Suggestions from the Classroom
Six Games for the German Language
Classroom: Maximizing Student
Communication through Simultaneous Play
Catherine Johnson
Georgia Southern University
The six games described in this article can be
used with students from the first year of high school
or first semester of college German through the
fourth year of high school or fourth semester of col-
lege German and beyond. Unlike other games in
which students must wait their turn to practice their
language skills, these games engage the entire class
simultaneously in speaking and listening activities.
Because the whole class interacts in simultaneous
activities, the instructor may not be able to control
grammar and vocabulary accuracy during the game.
However, the instructor can easily address gram-
mar and vocabulary issues before and after the
game. Before playing, the instructor should intro-
duce students to the grammar structures and vo-
cabulary that they will use during the game. The in-
structor should also have students practice these
structures orally in a controlled teacher-centered
environment and provide several opportunities to
practice them in written and/or oral homework as-
signments. When the instructor is confident that
students can use the grammar and vocabulary with
accuracy, a game can serve as a fun wrap-up activ-
ity in which they practice language skills with each
other. After the game has ended, the instructor can
address any problems with accuracy at this point by
employing a control phase to ask individual stu-
dents game related questions.
All six games have been classroom tested. I de-
veloped game #2 Hast du meinen Hut? in 1989,
and have used it nearly every semester in every
German course from the first year through the
fourth. I have yet to experience a class that did not
enjoy this game. I developed the other five games
roughly between the years 1994 and 2000. I have
used game #1 near the end of the first-semester
course, in second- and third-semester courses, and
in the third-year conversation course. Each time
students play this game, it is apparent from the
lively classroom atmosphere that they are enjoying
it. Even very shy students eagerly participate in this
game. Game #3 is the only game I have not used
on a regular basis, mainly because it involves a
fairly high level of loud and rambunctious play.
Students with competitive, aggressive and/or out-
going personalities play this game with great enthu-
siasm. Those with shy, quiet, and/or less competi-
tive personalities may find the game intimidating. I
have used game #4 nearly every semester in the
second- and third-semester course. I have also
used it in the third-year conversation course and
during German Club events. Most students enjoy
this game, especially if they like to play cards. A few
students, especially those who dislike card games,
may not be particularly enthusiastic about playing,
however, they do participate. Although the game
may not be universally appealing, I still use it on a
regular basis because most students like it and find
it very useful for practicing dative pronouns. I have
yet to teach a class that did not enjoy game #5. The
level of intent, involvement, and cooperation stu-
dents exercise as they play this game is very satisfy-
ing for the instructor to observe. I have used game
#5 regularly in the third-semester course and in the
third-year conversation course. All of my students
have played game #6 enthusiastically. I have used
it occasionally in the third-semester course and reg-
ularly in the third-year conversation course.
67
68 UP 40.1 (Spring 2007)

On general course evaluations and on specific The instructor needs

game-related questionnaires, nearly all students
indicated that the games were not only enjoyable,
but also helpful for remembering grammar and
vocabulary and for improving their speaking and
listening skills. All six games give students the op-
portunity to experience lively interaction, and they
maximized communication and developed confi-
dence in using German in a meaningful context.
Game #1: Chaos auf dem Marktplatz
(Marketplace Madness)
Enough play money for half of the students in
your class to have 1,5002,000 Euros each
2060 pictures of expensive items such as fur
coats, televisions, diamond rings, etc.
Ideally, the pictures should be small enough to be
easily handled and exchanged. The pictures used
in Hast du meinen Hut (see game #2) would
work very well for this game. You should have
enough pictures to give half of the students in your
class 58 pictures each.

Before playing Chaos auf dem Marktplatz How to Play

the instructor should introduce students to the fol-
lowing grammatical structures and vocabulary: 1. Write two headings on the board: Kufer
Nominative and accusative nouns and pro- and Verkufer. Under each heading, write model
nouns sentences that a buyer or seller would use during a
The verb mchten business transaction. You may provide the sen-
Numbers from zero to one thousand tences, or you may have your students provide
Some words and phrases typically used during them. To save time, you may also prepare the sen-
business transactions tences in advance on an overhead or handout.
Here are some examples:
After the instructor is confident that students
are able to use these structures accurately in a con- Kufer Verkufer
trolled classroom setting, the game can give stu- Was haben Sie zu Ich habe einen, eine, ein
dents the opportunity to practice communicating verkaufen? X zu verkaufen.
in the chaotic and unstructured environment of a Was kostet der, die, Der, Die, Das X kostet nur
das _______? _______ Euro.
simulated free market economy. Unlike other
Ich mchte den, Mchten Sie diesen,
games in which students play store, using set die, das _____ diese, dieses X kaufen?
prices and one on one interaction, Chaos auf dem kaufen.
