Japanese Level 3, Activity #14: “Mad Libs” / “マッドリブ” (Online)
Description:
In this activity, students will practice talking in full sentences in Japanese. Students will do this by creating mad libs!
Semantic Topics:
Mad Libs, full sentences, storytelling, マッドリブ, 完全な文章, ストーリーテリング
NCSSFL-ACTFL World-Readiness Standards:
- Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversation, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.
- Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken Japanese on a variety of topics.
Idaho Content Standards for World Languages:
- COMM 1.1: Interact and negotiate meaning (spoken, signed, written conversation) to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions
- COMM 2.1: Understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics.
NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:
- I can make full sentences in Japanese.
- I can make my Japanese sentences increasingly complex.
- I can help create a story in Japanese.
Materials Needed
Warm-Up:
The ultimate goal is to complete a full Mad Libs at the end of the Main Activity. We will ease students into being comfortable by slowly making more complicated sentences.
The first slide has students only choosing a noun and a verb to make a sentence.
An example sentence has been provided on the slide.
- 例えば：「りんごを食べました」
Model the correct sentence structure by referring to the example.
なにを？ Point to the example sentence: りんごを。
どうした？ Point to the example sentence: 食べました。
Have each student make a sentence following this format.
Repeat this process for the other three warmup slides. If the students are struggling with each new sentence, don’t be afraid to model the sentence structure again.
For Larger Labs: this process may be expedited by calling upon a more confident student once per slide.
Main Activity:
With the warmup complete, the students can fill out a full Mad Libs!
Each Mad Lib will have two parts: a part where the students help fill a list of words, and a part where those words can be put into a story.
For the first part, the assistant could use the annotate tool or the zoom chat to notate for each word the students chose,
Depending on how the lab is feeling, the assistant can read the whole story with selected words or the students can read through it; one particularly confident student could read through the entirety on their own, or if the whole group feels comfortable they can read a sentence each, popcorn style.
For Larger Labs：students will break into pairs and will work through the Mad Libs together and then report back to the class whichever ones were the funniest, as well as ask questions about words they weren’t sure about.
Break them up into pairs to work for approximately 10-15 minutes.
Have them return to the main lab and have them read their creative responses to the group. Take a moment also to translate the stories in case the students are unsure!
If time permits, make a Master Mad Lib using contributions from the funniest stories.
Wrap-Up:
Ask the students what they are doing over winter break. When they answer, keep asking follow-up questions!
This is a great opportunity to let the students practice making more complex sentences. Let the 201 students chat as they please if they’re feeling talkative
- 例えば：冬休みになにをしますか？
End of Activity:
- Read Can-Do statements once more and have students evaluate
their confidence.
(Use thumbs up/thumbs down or download our student cards.) - Encourage students to be honest in their self-evaluation.
- Pay attention, and try to use feedback for future activities!
NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:
- I can make full sentences in Japanese.
- I can make my Japanese sentences increasingly complex.
- I can help create a story in Japanese.
