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Elem Topics    Pronouns    Othello                                                                                                                                                                            
  
Othello
Submitted by: Raymond     Borrowed from or inspired by: Tim     Date added: 04/07/08
Outline:  This is a grid-game based on Othello which introduces or reviews pronouns and possessives.
 
Materials Needed:
  • Magnetic whiteboard
  • Coloured magnets - 2 different colours (coloured markers and paper will work, also)

 

Procedure:
  1. Draw a 5x5 grid on the board and leave some space along the left side for pictures.
  2.  
    On the left-hand side of the grid, beside each square along the vertical column, attach or draw pictures representing the pronouns: I, he, she, we, they.
  3. Along the horizontal row, attach or draw pictures the representing pronouns: me, him, her, us, them.
  4. Make 2 teams, and assign each teach a colour based on the coloured magnets you brought along. For the following example, the colours blue and red will be used.
  5. Start the game by having two students from the blue team call out a pronoun; one student says one from the vertical column and the other student from the horizontal row. Place a blue magnet in the corresponding space.
  6. Have the red team repeat the same procedure.
  7. The game keeps going by each team taking turns calling out their desired magnet location. If one team is able to trap the other team’s magnet, then the trapped magnet is replaced with the ‘trappers’ magnet.  See the example to the right for details.
  8. The game is over when all 25 spaces have been filled.  The winner is the team with the most magnets on the board.

 
Teaching Suggestions:
  •  I like to start off pronouns by pointing at students rudely, and calling out "you".  To practice the 3rd person pronouns, try pointing at one student and while maintaining eye contact with that student, point to another student and say "he/she". This usually gets a few laughs, especially if you do it without warning. Eventually the students will mimic, and you can have students pointing and shouting pronouns.  Group a few students together and teach “we, they, etc”.

     

 

Variations:

  •  Pronouns can be replaced with possessives, “my, his, her, our,” etc. or the horizontal row can be replaced by verbs. If you use nouns, be sure to include the verbs with the nouns to make sentences such as "We eat hotdogs."
  • The grid size can be changed to make the game time longer or shorter.
  • Try changing the grid from the standard square into more interesting shapes: octagon, hexagon, diamond, etc.
  • Play with more teams and more colours, however, more than 3 teams/colours on a small grid is not recommended.  If you use this variation, when a team completes a ‘trap’, even if there are multiple colours in the trap, all the colours change to the trapper’s color.
  • Special time: This time is also called “Attack Chance!”  This allows students to place their magnets anywhere on the grid to trap other teams, even if is an occupied space.  This gives losing teams a fighting chance.

     

 

Cautions:

  •  It is easy to have the class lose interest in this game, so please keep in mind:

      • Do not tell them they are playing Othello, just start playing and have them discover the fact later.

      • Try not letting the game go on for too long, consider a 15-20 minute time limit.

 

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