Marktplatz encourages students to employ ag- Das ist (immer Das ist nicht zu teuer.
gressive tactics in which all prices are negotiable, all noch) zu teuer.
buyers are simultaneously approachable and time Das ist ein guter Die Qualitt ist sehr gut!
is of the essence. During the game, students must Preis.
communicate persuasively, negotiate wisely, and Sind Sie verrckt? Fr Sie mache ich ein
think quickly as they vie for the attention of multiple Sonderangebot.
buyers or sellers. Some of skills that the students Das ist Halsab- Sie sind unmglich!
schneiderei!
practice include pronunciation, listening compre-
Haben Sie Ich verhandle mit einem
hension, vocabulary usage, nominative and accu- Kleingeld? anderen Kufer.
sative nouns and pronouns, and numbers. This Gut, ich kaufe den, Na, gut. Dann gebe ich
game is ideal for more advanced students who can die, das_______. ihn/sie/es Ihnen
communicate creatively, using a variety of gram- Danke/Bitte. fr nur ________ Euro.
mar structures. It can also be simplified for begin- Danke/Bitte.
ning level students. The version described below is
meant for students in the third year of high school Be sure students know they are not limited to
or third semester of college German or higher. Sug- these sentences. They are merely suggestions.
gestions for modifications for lower levels are given More advanced students may be able to think of
at the end of this section. The instructor needs ap- other appropriate questions and answers on their
proximately 58 minutes to explain and demon- own while playing.
strate the rules of the game in German. The game 2. Give half the students in your class
itself should last from 68 minutes, depending on i1,500i2,000 each. Give the other half 58 pic-
the size of the class. tures each.
JOHNSON: SIX GAMES
3. To demonstrate the game, take one of your
pictures, go to a student seller and say for example:
Ich habe ein sehr schnes Max Liebermann Bild
zu verkaufen. Mchten Sie es kaufen? If neces-
sary, prompt the student to reply using a complete
sentence: Ja, ich mchte es kaufen. Was kostet
es? [Each time you have to prompt the student to
use a complete sentence, say Satz fehlt bei (stu-
dents name) and write a check mark in your note-
book]. Reply with an outrageous offer, such as
i5,000. Briefly haggle with the student, always us-
ing complete sentences, and then finally agree on a
price. Exchange money and picture with the stu-
dent. End the exchange with Danke/Bitte. Be
sure to give the student his/her money back after
demonstrating how the game works.
4. Depending on the size of your class, tell
students they have between 68 minutes to buy
and sell as many things as possible. Sellers set their
own prices. Everything is negotiable. Stealing buy-
ers, bidding wars and any other tactics students
want to use are permissible and encouraged.
5. All students must reply in complete sen-
tences. Any time a student does not use a complete
sentence during a transaction, his/her partner
should point to the student with raised hand and
shout loudly: Satz fehlt bei ( Jason)! The in-
structor, who is circulating, should put a check next
to the students name. For every check, two points
or two Euros will be taken away from the students
score at the end of the game. Buyers get five points
for every item they purchase. Draw your students
attention to your notebook with the check marks
and tell the class how many points the student with
whom you demonstrated lost. Let them know you
will be circulating and listening for the phrase Satz
fehlt!
6. Students stand up and buy and sell as
many items as they can before time is up. There are
two winners. The seller with the most money wins.
The buyer with the most points wins.
After the game has ended and the winners have
been determined, the instructor may introduce a
control phase to address any problems with accu-
racy. During this control phase, the instructor
should ask individual students a few game-related
questions, such as Was haben Sie gekauft? or
Was hat er gekostet? If students respond with in-
correct cases or pronouns, the instructor can
re-state the answer correctly and have the students
repeat. For example, the instructor could respond
to an incorrect statement with, Sie haben einen
Fernseher gekauftJa? or Er hat i50 gekostet
Ja? The instructor can also alternately play the
69
role of buyer or seller and ask a few individual stu-
dents game-related questions, such as Ich habe
einen Tisch zu verkaufen. Mchten Sie ihn kau-
fen? or Ich mchte die Kassetten kaufen. Was
kosten sie? Employing a control phase at the end
of the game allows the instructor to spot check for
any students who may still be having difficulty with
grammatical accuracy, pronunciation, etc.
Modifications for Lower Levels
To make the game adaptable for students near
the end of the first year in high school or near the
end of the first semester in college, the instructor
may reduce the number of sentences the student
must say to complete a transaction. For example,
the first three sentences under the heading Kufer
and Verkufer may be written on the board as a
reference for beginning students. If they fail to use
complete sentences, their partners can yell out,
Satz fehlt, and direct their attention to the board.
In this situation, the student who is unsure of how to
formulate the sentence simply needs to supply the
noun and its correct article. As the game progresses
and they get more practice using the sentence
structures in their transactions, students may no
longer need to refer to the board for help.
Beginning level students might need more time
to buy and sell as much as possible. If they find it too
difficult to negotiate with multiple partners, the in-
structor may stipulate that they interact with only
one partner at a time.
