try their skill at
the pattern until one person makes it through to the other side. Then it becomes very easy for the

remainder of students to all get through the pattern one at a time. Emphasize that there is no

talking. Make sure to encourage all students. Steps must be made within the square and must be

clearly placed so the sensei and other participants can see where they’ve stepped. Go through the

pattern slowly. If a mistake has been made, the student has to retrace the whole pattern again.

Remember to time the amount of time that is needed to get the entire group across.

93. LEG WRESTLING

Two children of similar size lie on the floor on their backs, side by side, hips touching, but in

opposite directions. Their heads should be next to the feet of their partner. Together, they count to

three. On each count, they kick their inside leg straight up into the air, parallel to their partner’s

leg. On three, the legs are hooked with each other. Using only their leg, they try to force their

opponent’s leg over to the side. The child who is able to do this is the winner.

94. MADLIBS

This is a cloze activity where students must fill in the blanks of a storyline. The crazier the better.

An example of this activity could be: “This morning, I saw a _____________. It was __________.

It had many ____________ and ___________. It said ___________. Then I said ___________.

Then it ____________. Then I ______________. Extra points for creativity.

95. MEMORY GAME 1

Divide the class into 6 groups. Give each group a pattern to practise and get them to fill in their

own answers. For example. Group 1 might have to practise and memorize “I get up at…” Each

member of the group picks a different time to memorize. So, Megumi will say, “I get up at 7.”, but

Takehiro will say “I get up at 6:30.”. All of the groups have different patterns (e.g. I eat breakfast

at…, My father works for…, My mother’s name is…, My sister often watches… on TV, My mother

goes to work by…, My brother/sister goes to … school). After all the students have had time to

practise and memorize their sentences, the game begins. One group rolls a die. The groups are

numbered from 1 to 6. If a group rolls a three, then Group 3 must recite their sentences. The

group who rolled the die have to try to memorize Group 3′s information. For example, the students

would have to say, “Megumi gets up at 7. Takehiro gets up at 6:30…”. The group who rolled the die

get a point for each correct sentence. If the group rolls its own number, the students in the group

just have to say their own sentences. They can’t get any points.

96. MEMORY GAME 2

Each row is a team. Select a grammar point to practise. The first student in each row must make a

sentence using this grammar point and a topic (e.g. “I like…” and “food”). The first student might
say, “I like sushi.” The second student would say, “I like sushi and tempura.” The third student

would say, “I like sushi and tempura and yakisoba.” This continues down the row until either a

student forgets what his team-mates like, or everyone is finished. Give a point per correct person.

Good combinations are study/subject, play/sport, can cook/food, sing/pop group’s song. If you

really want to spice it up, use ‘like’ and the first names of the girls/boys in the class.

97. MIDNIGHT

The students stand in a circle and number off from 1 to 5. The teacher calls out a number. The

students who are that number run around the circle and into the middle to touch something. The

first student to touch becomes “midnight”. After all the numbers have been called, the teacher calls

“midnight” and all the winners run. The winner of that set is the champion. (Can be used with

times — number the students from one o’clock to twelve o’clock.)

98. MULTIPLE CHOICE

Make up a test with multiple choice answers. Test their understanding of the grammatical structure

that you are working on. Offer several incorrect English sentences as options.

99. MUSIC FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Prepare a tape with bits of songs from near and far. Get students to guess where the music is

from, or what language a song is being sung in. Can be made into a quiz or team competition.

Also, can be used to liven up row race quizzes.

100. NUMBER GROUPS

The students walk around a designated area. The teacher calls out a number and students have to

make a group according to the number called out. If a student cannot get into a group, then they

stand on the side. The game continues until there are only two students left.

101. NUMBERS 1

Use flashcards to teach any group of numbers. Practise counting forwards, then backwards, then

by 2s, or 4s, etc.

102. NUMBERS 2

Have the students make a circle, sitting down, and hand out cards with the numbers you want to

teach the children. Every child need not necessarily have a number. Sit in the circle and call

number 1, having the child or children holding that number hold it up high for all to see. Have the

students repeat the number. Do the same with all the numbers. When the students feel confident,

call out numbers at random, and have them repeat after you. If not all the children have cards, get

them to pass their numbers on at some point.

103. NUMBERS 3

Let the children make groups, the number of children in each group corresponding to the number

card held by one child in the group. For example, a child holding an 8-card, must find seven other

people to be in his/her group. Once they are in their groups, get them to yell out their number or

get them to lay down on the floor and make their number with their bodies (2 or 3 dimensional).

104. NUMBERS 4

This is a game which many Japanese students will know. Get the students to form groups

according to how many times you blow a whistle or clap your hands. The students left over must

sit out (or they can face a penalty like having to sing an English song).

105. NUMBERS CHAIN

Assign every student a number. One student starts by saying her number and then says another

number. For example, “Three…Twenty-seven”. The “Twenty-seven” refers to one of the other

students in the class. That student must respond by saying his number “Twenty-seven” and

another number. If a student isn’t paying attention and doesn’t respond when his number is called,

he is out of the game.

