Vocabulary: octopus, fish, freeze, "swim across".

Materials: fish flashcard, octopus flashcard.

This is a game I found while browsing the internet. I find it works especially well with rowdy classes as they really get into the game. This game does not require kids to use a great deal of English nor does it even require every child to speak. The focus with this game is to get the kids to enjoy their English time.

At the start of the lesson I show the class the flashcards and drill the words fish and octopus. Then I draw a picture of one of the gym's basketball courts, specifically the outside lines and the center circle.

One student is chosen as the octopus and the rest are fish. The fish line up on one end of the court. The octopus stands in the center circle. When the octopus shouts "swim across", the group attempts to pass to the other end of the court. The octopus has a soft volleyball and attempts to tag or throw and hit the fish with the ball. Once a fish has been hit by the ball, they are frozen to the spot and become an octopus tentacle. On future rounds, the tentacles try to touch fish as they run past. If touched they too become octopus tentacles. The game ends when there is only one fish left. This fish becomes the octopus for the next round.

The octopus is the only one who is allowed to throw the ball.

To speed things up we sometimes also make the slowest fish to cross also become an octopus tentacle.

This game can last for a whole 45 minute lesson.

I don't really have a good name for this game. We just refer to it as that game. It can be used to teach/reinforce any vocabulary or grammar you fancy. Using it at elementary school we were practicing fruits. At junior high it could be used for verb conjugation, etc.

Pre-teach: First we introduce the language we want the kids to use during the game. In our fruit lesson this simply involved us getting our realia and flash cards out. Once we'd practiced the vocab we moved into the game.

How to play: Students play this game in teams of two. Each pair sits together, e.g.

XX XX Last
XX XX XX
XX XX XX
XX XX XX
First XX XX

The aim of the game is to be the pair sitting in First position. Pairs get relegated to Last position if they are too slow in answering, too noisy when it's not their turn, or any other rule you can think of.

Playing with fruit, each group of tables is a particular fruit. So when students move, the fruit they call out changes too. The First pair starts. The student on the left calls out the name of their fruit in English. The other student calls out another fruit name in Japanese, e.g. orange - リンゴ. This puts the pressure on the apple group. The left apple student calls out apple and the right student of the pair calls out another fruit in Japanese. And so it goes on.

As mentioned above, if a group is too slow, too noisy when it's not their turn, calls out in Japanese when they should call out in English (or vice versa), calls out the name of a fruit that isn't in the game, etc. they are out and have to move to the Last position. Then all groups behind the group who is out move up one place.

The game continues in this fashion. You can extend things by having the students swap from right to left.

To use the game at junior high school, you could use irregular verbs for example. One side calls out the past tense of their verb and the other student calls out the present tense of the verb of another group, etc.

The elementary kids I have used this with get pretty excited about things. Our fifth graders were so noisy that we had to keep calling groups out for their rowdy behaviour.

I'll post some pictures in the near future showing the layout of our classroom.

In case you don't know the game. This is how I unsually introduce it to a class. Once the kids know how to play it is easy to skip straight to the game.

Start off with some Simon says and make sure to use the phrases, touch your head and thumbs up. Including Simon says into the lesson means both games will fill the 45 minutes nicely. I don't like to play more than 25 minutes of Heads down Thumbs up. About 20 minutes seems perfect as it leaves the kids wanting more.

Once they've got a handle on heads and thumbs I tell them we are going to play another game. TENSION UP!

We drill, heads down thumbs up. Starting with thumbs up and they do the action. Next, heads down and again do the action. They are usually puzzled but in a giggly kind of way.

We then have a volunteer at the front of the class with his or her desk and we have the other kids say heads down thumbs up. I help the kid at the front get into position and check that everyone knows what is expected.

Then choose between 1/5 and 1/4 of the class to be ghosts, monsters or whatever is in vogue baddie-wise. We are currently using ghosts.

The ghosts come to the front and say heads down thumbs up. Once the rest of the class are in game positon, I tell the ghosts to choose one while using my fingers to gesticulate ONLY ONE and do a thumb touching action.

It doesn't matter if anyone gets it wrong. As I haven't really explained the game to them fully it is kind of to be expected and I enjoy watching kids get it and then explain to their buddies what's going on.

The premise is that the ghosts must choose one person by squeezing someone in the heads down thumbs up position's thumbs. Then creep back to the front of the class. Then the ghosts in unison say, heads up. To which I add, if you were touched, while do a thumb squeezing action, stand up. After a few goes, the ghosts will say stand up instead of me.

Next, the people who were touched try to guess which ghost it was. The ghosts stay quiet until all the touched students have guessed. Then I say, stand next to the person you touched, again while using a bit of hand signal action. People that guessed right swap and become ghosts. While ghosts who weren't picked correctly have another go.

We limit it to three goes of being a ghost in a row. Any ghosts not picked after this become a champion ghost and are swapped out by the Japanese homeroom teacher. This is simply in an effort to make sure more kids have a turn.

That's it. Not too much English going on but I have kids from grade 1 elementary up to grade 1 in junior high buzzing for this game. It is a great ALT lesson in its own right and can be used as a filler if you end up with 10-15 minutes left at the end of a class (as long as they know how to play). The first time allowing a good half hour is probably best.

This game is also known as Heads Down - Seven up. However to me, Seven up is a kind of lemonade.

It's weird that kids can have so much fun playing a quiet game like this rather than playing with one of the latest toys of the moment like Zhu Zhu Babies or something similar!

