The original game was created by NaganoSarah in 2022 titled, "When do you game?" I took the template from their game, and changed it up a bit to use the phrases that go along with pg.12 of the Let's Try 2 textbook for 4th grade. The large Days of the Week display cards are from Tsubaki ALT resources.
First, my students reviewed the large play vocabulary words in English. (They had previously learned these to play, "How's the weather," Bingo.) Then they wrote their dream schedules in English on pg.12 of the Let's Try 2 textbook. Some of the activities they learned, are weather specific (for example, "make a snowman." ) However, because it's their 'dream' schedule, and we didn't want students to become confused learning new words, we decided to let them review and add snow related activities. Students were also allowed to add their own unique activities they hadn't learned in English yet, and asked me and the JET to spell and translate these for them. (Ex: Watch TV, Play Games, go fishing, etc...) [I know these are very common, but I plan to teach these to them more officially in Unit 4]
Next, students practiced and reviewed the following sentences:
A: On (day)__ I (play/activity_.
I_(play/activity)___.
What day is it?
B: It's (day)__.
Students then observed me and the JET use these sentences through a guessing game using our own dream schedules. For mine, I used the example in the PowerPoint. We then, practiced with students by playing the game using the rest of the slides in the PowerPoint and separating the students into desk groups. The ALT being A, and students being B. (Since there are quite a few sentences for A, students need to hear it quite a few times before they get the hang of it.) The game goes something like this:
ALT shares the options displayed on the PowerPoint using the sentences frames.
ALT: On Monday I play cards. On Tuesday I ski. ( The ALT reads aloud all of the options on the slide using the sentence frame. The number of options shared, depends on the number of activities displayed on each side.)
(Pause for a little and let the students analyze the schedule, then click to cover the options shared. Or wait until the 10-12 second countdown on the slides is finished.)
ALT: I play cards. What day is it? (The ALT chooses to share the activity written on the black screen. Students then try and guess what day that activity was written on the schedule.
Students: It's______. (Each group/team guesses together what day it is. Once all students have shared, the ALT reveals the answer and students get 1 point. If it's easier for students, you can have them use whiteboards to share their answer.)
Once students got the hang of the game, we did a team chant to practice the sentences. We used the first example on the PowerPoint, and we changed it up a bit on the blackboard as well. We then had students play the same game with each other, but using their own dream schedules they created earlier. After the A student has shared their options, they then cover/hide their schedule from student B. (To avoid confusion, I recommend students only give each other 2 choices when playing their guessing games.) Students then walked around the classroom and played the game with many friends. We did these same activities 2 weeks in a row since students had a bit of a hard time remembering the A dialogue. The extra practice seemed to help, and they got the hang of it eventually.
Attached in this activity is:
-The PowerPoint game
-Large activity display cards
-Large Days of the Week Display cards (From Tsubaki ALT resources)
If you have any feedback, advice, you would like to share, or would like to change anything, please feel free to do so! Hope this helps!