106. ONE UP ONE DOWN

The teacher starts by stating, “One up, one down”. Only the teacher knows that that refers to the

position of the teacher’s arms: one is holding his/her chin, the other is crossed against his/her

chest. The students try to figure out what “one up, one down” means. Each student tries to test

out a theory. Tell the students that they can say “two up”, “two down”, or “one up, one down”.

Look at how their arms are placed and tell them if they are correct. Students will just guess

randomly at first, so they will be surprised when they are correct. Eventually, some of them will be

able to figure out the pattern. Get them to go along with you to tell the other students whether

they are right or not. Eventually, most of the students will figure it out, but there will always be

one or two who just don’t get it! This can also be done with the position of the fingers on the right

or left hand (not including the thumb): “one up, three down”. Similar game: Whoops Johnny. Can

be played with one other person or blooming crowds of admirers. With one finger from one hand,

point to and touch the tips of each finger (of the opposite hand) in succession and say: “Johnny,

Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, WHOOPS, Johnny, WHOOPS, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny. The

Whoops is accomplished by sliding the finger down and up on the inside of the fourth and final

finger. Your audience of admirers must repeat your actions exactly. The magic of it is that you do

the above scenario, but you fold your hands in your lap discreetly after you finish the final Johnny.

Your audience will probably be baffled and will repeat the Johnny, Johnny actions, performing them

beyond perfection except for the final act — the folding of the hands on your lap! Hints are worthy
after ten tries. When someone catches on, announce that they are in the Johnny Club and get

them to perform the Johnny act. Keep going until everyone gets it. Similar game: Canoe-head. Tell

your audience to do exactly as you do. Scratch your head very discreetly, then say, “I like to

canoe. I LOVE to canoe.” Emphasize the LOVE, it’s always worth gallons of giggles. Do some crazy

paddling actions to show how much you love it. Get the students to do exactly as you do. If they

scratch their heads first, they’ve got it. Similar game: Wakaranai. The basic idea is that you cough,

then chant some crazy thing and do some crazy action and then get the students to mimic you,

one by one. Then you tell them if they are correct. The only thing that you are looking for is

whether they cough at the beginning. Similar game: Counting 1. Arrange some objects on the floor

(or draw some lines on the chalkboard) and announce to the class what number your arrangement

represents. Use numbers from one to ten. The trick is that the number has nothing to do with the

objects or the drawing. In fact, you are arranging your fingers after you finish making your

arrangement. For example, you draw some crazy thing, then put your hands on your lap, with four

fingers of your right hand extended, then announce that it is four. Students have to try to figure

out your game. Similar game: Counting 2. Show the students the “Basic number” by raising your

right hand and raising some fingers. For example, say “Here is the basic number.” Then raise two

fingers. Then change your fingers to something else, and ask the students to guess what number

they represent. For example, raise all four fingers and your thumb. Ask “What number is this?” The

students will probably say five, but the correct answer is “two”. Then raise your fingers again. The

trick is that the number that went before is the real number for the next time. For example, if the

basic number is 3, then you raise four fingers, the correct answer is 3. Then you raise two fingers,

and the correct answer is 4. Then you raise five fingers, and the correct answer is 2. Then you

raise four fingers and the answer is 5. Get it?

107. PAIR DICTATION

Post copies of a paragraph on the back wall. One member of each pair goes to a copy and

remembers as much of it as possible. That student then dictates it to the partner. They continue as

long as it takes to dictate the passage.

108. PASS THE FLAG

Prepare a list of questions, give a flag to the first person in each row. The first person to raise

his/her flag may answer the question. If the answer is correct, the student may pass the flag to the

student behind. The first row to finish wins. Can also be used with The English Resource’s Pin Pon

machine.

109. PICTIONARY

To introduce this game, pick out a picture card that the students are familiar with. Don’t show it to
the students, but draw the object on the board and get the students to try to guess what it is.

Once they guess correctly, show them the card. Do this again. Then, the student who guesses

correctly gets to draw next. After they guess this one, divide the class into two teams and choose

one student from each team to draw first. Give each student a piece of chalk and show each of

them a different picture to draw. It’s usually good to start with simple nouns. Adjectives and verbs

can be included later. The first team to guess what their picture is scores a point. It may be

advisable to keep the score fairly close by giving the team that’s ahead a slightly more difficult

picture to draw. The first team to score 10 points wins. When the students are comfortable with

this game, give them word cards instead of picture cards to work from.

110. PICTURE ASSOCIATION

Draw various pictures that illustrate a Let’s Read story. Review the story with the children. Then,

divide the students into teams. Each team is given a copy of the pictures. The students must

arrange the pictures in the correct order and then write a sentence that describes the action of the

picture. Alternately, the teacher can say sentences from the story and the first team to hold up the

correct picture wins a point for their team.

111. PLEASE

Give some instructions to the children (e.g. Please open your books. Please stand up. Please touch

the door.). Mime or gesture to help them guess what to do. The children can then take turns giving

similar instructions to the rest of the class. Give an instruction without using the word ‘please’ (e.g.

