NOTE
I haven't updated or used this activity in awhile. If you are going to use it you should take a good look first for dated cultural references and stuff that doesn't suit the new teacher strategies. If nothing else I hope these older materials will give you some ideas for your own materials.
ONCE AROUND BOARD GAME
Note: on the board game you should change the ‘read page 22’ to read a page the students have already covered. Originally I did this near the end of the year.
Materials: a copy of the game, a die and a cut out passport for each group. Some magnets including a few circle ones in different colors.
Steps
Along with the JTE introduce the grammar point ‘We want you to ~’ and make sure the students understand it.
Tell the students they are going to practice the grammar point using a board game. At this point I usually ask for one or two ‘volunteers’ to help the teacher and I demonstrate the game.
Select who goes first, generally me and the others will go in clockwise order.
Roll the die and move my magnet the correct number of spaces from start. Once on the square the other members of the group should all read the direction together. For example ‘We want you to sing happy birthday’ and then I’ll follow that command.
After my turn is finished hand the die to the next player and repeat the process.
There are special squares where the students are told ‘we want you to go to America’ or another country. On those squares the player must take their passport and go to the teacher and say ‘I want to go to America. In America I want to ~’ or something similar for the other countries. The teacher will sign the passport and then the game continues. An example of this should be included in the demonstration.
When a player reaches the end of the board they sign their name. The game can continue until everyone makes it to the end although in most cases not all players reach the end.
Before they start it is best to tell them there will be unfamiliar vocabulary. When they see a word they don’t know they should call the ALT or JTE and ask what it means.
ASKED or TOLD
This is an alternate worksheet to teach the difference between 'asked' and 'told'. Use the two large examples on the board. The picture of the man doing push-ups has an angry commander. In this case it should be 'told'. Write 'He told him to do push-ups' on the board. Then tell the students they need a follow up sentence. An example might be 'because the man is weak' or 'because the commander is angry'. Then do the other example. This time the woman in the box has a friendly face so it will be 'asked'. In this case the sentence could be 'She asked her friend to have lunch together' or 'She asked them to have lunch with her'. Let the students know they can make their own decisions. Then provide an additional sentence such as 'because she's hungry' or 'because she wants to talk'.
I generally reward stickers for completing a set number of questions.