Regional Specialities of Japan
Students complete an information gap task while they practise grammar involving how places seem/appear. The topic is major Japanese cities’ special attractions.
Role Play: Visit the Doctor
Students practise sickness expressions in a role play between a doctor and a patient. The symptoms and advice are provided on cards.
Job Seeking Activity
Students pretending to be job seekers are matched with one of four part time job options by answering a series of questions asked by the students playing the role of an employment agency.
Survey Quiz Show
Students participate in a game show (like the old show “Family Feud”) where they guess how people responded to a survey.
Inviting to do Activities Game
The class divides into 2 and students circulate practising inviting and accepting/declining invitations to activities. The winning side is decided by luck, depending on how many acceptances they receive.
Throw the Dice Game
Students practise their numbers in Japanese in this fun dice game. Groups work together to try and get up to the total number chosen by the teacher within their limit of throws.
Vocabulary Enrichment Game
Students play a game where they must think of a word within a certain category to get a point. Play continues around the group and the student with the most points is the winner.
Hobbies Bingo Game
Students try to be the first one to get four names in a row (horizontally, vertically and diagonally) on their sheet.
Directions Around Town
In pairs, students try to be the first to work out the mystery sentence by following directions. Using their map they go to different locations which have been allocated an area of the classroom.
Name the Shops
Students play a barrier game where they have to identify all the shops in the row based on what each shop sells.
Find My Family
Students are given a card telling them who they are in a family. They move around the classroom trying to find the other members of their family by asking questions in Japanese. The aim is to be in the family that finds all its members first.
Mime and Guess
Students work in teams to decipher the meaning of the sentences they are given. Each team then acts out the sentence to the class who must guess what it is in Japanese.
Inviting Someone Out Game
The class divides into 2 and students circulate practising inviting and accepting/declining invitations to places. The winning side is decided by luck, depending on how many acceptances they receive.
Descriptions Using an Identikit
Students role play in pairs, describing the face of a “robber”. The policeman must re-create the face that the informant is describing, feature by feature.
Play: Cinderella
Students act out this children’s story which can be easily understood by an audience with or without knowledge of Japanese. The play can be used by students not only in the classroom but also as a presentation for a school event. There are 9 parts.
Play: Rabbit’s Present
Students act out this children’s story which can be easily understood by an audience with or without knowledge of Japanese. The play can be used by students not only in the classroom but also as a presentation for a school event. There are 8 parts.
Play: Seven Goats
Students practise and perform the short play しちひきのこやぎ which has a cast of 9 players, including 7 “kids” (child goats), the kids’ mother and a wolf.
Skit: The Big Turnip
Students act out this children’s story which can be easily understood by an audience with or without knowledge of Japanese. The play can be used by students not only in the classroom but also as a presentation for a school event. There are 9 parts.
BOARD GAME: Travel Around Japan
Students play a board game where they make their way around a map of Japan, practising inviting others to places by various means of transport.
Card Game Ideas
Students play the following games with picture/word cards: Vocabulary learning, Grab, Card Matching, Concentration, Guess the word, Definitions, Soccer, On the Buses, Human Board Game, What’s Missing, Reading activities
Using Flash Cards
Students can learn new vocabulary and play various games using the flashcards which cover many topics.
Play: The Juunishi Story
Students act out this story about the origin of the Juunishi (Chinese/Japanese zodiac). The play can be used by students not only in the classroom but also as a presentation for a school event. There are 15 parts.
Play: The Twin Millionaires and the Straw
Students act out this children’s story which can be easily understood by an audience with or without knowledge of Japanese. The play can be used by students in the classroom or as a presentation for a school event. There are 12 parts.
Skit: Ninja Rescue
Students act out this childrens' story which can be easily understood by an audience with or without knowledge of Japanese. The play can be used by students not only in the classroom but also as a presentation for a school event. There are 9 parts.
Choosing a Sports Kurabu
Students work in pairs to decide which of the four sports clubs (gyms) they will join. Each student and their partner go to two clubs, ask some questions and share the information. They then discuss which club they will choose.
Guess the Souvenir Group Activity
Students ask a series of questions to try to work out which souvenir another student is holding. If they guess correctly they win the souvenir.
Inviting Over the Phone
Students practise inviting/accepting/refusing in a scenario with a partner then participate in a class game where students are chosen at random by their phone number to perform the dialogue.
Role Play: Japanese Tea
Students work in groups of four to write a script and role play a difficult situation involving some bad tasting tea! Julie doesn’t wish to offend her Japanese hosts so she distracts them with questions about their house.
What is my Job?
Students try to win as many job cards as possible by asking questions to try and determine which job is on the card.
Counting Shapes
Students use their spatial skills to count the number of shapes contained within a larger shape.
Time Bingo
Students listen to the clock times read out by the teacher and compete to be the first to fill out their bingo card of clock times they have chosen.
My Holiday Suitcase
Students ask each other for various items so they can finish packing their suitcase. There are 12 items to obtain altogether.
Omusubi Activity
Students learn about the traditional Japanese food, omusubi, by learning how they are made and the popular fillings used. They answer questions in Japanese and read in hiragana the procedure for making them.
Manga: Sarukani Gassen
Students read the manga of the story of Sarukani gassen. They can then perform the skit or use it as a base for discussion on the theme of revenge. This story is known to all Japanese children; the tale of the battle between the monkey and the crab.
Role Play: Weather Reports
Students will learn expressions describing weather. They will be able to role-play giving a weather report from various cities around the world.
Role Play: World Events Report
Students prepare and perform a skit in which a TV show host asks for updates and events via satellite from several different journalists around the world. Language: Weather and time around the world