CLASS KURATA
Number of cards: 5-10
Play in: groups of 4
Nominate a leader or caller. Spread the kana cards you want to revise over a desktop or the floor. The remaining members of the group stand or sit in positions that are all the same distance from the cards. The leader calls out a character. Each player tries to pick the correct card before the other opponents. A point is given to the person who finds the correct card.
top

FISH
Number of packs: 2 or 4 (write your initials in pencil on the back of all your cards so you don't get them mixed up)
Play in: pairs or groups
Sort each pack of cards into approximately half or 20 characters you need to revise. Shuffle the half packs together and deal five cards to each player. Place the rest of the cards in the middle. You may need to place them in a box to cover them up. Each player takes a turn to ask one of the others for a particular card. Keep the game simple by using the English version of 'Fish' or rehearse and use set phrases in Japanese.

If the request is successful, the pair is placed on the table. If the player is unsuccessful, they draw a card from the middle pack of extra cards. When a player runs out of cards, they can pick up five more from the pack in the middle.

The player with the most pairs at the end is the winner.
top

SNAP
Number of packs: 2 or 4 (write your initials in pencil on the back of all your cards so they don't get mixed up)
Play in: pairs or groups
Sort each pack of cards into approximately half or 20 characters you need to revise. Shuffle the half packs together and deal all the cards - the same number to all players. Stack any left over cards in the middle. The players shouldn't look at their cards or show them to other players. Each player in turn places the top card from his or her pack face up on to the middle stack.

When two cards with the same character appear one directly after the other, the players reach for the middle stack while calling 'Snap!'

The player with the most cards at the end is the winner.
top

WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITIES

BING BONG
Students stand behind their chairs. Show each student a kana card. If the student correctly names the character they remain standing and stay in the game. If they are incorrect the teacher says 'Bing Bong' and the student sits down and can no longer participate. When a student is incorrect you can show the same card to the next student. If they are also wrong you can show one more student the same kana card, but they can be given a clue, such as 'it is in the "s" column', or 'it is a vowel'. Continue this game for three rounds. Any students still standing at the end can be rewarded.
top

LADDER
Choose 10-15 cards that you wish to revise. Spread them out on the floor or across the blackboard ledge. Choose one student at a time to 'climb the ladder'. They have to walk past each card and correctly name it. If they are able to name all the characters shown, they have successfully climbed the ladder and they can shuffle up the character cards in the ladder or change a few over.

When a student makes a mistake or doesn't know a character, the teacher can name the next character, but the student has to sit down and wait until their next turn.
top

CUCKOO
Students sit in a circle or around the edge of the room where they can see each other. Each student is given a kana card to hold. They need to know the character they are holding.

Choose a starting point. This person becomes the leader and the best position in the class. They start the game by clearly saying their character twice then the character of another student; for example, 'ku ku i i', then the student holding the 'i' character might say 'i i sa sa'. Rules can be added, such as you cannot say it straight back to the person who just said it to you and that you must vary your replies.

When a student makes a mistake they have to move to the end of the line and the other students move up and closer to the 'leader' position. Encourage students to aim for a 'top-ten position' and to try to get people in the 'top ten' out.
top

AROUND THE WORLD
Ask all students to be seated. Choose a student to start. They stand behind the chair of the student next to them. Show the two students a character card. The first student to name the character correctly can move on to stand behind the next student. The student who was incorrect sits in the chair where the contest took place. Sometimes the competition between students can be very close and you will need to show a number of cards to them before you can determine a winner. The game continues around the class many times until you have one student who has travelled around the whole class or 'around the world' or as long as time allows. When you have limited time, congratulate all students who moved from their original spot or all students who moved five places.
top

CHALLENGE
(Laminate or cover your cards with clear contact first.)
Students sit in a large circle with space on the floor for 15-20 cards. Choose two students to challenge each other. They stand up next to the cards on the floor. The teacher or a nominated student calls a character. The first student to stand on the correct card can 'keep it'. A total of five characters are called. The winner is the student with the most cards.

This game can be played in two ways with most students having an opportunity to play and having a large number of winners or with eight students playing, then the four winners playing off in two semi-finals and then a final play-off in a grand final.
top

FOOTBALL
(This can also be based on soccer, hockey, rugby or netball.)
Place five chairs in a row at the front of the class. Divide the class into groups of five students. Left over students can be used as scorers or timekeepers. One or two teams can exist with only four students, but one student in these teams will need to play two positions, which can be confusing.

Two teams play against each other at a time. They need to set themselves up with one team sitting on the five chairs and one team standing behind them. The students must sit according to their position: full forward, centre half forward, centre, centre half back and full back.

The students standing behind must stand in reverse positions. Only the full forward can kick a goal and the game always starts or restarts after a goal with the centre player.

You may like the team sitting down to physically hold a ball to show where the ball or the game is at. Show the two players in the centre position a character card. Depending on who wins the contest the ball goes to their centre half forward. If the centre half forward wins, then the ball moves to the full forward and hopefully a goal. At times the ball can waiver between two positions continuously. This game can work well if you set a time limit such as two minutes. If you wait for a goal to be scored it may take too long.

After the time limit has been reached swap the teams around. If you have time, you may like to play a semi-final and grand final.

Encourage students to pair themselves off with opposition of similar ability. This makes the game more balanced and more exciting.
top

TATTE SUWATTE (Stand up, sit down)
Place five chairs in a row at the front of the class. Concentrate on no more than 20 characters. Students secretly write two of the nominated characters into their notebook. Choose five students. They sit on the chairs at the front of the class with their notebook. Stand to the front side of the class where both the students on chairs and the remainder of the class can see you display the character cards. Call through the cards, shuffling them as you go, so that the characters are called several times in different orders. The five designated students have to move when each of their characters is said. If they are sitting, they stand and if they are standing, they sit down. The rest of the class have to try to remember which characters students stood or sat for. They are not allowed to take notes. When students think they can identify two characters for any of the participants, they put their hands up. When you see a large number of hands up, stop calling out characters and get the class to guess one by one. If a student guesses correctly they can swap over and take a seat up the front ready for another game. Any students who don't get 'guessed' can go back to their seats victorious and another student takes their spot. When there are five new students up the front, start again.
top