Following is a complete lesson plan for a 45 minute elementary school lesson that can be used for any year group.

Materials: pirate flashcard; students' coloured caps; access to the gym.

Phrases/words used: ship; island; three in a boat; attention; scrub the deck; shark.

Greeting: (1-2 minutes) "Stand up", "Hello" {students reply}, "Let's start" {students reply}.

Song: (< 5 minutes) For grade 1 and 2 I usually begin my lessons singing a song with the kids. Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes is perfect.

Teacher note - rules of the game: Pirate captain shouts out commands and the pirates (students) have to do the action as quickly as possible. The slowest student each time is out.

Game introduction: (5-10 minutes) I use the Captain Jack Sparrow flashcard that I made in the How to make flashcards guide to introduce the game. Show the students the flashcard and ask "Who's this?"

Then draw an over head diagram of the gym on the blackboard and ask the kids to guess what I've just drawn. I keep adding bits until someone guesses correctly.

Next on one side of the gym I draw an island and ask "What's this?". Often the kids respond in Japanese. Someone may shout out "island". Whether they do or not, I drill the word a few times ensuring the students repeat it loudly. On the other side of the gym I draw a ship and repeat the process above.

Then I ask for a couple of volunteers and get them to come up the front of the class to be my helpers. Ensure everyone in the class can see the three of you. Then I introduce these commands.

Attention. I stand at attention with my hand at my forehead and get my two little buddies to do the same.

3 in a boat. The three of you stand in a line facing the same way and row your boat.

Scrub the deck. On your knees, scrub the floor.

For these commands, we usually play that the students have to do the action within the bounds of the basketball courts. This means that there is a bit of a race to get from the ship or island to the correct area to scrub the deck, etc.

The final command is what makes this game amazing. It ensures that kids that are out still play an important role in the game. Shark. Designate a safe area of the gym, I usually pick one end, where students are safe from a shark attack. Whenever someone is out, rather than sit out, they become a shark.

This is why the kids need their coloured caps. One colour for pirates and the other for sharks. We designate shark areas, usually the centre circles on the basketball courts where sharks wait. On hearing the command shark the sharks can leave their enclosure and go hunting. Any pirates that are capured before they reach the safe area also become sharks.

Move to the gym: (2-3 minutes) When the kids have played this game a couple of times I usually start the lesson in the gym simply becuase they already know how to play. The first two times I use this game though, I have found that the kids seem to remain calmer if I do the explanation part in the classroom then just get into the game when we reach the gym.

Start playing: Ensure that the kids know the orientation of the playing area, e.g. which side is ship and which island. Make sure everyone has their cap on the same colour. Issue a few practice commands, then start playing for real. The game ends when either there is only one pirate left or if all the pirates are eaten after a shark attack.

Continuation: After a couple of games playing captain, see if any of the kids want to have a go. I usually assign captain pairs. This gives more kids a chance to be captain, it's less stressful for them as they can help each other out with the commands and two sets of eyes are better for spotting who's to become a shark.

Extension: You can introduce any commands you think might work or even get the kids to suggest things. With the older students we sometimes use things like one legged pirate (stand on one leg) and the love boat (dance ballroom style with a partner).

Finishing: We play the game almost to the end of class just leaving a few minutes for the goodbye greeting.

Greeting: ( ]]> Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:24:04 +0000 http://www.altlessons.net/elementary-lessons/pirates-game/ http://www.altlessons.net/elementary-lessons/pirates-game/ I love making my own flashcards. It means I can use the exact images I want rather than using those selected by someone else. Apart from the time investment making your own flashcards at school is free. All you require is internet access, a decent printer and access to a laminating machine. High quality printing paper is an optional extra. As long as I'm not paying, I'm all for it!

This is the step by step procedure I use to create my own flashcards using my school provided laptop running Windows XP Professional.

1. Go to google images URL and search for a picture to use. This time, I want a picture of Captain Jack Sparrow.

2. Right click the image and select コピー (copy).

3. Open Paint and paste the image to the workspace. スタート＞プログラム＞アクセサリ＞ペイント (Start>Programs>Accessories>Paint). To paste, just press Ctrl+V.

4. Save the image.

5. Locate the file in the directory that you saved it to then double click the image icon and it opens the Windows 画像とFaxビューア.

6. Click the print icon at the bottom of the window and it opens the print wizard. Then click 次へ (Next).

7. On the next screen you can select the image(s) you want to print. Then click 次へ (Next).

8. Then you can select the quality of your print. I go for the best...it's for the kids! Click 印刷の基本設定 (print settings).

9. If you don't have a colour printer at your school...unlucky! Otherwise, ensure that カラー is selected and for 用紙種類 choose HC用紙マット(高品位紙). Then click 次へ (Next).
- Normal paper is okay but we have EPSONスーパーファイン紙 and it comes out more like a photograph, albeit on paper. So on the 印刷の基本設定 screen I change the 給紙トレイ選択 to 給紙台. This is the feeder tray on the printer where you can drop whatever type of paper in that you want to use. If you use high quality paper ensure that the side that you want to print to is face down (that's how it works on the printer at my school anyway).

10. On the next screen, the box on the left allows you to choose the type of print you want. You can go for full page. Or if you are making karuta cards, for example, you could select multiple images per page.

11. Click 次へ (Next) then go and collect your print out.

12. All that remains is to laminate it. Go for it!