Open the door.). Indicate that they shouldn’t move. Then say, “Please open the door.” and indicate

that they should carry out the instruction. Continue playing the game. They carry out the

instructions that are preceded by ‘please’ but must not move if there is no ‘please’. Children can be

eliminated from the game if they make a mistake. The last child to carry out an instruction can also

be eliminated.

112. POSITIVE-NEGATIVE RACE

First student says “I like X. I don’t like Y.” Next student says “I like Y. I don’t like Z.” Go around

the room. Time the whole class and race against the other classes, or time each row.

113. PSYCHIC

You must have two teachers for this game (which shouldn’t be too hard to get). The first teacher is

the psychic. That teacher leaves the room while the students give the other teacher a word for the

first teacher to guess (e.g. pencil). The word must be a noun. The other teacher comes in and

makes a big show about reading everyone’s mind. Then, the non-psychic teacher asks the psychic

teacher questions like, “Is it a door?” “Is it a person?” “Is it a computer?”. The psychic teacher says
“no”. Then, the non-psychic teacher asks about something that has four legs: “Is it a cow?” The

psychic teacher says “no”, but s/he now knows that the next word will be the right word. “Is it a

pencil?” The psychic teacher says “yes”. Four-legged things are the clue: desks, table, beds,

animals, etc. This game can be played many ways with many different things being the “clue”

word. For example, in the game “Black Magic”, the clue word is something that is black. You can

try to use visual clues also, such as looking at a pre-arranged spot. Students will get a kick out of

trying to guess how you are doing it.

114. QUESTION WORDS

First, make sure the students know the meanings of basic question words: who, what when,

where, and how. Then, make a sheet with 10 or so sentences that answer some of those questions.

Below the sentences, list the basic question words. For example, the sentence could be, “Madonna

plays pachinko on Tuesdays”. The children circle which question words the sentence answers. In

the case of the Madonna sentence, the children would circle who, what, and when. This game can

also be used to develop good listening skills. The teacher reads the sentence, putting different

stresses on the words each time. For example, the teacher might first say, “MADONNA plays

pachinko on Tuesdays.”. Then, she might say, “Madonna plays PACHINKO on Tuesdays.” The

students write a number above the question words to indicate which reading answered which

questions. For example, a correct answer to the two intonations of the Madonna sentence would be

a (1) above “who” and a (2) above “what”. If the students are advanced enough, get them to make

up the questions that can be answered by reading the sentences in different ways (What does

Madonna play on Tuesdays?)

115. QUICKIE WORD GAME

Groups of students write down as many Christmas words as they can think of. Then, cross out

words which the other groups have thought of. Group with the most words left wins. Other

categories: sports, food words, school words, adjectives, etc.

116. QUIZ

Give the students a pop quiz on contemporary culture, your country, the school, or vocabulary.

117. QUIZ BOWL

Make up 60 or so questions based on material already covered. The questions can be

comprehension questions, fill-in-the-blank, translation, etc. Divide the class into two teams. Give

half of the questions to one team and half to the other. Get the students to work in smaller teams

within the teams to find out the answers to the questions. Then, stage a contest between the two

teams. One team asks someone on the other team a question. If it is right, the student gets a
point for the team. If it is wrong, the asking team gets a point. Students can also add their own

questions to the ones that you give them. Also, you can add in an element of the unknown by

adding in questions like “Let Mr./Ms. ~ ask the other team a question.” Then, you get a chance to

ask the question.

118. RACE AGAINST TIME

Make a worksheet that has three types of problems. Divide the sheet into four parts. For example,

if your three types of problems are Translation, Answer the Question, and Unscramble the

Sentences, then divide your worksheet into four parts and make the fourth section a mixture of all

three types. The students must complete each section. After they finish one section, the bring their

sheet to a teacher to be checked. If their answers are all okay, they can move on to the next

section. Students who complete all four sections get a prize. This game is good for review.

119. READ AND DRAW

Read the passage and draw a picture. Or, read a passage and draw a comic strip to show the

progression of the story. This can be the whole activity, or the final strip can be used to play

further games where students cut out the strip and ask other students to put it back in order. Or,

two groups can combine pictures to make another story.

120. READ AND RUN

Practise sentence structure, question/answer drill and dialogue memorisation. Get students into

pairs. Write on two separate sheets of paper, either questions on one and answers on another, all

jumbled up, or the start of one sentence on one and the end on the other. Even

dialogue/statements followed by a natural continuation are OK. Stick the first half of the paper (the

questions) somewhere in the classroom, preferably a corner, and the other half (the answers) on

the opposite side. One student runs over to the first half paper and memorizes a sentence from the

sheet and returns to his/her desk. Then the memorized piece is written down. If it is forgotten,

then the student can return and try again. Once finished, the student shows his/her partner, who

then runs over to the B sheet and tries to match and memorize the answer. That student returns

and concludes the sentence, or answers the question. Continue until all sentences, questions, or

whatever, are complete or the time runs out. Check the answers. Remember that the students

cannot carry their sheets to the corners of the room to copy the sentences down.

