Game in Japanese

"Where are you from?"

Target English: I'm from... + Country Names Grade Level: Kindergarten to Junior High school 1 The Song, Karaoke Version, Pronunciation Guide, Interactive Quiz, Worksheet & Teaching Guide Video are in the CD Set

NEW: To follow on from this lesson, try the "Where do you live?" theme.

Owners Club Bonus Materials... A4 Flashcards (What's this?) Mini Cards (What's this?) Worksheet Printable Lesson Plan (What's this?) English Japanese (give to class teacher) Dice Game (What's this?) Spaghetti Game (What's this?) Islands Game (What's this?) Snakes & Ladders (What's this?) Owners Club Members can click on the pictures above to print them out

In the classroom or at home ........

It is difficult to assign any specific gestures to this song without evoking racial stereotypes. Therefore I find it good for the kids to split into two groups. The first group sings one line (e.g. "Where are you from?") and the other group sings the next line. You keep going backwards and forwards like this with the aim being to sing louder and better than the other team!


Or you could use flags and hold them up at the appropriate time!





Click here for an animation showing the difference between the UK and England!


Recommended Games:
Where are you from? Game - Create a Country - Flags Game ( see ABCTeachfor more flags)

Countries Card Game





Cultural Note
Japanese people often ask me "Where are you from?" and I usually reply "I'm from Ehime". They then look at me, see that my face is different from theirs and then say "No, you're not! Where were you born?". Now to me this always comes across as being an offensive, racist thing to say (imagine the same situation back home!), so I usually give the sarcastic reply "In a hospital!".

The problem is that even amongst Japanese people (hence there is no conscious racial motive), it's not where you live, but where you were born, or rather where your family register is, that is important. So even if you live in a certain place for many years, you won't be accepted until your family lives there for many generations! There's nothing much to be done about this in Japanese, but when teaching English it's important to let students know that "Where are you from?" doesn't mean, "Where are you born?"; appearance and skin colour don't matter, the answer is where the person themselves feel they come from. Any answer is OK, be it Yorkshire or Imabari!



Worksheet:

Interview game! Split the kids into 8 teams and assign each team one country. Draw this country's flag on the "I'm from _______" section. Now they go and interview other people in the class by saying "Excuse me, where are you from?". The other person says "I'm from " plus whatever country they were assigned to. If the first person has an empty box next to this country, they can tick the box! If they already have a tick, they have to find someone from a different country. They keep going until all the boxes are ticked! Have a race to see which country's students are all sat down first! Try keeping one nationality for the teacher, that way everyone has to practise with the teacher, and you know if anyone has been cheating! Remember to teach the kids the golden rule with these games, if everyone is having fun there are no losers, only winners! If one team does lose, then make sure they know that the real meaning is that they have another chance to try again!


This song can be found on CD vol. I !

Click here to order!

Readers' Comments

by Roger

I make a set of small cards ( see above - Richard ) and give one flag to each student. Object of game is to use the Target Structure (Where are you from?) and try to find their partner (someone else from the same country), if they don't match they say Goodbye and move on. When they do match, they sit down. Works well for over 3rd grade

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