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Elem Topics    Self-Introductions    Musical Meishi                                                                                                                                                      日本語
 
Musical Meishi  
Submitted by: Elem ALT team    
Outline: Meishi means business card.  Students use a meishi to introduce themselves to each other.
 

Teaching Suggestions:

  • Have the students make their meishi or use the attachment below.  If you choose to use the attachment, have the students shade in the shapes, as many as they want, and their introductions would include: "I have 4 triangles," or however many triangles they shaded in.  The contents of the meishi reflects the level of the class. For older students, try using topics such as age, likes/dislikes, hobbies, etc.
  • Choose your music wisely! Your music selection can make or break the game. Choose music that either has a strong consistent pounding beat, or teach them an easy English song ahead of time, like the Beatles Hello Goodbye, and homemade choreography to supplement the song. This should solve the problem of your shy students not wanting to dance.

 

Procedure:
  1. Model the self-introductions with the HRT.  For example, the ALT says, "My name is Tom.  I am 21.  I like tennis."  The HRT responds by saying, "Nice to meet you.  My name is Takeshi. I am 9.  I like horses.
  2. Split the class in half and place chairs in a circle.  Half of the students sit in the chairs while the other half form a circle around the chairs.  If there is an odd number of students, have the HRT join the game.
  3. Start the music and have the students not sitting start walking in a chain around the students sitting in the chairs.
  4. When the music stops, each standing-student hands their meishi to the sitting-student in front of them while saying their self-introductions.
  5. Have the students switch positions and keep playing.

 

Variations:

  • As a final activity, have the students individually introduce themselves to you and the HRT.
  • Cutthroat meishi: Instead of having the student's walk in a circle, have them walk around the room play janken and the winner receives the loser's name card.

 

Attachments: