An A3 poster with an assortment of Japanese cultural items such as Kyoto, mochi, the shinkansen and so forth.
I use it in a few ways.
Cut out as cards.
Karuta
Each group gets a set of cards that they spread around the table. The ALT and JTE take turns reading out a sentence clue about one card. The students listen to the clue and slap the card. The first to slap that card collects it. Play for however long and then see which member of each group got the most cards. I generally do this as a quick introduction.
Taboo
Each group gets a set of cards. You should make the backs of the cards dark so they can't be easily seen through. The students pick their order. The first student draws a card. Explains it to the group and the other members try to guess what he or she is talking about it. Once they get the answer the next student draws a new card and explains it. Continue until you reach a time limit. Then see how many cards each group could finish. The group that completed the most is the winner. This is a good cooperative activity.
As a Poster
Say the Word
Each group gets one poster and they think about a way to describe one word. I usually allow gestures and broken English but no Japanese words. Then one member goes to a teacher. Gives their description and the teacher tries to guess what it is. If they get it then the teacher circles that word and the member goes back to their team and a new member comes to a teacher with a new quiz. Continue until you reach a time limit then each group checks how many words were circled. The team with the most is the winner. This is my favorite way of using this poster.
Follow Up
I generally use this as an introduction to the students explaining about Japanese culture. For example New Crown 3 page 84 and page 85 has a project based on introducing things. Once they've played the game they can work on their own, in pairs or groups to explain something in Japan in greater detail. This is generally a composition writing project followed by presentations.
The instructions say すべて(A) to change all the 1s to 2s but how do I do that? Is it a certain key funtion or a button in word?
@kabochaski1990, I added a short powerpoint to illustrate how to change the numbers. Hope it helps.
awesome, thanks
I just wanted to report that I ended up using this in my JHS 3rd years class today and it was quite a hit! Instead of giving the clues though, we had the Japanese teacher choose words from the page (all groups also had the same sheet) and they had to make an original sentence using relative pronouns.
I had some hints on the board to start the sentence with "It is a / It is the / They are". It was like a write and race activity and students were prompted to describe things thoroughly (as if introducing to a person who knew nothing about Japan or any Japanese words). It was a great exercise! Thank you!