121. READING WORDS GAME

Two teams play against each other. Each team lines up in front of one of the teachers. The teams

not in play should sit and watch the game being played. Each teacher holds ten cards. One of the

teachers says “go” to start the game. The cards are shown, one by one, to each student in the
team. The student must read the word aloud. If a student cannot read a word, misreads, or

mispronounces a word, the teacher calls “next” and the next student in line attempts to read the

same word. The first team to correctly read all ten words wins.

122. RELAY GAME

Students are in six rows. Several reading cards are made up. Students have to read the card then

pass it to the next person in the row. The person at the end of the row hands it across to the next

row etc. When the teacher yells stop, any team who has a card loses 10 points. (Or you can write

the point value on the back of each card. Or, you can have a secret list on paper in front of you, so

the students don’t try to horde the good ones and get rid of the bad ones.) Use whatever grammar

point you want on the card.

123. RINGO

Write a selection of about 15 random words or numbers on the board. Include difficult pairs, like 13

and 30. Have two students come to the board and stand facing it with chalk of a different colour.

When you call out the words, the students must circle the one they’ve heard. There can only be

one circle (ring) around a word. At the end, the student with the most number of rings wins.

124. ROLL THE BLOCKS

Stick selected common nouns on the six sides of one block. On another block, stick verbs or

pronouns, or articles. Each group has a set of these two blocks. Within a set time limit, they take

turns to roll the blocks and make a sentence using the words shown on the blocks. The winning

team is the group to make the most correct sentences within the time limit.

125. ROW RACE 1

Students in front row stand up. Teacher asks them a question. If a student responds correctly, they

get to sit down. When there is only one person left in the row, that person’s “column” has to stand.

Goes on ad infinitum. Good questions: Show me…, Name…, Spell… Also, student could ask teacher

question, students could come to blackboard, etc.

126. ROW RACE 2

Show the first person in the first row a flash card. That student must say the word. Each student in

her row must repeat the word. The last student gives the Japanese meaning as well. If any student

makes a pronunciation error, or if the last student can’t give the Japanese meaning, the row must

stand up. If the first row makes a mistake, use the same word, in the same way, with the second

row. If the first row doesn’t make a mistake, use a new word. Continue like this until all of the rows

have had a chance to go. Return to the rows that are standing and give them a new word. Do this
until all of the rows are seated. To make this game competitive, the teacher can state that the

rows that remain seated after the first round are the winners.

127. ROW RACE 3

All students remain seated. Place five picture cards (use any nouns covered so far) on the desk of

the first student in each row. The first student picks up a card and asks a question about the card.

For example: “Is this your…?” plus the name of the thing on the card. The second student replies

“Yes, it is” or “No, it isn’t” and proceeds to ask the third person. This continues until the last person

in the row has been asked. The last person replies and then takes the card up to the teacher and

asks “Is this your…?” The teacher replies and tells the last student to turn the next card over on

the first student’s desk. This is repeated until all cards have been used up. The first row to finish all

cards wins.

128. ROW RELAY

Each row is given a sheet of paper. Teacher calls out a category and each student in the row must

write one word that corresponds to the category (e.g. day of the week, animals, name in romaji).

Can either run once through the row or have a time limit and let the paper go down the row as

many times as they can manage.

129. ROW TAG

Two students form a row by holding hands. They run around a designated area where the student

on one end of the row tries to tag another student. If tagged, that student joins onto the end of the

row and in turn tags another. The game continues until all students have been tagged. It’s

important to have a closed-in space to play this in so that, as the row gets longer, the students

don’t have to rely on speed (which they don’t have), but can trap their prey.

130. SCISSORS, PAPER, ROCK (JANKENPON)

Teach the students how to play this game in English. Finish with a prize.

131. SECRET NUMBERS GAME

Students are assigned numbers randomly. The students say their numbers in front of the class and

the other students try to remember everyone’s numer. The students must try to keep their number

a secret. The students are then divided into two teams. A student from Team 1 calls out a number.

If the number belongs to someone on Team 2, then that person must move to Team 1. If the

student from Team 1 calls out a number that belongs to someone on her on team, then that

someone must move to Team 2. The teams try to have the most players by the end of the game.
The end comes either when the teacher declares the game finished or when one team has all the

players (or a set number of players).

132. SECRET PEN FRIEND

Students are given the name of a classmate to whom they must write a letter. Students write the

letter, describing themselves, but not signing their names. It will take at least one period to write

the letters. In the second period, students ask each other questions in order to find out who their

secret pen friend is.

133. SENTENCE FORMATION

Write three words on the board (Masato/tall/family). Give the first person in each row a sheet of

paper with the row’s number on it. The first person writes one word, the next person writes the

next word. Goes to end of row then hand in to teacher.

134. SENTENCE GAME

Each row is a team. Give each student in the row some cards that are a part of a sentence.

Students have to make sentences. Award points according to the fastest. You may want to use

sentences that are structured similarly, so each set of cards has 2 or 3 sentences, then shout out

the first word of a sentence.

