Activity

Gerund Tug of War Game

Gerund game that gets students up and moving. Two teams try to eliminate the other by reading all the cards and when they meet they do じゃんけん。 Similar to tug of war but pushing the other team back.

The sheets of papers depict things from Unit 2 of Here We Go! for 二年生. For example, playing soccer, listening to music, surfing the internet.

  1. Put the sheets of paper on the blackboard with magnets in a row.
  2. Two teams at a time stand at either side.
  3. Individual students on each side will work their way down the row of papers, for each paper asking "Do you like ~ing?" according to the paper.
  4. When the students meet in the middle somewhere, they do rock, paper, scissors. The winner continues from where they left off, and the losing team switches person and starts from the beginning.
  5. A team wins when they have traversed the entire row of papers.

Note: You can change the cards as needed and find the standard Japanese clip art from the website https://www.irasutoya.com/

Files:
Medium files (requires an account to download) -
  • 二年Unit 2 -ing form.pdf (1.74 MB)
  • 13
    Submitted by JohnTeacher June 7, 2022 Estimated time: 20 minutes
    1. UonumaRobert June 7, 2022

      This is a great idea. There is another kids game very similiar to this. The kids play it in ground in Elementary school. Especially if the school has a line of tires in the ground that they can race across. I can't remember the name. I've asked a bunch of students and teachers today but no luck. They all know the game but not the name.

    2. elfmagic777 June 8, 2022

      It's called "hebi janken" - Snake rock paper scissors

    3. suzume June 9, 2022

      I've also heard it called 'river crossing game' in the English teaching community before.

    4. UonumaRobert June 9, 2022

      Thanks. I found Snake-Jankan on youtube. Funny though. I asked a bunch of elementary school kids as well. They all knew the game by discription but not by name.

    5. mmejiap January 24, 2024

      I have also heard it called Don Janken, and janken train! Thank you!

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