Game #2: Hast du meinen Hut?
(Do you have my hat?)
Before playing Hast du meinen Hut?, the in-
structor should introduce students to the following
grammatical structures and vocabulary:
Nominative and accusative cases
Possessive adjectives mein, dein and Ihr
Several nouns in the masculine, feminine,
neuter, and plural
The instructor should give students practice us-
ing these structures orally in a controlled teacher-
centered environment and provide several op-
portunities to use these structures in written and/or
oral homework assignments. After the instructor is
confident in the students ability to produce sen-
tences using the three possessive adjectives and the
70
nominative and accusative with accuracy, the
game can be used as a fun, wrap-up activity to si-
multaneously engage the entire class in productive,
creative and meaningful communication.
This game lends itself easily to modification for
use at any level from first-year high school or
college to advanced students and beyond. Even
German teachers enjoyed this game when it was
used at an Immersion Weekend Seminar in 1996 in
Savannah, GA. Students find it appealing because
they engage in a problem solving activity that in-
volves standing up, asking several classmates ques-
tions, and responding to questions. The level of cre-
ative output varies with the proficiency of the stu-
dent. Skills that the student practices include
pronunciation, listening comprehension, vocabu-
lary usage, accusative endings, possessive adjec-
tives and appropriate intonation when communi-
cating emotion. The instructor needs approxi-
mately 5 minutes to explain and demonstrate the
rules of the game in the target language. The game
itself can last from 510 minutes depending on the
size of the class and the number of vocabulary
words assigned to each student. The version de-
scribed below is meant for students in the first se-
mester of college or first year of high school Ger-
man. Suggestions for modifications for higher lev-
els appear at the end of this section.
The instructor needs
Enough picture cards for each student in your
class to have three
Enough small post-it notes
Ideally, the pictures should be small enough for
easy handling and exchange. You can also use in-
dex cards onto which you have pasted pictures
from the textbook or cut out magazine pictures.
Next, write the vocabulary word and its gender
above each picture. This is initially very time-
consuming, but once you have prepared your pic-
ture cards, you can use them for many years in dif-
ferent activities and games. The author still uses the
140 3x5 inch pictures from a merchandising cata-
logue received during the years 19891990 in
these games. Students find the old televisions,
computers, etc. very amusing. It is, of course, possi-
ble and less time-consuming to have each student
write three vocabulary words on three blank index
cards. However, when students are given the im-
age of the object together with the vocabulary
word, they are more likely to remember its meaning
UP 40.1 (Spring 2007)
and less likely to translate into English than if they
simply received the word alone.
How to Play
1. Write three questions on the board: Hast du
meinen Hut? Hast du meine Jacke? and
Hast du mein Buch? Briefly review the accu-
sative endings.
2. Pass out three picture cards and three post-it
notes to each student.
3. Tell the student to stick one post-it on each pic-
ture. Have the student write his/her name on
each post-it note. Be sure they are not writing
on your pictures! Tell them that it is very impor-
tant to remember their three words, along with
the gender. As students are writing, you should
also choose one picture, stick a post-it on it,
and write your name, for example, Dr. Smith
on the post-it. You will use your card to dem-
onstrate how to play the game.
4. After students have finished writing their
names, show them your picture and tell them,
Das ist mein Hut. Give your picture to a stu-
dent.
5. Turn your back to the class and have the stu-
dents pass your card around the room for a
few seconds. Now go to one student at a time
and ask: Haben Sie meinen Hut? Students
who do not have your hat should reply, Nein,
ich habe Ihren Hut nicht. Keep asking until
you have found it. This student should then
give the picture card to you, saying Ja, ich
habe Ihren Hut. Thank the student.
6. In order to efficiently shuffle and re-distribute
the students pictures, tell them to give their
three cards to three different classmates seated
near them. (Students should remain seated as
they pass their cards). Continue having them
pass the cards around the room for a few sec-
onds until they are well shuffled.
7. Tell students they should each have three
cards that belong to other students. No one
should have his/her own picture card.
8. Tell students to stand up and try to find their
cards as demonstrated in step 5.
It is against the rules to:
1. Speak English
2. Show your cards to other students.
3. Tell someone you have his/her card if s/he has
not asked you.
4. Yell out loud, Wer hat meinen Hut?
JOHNSON: SIX GAMES
In order to have beginning students practice re-
sponding creatively to the questions, you should
encourage them to use a few simple polite or impo-
lite phrases. Ideally, each student should already be
familiar with most of these expressions, as well as
with the appropriate intonation Germans use
when employing them. For example, in response to
Hast du meinen Hut? the student could say:
Nein, es tut mir Leid.
Ja, ich habe ihn/sie/es.
Natrlich nicht!
Ja, hier ist er, sie, es.
Nein, ich habe deinen Hut nicht.