135. SENTENCE SCRAMBLE

Scramble up the words in a sentence. Students try to put the sentence back in the right order. Can

be played as a whole class, in teams, or in pairs.

136. SHIRITORI

A student is given a word. The student must think of a word that begins with the same letter that

the first word ended with — i.e. hand –> door –> red –> desk… There is a time limit (e.g. 5

seconds). All students stand and the shiritori goes around the class. Students who do it in the time

limit stay standing, students who miss it must sit down. Good with English Resource’s “Bomb”. Can

also be done on paper. Each row gets a piece of paper. The first student writes a word then passes

to the next person in the row. There is a time limit and the paper keeps going up and down the row

until time is up. Teachers check the answers and award prizes for the most number of words (with

no spelling mistakes). This can also be done with syllables. The first person must say a one-syllable

word, then the second person says a two-syllable word, the third a three-syllable word, and the

fourth a one-syllable word again.

137. SHOPPING GAME

Divide the class into shopkeepers and shoppers. (You decide the balance.) Give shopkeepers a kind
of shop (e.g. fishmonger) and a list of things to sell. They make up their own prices. Give shoppers

a list of things to buy (different lists for each group). Each group tries to buy their things at the

lowest price. Some stores (such as grocery stores and convenience stores) will sell some of the

same things, so they may start discounting, etc. Make sure they all use English — at least for the

prices.

138. SHOUT

Introduce or review a set of flashcards by having students repeat them after you. Then divide the

students into teams and ask the students to identify a card. The first person to identify the card

wins the card for their team. You can also play two individuals against each other. This gives you

the chance to match students more evenly and give the shy or slow students more of a chance to

participate.

139. SHOW AND TELL

Students are asked to bring a photo or an object to class and describe it in front of the class. Good

idea to say that they must use at least three sentences.

140. SIMON SAYS (SENSEI SAYS)

Students must follow the teacher’s instructions. If the teacher says “Sensei says…” before an

instruction, the students must do whatever the sensei says. If the teacher doesn’t say “Sensei

says” first, then the students must not do the action. Any student who does the action is out of the

game. Use parts of the body (touch your nose), actions (turn around), objects (give me a pen).

Can also be played in teams. On each desk in a row, place a card of a different colour. Then, call

out the commands. For example, “Touch the RED card.” or “Simon says touch the red card.”. The

first team with all of its members following the command wins a point. If there is no “Simon says”

at the beginning, students have to sit down (or something) to show that they are not doing what

the command was. Can be made more difficult by including body parts (touch the BLUE card with

your ELBOW) or other classroom objects (Simon says put a pen on the YELLOW card).

141. SNAKE READING

This makes a change from random chorus or individual reading. One sentence per student. Start at

one side of the class and wind your way to the other, up and down the rows. This encourages

listening and concentration as no one wants to be caught out. Make sure the students try to read in

a loud voice. If the next person doesn’t hear, as the previous person to read again.

142. SNOWBALL

Hold a soft ball in front of you and say dramatically something like “I want to go home!” or “I’m
going to eat a hamburger!”. Throw the ball to one of the children, help her repeat what you say

and encourage her to add some additional thing she wants to do (e.g. “I want to go home and

watch television.” or “I’m going to eat a hamburger and an apple.”). The child then throws the ball

to another child who repeats what she said and adds another idea (e.g. “I want to go home and

watch television and listen to music.”) The activity continues in the same way, each child adding

one more item to the list.

143. SONG: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Students stand in a circle holding hands. The song goes like this: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (students walk

seven steps in one direction) 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (walk seven steps in the other direction) 2, 3 (clap

hands) 2, 3 (slap knees) 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (clap hands of the students on either side) This song

appears on the TV show “Eigo de Asobu” so ask someone what the tune is. If you make up your

own tune, the kids will probably be lost. Most of the kids should know the tune anyway.

144. SPACE RACE

Arrange flash cards on a table or on the floor in the shape of a race track. Insert cards to represent

the sun and a black hole. Give each of the children a set of counters and one rocket (or something

to represent a rocket) all of the same colour. If there are too many children, they can play in pairs

or teams. The all place their rockets on the same flash card to start. The children take turns to

throw two dice and move their rockets around the race track. When they land on one of the cards,

they have to read, make a sentence or answer a question about the card. When they land on the

sun or black hole, they have to answer a question from the teacher or identify a card before they

can move again. It is best if these questions or cards target language from previous lessons. If the

card they land on (except for the sun or black hole) has no counter on it and if they successfully

perform the language task prompted by the card, they place one of their counters on the card. If

another child’s counter is on the card, the child whose turn it is challenges her for the card. After

the challenger answers the question, the two janken to see whose counter will stay. The janken

winner places her marker on the card. When a child lands on a card she already controls, she does

not have to perform a language task. The winner is the child who controls the most cards after a

fixed amount of time or number of turns.

145. SPEECH CONTEST

Stage a pretend speech contest. Use two or three students as judges, and you or JTE as final

judge. Have bronze, silver and gold prizes. For longer passages, have students work in teams to

present a full story.

