Materials Needed:

• RPG point card

Detailed Explanation:

1. After handing out the point card, have the students write their name, grade and date they received the card.  Also, in the circle, give the students a couple minutes to draw their point card's character.
2. Rules to the point card:
• Students may not move diagonally in the beginning of the game. However, they may do so when they obtain the level 5 skill level.
•  
  If the space is marked with a B (Battle), they must answer a question from the ALT/JTE to move into that space.
• If the space is marked with a G (Give), they must choose a student who then gets a B point anywhere they like on the board.
• If the space is marked with a ? (Mystery), the teacher chooses something: move 2 spaces, walk through walls, move diagonally, jump anywhere etc.
• If the space is marked with $ (Skill-up), the ALT/JTE stamps the skill-up bar. This adds skills to how the students move around the board. The student can then return to the start or continue from where they are on the board.  The fourth level-up on the bar reads "Battle 2nd Chance".  This means if the student gets the battle question wrong, they can try to answer again. If your quick on your toes, you will see this and ask a hard question on purpose and give hints to help the student.

Variations:

• Since this is a RPG game, you could insert a dice option into the point card.  Instead of the students receiving one move for every point they earn, allow them one roll of the dice instead.  As for moving via the dice, sometimes there won't be enough squares to move in a straight line before hitting a wall.  Simply, add a 'bump' rule and that allows the student to bounce off the walls and travel in the opposite direction to complete their roll.  Also, if you don't want to buy dice, make your own at MES or SEN.

Teaching Suggestions:

• I like to think of this point card as a work in progress so please add your ideas.
• Encourage students to explore and not to take the shortest route. Give good mystery points early on to get this idea across.

Cautions:

• I haven't tried this yet (2009 April) but I anticipate a problem with the Give symbol. Some monster children may react badly to this as they are not used to sharing. Also I have no idea how long this will last, again I anticipate some stretching potential if the teacher is smart about points allocation and the mystery squares.