Activity

CASTLE BATTLES

Another territorial battle game. Like Robots attacking the world it is meant for longer or more advanced questions.

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.

The rules of this activity are basically the same as Battle for Japan with two main differences.

Set up the TV and computer or tablet and start the activity. First tour the castles of Japan. They pages can have examples of the target language. Then move onto the demonstration page.

There is a demonstration screen with a couple of example questions. Like the battle for Japan game both ALT and JTE will answer each question (There are 2) and take over one of the three territories. After the JTE has answered the second question there is no longer any available territory so the ALT will have to roll a die and get a 4, 5 or 6 to take over one of the JTE's countries. If you roll a 1 2 or 3 you fail to take territory that turn. It is only necessary to roll if the territory you want is already conquered. You click on the castles to change the color to the controlling team's color.

To show the questions and answers click on the example questions buttons and then on the questions and answers.

There are four colors so groups will be allied with each other thus in a class that breaks into 6 groups there will be 2 red teams, 2 blue teams and 2 yellow teams.

The main difference between this activitiy and battle for Japan is that once a group has finished one question they can immediately move onto the next question. They either already have the questions on their worksheet or they take their territory and then listen to the next question from the ALT or teacher. They don't wait until all groups are finished. This means it works well for more difficult questions or questions that require longer answers. On the downside some groups will do many questions and others will only complete a few.

The other difference is territory doesn't have to be adjacent to other territory. They can take which ever territory they like. It is not as strategic a game and is not as exciting as battle for Japan but it better for deeper practice.

Every student needs a worksheet and every group should have a group sheet. The group sheet is to make sure they don't answer the same question over and over again.

Once one or two groups are finished I usually stop the activity and check to see who the winner is.

I often bring in a tablet for this one so it is easier for both the JTE and ALT to both check answers and control the game screen. Even if the game accidently gets turned off it is easy to remember which color holds which castle since there aren't so many. If you use a computer it is still better to have both ALT and JTE manage checking answers, helping students and controlling the game.

There are only 13 territories because it takes much more time to answer each question. This means fighting over territory will start sooner so that the game gets exciting a bit faster.

To move from the demo screen to the main screen click on the yellow imperial symbol and then after the game click on the symbol matching the winning team's color to go to the victory screen if a single color wins.

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

Files:
Small files
  • CASTLE BATTLE irregular verbs Writing WORKSHEET 1st Years.docx (31.9 KB)
  • Medium files (requires an account to download) -
  • CASTLE BATTLE irregular verbs Writing GAME 1st Years.pptx (9.5 MB)
  • 2
    Submitted by UonumaRobert February 13, 2019 Estimated time: 30 minutes generally although it can take the full lesson.

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