Daniel HendersonKosugi SHS

GamesPassword Race

Class time needed for lesson: 20-30 minutes

Class size taught: 20-40 students

Target audience: SHS (any level)

Objective: Expand vocabulary and improve the lateral thinking in English.

目的：語彙を増やし、英語での学生の水平思考を向上させること

Materials: Cups or boxes, set of words in English and Japanese on slips of paper.

Procedure:

Start by reminding students how to ask what something is in English. Follow up with a pantomime where you don’t know what the word is. How do you explain what something is without the name? Demonstrate with the JTE or an adventurous student.

Break students into teams of 4 or 5. (Any bigger and students with stronger English will overshadow the others.) Explain the rules:

1. Each student takes turns choosing a word from the container.2. Describe the word using English hints only, without saying the ‘password’ (the word

they drew)3. If the word is difficult, a Japanese answer is okay, but they must show everyone the

word after in English and Japanese. 4. If a word is too difficult, they can pass.5. Keep the finished words separate for counting after. 6. Please, please, please don’t look at the word slips before choosing one!

Students take turns choosing words from the container blindly, and then explain and describe the word in English without using Japanese, gestures, or the word itself. You can change the word pool as you like so they don’t get too used to the same words. I recommend using words from different Eiken levels with some difficult ones mixed in. At the end of the game period, have the teams count their words. Students can guess the word in English or Japanese, but they must try in English if they know it. Make sure students show their group the word in English and Japanese after. They should try to remember the words in case they encounter them again.

If you want to add an extra element, ask each group or random students what the most difficult word was. How did they describe it? What hints did they give? It’s a great method to have them think.

Daniel HendersonKosugi SHS

GamesAdditional information:

This is part of a bigger lesson on description and vocabulary building, but works fine on its own as long as the students are familiar with the rules.

I’ve used this activity with JHS students and 3rd year SHS students. It’s not really limited by skill level and is great for sharing vocabulary pools from different groups.

Having the description or associated words (hints) in their mind when they read the revealed word is a really useful method for recalling the words in the future. Of course no one will remember perfectly, but this way can help with non-repetition learning of new vocabulary.

I made my slips to look like this using a table in Microsoft Word for easy cutting: