Pelmonism

 Pelmonism

In the popular card game, Pelmonism (or ‘Fish’ as it is sometimes called) a pack of cards is spread out over a table face down. Players must take turns to flip over two cards of their choice: if the two cards are the same (i.e., two 5s or two Kings for example) then that player can keep the cards and take another turn; if they are different, then they are returned face down to the table while the other players take note of what these cards were and where they lie. Finally, once all the cards have been matched up and there is nothing left on the table, it is the end of the game and the player to have accumulated the most cards is the winner.

So a version of this game can be played with your students on a physically larger scale with two sets of flashcards being used and spread face down over the floor of the classroom.

WHITEBOARD

Team A                                         Team B

#1s              FC         FC              #1s

#2s        FC                  FC           #2s

#3s                            FC              #3s

#4s             FC                    FC     #4s

#5s             FC      FC     FC         #5s

#6s      FC                  FC              #6s

It is a good idea to have an uneven number of flashcards so that there is one FC that does not have a double. This way the final ‘matching up’ is still exciting.

So to run through an example, the teacher picks the #2s from team A to begin. This student selects an FC, flips it over and loudly says the vocabulary item on the FC, e.g., [“Grandmother”]. As the teacher you will need to encourage and remind the students to say the FCs as they flip them over.

The rest of the class observe, taking note of what this FC is and where it lies. The #2s now turns over another FC and says the vocabulary item on this FC, e.g., [“Sister”.]

The #2s from team A now returns to their seat and the teacher picks the #4s from team B to take a turn. This student turns over another FC and says, [“Sister”]. The student remembers that the #2s from team A turned over a [sister] FC and looks around the floor, trying to remember which card this was. …

And so we have the game of Pelmonism played on a larger scale with FCs in the classroom. A suggested difference to the classroom game however is to not allow a student to take another turn once they have picked up two cards that match. It is better to keep alternating the turns from students in teams A and B, i.e., in the above example, if the #4s from team B successfully flips over two [sister] FCs, they hand these to the teacher, receive points for their team, and following this it is the turn of a student from team A again.