I have made a similar activity before specifically aimed at directions. I have now tried it in a few other classes and updated the powerpoint to be flexible to any content. Feel free to change things according to your lesson. Thanks to kairutoimasu and nickteacher again for inspiration.
Materials:
- powerpoint for explanation
- stickers (optional) for reward at the end
Similar to the assassin game, first instruct all the students to stick their hand out while closing their eyes and putting their heads to the desk. Pick about 3 students to be the initial zombies then have them raise their heads. Explain that 3 students are zombies. The goal of those students is to convert the other students into zombies. The goal of the non-zombies is to stay human.
In pairs, they must do rock scissors paper. In dialogue situations, the winner will be role 1, and the loser will be role 2. In Q and A activities, the winner will ask the question and the loser will answer the question.
At the end of the dialogue:
- if the winner is a zombie, they must send a secret signal to their partner to let them know that they became a zombie. Either a wink or shaking their pointer finger.
- if the winner isn't a zombie, nothing happens.
Switch partners kaitenzushi style, or just have the kids move around the class in a snake pattern (shown in slides). You can then change the topic or just continue practicing dialogue.
At this point, it is up to the ALT to continue as many rounds as they want. Following this, at the end of the activity, you can ask the kids to go back to their seats and see who is a zombie, who is a human, and who were the first zombies. Fun time all around!
Notes:
- this activity I found is very useful to get students engaged. they really enjoy the suspense of being turned into a zombie, or turning other students into zombies.
- one variation I did with the third year classes was if 2 zombies met each other, the winning zombie will turn back into a human. this is not included in the powerpoint, but if you want to reuse this activity, it might be a way to keep the game a little fresh. (i had to do this activity 2 days in a row lol)
Below I've included the powerpoint I used for a free talk activity.
Please let me know what you think!