What sport do you play?

Michael Jude Sexton

GRADE LEVEL: ES 3-6

PROCEDURE:

1. Hold a warm-up activity that lasts for about 10 minutes. For this lesson, I take a chair and set it in front of the students. I then say “Please stand up” and stand up with them. I then say “Please sit down” and they all sit down. I then say “Stand up” and “Sit down” and they do it again with me. I then ask: “Nani ga chigaimashita ka?” (What was different?) They point out the obvious usually (the up/down stand/sit parts), but most times they do not catch the “please” part. I repeat the process several times until the students realize I am saying the word please for only the first two commands. We then discuss what “please” means, and we play a quick form of SIMON SAYS using it. If I use please in the command, the students must do it. If I leave off the please, and they follow it, they are out (Please touch your head, please touch your knees, please sit down, stand up… Oh! You’re out!)

2. I then go to the board and write out the phrase “What sports do you play?” I ask the students what it means. The students throw out several answers, and with the homeroom teachers help, they are able to come up with: “Donna supotsu wo shimasu ka?” どんなスポーツをしますか？ I then write out: “I play ~” and ask them what that means. Usually, they can come up with: “Watashi wa ~ wo shimasu.” わたしは~をします。This ends the grammar part, and I tell them we must now fill in the blanks.

3. Flash Cards: I show the cards and teach the needed vocabulary. I stress pronunciation, trying to explain sakaa is a far cry from “socceR”.

4. We next clear the desks. I have the flashcards up on the board, and in the open space of the classroom, the whole class makes one large circle. I get a balloon out and tell the students to count from one to ten as I fill it up (Many students cover their ears in terrified joy that it might pop). After it is tied off, I ask the students to choose one sport that they like and to put it into their heads. Once they have done that, I take the balloon, say my secret sport, and hit it to the student next to me. They get one chance to hit the balloon, and they must say their own sport while doing so. The balloon passes around until it either touches the ground, gets hit twice by the same student, or comes back to me. If it comes back to me, the classroom wins. If not, we try again, going from me in the other direction. The kids get terrifically excited about the whole thing. It surprised me the first time I did such a simple activity.

5. I then have the students form four groups of relatively equal sides. Each group goes to a corner of the open space. They then send one person forward to janken while I take the flash cards down from the board. The winning group of the janken is the team which will act first. I take the flashcards and I shuffle them. I then secretly show the winning group a picture. They must come to the center of the open space, and as a group, they must act out the sport without saying anything. The other three groups, when they understand, must rush to raise their hands. Once all members have their hands up, I ask them: What sport do you play? They must answer together: “I play ___.” If they get it right, they get a point. The acting team goes and sits down, and the team that was clockwise from them is the next to act. We proceed around the room until all the flashcards have been acted through.

6. If the game does not go to the bell, I have the students put their desks back. We then practice the sports pronunciation again. If there is still time after that, I ask the students what sports they play themselves, and the kids usually are quite eager to share.

NOTES:

This is a great lesson in the fact that it is VERY flexible. I have taken out the above warm-up and replaced it with things like songs, culture explanations (on Valentines Day), and just open conversations. I have used this lesson equally well with genki third graders and stoned-faced sixth graders, and by the end, it always has people participating. I have used this in a classroom of 8 kids and in a class of over 50 (with two combined grades). I have used this at both regular schools and one shot visits. For me, the best part is the little prep part. And if you are not that into teaching grammar at all, you can just skip the grammar part and make the other sections longer. (The balloon pass can go on for a while if the kids are having an off day or the class is just massive in size.)