SMARTA$$
I sometimes play a game called 'Smartass' with my students. It's a little like Pictionary, but really it’s just an excuse to say and draw things in Japanese, whilst keeping things light and comprehensible. It is a fantastic game to start off your lessons or as a brain break, and so long as you keep it understandable, through your drawings, gestures, hints, synonyms/antonyms etc. EVERYONE in your class has a chance to join in.
Smartass is actual board game and you can buy it at most department stores. Anyway inside the game there is like 400+ cards, each with different questions. Each question has 10 clues. I prefer it to Pictionary, because it only has a one-word prompt and there is nothing more annoying than beginning to draw something and having someone scream out the answer after 0.3 seconds. Anyway, here is a link to the copy of the game that I have and here's an example of a typical card from the game:
What am I?
I am an object for protection.
I am also a fashion item to some.
I am worn on the head.
I’m useful during the day.
Celebrities like to wear me at night.
Tom Cruise made a brand of me famous.
I block out the sun’s glare.
I am protection for the eyes.
What am I, with the initials S.G.
Answer, Sun Glasses.
The idea behind how I use the game/cards is to think about how you would offer each hint using a combination of spoken and written Japanese, with accompanying illustrations. With the first clue, you may think your students couldn’t understand the verb まもる, but you can draw a clue to represent the word without giving away the answer (see my illustrations below). Or perhaps you could act it out in some way, miming a shield in combination with writing the word まもる on the board.
Students will spend the first few moments simply trying to solve the clue (and boy will they try) by decoding what you’re saying and drawing. Just think about the sort of sentences you create as you dance around the answer. The students would definitely have the chance to acquire the following words, but also any grammatical structure that accompanies them in a meaningful way: まもる、おしゃれ、ファッション、あたま、かぶる、かける、ひる、よる、やくにたつ、ゆうめい人、ひざし、め、サングラス
Not every card in the box is suitable, but there are plenty of good ones. Also, I don’t directly convert the hints into Japanese and I almost always change the hints or wording to suit my purposes e.g. The order doesn’t always make the most sense, because I like to have students guessing for longer, so in the example here I would swap no.3 with no. 4 and no. 2 with no. 5.
After a few hints the students will usually know the answer (the game ain’t hard folks), but it’s very important that they keep it to themselves and not spoil it. It can become quite funny when everyone is in on the answer though, but that definitely doesn’t mean you should stop - no, once they figure it out the real learning begins. Instead of having them just sit their biting their tongues, involve the students and start ‘circling’ to check comprehension e.g. Would you wear these on your feet? Do dogs wear them? Does it protect your car? Do you wear them to bed? Can you wear them on a shirt? etc. You can draw out each hint for as long as you like and really flex your language muscle to see what you can get them to understand. The limit is really only your own language ability, plus it’s great for a laugh. When you do this and scaffold your Japanese, students will be smack back in the middle of the zone of proximal development, giving them the opportunity to pick up all sorts of words and phrases by making what you say comprehensible.
My interpretation of the game also has a bit of a gamified way off answering. Cut up a bunch of paper and give them out to students at the beginning of the lesson. When students know the answer they write on the ticket:
Their initials
Their guess
The hint number when they figured it out
I keep a box at the front of the room where students can put their answer at the end of the activity, as a kind of “exit ticket”… but at the beginning of the lesson (an entry ticket? That’s what tickets are for right?). You can go back through the student answers after the activity in Japanese if you like if you want to extend the activity or you could can just check them after class or during a brain break.
Then after the brain break you can launch straight into a story! Hmm if only you knew someone who had a book of ready to go short stories…
Happy gaming!