146. SPEED READING

Students open their books to the reading and lay the books face down on their desks. The teacher

asks a question 2 times. When everyone understands, the teacher says “Go!” and the students look

at the text and try to find the answers. Once the students understand the game, have them do it in

groups of 3 or 4. One student has the question/answer sheet and acts as a quiz-master. This game

can also be played in teams, with the teams competing to find the right answers.

147. SPELLING BEE

Students line up at the back and the front of the classroom. Each student is given a question. If

they get it right, they go to the back of the line. If they get it wrong, they must sit down. The

winning team is the one with the most players left in the line at the end of the game (which is

whenever you get sick of playing, or when there are no more students in one of the lines). Can also

be played with the whole class standing. Students stay standing if they get the words right or sit

down if they make a mistake. Last student standing wins. To make it more difficult, ask for the

spelling and the meaning in Japanese.

148. SPELLING GAME 1

Each row is given all of the letters of the alphabet on cards. Teacher calls out a word (no double

letters) and the students race to spell it. Can also be used with words and sentences.

149. SPELLING GAME 2

Each row is a team. Give each row a whole alphabet on cards, so each student gets about 3 or 4

cards. Shout out a word which does not have the same letter in it. Students spell out the word by

standing up within their row. Award points according to the fastest. Repeat for the best three

teams.

150. SPELLING SPRINT

Students come to the board, teacher calls out a word, first person to answer correctly scores a

point for their team.

151. STATUES

Play the traditional game of statues. All the children stand up and dance or move around to some

lively music. When the music stops, they have to stand completely still or else they are eliminated

from the game. Stop the game to show the children how to mime various adjectives. Call out an

adjective (e.g. strong) and find a gesture (or facial expression) which you all feel indicates that

adjective. All make the gestures together and call out, “We are strong!” after each of them. Play

the game again calling out different adjectives each time the children dance around. When the
music stops, they have to stand completely still making the appropriate gesture (and possibly

shouting out, “We are …”). This can also be done with one student making a sculpture out of

another student while the music is playing. The sculpture must indicate some sort of feeling or

emotion or adjective. Then, the class tries to guess what word the sculptor was thinking of.

152. STORE

Open a pretend store in the classroom. If it is a restaurant, let the students place the orders etc.

153. STRIP STORY

Cut a passage into single sentence strips. Scramble the strips. Students work in pairs and try to

put the sentences in the correct order. This game can also be played in teams. Make teams

consisting of as many people as there are sentence strips. Each student gets one sentence and

memorizes it. The students must arrange themselves in the right order by saying their sentences

to each other. If you give each team a different passage, you can finish by getting the class to

recite the whole passage.

154. SUPERSTARS

Describe some person who all the children know (perhaps a singer, sports personality, or another

student or teacher) using the pattern ‘She’s from… I think she likes…and…”. Then ask the child on

your left to try to guess who she is. The children take turns to guess who the person is (perhaps

getting 10 points for being correct with the first guess, nine points with the second guess, etc.) It

may sometimes be a good idea to give other information like her age and where she lives. The

child who guesses correctly then describes another well-known person for the other children to

guess — the child on the left is always the first to guess.

155. SURVEY 1

Make a survey using what and who and when, and comparatives (bigger) and superlatives

(biggest). Compile the results and make a graph for the class.

156. SURVEY 2

Bring in picture of famous people from Japan and around the world. Each student has one picture

and a sheet with a space for the picture and a yes/no column. Students go around the room asking

the other students if they like the person in the picture. The student who answers must sign in the

yes or no column. A tally is taken at the end of the class.

157. SURVIVAL

This is a game to practise grammar structures. It is especially good to practise irregular verbs and

tenses. Have all of the students practice the structure first. For example, if you want to review the
present tense form or the word “be”, have them practise “I am, You are, He is…, etc.”. Then, have

all of the students stand up. Go down the row , giving each student a subject word or words (I,

Junko, we, Takeo and Hisae, she…). The student must answer by giving the correct version of the

verb you are practising (I am, Junko is, we are, etc.). If the student gives the wrong answer, or

cannot remember the correct one, he or she must sit down. The students who remain standing at

the end of the game are the “survivors”. This game is best played very quickly, so if the student

gives the wrong answer or hesitates for more than a few seconds, have them sit down. You can

always play another round to give those students who sat down an extra chance. If you play one

round of the present tense of “to be” then another round of the past tense of “to be”, you can play

a third round where the students don’t know what they will get ahead of time. For example, you

can say “He, present” (ans: he is), or “They, past” (ans: They were). You may have to use the

Japanese words for “present” and “past” to start off with.

158. TAJIMA TOWN

Turn the classroom into a town with the desks representing different locations in the town. Make

up signs to go on the desks. Get the students to direct other students around the room. Students

can ask where certain locations are or they can be directed to a mystery location.

159. TANGLE

Everyone in a group stands in a circle with their eyes closed. Each person then extends an arm into

the middle of the circle and grips whichever hand they come into contact with. When everyone has

a partner, the other hand is brought in. When all hands are linked, eyes are opened and the group

must disentangle itself without anyone letting go of their partners.

