Flags Game: Eigo Note Where do you want to go? Lesson

Quite a few teachers have written asking for help with the Eigo Note’s “Where do you want to go?” lesson.

As you’ve probably guessed, it is really tough as the language hasn’t been thought out well and there is no pattern to learn.

But yesterday Yukari came up with a very good idea to go with the country flags part of the lesson.

First of all make sure the kids are up to speed with colours and shapes and the flags you will use.

1. Put the kids in groups.

2.  Prepare an envelope with several different country flags for each team.

3. One person from the team comes to the front, secretly takes out one flag and, using colours and shapes, describes it.

4. The other team members have to guess which country it is.

5. Time how long it takes to finish all the cards.

6. One person from the next group comes to the front and time them with their set of flags.

7. Team with the quickest time wins!

The cool thing with this game is that as the kids haven’t done things like “horizontal” or “vertical” yet they mime the stripes and things with their hands as they say the colour!  Yukari also suggested not letting the kids skip any as this makes it too easy to cheat.

(Yukari also has a presentation at the Fukuoka Expo in December – well worth it if you are teaching primary school!)

P.S.  Craig also came up with the great idea of using the Tron Game with the Eigo Note Directions lesson.

P.P.S.  “Exploding Santa” game coming up soon – keep tuned in!

Richard Graham

I'm on a mission to make education Genki—fun, exciting, and full of life! Genki English has now been researched by Harvard University and licensed by the British Council around the world. The results have been magical! Now I'm here to help you teach amazing lessons, with all the materials prepared for you, and to double your teaching income so you can sustainably help many more students in the future!

4 Responses to “Flags Game: Eigo Note Where do you want to go? Lesson”

  1. Micki

    This sounds like a very good activity! My teachers want to use the whole phrase: “I want to go to Italy” which is a real mouthful for students.

    I teach the flags with some quickly-drawn flags (10 minutes for the nine on pages 36 and 37 IIRC). Then we play a review game like Dokkan word or Bongo, in three levels. First level is the country name. Second level is “Go to (country name)” (I tell them to pretend they are enthusiastic tourist boards, advertising their country with the command form.) The third level is the full-monte, with “I want to go to (country name.)” This is extremely long, so I start the game in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n and end that round with a very excited, hyper super-fast IwanttogotoItaly! (or Japan or whatever the keyword is).

    The second lesson, I use a conversation game like Caterpillar (but any interview game with lots of talking would work) — again in three levels.

  2. julian

    Hi Micki,
    I like the sound of the Dokkan/Bongo game. Could you explain how to play it?
    Also, is the Caterpillar game the one where something (points, etc) are hidden behind a card the kids choose?
    Ta,
    Julian

  3. Liza

    Hi Micki, ditto Julian. I’d like to hear more about the game too! Thanks.

  4. Christopher Glen

    With this language I turn it into: I want to go to (country) because I like (food name)
    I introduce about 8 countries, some known, some unknown, and a food to match each one. I run through the target language. It`s a good opportunity to get because and reasoning stuck in their heads.
    Then, I give each kid a mini-card each. Half the card is one of the countries` flags, the other is the food. They walk around and practice the T/L, then janken to accumulate cards. Those who run out of cards get more from me. The key is to make sure they don`t cheat and skip the T/L. Or ask the same people too many times. Good for about 10 mins.

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