In this activity students will practice the phrase "How do you say ____ in English/Japanese?" while learning vocabulary.
Materials: vocabulary cards (10 or so is enough)
Students break into groups of four and split the cards up amongst themselves. Go over the meaning of each word together and have students write the Japanese translation on the back of their cards. (You could prep this yourself but it's also an opportunity for students to get more familiar with the vocab. If you reuse the cards for subsequent classes you can skip the writing and just focus on vocab review.)
Next, students spread the cards around their desks, Japanese side up and Janken to see who goes first.
The first student thinks of a card in their mind and asks: “How do you say _____ in English?” The fastest student to touch the card and say the correct English-word answer gets to take the card, which now represents one point. If they don't know the word, someone else can try. If no one gets the answer, the card stays.
Play until all the cards are exhausted. Whoever has the most points that round wins.
Round 2: same thing, but this time the English is face-up. Students ask: “How do you say ____ in Japanese?”
Round 3: You could mix the cards, Japanese or English face-up, with students having to choose the appropriate question.
This lesson was made with New Horizon JHS 1 p. 24 in mind, with vocabulary from that textbook. It may make more sense to adapt the vocabulary to whatever words your students are focusing on at that time.