"You sunk my battleship!"

While elementary school lessons are pretty much all fun and games, junior high school English lessons only sometimes include games.

At Okawame and Misaki Jr. High Schools, I spend the majority of time in my 50-minute class periods teaching from the textbook, having students repeat vocab words and sentences after me.

Often at Misaki, I'm given some time at the end of class to do a fun game or activity. Last week, I tried something new with my "san nensei" (9th grade) class...

Battleship. And I must say, it was a real hit. :)

Using the blackboard, Mr. Nakano helped me explain how to play the game.

I used Battleship as a way to review dates. For example, instead of calling out "A 5," the students would say, "January fifth." If their partner had drawn a boat on that square, it was a "hit," and if not, then he or she would say, "miss."

I love the tissue box defense wall that this duo had!

A close-up of the game sheet

Like Mr. Nakano, I walked around the classroom, helping students if they needed it, and making sure that they were speaking English. (To my delight, they were!)

I also taught them what to say when one of their ships had been completely hit, which I sometimes heard pronounced as "You sunku my battleshipu!"

All the students really did their best to speak English the entire time, and it seemed like everyone really enjoyed the game! Score!

On a not-so-happy note, this class graduates soon, and I'll really miss them!

Well, that's all for now. Peace out!