Ja, ich habe deinen Hut.
Leider nicht.
Na, klar!
Ich habe keinen Hut. Was denkst denn du?!
Jawohl!
The student who receives a response of no
could answer with Schade, Das ist tzend! Na,
ja, Na, so was! or Wirklich nicht? The student would have to reply, Ja/Nein, ich habe ihr Schloss
who receives a response of yes could answer with
Vielen Dank! Toll! Na, endlich! Gib mir das! the game, have students write their names on three
or Danke schn! After being thanked for return-
ing the picture, students may reply with Bitte!
Keine Ursache! Nichts zu danken! Nimm es their three vocabulary words underneath. After
und hau ab! or Bitte schn!
As the students try to find their possessions, the
instructor should circulate and listen to student ex-
changes, offering help with communication when
necessary. After the students have found their cards
and returned to their seats, the instructor can em-
ploy a control phase to address any problems with
accuracy. Questions for the control phase could
include Wer hatte Ihren Hut?, Was haben Sie
gefunden? or Wer hat etwas nicht gefunden?
Students should reply in complete sentences using
the appropriate accusative endings. If students are
unfamiliar with how to use the past tense, the in-
structor can write models of the appropriate replies
on the board such as:
Jessica hatte meinen Hut.
Ich habe vergessen.
Ich habe meinen Hut, meine Katze und mein Buch
gefunden.
Ich habe meinen Pudel nicht gefunden.
Modifications for Higher Levels
In order to make the game more challenging,
the instructor may give the students more vocabu-
lary words. Students may also make a list of vocab-
71
ulary words to carry with them so that they do not
forget what possessions they had.
The instructor may choose to make two or
three students kings or queens for the day. The rest
of the students in the class would be peasants. This
would make it necessary for students to ask a king
or queen, Haben Sie meinen Hut? When ad-
dressing a mere peasant, they would have to use
Hast du meinen Hut? The reply would be, Ja,
ich habe Ihren Hut when addressing a king or
queen, and Ja, ich habe deinen Hut for a peas-
ant. This works very well and is a lot of fun because
students pretend to be highly insulted if someone
mistakenly addresses them with du.
As a further modification, students can be re-
quired to find other classmates possessions in ad-
dition to their own. To do so, they need to use the
possessive adjectives sein and ihr. For example,
John would have to find Marys Schloss, Mikes
Schuhe and his own Wrterbuch. In response to his
question, Hast du Marys Schloss? Johns partner
(nicht). In order to efficiently set up this version of
picture cards using the post-it notes. Then have
them write their names on the chalk board with
they have gone back to their seats, have them
shuffle and re-distribute their picture cards as de-
scribed in the How to Play section, number six.
Tell students to look at the names on the board and
find any one male students possession, any one
female students possession and one of their own
possessions.
The game may also be played with partners,
thus making it necessary to use the possessive
adjectives unser and euer. In this version, the in-
structor would pair students and give each pair
three or more picture cards. The partners would
write both of their names on the picture cards. For
example, they would write Joe and Dan on the
picture of a desk, using the post-it note. After the
cards have been re-distributed, the partners would
stay together and take turns asking other pairs of
students, Habt ihr unseren Schreibtisch. One of
the students in the other pair would reply, Nein/Ja,
wir haben euren Schreibtisch (nicht). I tell my stu-
dents to point to themselves and to the classmates
they are addressing when using Wir haben,
Habt ihr, euer and unser. Adding this bit of
Total Physical Response (TPR) to the activity will
help students better remember the meanings of
these subject pronouns and possessive adjectives.
72
Game # 3: Klebriges Stampfenspiel
(Sticky Stampede)
Klebriges Stampfenspiel is a game that
simultaneously engages all students in listening
comprehension. It may be played after students
have had practice using the following grammatical
structures and vocabulary:
Two-way prepositions- an, auf, hinter, in,
neben, ber, unter, vor, zwischen
Accusative and dative cases
Several masculine, feminine, neuter and plural
nouns
This game gives students additional practice using
vocabulary words and formulating sentences us-
ing the correct accusative and/or dative preposi-
tions in a TPR context. The version described
below is meant for students in the second semester
of college or second year of high school German or
higher. It takes about eight to ten minutes to set up
and explain the rules of the game. When setting up
Klebriges Stampfenspiel and explaining the
rules, use German so that your students get listen-
ing comprehension practice. Depending on how
quickly students are able to formulate their sen-
tences, the TPR phase of the game in which only
the accusative case is used can last ten to fifteen
minutes. The number of tiebreaker questions nec-
essary may also affect the time. The control phase
of the game in which the dative case is used may
last about five to eight minutes, depending upon
how quickly students can formulate their sen-
tences.
The instructor needs
Enough small post-it notes so that each student
has four
Various items onto which students can stick
their post-it notes, such as cassette tapes,
stuffed animals, trash baskets, etc.
