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.
I made the quiz and presentation to help introduce this game and also practice the grammar and vocabulary a bit.
I am putting this on the site after getting Scott's okay with it. He was the guy from my old office who spent many hours putting this together. Picking the art and balancing out all the cards so the game would be even.
How to Play
Naturally begin with an introduction of the language by the ALT and JTE. Then tell the students they will be playing a quiz game and then a card game. I generally put them into groups at this point and hand out the worksheet.
The quiz has five questions and it is a two choice quiz. The answers are based on internet research. The IQ answers are based on estimates I found online based on academic achievements and other factors. Seemed good enough to me. Typical quiz activity, ask the question, all groups bring answers and then do answer check.
After the quiz tell them we'll be doing a card game. Have the students return their desks so they are all facing front. Show the battle cards screen and tell them there will be three teams, a red team, a yellow team and a green team. Divide the class into three teams (this generally means staying their rows, maybe shuffling a few students around) and the teachers will make up the difference to make sure the teams are even. Hopefully they aren't even because this one is too fun to just watch.
Show the next slide which shows a big version of the card and explain what all the stats are then flip to the next screen showing two battle cards.
Tell the students that the ALT is one color and the JTE is the other color and both will start with 3 or 4 cards.
For the demonstration greet each other and then with the cards face down pick one from each others deck. It is okay to look at your cards before playing but not during the battle.
Play 'rock scissors paper' and the winner will ask a question based on the cards. If you are using the presentation the small boxes will show a format you can use. Examples include 'Who is stronger?' or 'I am stronger than you'. Pick the format you like beforehand and click the small box to show it. Click the banner with the sentence to cause it to vanish after speaking the sentence. Then flip the cards over and also click the screen again.
This will show the example cards on the screen so you can figure out who the winner is. The winner is the player who's card has the higher ranking in that score. The winner then takes the loser's card, says good bye and seeks out a new opponent. The presentation has three examples if you think the class needs to see it a few times.
Before you hand out the cards make certain the students know they should play against different colors and not their own colors. They should also only play cards of their own color. Once they run out of cards of their color they should sit down.
Hand out the cards and play until a few students are sitting then end the round. Once everyone is sitting tell them to add up the points at the bottom of the cards (they range from 1 to 3 points) they've captured. They should not add the cards of their own color. Usually the teachers go around and collect the point totals and finally reveal which team won the round.
At this point I collect the cards and play a second or even a third round depending on the class and the teacher.
If there is still time I have them write sentences about things in the classroom but I find most teachers and classes are happy to play this game again and again.
Printing, cutting out and laminating these cards takes time but it is really worth it. This is a favorite amongst many of my classes and teachers.
NOTES
You can use this link to see a presentation that can help with editing my activities and making your own.
https://www.altopedia.net/activities/866-how-to-make-a-powerpoint-point-game
Haha. Nice. MTG
Yep, this used to be a big hit before Covid limited mingler activities in my schools. Plus you get to discover which kids in the class know and play MTG.