The ‘classic’ version
The students throw something at various targets depending on what the teacher says. Possible targets include letters, words, pictures, phonemic symbols, classroom objects, realia or flashcards; and these can be on the whiteboard, at the front of the room, on desks, or scattered around the room. Possible projectiles include sticky balls (= sucker balls), beach balls, soft plastic fruit and animals, toy cars (rolling, not throwing!), flicking rubber bands, screwed up pieces of paper, paper airplanes, things fired from toy guns, beanbags (or socks filled with something), and soft puppets.
As well as being more fun, the variations below add some speaking and put the game more in the hands of the students.
Variation A: Throw, catch, bounce etc.
Although darts fans might disagree, I think that giving one team/ student the ball and telling them what to hit lacks a bit of excitement and interaction. A bit more action and tension is added by getting them to throw the ball around the class as they recite the target sentence, e.g. S1 ‘hit’, S2 ‘something’. The next (= third) student thinks of something difficult to hit and completes the sentence with that, e.g. ‘small and pink’ and passes the ball to someone they think needs the target practice. That person then gains or loses points depending on their throwing ability. To add some mayhem, the first person to run and fetch the ball after it hits the target is allowed to start the next round.
Variation B: No peeking!
Of course, the other thing that can make darts more interesting is not being able to look where you throw the darts! Not being able to kill with the sticky ball takes away some of the thrill, but making students throw over their shoulder or wear a blindfold is a guaranteed laugh. It’s also a way of evening things up in a one-to-one class with kids.
Variation C: Goalkeeper
If your students ever get bored of throwing things, or even (god forbid) throwing and catching, you need to add defending. For example, in Variation A above when the last student says ‘small and pink’ the other students (e.g. those on the other team) try to block them from hitting the object(s)/ flashcard(s) they are aiming at. Alternatively, one student stays in front of the board trying to stop the other(s) hitting the correct target. Rules on whether students have to stay sitting or not can make the difference between a little added fun and a complete riot!
Variation D: Dialogue memory delete
In this variation, rather than just a collection of vocab words on the board you have a whole (short) dialogue. The board is first divided into boxes and then the teacher writes the dialogue in these (perhaps to the students’ instructions). If the sticky ball lands in any of these boxes, that word is deleted and the other student/ team must say the whole dialogue including all the missing words. If they are right they can throw the ball next. As this is a test of both memory and reading, it is better as practice rather than presentation- but even students without good reading skills might be able to win if they concentrate.
Variation E: Interesting tables
This is basically the same as Variation D, but instead of a dialogue the students aim at words in some kind of table, e.g. a list of irregular verbs or comparatives and superlatives. You would be amazed at the interest they suddenly take in the Irregular Simple Past just by adding something to throw! In fact, this game even works with adults. You can also play games based on noughts and crosses/ Blockbusters etc. in the same way.
Variation F: Another chance
If students miss the target but can say where the ball has landed (e.g. under the table), they are allowed one more chance. This is obviously great practice for prepositions, and can be turned into the whole point of the target practice game- e.g. students trying to throw something into a box on the table. This is a nice one to combine with No Peeking above.
Variation G: This and that target practice
Have real objects close to and far away from the student throwing, and they must hit the right one depending on whether you say ‘This is a chair’ or ‘That is a chair’. Make sure you stand near the student who is throwing, because otherwise which one is which gets confusing.
Variation H: You hit it, you use it
Rather than asking students to hit a particular thing, allow them to throw it as they wish and ask them to use the word, sound or grammatical structure that they hit in a sentence for a point. To add personalisation, you could ask them to make a sentence that uses that thing and is also true about the teacher or another student.
A shorter version of this article was first published in the Shane Japan teachers’ newsletter. Republished with the permission of the publisher and author.
About twenty more articles on YL games, including the rest of this series, here:
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