Go Fish!

This is one of the “go to” games.

One of the key aspects to improving students English is to get them to practice the English they need to do in right context.

Card games are fun for everyone and with the right tweaks can do wonders for decreasing teacher talking time, increasing student group practice time, and allowing the teacher to individually monitor the class.

Even with my rowdier classes, giving them a good activity and splitting them into groups of three reduces my headaches and improves their abilities. Good news for everyone.

Instead of simply focusing on the writing of letters, it takes a more tactile approach.

Lesson Plan

Age group:

• Grade 4 and up. Lower grades are doable, but require the teacher to monitor each group to show them the rules while they play. Older kids can mostly understand after a full explanation and demonstration.

Materials:

• One pack of playing cards per three or four students. The bigger the groups the noisier things get (you’ve been warned)

Game rules

• Deal cards evenly between players (deal out about half the deck), and place the remaining cards face down in the middle of the table
• First player picks another player (any player) and asks, “Do you have any card name?” – they must already have one of the card they are asking for
• The other player either answers
  • Yes, I do – then gives all those cards to the first player and the first player goes again
  • or… Go fish! – then player one takes one card off the deck and play goes to the player who said, “Go fish!”
• When a player has four of the same kind, they place them on the table in front of them
• Game ends when a single player finishes their cards.
• The winner is the player with the most sets of four.

Class Procedure

• Practice the card names (Ace, 1, 2, … , 10, Jack, Queen, King) – 2 min
• Write up the question pattern “Do you have any ______s?” – 2 min
• Show then practice Aces /IZ/, ones /Z/, twos /Z/, threes /Z/, fours /Z/, fives /Z/, sixes /IZ/, sevens /Z/, eights /s/, nines /Z/, tens /Z/, Jacks /s/, Queens /z/, Kings /z/ – 2 min
• Put the two parts together – 2 min
• Demonstration – 4 min
  • Ask for one volunteer
  • Deal out nine cards for them and yourself
  • Start play
  • Go until you or they get four a kind and put them on the table
  • Take cards back
  • Get three volunteers and go again
  • Make sure they know how the play passes from player to player
  • Play until they are familiar
• Split class into groups of three or four – 2 min
• Tell them how many cards to deal and let them begin – rest of class

This activity can fill up an entire class.

Excessive noise

The students are so well focused on the activity that noise is not an issue. They are focusing on the activity. Monitor to make sure they practice the language they are supposed to.

Effectiveness

How well does this game really work?

Well consider that we are practicing a single sentence pattern. Once it’s been modeled they will more than likely get to practice it over 20 times at least through the rest of the class. This is practice that’s completely individual, not choral and it completely in context.

Variations

A: Do you have any _____s?
B: Yes, I do. / Go fish!

A: Hey, (student name).
B: What would you like?
A: I’d like a _____.
B: Sure, here you are. / Sorry, go fish.

A: May I have a (card name), please.
B: Of course you may. / I’m sorry. I don’t have any _____s.

In fact you could fit this to a huge range of sentence patterns as it is very common.

Easier variations include using a pack with four apples, four bananas, four oranges, etc, rather than traditional cards. Other cards could be packs of alphabet letters, etc.

Conclusion

This game is a great one for older kids as it puts so much of the practice time on their shoulders. Although lots of choral input is necessary for younger kids, this activity works well when the students are able to tackle the whole thing by themselves. Use of their mother language during the game is not a really big deal either. Either teach them some turn taking phrases later, or simply ignore it and make sure they use the sentence patterns that are being focused on.