Japanese Level 4, Activity #7 “Taboo” / “タブー” (Online)
Description:
Students will first warm up by playing a short game of Taboo to refresh old vocabulary, then students will move into discussion questions about themselves, their interests, and their plans. They will take turns asking the question of their classmates and then answering them, with the lab assistant encouraging them to expand on each.
Semantic Topics:
Discussion, Japanese, Study, Taboo, interests, plans, review, ディスカッション, 日本語, 研究, タブー, 興味, 計画, 復習
- Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversation, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.
- Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers 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 3.1 – Present information, concepts, and ideas to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media in the target language.
NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:
- I can talk about myself, my interests, and my plans.
- I can ask my classmates about themselves, their interests, and their plans.
- I can describe items to my classmates and guess what item my classmate is describing through verbal clues.
Materials Needed:
Would you like to make changes to the materials?
Access the template(s) below:
- Taboo Cards (Canva Template, free account required)
Warm-Up
Students will begin by pairing up and asking each other questions about recent activities. Have students report their answers afterwards. Now, split the groups into two teams (if there are only 2-3 students in your lab, they can be on the same team) to play Taboo, and ask if anyone has played the game before.
- 「ペアで最近のことについて質問を聞いてください。」
- 「誰かタブーと言うゲームをやった事がある？」
Use one of the cards as an example, and explain that they will be trying to get their team to guess the picture/word in blue and that they CAN’T say the word in red.
- 「私は一つのカードを選んで下さい。カードに書いてある赤くて青い言葉を言えないで、チームに青い言葉を説明してください。チームが青い言葉を推測してください！」
Send a card to a student using the private chat function, and make sure they understand which words they cannot say and which word their team is supposed to guess.
- 「私は皆さんにカードを送る。質問がある？」
They will get one minute to try and explain the word using Japanese only. No gestures or pictures. If their team guesses it correctly, they get three points.
- 「1分で説明して、日本語で話すことは必要だ。推測があっているなら、それは3点だ。」
After that one minute, the duo can begin adding charades to get their team to guess for one minute. If their team guesses it correctly, they get two points.
- 「もう1分が必要だったら、シャレードができる。それで2点を受け入れられる。」
Main Activity
Discussion time! Have students ask and answer the following questions:
What are you going to do this weekend?
- 今週末は何をする？
What do you usually do on the weekends?
- たいてい週末は何する？
What is your hobby?
- 趣味は何？
What is your favorite food?
- 好きな食べ物は何？
Do you have any allergies?
- アレルギーはある？
Do you have a pet?
- ペットを飼っている？
What kind of movies and books do you like?
- どんな映画、音楽、本が好き？
What do you recommend?
- すすめがある？
What kind of weather do you like? Why?
- どんな天気が好き？どうして？
What is your favorite show?
- 「一番好きなショーは何？」
Do you like like anime?
- 「アニメも好き？」
What do you want to do most now?
- 「今、一番したいことは何？」
How much do you study Japanese in a week?
- 「一週間に、どのくらい日本語を勉強している？」
What do you know about the Japanese culture?
- 「日本の文化について何を知っている？」
Why did you get interested in Japanese?
- 「どうして日本語に興味を持っている？」
You can record the students’ answers to help personalize future activities!
Wrap-Up
Ask the students what they will do now that the activity is over.
- 「今から何をしますか。」
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 talk about myself, my interests, and my plans
- I can ask my classmates about themselves, their interests, and their plans
- I can describe items to my classmates and guess what item my classmate is describing through verbal clues
