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BOAR DGAME: Travel Around Japan

Students play a board game where they make their way around a map of Japan, practising inviting others to places by various means of transport.

For each group

Preparation

  1. Make a copy of the map of Japan. To make a larger map, please download the A3 maps below and join them.
  2. Make a さいころ (dice) PDF out of cardboard using the outline provided.
  3. Copy and cut out a set of transport cards.
  4. Find small objects to use as markers for moving around the board.

Procedure

  • Students form groups of 4-5. Each group has a map, dice and set of transport cards.The cards are placed next to the map face down.
  • Students decide who will start by じゃんけん.The game starts at さっぽろ and ends at おきなわ.
  • Players take turns to throw the dice and move their marker accordingly. If a player lands on a major city, s/he says, for example, 「おおさかにいきませんか。」. The rest of the group responds with 「いいですね、いきましょう。」.
  • If a player lands on a minor city s/he picks up a transport card eg. ふね and says 「ふねでいきませんか。」. If the rest of the group agrees that the transport is acceptable, they reply 「いいですね、いきましょう。」.
  • If the transport is not acceptable to the group they say 「~はちょっと、、、」, and the player has to move back to the square they came from. If a player picking up a transport card picks up a card with いっしょにきて, s/he must ask another player to come to his/her square by saying, 「~さん、いっしょにきてください。」. The first player to arrive at おきなわ is the winner. (The exact number must be thrown.)

Variation

Depending on what students have learned, ~ましょう。can be used instead of ~ませんか。 eg. 「きょうとにいきましょう。」「バスでいきましょう。」

Japan Map

Japan Map A4 (PDF 1501KB)
Japan Map 1 A3 size (PDF 1499KB)
Japan Map 2 A3 size (PDF 988KB)

Dice

Dice (PDF 463KB)

Transportation C (PDF 848KB)

Teachers may also wish to use the Expressions for Board Games.

Expressions Board Games (Word 19KB)

Resource created by Himiko Negishi, Cathy Jonak and Yohei Arakawa (April 1996).

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