What Insect Am I by Palotás Gyöngyi

 What insect am I? & Insect duel

Introduction

I tried this game during my Italian teaching practice with a Halloween theme, and students seemed to enjoy it a lot. I think this can be a fun, engaging and effective game for practicing vocabulary as well as yes/no questions and short answers.

Preliminaries

Number of players: groups of 4

Age/ Proficiency Level: A2

Preparation Time: 60 minutes

Play Time: 20 minutes

Prior knowledge

Students should be familiar with various insect names, colors, some relevant body parts and action verbs (see the cards and the table below). They should already know how to use can, be and do in the present simple in yes/no questions and short answers.

Preparation

Animal identities:

Either the word cards or the picture cards can be used. The cards can be printed on adhesive paper, or multifix/scotch tape can be used to fix the cards on players’ foreheads during the game. 

Question forms

This table can be projected on an interactive board or written on the blackboard to provide learners with some examples about the grammar and vocabulary expected.

Short description: example

This is an example for the ‘My insect identity’ descriptions that will be used in the 'Insect duel’ game. The teacher should prepare a couple of additional descriptions with insects that were not part of the ‘What insect am I?’ game but which students are familiar with (eg. ladybug, bee, grasshopper).

I am black and yellow. I can fly and I can sting. I have two wings, two eyes and six legs. I like flowers. What am I?

Description

The ‘What insect am I?’ game was modelled after the game ‘Who am I?’; however, in this version, players receive the identities of insects instead of those of famous people. Also, points collected during the ‘What insect am I?’ game will give an advantage to players in the follow-up ‘Insect duel’ game.

Object of the game

The object of the ‘What insect am I?’ game is to find out your secret insect identity by asking questions about your insect’s physical characteristics and abilities. The player who guesses their identity first wins.

The object of the ‘Insect duel’ game is to guess which insect the short description is about. The player who stays standing last wins.

The ultimate winner is the player who collects the most points through both games.

Tools

8 word/picture cards (on adhesive paper or with multifix/ scotch tape)

4 dices

8 slips of paper

4 pre-made descriptions

a box

Preparation

projecting/writing up on the board the table

Rules of Play

A, What insect am I?

Players are assigned into groups of 4. Each player receives a secret insect identity card face down printed on adhesive paper and sticks it on their forehead without looking at the word/picture. The order of the players is determined by rolling two dices. The player with the highest number starts and the round goes on to their right. The first player asks a yes/no question referring to the physical characteristics or abilities of their insect and the other players answer with a short answer. Then, the next player asks a question and the round proceeds in this fashion until all players guess their identities. Players can only ask one question in one round. If a player makes an incorrect guess, they are out of the game.

The scoring is the following:

-the winner gets 3 points

-the second-place winner gets 2 points

-the third-place winner gets 1 point

-the player who comes in last does not receive points

B, My insect identity

After all identities were found out, each player has to write a short description about their insect identities (see above) on a slip of paper as an individual exercise.

While students are working on their descriptions, the teacher writes their names on the board with their scores from the previous game. The board will then be used to keep score during the ‘Insect duel’ game as well.

After students have finished their descriptions, the teacher collects the slips and places them into a box with additional descriptions prepared in advance.

C, Insect duel

The players form pairs based on their scores in the ‘What insect am I?’ game. Players with identical scores will duel with each other in the first round. The winners from the previous game will start, followed by the second-place finishers and so on. The previous winners also get a second chance once if they miss an answer.

The players stand in a half circle next to their pairs and the teacher stands in front of them. The teacher draws a slip from the box and reads the short description. The duelists have to say out loud the solution and the quicker player stays standing while the loser has to sit down. In the second round, new pairs are formed randomly from the winners and the rounds proceed until there is only one player standing.

The teacher registers the scores in the first duel, and after that the role is passed on to the first student who lost a duel. Each correct answer is worth 1 point.

If players say the correct answer at exactly the same time, a new card is drawn.

The ultimate winner of both games is the player who achieves the highest score.