A handout with a list of vocabulary words
(nouns). The handout should contain twice as
many vocabulary words as the number of stu-
dents in your class
Instead of using actual items as described in the
second bullet, you may use a transparency to pro-
ject an image of a room with several objects in it (ta-
ble, chair, television, etc) onto the board.
UP 40.1 (Spring 2007)
How to Play
1. The whole class arranges desks in one big
semi-circle. Place the items you have brought
in various places around the classroom or pro-
ject the image of the room on the board or
screen. Give each student the handout with
the vocabulary words and four 2x2 inch post-it
notes. Assign each student two words from the
vocabulary list. Students should write one vo-
cabulary word on two of their post-it notes and
the other vocabulary word on the remaining
two post-it notes. For example, you might tell
Mary to write das Fenster on two of her post-it
notes, and der Spiegel on her remaining two
post-it notes. Sam might write die Kche on
two of his post-it notes and das Schlafzimmer
on his remaining two post-it notes.
2. Have the students exchange their post-it notes
until everyone has four different vocabulary
words. Write the nine two-way prepositions on
the board: an, auf, hinter, in, neben, ber,
unter, vor, zwischen.
3. Explain to the students that they will use the
two-way prepositions listed on the board, the
vocabulary words and commands to play a
game called Klebriges Stampfspiel. For
example, you could say: Kleb das Fenster
unter den Tisch. The two students with the
vocabulary word Fenster have to follow the
command. This is where the stampede comes
into play. Whichever student is able to stick
his/her word under the table and return to
his/her seat first may leave the post-it where it
is. That student receives two points. The stu-
dent who was not fast enough must keep his/
her post-it. That student receives zero points.
4. The player who returns to his/her seat first
gives the next command using the words from
the vocabulary list. (This student may not
choose one of his/her own vocabulary words).
If, for example, the student chooses to give the
command, Kleb den Hund auf den Fern-
seher, the two students with the word Hund
race to obey the command and return to their
seats first. Tiebreakers: If you cannot deter-
mine who made it back to their seat first, you
may ask the students a grammar, vocabulary,
culture or geography question. Students have
10 seconds to write their answer on a slip of pa-
per. The correct answer wins. Play continues
as described above. Students should try to get
rid of all post-it notes and collect as many
JOHNSON: SIX GAMES
points as possible.
5. Explain that all commands begin with the
word Kleb followed by a vocabulary word, a
preposition and an object in the room. If nec-
essary, you may write model commands on
the board for your students to follow. Kleb
den Schreibtisch vor den Rucksack. Empha-
size that students must use the accusative case
for both nouns. If the student giving the com-
mand uses the wrong case or gender, he/she
loses one point. If either of the students who re-
ceive a command places their post-its incor-
rectly, s/he loses one point. When giving com-
mands, a student may use no preposition
more than twice in the game.
6. After a certain time limit, or after one student
has gotten rid of all of his/her post-it notes, the
dative phase of the game is employed. In this
phase, the instructor asks a student where a
post-it note is located: Melanie, wo ist der
Schreibtisch? Melanie must describe where
the desk is located by using the dative case.
Der Schreibtisch ist vor dem Rucksack. If she
answers using the correct grammar forms, she
gets one point and asks another student where
a post-it is located. If, however, the grammar is
incorrect, she loses one point and must ask an-
other student the same question: Joe, wo ist
der Schreibtisch? Each student should have a
chance to answer a Wo istquestion. The
student with the most points from both the ac-
cusative and dative phases wins the game.
Instructors may want to alert their colleagues
on the day when this game is to be played because
the sound of stomping feet is quite audible as stu-
dents rush, run, leap (and sometimes dive) during
the accusative phase of the game.
Game #4: Pronomen-Poker
(Pronoun Poker)
Before playing this game, the instructor should
introduce the students to the following grammati-
cal structures and vocabulary:
Dative personal pronouns
The accusative case
The verb geben
Several masculine, feminine, neuter and plural
nouns.
The instructor should also have them practice us-
ing these structures orally in a controlled teacher-
73
centered environment and provide several oppor-
tunities to practice these structures through written
and/or oral homework assignments. The instructor
may use Pronomen-Poker to provide students
with additional practice using dative pronouns, the
accusative case, vocabulary and oral communica-
tion. To communicate their commands while play-
ing the game, students must use dative pronouns
and point to various classmates in their groups.
Pointing and eye contact allow the student to
physically, orally and visually bind the meaning of
the dative pronouns to actual persons, and thus
better remember correct usage. This bit of TPR is
especially useful for students who mistakenly use
the pronoun Ihnen instead of ihm/ihr when talking
about the designated king/queen in their group
(See #2 below.) By using focused eye contact and
pointing in the game, the instructor can direct the
student to use these pronouns correctly. The in-
structor needs approximately five to eight minutes
to explain the rules of the game in German. De-
pending on the number of players in each group
and on the level of complexity the instructor de-
cides to introduce, the game itself can last between
10 and 15 minutes. Pronomen-Poker is ideal for
students in the third year of high school or third se-
mester of college German. Modifications for high-
er and lower levels are described at the end of this
section.
