Hunt the Flashcard

 Hunt the Flashcard

So, just like with the games Cards Up, Cards Down and FC Collector, the flashcards are handed out to the students who must hold their ‘cards up’ for all to see. This game, however, is an excellent way to practise the question and answer form (Q&A) of the target language you are teaching.

Two students are called to the front; one from each team. Let us say that the [#5 students] are chosen to play.

WHITEBOARD

#5s      #5s

Team A                                          Team B

#1s                                  #1s

#2s                                  #2s

#3s                                  #3s

#4s                                  #4s

#6s                                  #6s

To use an example of a higher level’s FC vocabulary, let us imagine that the FCs represent phrases used to answer the question of ‘What would you do if you won the lottery?’ The FCs are: Travel Around the World, Save Money, Give Money Away, Buy a Holiday Home, Buy an Expensive Car, Start a Business, Help a Charity. …

If there are not enough FCs of one set (i.e., one topic) to go round, do not worry: you can mix them up with another set (e.g., mixing the above FCs with some FCs for kitchen utensils).

As already stated, the teacher hands out the FCs to the students who hold their ‘cards up’ while the two #5 students scout around, trying to remember which student has what FC.

After thirty seconds or so, the teacher instructs the students holding FCs to put their, “Cards down!”

“Right,” says the teacher, talking to the two #5 students. “Which student would [travel around the world] if they won the lottery?”

The two #5 students now go up to various students, asking: “Would you travel around the world?” If they pick they wrong student, the response will be, “No, I wouldn’t.” If they pick the right student and the response is, “Yes, I would,” then they can collect this FC and hand it to the teacher. (If both [#5 students] go up to the correct student at the same time and collect the FC together, the teacher can call it even.)

Next the teacher poses a new question: “Ok, which student would [save money]?”

The game starts up again with the two #5 students going around the class asking their classmates “Would you save money? Would you save money?” to responses of, “No, I wouldn’t,” or, “Yes, I would.”

Once you have gone through this a few times you can let the two [#5 students] sit down again and call up a different pair of students to have a turn. The teacher takes back the FCs, shuffles them; hands them out, shouting “Cards Up!”

Actually, this is a good time to point out another version of the game. Namely that you can cut out the whole ‘cards up’ thing altogether so the two volunteer students have no clue as to which student has what FC. This will generate more Q&A target language as they randomly ask as many students as they can in hope of being the first to get an affirmative answer.

Of course this game is not only limited to the “Would you ... Yes, I would/No, I wouldn’t” Q&A. It is workable with various Q&As.

To give some lower level examples, this game could be used for colours: “Are you red?”, “Yes, I am/No, I’m not.” With animals: “Do you have a fish?”, “Yes, I do/No, I don’t” or for present continuous activities: “Are you listening to music?” “Yes, I am/No, I’m not.”

And of course there are many more examples as the list of Q&As that you will find yourself teaching in class goes on. ...