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BOARD GAME: School

In groups, students play a board game where they make their way around Japanese school. They advance according to their ability to talk about what happens in their school in Japanese. Chance cards provide an added element of luck.

Preparation

  1. Make a copy of the board onto A3 paper.
  2. Make a dice out of cardboard using Kanji dice sheet.
  3. Make a set of 20 CHANCE cards, shuffle them and place them face down on the space provided.
  4. Find small objects to use as a marker for moving around the board.

Procedure

Students play the game in groups of 4-6 according to the following rules:

Players take turns throwing the dice and move markers accordingly.
If a player lands on a square with a school room on it, eg. としょかん they have to say what is done in that room. eg. としょかんでほんをよみます。If a player lands on a チャンス(chance), they take a card and follow the instructions after announcing them to the group. If they cannot do what they have to in either case, they miss a turn.
The first player to finish is the winner. The exact number must be thrown.

NOTE: In board games, START is ふりだし; FINISH is あがり

Variation

  1. To cater for different levels of ability or different emphases, two sets of CHANCE cards are given below; one with the instructions largely in English, one in Japanese script for more advanced students.
  2. The game continues until several or all players have finished.
  3. Different CHANCE cards can be made based on the language students are learning

Teachers may also wish to use the Expressions for Board Games.

Expressions for Board Games (Word 19KB)

Resource created by Himiko Negishi, Cathy Jonak and Yohei Arakawa in April 1996, revised by The Japan Foundation, Sydney  (September 2023).

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