The instructor needs:
35 decks of playing cards, depending on how
big your class is
13 vocabulary words (nouns) for which you
have pictures or drawings
Four copies of each picture of the vocabulary
word per deck of playing cards
A handout with eight commands using dative
pronouns
Examples of winning poker hands
Paste the copies of pictures onto the playing cards.
For example, you could paste four pictures of der
Arzt onto the four aces. Four pictures of der Hum-
mer could be pasted onto the four number 8 cards,
etc. You may write the word and article below
each picture or simply provide the picture only.
This is initially time consuming, however, you will
be able to use these cards for many years at differ-
ent levels. Below are the commands you should
use. Student/in Name is meant to indicate that a
student must address the person s/he chooses by
name before giving the command.
74
Commands
(Student/in Name), gib ihm den/die/das X!
(Student/in Name), ich gebe dir den/die/das X!
(Student/in Name), ich gebe Ihnen den/die/das X!
(Student/in Name), gib mir den/die/das X
(Student/in Name), gib ihr den/die/das X!
(Student/in Name), gib uns den/die/das X und
den/die/das X!
(Student/in und Student/in Namen), ich gebe euch
den/die/das X und den/die/das X!
(Student/in Name), gib ihnen den/die/das X und
den/die/das X !
These commands are meant to be used to dem-
onstrate how to play the game. During the game
they can be used as a reference if a student forgets
how to formulate a sentence. While playing, com-
munication generally flows naturally with most stu-
dents referring only occasionally to the handout.
You should provide a list of winning poker
hands at the bottom of the handout for reference.
In addition to this list, you may include a photo-
copy of pictures of winning poker hands if desired.
See below.
Winning Poker Hands (Reference Guide)
*Royal Flush: As, Knig, Dame, Bube, 10 alle in der selben
Farbe (all of the same suit).
*Straight Flush:Karten in absteigender Reihenfolge (10, 9,
8, 7, 6)alle in der selben Farbe
*4 of a kind: 4 Karten mit dem selben Bild. 1 Karte ist an-
ders.
*Full House: 3 Karten mit dem selben Bild. 2 Karten mit
einem anderen Bild.
*Flush: Alle Karten in der selben Farbe. Reihenfolge ist nicht
wichtig.
*Straight: Karten in absteigender Reihenfolge (7, 6, 5, 4, 3).
Farbe ist nicht wichtig.
*3 of a kind: 3 Karten mit dem selben Bild. 2 sind anders.
*2 Paare: 2 Karten mit dem selben Bild, 2 mit einem
anderen Bild. 1 ist anders.
*1 Paar: Nur 2 Karten mit demselben Bild. Der Rest der
Karten sind anders.
If many of your students do not play cards, you
can also use a simpler variation of winning hands.
For example, the Royal Flush through Flush
can be eliminated, and only Straight through
One Pair can be allowed as winning hands.
How to Play
1. If at all possible, explain the game in German.
UP 40.1 (Spring 2007)
The explanation is just as much a part of the
learning exercise (listening comprehension) as
the game itself! If you demonstrate the act of
dealing cards or dividing the deck into two
piles while you are talking, students will under-
stand you. Give each student the handout with
commands and examples of winning poker
hands.
2. Students should get into groups of four or five.
Make sure each group has both male and fe-
male students. One person in each group is des-
ignated the king or queen. You can designate
the king/queen or let the students decide. Give
the king or queen in each group a deck of cards.
3. Tell your students that they will be playing
Pronomen-Poker and explain what consti-
tutes the best hand to the weakest hand by us-
ing actual playing cards (or transparencies
with pictures of the winning poker hands). Stu-
dents will more quickly understand if they can
see what you mean by Royal Flush or same
suit because you are showing them actual
cards as you explain.
4. Tell the king/queen to deal each student in the
group five cards. (Students should not see
each others cards). The king/queen divides
the rest of the deck in half and places one half
face UP on his/her desk and the other half face
DOWN. The two halves will be used as both
draw and discard piles.
5. To demonstrate the game, direct the king or
queen of each group to give the first command
in the following manner. First, s/he should ad-
dress any student in the group by name. Sec-
ond, s/he should tell the student to give some-
one a card by using one of the commands on
the handout. For example if the card in the face
up deck is a cat, the king/queen would say:
Susan, gib ihm eine Katze. Susan then gives
the cat to the male student indicated. Impor-
tant: Because students are using pronouns,
they must point to the person to whom they
are referring. Demonstrate and emphasize
that they must point and use eye contact when
addressing their classmates. If the king/queen
prefers to choose a card from the face down
pile, s/he would simply say, Susan, gib ihm
diese Karte and point to the male student and
the face down card.