160. THUMB WARS

Students grip each other’s hands so that their thumbs are on top. They chant “One, two, three,

four. Let’s have a thumb war.” Then, they try to pin their opponent’s thumb under their own

thumb.

161. TIC TAC TOE

Divide the class into two teams and place some flashcards on the board in a square grid. The first

child on one team points to any card and tries to say what it is, make a sentence about it, or

answer a question about it (perhaps asked by the other team). If s/he is correct, the whole team

repeats what was said and the card is turned over. The first child on the other team does the

same. The correct cards for one team are turned over and placed horizontally, and the correct

cards for the other team are placed vertically. The winner is either the first team to get a complete

line of cards, or the team with the most points. Points are given for any line of three cards.
162. TOUCH AND POINT

Call out an instruction, for example “Touch this book”. As you do so, touch or point to the object

with the whole class until they get the idea. If there are not many objects which the children can

see, place vocabulary flashcards around the room. Gradually withdraw from the activity until you

are only vaguely looking in the direction of the object you say. Anyone who touches or points to

the wrong thing is out. If all the children perform the action correctly, the last child is out.

Eventually, get one of the students to call out directions.

163. TRANSLATION 1

Teacher says words in Japanese and students must translate them into English. Make it a race for

points. 1 translation = one point.

164. TRANSLATION 2

Give students a page of something printed in Japanese. Get them to translate any words that they

can into English. Give them points for every word that they translate. TV guide pages work well.

165. TRANSLATION 3

Keep a list of the new words and phrases that the students have learned so far in Japanese and

English. Using each row as a team, I pit the first student of each row against one another and so

on down the rows. I say Japanese and the students must answer in English. The fastest hand

raised gets first crack at the answer. I usually give 1 point for each correct answer. If no one

knows, I’ll up it to 2 or 3 points. If none of the 6 students can answer, it’s a free-for-all with

anyone in the class having a chance. If one row has five students and the rest six, the fifth student

gets a second chance. Five or so minutes at the end of class is all you need for this. You can really

confuse them sometimes by repeating the same word which may have two meanings (e.g.

takusan-no [a large number of, many, a lot of] or hayai [early, fast]).

166. TRANSLATION 4

Prepare cards that have 5 English words on them or 5 Japanese words. In rows, students compete

to finish the most translation cards. The first person in the row goes to the teacher’s desk and picks

up a card. She translates the first word on the card and writes it down on her team’s paper. She

hands the card and the paper back to the person behind her. He translates the next word, and so

on. The student who finishes the last word brings the card up to the teacher and takes another

one. The card gets handed to the next person in the row to continue translating. The team that

translates the most cards within the time limit wins.

167. TREASURE HUNT

Draw a treasure island map on a piece of paper then draw a grid (e.g. 4×4) on top of it. Reading

and writing version: Hand out copies of the maps to each of the students, then dictate words or

sentences that they must write in each of the squares. Reading version: Hand out copies of the

map with the words or sentences already on the map. The teacher has a copy of the map that the

children must not see. Write or draw gold, diamonds, sharks, and monsters in some of the squares.

The sharks can only be in the sea squares, but the others can be anywhere. Taking turns, the

students say a number and read what is written in a square. If a child reads correctly, she gets any

positive or negative points that are in the square. For example, gold = +10 points, diamonds = +5,

sharks = -3, monsters = -5. It is also possible to give 1 point for all the other squares. Points are

awarded either to individuals or teams.

168. TRUE OR FALSE

Make a quiz with true or false answers (or correct/incorrect) and test their grammar. Divide the

class into groups and give each group a true card and a false card — students vote for the answer.

169. TUMMY RUB, HEAD PAT

Try to pat your head with one hand while rubbing your stomach in circular motions with the other

hand.

170. TWENTY QUESTIONS

The teacher thinks of something and the students have 20 opportunities to ask the teacher a

yes/no question to try to figure out what it is. The teacher can only say “yes” or “no” in response to

the questions.

171. VOTE

Rows of students work as a team. Each row is given three number cards (1,2,3). The teacher asks

a question with three answers. Students guess which one is right as a group and place their group

vote. Points for the right answer (or you can use fake money).

172. WEATHER REPORTER

Make up map and weather possibilities, then do a weather report. Get the students to try.

173. WHAT AM I?

Students stand in a circle. Clip a picture to the back of each student — they should not see their

own picture. They must not tell each other what picture is on their backs. They must circulate and

ask each other questions which can only be answered by yes or no until they figure out what they

are. After they have figured it out, they keep circulating to help others find out what they are. You
can make it more challenging by giving each student a class list and getting them to check off each

student that they ask. They can only ask a student one question. If you have advanced learners,

after the activity, you can discuss the appropriateness of the person’s object to their own

personality.

174. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

This game is to be played in pairs. One person starts by saying an action: I’m walking on stilts,

what are you doing? The partner must then act out this action and at the same time, say another

action for their partner to perform (e.g. I’m jumping rope, what are you doing?). Then the partner

acts that out, etc. Play as quickly as possible.

