Kings

Marni Chan

OBJECTIVES:

PREPARATION:

Write tongue twisters, and Pictionary words on small pieces of paper to hand to students. Glean possible words/questions for trivia, hangman, spelling, rhyming, charades, word chain and categories from the current lesson.

PROCEDURE:

In this game a deck of cards is shuffled and spread out on a table in a circle. The play goes around the table with each player drawing one card at a time. Each card has a different action associated with it, which are listed below:

Actions:

2. YOU: student picks another player to give a two-sentence self-introduction.

3. ME: student must give a two-sentence self-introduction

4. FLOOR: When this card is pulled, players race to touch the floor. Last person must read a tongue twister (e.g.: 1) She sells seashells by the seashore, 2) Rubber baby buggy bumpers, 3) How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?)

5. TRIVIA: player must answer a T/F question: create these from CIA world fact-book, wikipedia, manga, your self intro, current lessons etc. Examples: 1) Japan is bigger than Italy. (J= 377, 835 sq. km/ It. = 301,230 sq. km), 2) Spring comes before summer, 3) Mount Fuji is taller than Mount Everest (F = 3,776 m, Ev = 8,000 m)

6. PICTIONARY: player must go to the board and draw a word, other students must guess the word in English (e.g. train, snow, pizza, shopping…)

7. HEAVEN: players race to put their hands in the air, last one with their hand up spells a word in English (e.g. Tuesday, morning, hamburger, talking…)

Alternatively, 7-11: players must name items (in English) that can be purchased at 7-11.

8. HAND JIVE: player makes a creative gesture, then the next person in the circle must make that gesture and add another, etc. (no English necessary, purely for comic relief).

9. BUST A RHYME: Give a word. Going clockwise from the student who pulled the card, players must think of a word or phrase that rhymes (e.g. cat, red, shop, ball….)

10. HANGMAN: play with the ALT at the board. Players guess the word. (Consistently pick words from the same category if you want to make guessing easier).

J. WORD CHAIN: play shiritori at the board, clockwise order from the student who pulled a Jack. Give the first word.

Q. QUESTION: student must answer an interview question, in a sentence, if possible (e.g. What’s your favorite band? Do you have any brothers or sisters? Are you alive/ breathing/ awake/ a student?)

K. CATEGORIES: players must name English words in a given category: play one round clockwise from the student who pulled the card (e.g. Food, school, body, shopping…)

A. CHARADES: player who pulled the Ace must act out a word. Other players guess the word or phrase in English (e.g. play video games, brush your teeth, eat ramen, sing karaoke…)

DIRECTIONS:

1) Write RULES on the board/ Explain

2) Have students form a circle around a large table, or on the floor

3) Remove Jokers and shuffle cards. See if a show-off kid wants to do the honors. (This is the country where mini-stop clerks fan change like blackjack dealers)

4) Spread deck out in a circle, with all the edges touching

5) Janken to see who goes first, and in which direction play will proceed

6) PLAY! Finish when all the cards have been pulled/ class ends/ boredom ensues

NOTES:

Many Americans will recognize “Kings” as a much beloved college drinking game, alternative known as “Circle of Death,” depending on what part of the country you’re from, and how wrong you are. In this version drinking has been replaced by LEARNING, a.k.a. forced use of English. Fun!