6. The student who received the card from Susan
may choose to keep it and discard another
card from his hand by placing it face UP under-
neath the face up pile or face DOWN under the
face down pile. The student may also choose
JOHNSON: SIX GAMES
not to keep the card from Susan, and place it
face UP underneath the face up pile or face
DOWN underneath the face down pile. Stu-
dents must always have five cards in their
hand. As you explain, be sure to demonstrate
these choices.
7. The student to the left of the king/queen gives a
command to someone in the group. For exam-
ple, Mark, ich gebe dir den Schreibtisch. The
student then gives Mark the desk. Again, em-
phasize that students should point and use eye
contact. When using the commands that begin
with ich gebe, the student may choose to
give away a card from his/her own hand, from
the face up or face down piles. If the student
chooses to give away a card in his/her own
hand, s/he must replace it with a card from ei-
ther the face up or face down piles. Again, be
sure to demonstrate these choices. Some of
your students may decide on their own to give
away or ask for three, four or even five cards if
they have a very poor hand. It is OK if they
want to do this. Students who are given multi-
ple cards may choose to keep some or all of
them and place the ones they do not want un-
der either of the face up or face down piles.
Students who are asked to give away multiple
cards may choose to give away cards in their
hands, cards from either of the decks or a com-
bination of the two. Because students always
have the option to give or take cards from ei-
ther of the piles, they are not forced to give
away or accept cards which would ruin an oth-
erwise good hand.
8. Play passes to the left. The game ends when
each student in the group has used all of the
dative pronouns. Each student is allowed to
use a pronoun only once. Stress this rule; oth-
erwise they will use only one or two pronouns
(usually mir) for the entire game. If the instruc-
tor wishes, s/he may shorten the game by end-
ing it after each student has used at least four
different pronouns or by setting a time limit.
The pronouns do not have to be used in order.
The command list is meant to be used as a
guide.
9. The player with the highest poker hand wins.
Play again! The winner is now the king/queen
and deals.
Modifications for Lower and Higher Levels
For students in the second semester of college
75
or second year of high school German, instead of
playing the game with vocabulary cards, a deck of
regular cards may be used. After dealing each stu-
dent five cards, the designated king/queen places
the deck face down on his/her desk. Because there
are no vocabulary words, eine Karte would re-
place den/die/das X on the command handout.
Thus, the king/queen would address a student with
the command, John, gib ihm eine Karte, or
Sharon und Tom, ich gebe euch zwei Karten.
The student(s) addressed would be allowed to give
cards from their own hands, from the deck or from
a combination of the two. For example, John could
choose to give the male student indicated a card
from the deck or a card from his own hand. The stu-
dent addressing Sharon and Tom could choose to
give Sharon a card from his/her hand and Tom a
card from the deck. The student could also give
them two cards from his/her hand or two cards
from the deck. As in the standard game, students
may choose to keep the card(s) they receive and
discard other cards from their hands by placing
them face down underneath the deck. They may
also choose to discard the card(s) they receive by
placing them face down underneath the deck. This
simpler variation of the game may be used by in-
structors who want to focus students attention only
on the dative pronouns.
For students in the fourth semester or fourth
year of German and beyond, the game may be
modified so that memorization of vocabulary is
emphasized, as well as the use of dative pronouns
and accusative nouns. As in the standard version,
the king/queen of the group deals each student five
vocabulary cards, divides the deck and places one
half face up and the other half face down. The
king/queen has the students lay the cards they were
dealt face up on their desks and gives them one
minute to view and try to remember their class-
mates hands. When the one minute is up, play
continues as in the standard version with students
giving commands to their classmates. For example,
if Mary remembers that King Jeff has the chair in his
hand which she needs, she would say: Knig Jeff,
geben Sie mir Ihren Stuhl. Jeff must then give
Mary his chair and replace it with a card from either
the face up or face down pile. Play continues with
the student to Marys left. However, if Marys mem-
ory of what Jeff has is incorrect, and he does not
have the chair, he says Ich habe keinen Stuhl,
and then Mary loses her turn. To make the game
even more challenging, the instructor may choose
to tell students they must also state the gender and
accusative case correctly in giving a command;
76
otherwise, they lose a turn. The instructor should
circulate among the groups to address any ques-
tions about grammar and gender. As students play
this version of the game, they focus on remember-
ing vocabulary as they try to recall who has re-
ceived what cards and use this information to their
advantage.
Game #5: Der Sumpfmonster-Irrgarten
(The Swamp Monster Maze)
In this game students practice directions, listen-
ing, and speaking skills. It may be played with stu-
dents in the third semester of college or third year of
high school German or higher. Students should be
familiar with the following grammatical structures
and vocabulary:
Directional vocabulary such as links, rechts,
geradeaus, oben, and unten
The command Gehen Sie!