175. WHAT’S THIS?

Get an ordinary object, like a pen, and ask the students, “What is this?” The students will probably

answer “It’s a pen.” Then tell them that it’s not, and mime what it really is. For example, pretend

to use it as a toothbrush, or a chair, or an airplane. Get them to guess what it is.

176. WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

Have two different copies of a picture. Label one picture as correct and one as incorrect. Arrange

the students in pairs and give one student the correct version and the other the incorrect version.

The students must talk about the pictures without showing each other their copies. They discuss

and write down the differences. The differences, for example, can be missing or extra objects, or

different positioning of objects (e.g. in one picture a box is on a table, in the other it is under the

table).

177. WHICH PICTURE?

Give students a reading passage with 2 to 5 pictures on the bottom. Get them to read the passage

then guess which picture goes with the passage.

178. WHISTLE DICTATION

Select a passage that has a lot of whatever grammar point you want to focus on (e.g. adjectives).

Dictate the passage. When you read, leave out the adjectives. Instead, whistle when there should

be an adjective. Students write the paragraph, inserting any appropriate adjective. Compare notes

later. To play this in a game, give points for using adjectives that no one else used.

179. WHO AM I?

A student stands at the front of the class facing the blackboard. A student in the class stands up

and says, “Good morning (name). Who am I?”. The student at the front has to guess who said it.

This game encourages students to speak in a loud, expressive voice. This can be used for various
greetings and statements. Make the guessing student reply to the greeting (e.g. Good morning

(name).) After a couple of times, suggest that the students alter their voices. Finally, involve the

teacher. You’ll find that the person who usually can’t identify the voices that well is the teacher.

180. WHY?

Ask the students questions like: “Why have you got ~~ in your bag?” For example, the ~~ could

be a monkey, an axe, Kocho-sensei. Students who come up with the best/most outrageous

answers win a prize. Best to give them some time to think about this one. Give the question to

them at the beginning of class or assign it for homework.

181. WORD INTO SENTENCE RACE

Each row is a team. Use words from the last few lessons and put them on cards. Give each row

about 1 or 2 minutes. Show the first student of a row a card (e.g. write). That student has to say a

sentence with that word in it (e.g. I write a letter.) The next student is shown another card and so

on until time runs out. If a student wants to s/he can say “pass”. For each correct sentence, award

a point. See how many points they can get in the time limit. (Use a stop watch.) Give each row a

word and they have to make a sentence out of it within a time limit.

182. WORD RACE

First student from each row comes to the board. Teacher calls out a letter. Students must write

down all the words they can think of that begin with that letter. Teacher calls “time’s up” after

about 10 seconds. Second students come up. Give them a different letter. The row with the most

(correct and correctly spelled) words wins.

183. WORDS AND PICTURES

Give each of the children one set of picture flashcards and one set of words which corresponds to

the flashcards. Each child places a set of picture cards in a column in front of her. The written cards

are mixed together and placed nearby. Each child places a counter on the nearest card. Each child

plays individually. The throws a die and moves her counter the appropriate number of cards. When

she reaches an end, she moves the counter back in the opposite direction. When her counter lands

on a card, she looks for the corresponding word card and places it on top of the picture. If she has

already covered the card, she throws again until she has covered all the cards. This game can be

played in groups of two or three. Each child has a column of cards in front of her in the same way,

but the children in the group take turns to throw the die. The winner is the first child to cover all

her cards. (This can also be played with the word cards upside down, so the child has to try to

remember the position of the word cards.)

 184. WORD SEARCH

Make a list of words and hide them in a grid of letters. Students must find the words. To make it

more difficult, give the students the present tense and tell them to look for the past tense, for

example.

185. YES/NO 1

Teachers ask students yes/no questions. In their answers, students must NOT use yes or no. Give

a prize to the student who lasts the longest.

186. YES/NO 2

One child thinks of an animal and the other children try to figure out what it is. The children take

turns asking yes/no questions like, “Do you have four legs?” or “Are you bigger than a dog?”. If the

answer is yes, the child can guess the name of the animal by asking, “Are you a …?” But, if the

answer is no, the next child asks a yes/no question. The child who guesses correctly then thinks of

a different animal and the other children try to guess what it is. It is possible to give points for

each correct guess, but the game can also be played without competition.

187. YOU’RE THE TEACHER

Give each student a sentence to either correct or say that it is OK. Get each one to explain their

sentence.

Categories: English Language, Teaching | Leave a reply

4 Comments

1. Steve says:

March 14, 2010 at 10:36 am

Brilliant. Thanks for such a comprehensive list. I’ll put these to use on Monday in class. Have a

wonderful weekend.

2. Shaney says:

March 14, 2010 at 11:13 pm

Glad you found it useful, Steve, and thank you for the feedback!

3. Susie says:

July 6, 2010 at 5:40 am

I’m about to teach my first EVER class, to an elementary level group of Japanese students, and I

was so scared about what to do if my lesson plans didn’t work out too well, but I think that this list

may just save me. Thank you so so much!