African Tic-Tac-Toe (pair game for any target language)

Submitted by sayuko on Sun, 01/27/2008 - 21:44.

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Average: 5 (2 votes)

African Tic-Tac-Toe (pair game for any target language)

AFRICAN TIC-TAC-TOE
(Board game played in pairs)

Target Language- the alphabet, numbers, prepositions (from ~ to ~), locations, directions (north, south, east, west OR left, right, up, down), verbs (move, put, etc.), any set of vocabulary (fruit, colors, animals, etc.)

Game objective- The objective of the game is to get your pieces in a straight line on the diagram, and in doing so, SS are directing their partner in English.

Pluses
• It is a simple but interesting game, which can be considered as a task-based activity.
• The game can be applied to various language materials, making it usable for any level.
• There is a lot of student involvement and production as they work in pairs.

Cautions
o It is not necessarily for “real” usage of language in terms of the setting (eg. Go to strawberry; from bear to cat; yellow to blue, etc.).
o It may be too abstract for younger students.

Materials & Setup-
- Printed copies of the diagram (half the # of students)
- Game pieces (3 per student)
*Students pair up and sit with the diagram in between them.

Doing the activity:
1. Teach the basic game without the language element first.
2. Then teach the game: 1) Students pair up and sit with the diagram placed between them. S1 puts one piece anywhere on the diagram (there are 9 spots), 2) S2 places one piece on the diagram, 3) they go on till all 3 pieces each are placed, 4) each student can move their pieces one spot away from its current location to an empty spot, 5) students take turns until one student gets his/her 3 pieces in a straight line on the diagram (including the diagonal line).
3. Have SS practice the game and get used to it.
4. Then introduce the language element, where they give instructions to their partner where to place or move their pieces, i.e. S1 tells S2 to place/move his/her (S1`s) piece by giving instructions in English. (see examples below)

Diagram: (*you can change what you call the points according to what your TL (target language) is.) -> see attached file

(for the sample diagram here(2nd file attached) - the pieces were the months and the students would say "December 4th" for example, in order to have the "December" piece moved to the "4th" location)