The rules are very simple, and the game engages
all students simultaneously.
The instructor needs
A hand drawn picture of a maze
A handout with a list of directions
Draw the maze with wide corridors (about 2-4 cm.)
and no more than 15 twists, turns and curves.
Draw a swamp monster with sharp teeth incorpo-
rated into the maze and two circular swamps in the
middle of one of the wider corridors (4cm). At the
end of the maze, draw a Schokohaus. The hand-
out should list the following directions:
Gehen Sie geradeaus!
Gehen Sie nach oben/unten!
Gehen Sie (ein bisschen) nach rechts/links!
Halten Sie. Sie sind dem Sumpfmonster zu
nah!
Sie sind ber die Linie gefahren!
Kommen Sie (ein bisschen) zurck! Jetzt sind
Sie in der Mitte.
Gehen Sie rechts/links um die Kurve!
Gehen Sie weiter, Sie sind fast da!
Make double-sided copies of the maze and direc-
tions for each student.
UP 40.1 (Spring 2007)
How to Play
Distribute the handout with the maze and di-
rections to each student. Have each student find a
partner. One partner places his/her pencil at the
starting point and closes his/her eyes! The other
partner must guide his/her classmate to the end of
the maze by using the list of directions. (No peek-
ing!) Students switch roles when the partner has
reached the end of the maze.
Game #6: Definitionen-Spiel
(Definitions Game)
This game is for students in the third year of
high school or third semester of college German
and beyond. During the Definitionen-Spiel, stu-
dents practice
Using the language creatively and spontane-
ously.
Various grammar structures
All students are simultaneously engaged in either a
listening or speaking role. The rules for this game
are very simple and straightforward. The instructor
may use the vocabulary cards from Hast du
meinen Hut or Pronomen-Poker for this game.
Otherwise, depending on the size of the class, s/he
must write about fifty to one hundred vocabulary
words on individual index cards. This is initially
time consuming; however, the cards may be re-
used for this game and others. The instructor may
also have the students help make the vocabulary
cards by having each student choose any ten
words and write them neatly on index cards.
How to Play
1. Students divide into groups of four. Students
in each group choose a partner. The pairs of
partners in each group play against each other.
2. Give each pair 1015 vocabulary words on in-
dex cards. The words may come from the
chapter they have been studying, or from pre-
vious chapters.
3. Members of pair #1 look at the vocabulary
words together for two minutes. They should
be sure they understand all vocabulary. Then
they shuffle the cards and turn them face
down. One partner picks up the top card and
begins to describe the word to his/her
JOHNSON: SIX GAMES
tedtammate. If the teammate guesses the
word correctly, the pair gets one point. The
next card is drawn and described. At the end of
two minutes, the students total the points.
4. Now Pair #2 plays.
5. The pair with the most points wins.
6. It is the responsibility of the other pair to:
Keep the time (2 minutes).
Keep score.
Make sure points are not awarded if any of the
rules are broken.
The following rules must be enforced:
1. No English is allowed.
2 No use of hands or body movement is allowed
to suggest meaning.
3. No non-language noises are allowed. For ex-
ample, a player may not say Dieses Tier sagt
meow.
4. The partner has only one guess per vocabu-
lary card. If s/he guesses incorrectly, no points
are awarded and the next card must be drawn.
5. Optional rule. If your students are at a high
proficiency level, they may not use a part of
any vocabulary word in their description. For
example, if the vocabulary word is Abend-
essen,a player cannnot say Was isst man um
7 Uhr abends?
Conclusion
These games are intended to provide the in-
structor with a practical and enjoyable tool to rein-
77
force grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation as
well as discourse development. Because they prac-
tice language skills simultaneously, rather than
having to wait their turn, communication time is
maximized for all students. Surveys were done on
three of the six games (Chaos auf dem Marktplatz,
Pronomen Poker and Sumpfmonster-Irrgarten).
On these surveys nearly all students indicated that
it was easy to understand the rules, that the games
were useful for practicing grammar and vocabulary
and that they were fun. In reference to Pronomen-
Poker and Sumpfmonster-Irrgarten, one student
commented From the 2 games Ive played, Ive
found this more beneficial in helping me learn the
grammar and new words than any other exercise.
Although surveys were not done on the other three
games (Hast du meinen Hut? Klebriges Stampfen-
spiel and Definitionen-Spiel), based on my obser-
vations students seemed to enjoy and learn from
these games as well.
Finally, many instructors face the very difficult
challenge of meeting the needs of students with a
wide range of learning abilities and learning styles.
My classrooms have been populated with students
with ADHD and other learning disabilities. Even
these students enjoyed the games and felt they
helped improve their language skills. Because
these games employ a variety of activities, (physi-
cal, visual, audio, oral, etc), nearly all students will
find something which relates to their learning
strengths. More often than not, this is enough to
give them the motivation they need to practice their
language skills with confidence.