Last Four Standing

Michael J. Sexton

OBJECTIVES:

PROCEDURE:

This was a game I used in a number of classes last year. I took our current grammar point / vocabulary set and made a simple 3-by-3 grid out it on an A4 sheet of paper. (An example: I took nine location cards and placed them on the grid, and then, at the bottom of the page, I wrote the sentence “I go to the…” for the kids to see.)

This game works best with groups of three or four kids, and so for each group I had, I would photocopy the grid sheet twice. The first sheet I would leave as is, and the second sheet, I’d cut up into individual cards. I would then put those cards in an envelope (which are easily found in the teachers’ room of every school).

In the class, we would review the grammar point, and then break off into the groups on the floor. The kids each broke out two “tokens” for their own game pieces. (I always carry a bag of those 100 yen store flat marbles. They come in five different colors and work awesome for markers and game pieces if you want to give them to the kids instead.) The kids then decide their playing order by the standard janken. I then give them the materials.

The first kid places a token on any open space on the grid of the non-cut sheet. As he/she does so, they must use the grammar point. (In the case of this example, the first kid would say “I go to the hospital” and then place one of their two tokens on the hospital square.) The kids go around in order doing this until all of them have placed both their tokens.

Next, the first kid takes the envelope, and not looking inside, draws out one card. Any tokens on the square of the drawn card are removed from the grid and are out. While the kids draw the cards, they must read the vocabulary word on it. (In the example, the first kid draws out “police station”, says the word, and if any kids had a token on that space, it is removed.) If no tokens are on the drawn space, all the kids can sigh with relief.

This continues until there are only four tokens left on the grid. The kids then must stop, and each player gets one point for each token still surviving. (They usually remember it in their heads, but you can have them write it down if there is a need.)

You can play this game for several rounds, with the kids added their scores together from round to round. They just remove their tokens, reshuffle the cards, put them back in the envelope, and run it all on their own. It is a great feeling to walk around the room listening to all of them using the English you just taught them.

NOTES:

• I have used this game with grammar points such as “I go to the…”, “I play…”, “I like…”, etc.
• If you have lower level students or younger kids, you can have the kids just use vocabulary words and not put them into full sentences (such as fruits, colors, animals, etc.)