This activity practices the dialogue and vocabulary of Daily Scene 1 from the JHS New Horizon 1, so I start by playing the scene aloud with the JTE, then going over the new vocabulary (taking extra care to practice the pronunciation of "headache," "stomachache," "toothache," and "fever").
I like to really over-act during the scene and the game demonstration :) It helps the kids loosen up and they usually follow suit while playing which makes it miles more entertaining for the JTE and me as we walk around to watch them play.
Materials needed
- A deck of "Sick Cards" and a deck of "Medicine Cards" for each group.
Set-up
Each group will get two decks of cards, 1 deck of "Sick Cards" and 1 of "Medicine Cards."
The group will play rock-paper-scissors and the loser will be the first "doctor," taking all of the "Medicine Cards." The rest of the players will then each draw a "Sick Card."
Game Play
The non-doctor players will play rock-paper-scissors again. This time the winner gets to go to the doctor. Then the doctor and the winner will role-play the dialogue.
Doctor: How are you today?
Patient: Not so good.
Doctor: What's wrong?
Patient: I have a (insert vocab from sick card here)
Doctor: (while handing over a corresponding "Medicine Card") Take this medicine and take a rest.
After the player receives their "Medicine Card" they can place both Sick and Medicine Cards in front of them, indicating a point. Then this player becomes the next doctor.
Repeat this until either the time limit is up or the kids have used all the cards.
Winner is the person who collected the most "Medicine Cards."
Notes
My kids are competitive and love a card game, so they happily played this for 25 minutes straight, but setting a time limit works just as well. I would give them at least 15 minutes to play so everyone gets enough time to practice the dialogue.
Instead of the kids just drawing 1 "Sick Card" as they go, you could always have the kids deal out all of the "Sick Cards" during set-up, and the first player to get all of their "Medicine Cards" wins.