Japanese+Sponge+Activities


 * Identity Guessing Game**

For any activity that requires identification of a person, I always like to play guessing games with the students. For example, my students were having difficulty remembering vocabulary for occupations. I was checking comprehension with picture flashcards. Afterwards, I randomly pick a flashcard but don't show the students and asked them, "What's my job?" Students raise their hand to guess and I tell them whether they are right or wrong. If they get the occupation right, they get to pick their own flashcard and have students guess. I noticed that students who know the vocabulary right away can guess and students who don't know it yet will listen for the first few turns but then practice the vocabulary and sentence structure to themselves before their raise their hand. I will often do this as a sponge activity at the beginning of the hour. If students had trouble with it previously, they will study the vocabulary at home to be able to participate the next day. Additionally, you can use it for many groups of vocabulary words (what classroom object am I?) and you can even change the grammar structure (what WAS my job?).