Kathy's Game
Rob Jones
| Level | Aims | Grammar | Time | Materials |
| junior high school second year | grammar review | There are structure, those place preposition thingies | 20 mins | strips of paper with instructions for each group |
As my name is not Kathy, you're probably wondering where the name of this game comes from. Well, Kathy used to be the ALT of Haga machi in '96-'97, but she's gone to a better place (ie. anywhere but Tochigi).
In this game, each column is a group. They clear their desks and everyone but the first row moves their desks to the back of the room. Ahead of time, you prepare slips of paper with instructions like these:
There are seven pencils under the desk.
There are two dictionaries beside the desk.
There are five seito techos in front of the desks.
There are eight slippers behind the desk.
There are three students on the desk.
Before you play, review those location particles, like on, under, behind, etc. so that the slips of paper won't be like cuneform to them. Back to the game. OK, so you have one student sitting at each desk up at front, while their teammates are sitting all scrunched up in the back. Put a slip of paper face down on the desk of the front people (all with the same instructions).
When you say, "Go!" the students must flip over the paper and read it. Since chances are that that front desk won't have the necessary supplies, the student must run back to their team and get the necessary things to complete the task. The first student who puts the proper number of things in the correct location gets a point for their team. After each round, the student who was sitting at front goes to the back, all the students move up a desk, and a new person sits at front.
This game can get a little hairball at times, especially with the slippers one. They need to get the slippers to the front desk, so many of the students believe that the best way to accomplish this is by taking off their slippers and throwing them at the desk like there's no tomorrow. If you or the JTE are unfortunate to get caught at the front while this happens, we'll be sure to start a fund to send home to your next of kin.
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