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Elem Topics    General Games    King Kong Karuta                                                                                                                                                      日本語
  
King Kong Karuta
Submitted by: Patrick Bickford     Borrowed from or inspired by: N/A     Date added: 04/10/08
Outline:  In this chaotic but riveting game involving simultaneous tables of Karuta, students have the chance to become King-Kong and accrue a ton of points for their team.
 
Materials Needed:
  • Target vocabulary cards - one set per karuta table

 

Procedure:
  1. As you all know, Karuta is your basic game where everyone stands around a table and when a target vocabulary is called out, the fastest person to slap the card receives a point. However, KKK differs slightly because it introduces a King Kong area and multiple Karuta tables
  2. Split the class into teams. The number of teams depend on the number of Karuta tables. One person from each team goes to each of the tables. Each of the tables contain Karuta cards for the target vocabulary you want to use. Each table can have the same topic or different topics.
  3. Call out a target vocabulary and the quickest student from each table to correctly slap the card moves to the next table. I play this game in large classes of 30-35 students so when the student slaps the card, they need to hold it above their head so you can see it. And, to stop students from randomly slapping cards, only give them ONE CHANCE. If they slap the wrong card, they are finished for that round. If two students slap the correct card at the same time, they play Janken to see who wins.
  4. Here's where 'King Kong' comes into play. The winner from 'table 5' rotates into the 'King Kong' area; I use the chalkboard area. King Kong represents a 'strong' image, so the student in the King Kong area can receive a lot of points for their team. So, how does the King Kong student receive points? Well, there are many methods. The last time I used this game, I was teaching the alphabet. As I began the next round, the King Kong student had 15 seconds to write as many alphabet letters on the chalkboard as they could, and then the homeroom teacher would say "STOP!"  The student's team would receive one point for every correctly-shaped alphabet letter. To make it harder, you could specify the student only write upper/lowercase letters OR write the letters in alphabetical order. Once the King Kong student receives their points, they rotate to 'table 1'. The King Kong area can be setup to practice any topic, you just need to get creative.

 

Teaching Suggestions:
  • This is one of the more difficult games to explain, so you might want to meet with your homeroom teacher before class to ensure they understand the rules.

 

Variations:

  • You can also play multiple topics at the same time.  Each Karuta table is home to a different topic.  Let's say you want to review: colors, actions, animals, numbers and adjectives. Instead of saying a target word, SAY A SENTENCE and each table has to listen for their own target word. For example, "Five fat blue dogs run."  This might be a good time to have your homeroom teacher to practice some English sentences.

 

Cautions:

  • HERE

 

Attachments:  None