Shiritori

Submitted by Ogedei on 23 October 2007 - 11:33am.

Tags:

ESL/EFL Game Profile

Name of Game:

Shiritori

Target Students:

Elementary School

Target Students:

Middle School

Target Students:

High School

Duration:

10-15 minutes

Number of Students:

2 groups of at least 2 students

English Skills:

Writing

English Skills:

Vocabulary

Objective:

Make word lists by using the last letter of the previous word

Instructions

Divide the class in half
Divide the blackboard/whiteboard in half with a line
Students all stand up and form lines on opposite sides of the room and can only write on their side of the board
Provide a first word in the middle of the board
The
first student in each team writes a word to follow the first word
1. The
  word must start with a letter that is the same letter as the last
  letter of the previous word
2. For example, if the first word is "dog," then the next word is "good"
3. The list goes one: dog->good->deer->read...
Each student takes a turn and opposing teams attempt to make the longest list
Set a 5 to 10-minute time limit
Words cannot appear twice on the list

Variations

Have several 4 to 5-minute game "rounds"
- In the first round, all team
  members participate
- In the second round, both teams choose their best
  member and those two students square off in a one-on-one match with
  teams providing support by shouting out words
- In the third round, two
  of the from each team square off

Notes

This game is derived from a Japanese game of the same name. "Shiri"
means "end" and "tori" means "take." The basic idea is to take the end
of a word and use it as the start of another word. A Japanese example
would be sake -> kendo -> dorobo -> boku -> kusuri, etc.

A big thanks to Ogedei for this ESL/EFL game!

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