Yuto explains an ancient Viking boardgame

Check out How to Play Hnefatafl by Jim George on Snapguide.

I held the camera! Yuto's homework last week was to read a good chunk of his reader about Vikings, use the vocabulary to figure out a puzzle which then explained how to play this traditional Scandinavian board game. Please watch him explain the steps in the game - I think you'll agree he did his homework really well!

We were both surprised that when we Googled this, a gazillion sites popped up...but then again, we shouldn't have been. It's an unusual game in that the two sides are unequal at the start, and obviously very strategic. I'm retiring as a champion (yes, beating a ten-year old lad does it for the 'competitive Dad' in me!), but I am sure Yuto will be playing all his friends now with his homemade board (also part of this homework) which was a lot cheaper than the boards we saw advertised at $29.50

Follow Yuto's excellent directions, and try the game for yourself? And please share your feedback his homework?

(You can make your own Snapguides by the way, online or with the app. Clearly very easy, if I can make it during class!) 

April - a month in pictures at Luna

Thank you Damian for reminding me to make April's slideshow...it was such a great month. The sun came out to play, at long last, and with it the Cherry Blossom (good) & hay fever (awful). Goodbye wellingtons & shovels, hello short sleeves and sunglasses! Social highlight of the spring was our annual barbecue on the Susuki riverside; thank you everyone who came, cooked, ate & drank :)

Loads of fun in classes too, as you will see, with arts projects showing off some really creative ideas...readers getting stuck into their books, and learners learning how to use their indexes properly. Table-top games, dice games, iPad games, board games and any other kind of games you can think of too!



May will see our final month in our current premises; we love the space we enjoy but little else. We hope there will be as little disruption as possible to the regular class schedule, and we expect to be up & running next to Big Boy from June 10th. If anybody would like to help us with the big shift, please let us know - all hands on deck June 6, 8-9.

May will also see some of our students taking their Cambridge PET exams, and others getting ready for their FCE at the beginning of June. Important steps in several language learning careers.

BTW, the song is by Bob Geldof, a man I have a lot of respect for. Very sadly his daughter passed away in April.

Buy one, get one free - boardgames flipping the classroom

For us adults, having to go grocery shopping can be a bit of a tiresome chore. If you are forgetful like me, you will have to make a list, check it twice and then remember to take it with you when you go to the shops! At Luna we have turned grocery shopping into a fun activity which the students can enjoy with the help of the "Shopping List" game. If only I could do my grocery shopping in the classroom!

Shopping carts and shopping lists

The students get their own shopping list, made up of 8 different items, and their own shopping trolley, which they must fill up with the items on their shopping list. There are cards, which are placed face down, for each of the food items found on the shopping lists and it is the students' job to find and name all the food items on their shopping list. It's a great way of introducing new food items that the students unfamiliar with, as well as allowing them to recycle language they have encountered in their textbooks.

Is it on the shopping list?

We all know that food vocabulary is an integral part of learning any language, especially if you don't want to unwittingly order a plateful of tripe or a bowl full of fish eyes at a restaurant! The great thing about the "shopping list" game is that as well as building the students' vocabulary of food items, alongside incorporating the target language you have been teaching in the classroom. You can elicit what the students' favourite foods are, what they could make from the items on their shopping lists or even get the students to make shopping lists of their own! Another way to implement this game in the classroom is to set up a role play activity where the students take on the roles of a cashier and a customer. So why not give the game a go in your classroom with your very own twist!

No it isn't!

Only if the students would get this excited when their parents take them grocery shopping!

Damian Gowland

From 'my first game' to my First Certificate!

"I Spy, with my little eye..."

We've been enjoying various board games this week in our classes, as you can see!

I Spy is a cool game without any English it it - so you could use this for any language, actually. Four game cards are beautifully illustrated with loads of content, intricate detail and variety. Each card has a different picture. The aim of the game is to cover the picture with jigsaw pieces when you 'find' something the teacher has asked for eg Something beginning with "P" (for spelling, or do it phonetically). You can also call for "something big/small/hot/delicious/dangerous etc" or by colour. Children love exploring their pictures and getting creative with their answers - and checking each others' answers! Suits all sorts of levels...

Alphabet Squares

Alphabet Squares is a game I picked up in Australia years ago, and is based on the characters from an ABC kids' TV show - never mind we are unfamiliar with them. It's a simple A to Z dice game/race, with players collecting letter cards as they land on squares. Add a bit of motivation for the lagging players by giving them the chance to 'steal' these cards when they land on them later - rock/scissors/paper injects some noise! Ask players to tell you the letter name as they pick up; make it harder and get players to name all the letters as they move; make it harder still and tell you what the pictures are eg 'M for moon'. Unfortunately the pictures are not phonetically thought out eg 'C for Charlie' and obscurely Aussie here & there eg 'J for Jup Jup'. However, children still get a lot of enjoyment from this kind of game and are repeating & repeating the letters, and using game taking language each & every turn.

Animal ABCs

Another ABC race we like is from Learning Resources from a pack of 6 games "Pre-School Fun game board book". I was amazed this week that some of my students simply could not spin the spinner (dice alternative - harder to throw off the table!)...seems they have too many fingers/dangly winter cuffs or something! An animal on each square by first letter, and can be 'milked' by asking students to tell you what noises the animals make, if they can be seen near where you live, if they have ever seen one, are they safe or dangerous, do they like them etc. My learners love to play an Old MacDonald game (by Loesch Ware) on iOS, incidentally, which extends the theme, uses the familiar song but with un-farm friendly animals such as fox, shark, giraffe...highly recommended!

Old MacDonald iOS game

And of course, even the ultra-serious classes secretly want to have some fun and play a game! Most readers will be familiar with Scrabble, which can be a bit quiet/slow if you don't 'manage' the game properly - time limits, ban dictionaries (ask the teacher?), etc. I like this card game version just because it's bigger & feels different (put your own double/triple letter/word cards where you like); only limit is the size of your table. Encourage players to write down all the words in their notebooks & review at home, do a spelling test next time or ask students to make sentences with etc - don't waste the vocabulary generated. I like to play semi-open hands so I can give clues about 'better' words & avoid getting stuck with 3-letter minimalism/clogging up the vowels!

FCE practice

So game play works from my first class all the way through to my First Certificate. Games need to have a language/learning point & produce output. Should be used sparingly, enthusiastically (by teacher to get the most out of players, not players goofing off!) and sypathetically - don't make a big deal out of winning/losing...unless of course the teacher loses, which everyone enjoys :)

What is your favourite classroom board game?