All-For-One, One-For-All

SUBMITTED BY: Karmen Hvalec     DATE ADDED: 07-10-09     EDITED BY: まだ

ÒÓ    èéë    35-50 min.   12 votes: 4.5-star   If you're going to give this activity a low-rating, please post a useful comment to help make it better. SearchJHSActivity

Materials Needed:

• B4 or A3 sized paper (6 sheets)
• Color pens (6 pens)
• Magnets - you need 6 of them but they can usually be found in the classroom already.
• Timer
• 6-7 sentences: The funnier, the better.  Fun captures attention.

Detailed Explanation:

1. After separating the class into six teams (vertical rows work best), write the name of the game on the chalkboard and discuss the meaning with the students.  This will probably be best done by the JTE.  I think this point is important because the game will not work unless each team works together.
2. Place six magnets on the chalkboard, one for each team. They will use them later to hold their team's answers.
3. After giving one sheet of paper and color pen to the last student in each row, instruct all six students sitting in the front of each row to go into the hallway, where they will be given a target sentence.  Once they memorize it, have them come back into the classroom, sit down and NO TALKING.
4. When the ALT/JTE says “Ready! Set! Go!”, the students with the sentence starts WHISPERING the sentence to the student behind them.  This keeps repeating until the last student in the row receives the sentence.  The last student must write the sentence and run to the chalkboard and post the sentence under their team's magnet...all within 2 minutes.  NOTE: For teams with more students in their row, allow those teams a little headstart.
5. Once all six groups have posted their sentence, the JTE writes the correct sentence on the chalkboard, while the ALT corrects the sentences on the papers.  Ask for a volunteer from the class to translate its meaning into Japanese and give that team a bonus point.
6. Read each team's sentence outloud, mistakes and all.  The students seem to get a kick out of this, but there is a point of this humiliation.  It makes them realize that one simple mistake can change the sentences meaning and/or pronunciation.  NOTE: For more shy or lower level classes, reading sentences outloud might not be recommended.
7. Assign 'speed points' to each team that gets the sentence correct.
8. Finally, have the students shift back one seat and the student in back comes to the front seat.

Variations:

• Picture Relay:
  Instead of the students writing the sentence, have them draw it.  These pictures can get pretty interesting sometimes.  This idea might be used for lower level classes who do alright with speaking/listening but their reading/writing/spelling is lacking.  Also, along with 'speed points', other points can be offered: Best Picture, Funniest Picture, etc.

Teaching Suggestions:

• For lower level classes, allow them to use their textbooks to check for spelling.

Tips/Cautions:

• Penalize teams who don't whisper.
• You might have issues with students not wanting to sit in another student's chair.  Instead of taking time to trying to explain how stupid of a thing to say seeing that when they go out to eat, movies, etc. they always sit in chairs which aren't theirs, simply allow students to remain where they are and rotate the order of the 'sentence-receiving' and 'sentence-writing' student.  

Comments:

• (Dec 9, 2010) Richard Benoit said: Adding the A3 sheets, and blackboard posting, made an old cliche game super fun. They were so into it they really needed to act as a team as the title suggests.
  I added point categories. I awarded a point for the fastest team to post, a point for funny mistakes, a point for completion before the time was up, and finally 2 points for a perfect answer.
  All but one student in my class, could do the spelling version, with some help from a team mate. I had one girl who didn't know the alphabet in 3rd year, complete bombshell, so she was shaking, face beat red, under the class and team pressure trying to spell stuff out.
  So just be careful of those few students who may feel the wrath of the "one for all and all for one" when suddently the "all" decide they want the "one" booted out.
  All in all, I highly recommend it for a treat for your class. Mine were super amped.

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