Kevin’s Action Listening Games

Who’s Got What? - Fruits

July 28, 2010

Who’s Got What? – Fruits (4 players)

Who’s Got What is an action listening game. Students in groups must follow instructions, relying on careful listening and teamwork. It’s a kind of listening puzzle. If groups follow instructions just right, they will get the solution to the puzzle. In other words, each player will be holding the right piece of fruit.

Each level gets more challenging—adding new words and going faster. Don’t feel your class needs to complete all the levels. Low-level learners can probably make it through Level 3. Level 5 is hard. Try it yourself.

During Who’s Got What? you’ll find an amazing degree of concentration among your students. It’s best to play each level until ALL groups succeed. If one group struggles, just mix players. Take one player from each group and move them to the next group.

Materials: one kiwi, banana, apple, and orange per group. It’s really fun to use real fruit. Or you can print the pictures of fruit I provide below.

Vocabulary:

Level / Action-Critical Words / Non critical expressions
Level 1 / give, pick up / You’re done
Level 2 / get, take, pass, pick up,
“and” (meaning two instructions for one player are given at a time). / Clap your hands!
Hang on”
Level 3 / collect, exchange, find, hand, trade
“from whoever has it…”
“Don’t” commands / Don’t Panic!
Listen up!
Don’t be scared
You’re halfway through
Level 4 / grab, locate
“Whoever has…”
“Wherever it is…” / Hang on to your sox!
I’m impressed.
Hold on tight.
It’s not fair.
That’s it!
Level 5 / leave [it] alone, get rid of, put [it] down, offer, accept, refuse, take back, get back, swap / Time to rock and roll!

Solution Chart

The chars below will tell you the “solution” to the puzzle—or who’s got what fruits at the end of the game. For Levels 3, 4, 5 we have midway checkpoints as well. That means you can break the game into manageable sections to insure that all groups will succeed.

GAME / Player 1 / Player 2 / Player 3 / Player 4
Level 1: end / kiwi / apple / banana / orange
Level 2: end / orange / apple
kiwi / banana
Level 3: midway / apple / kiwi / orange / banana
Level 3: end / kiwi / banana
apple / orange
Level 4: midway / kiwi / banana / apple / orange
Level 4: end / banana
apple / kiwi / orange
Level 5: midway
“Hey, you’re doing great. But now you really gotta concentrate.” / kiwi / orange
apple / banana
Level 5: At “Faster” / orange
kiwi / banna / apple
Level 5: end / apple / kiwi / banana
orange
What if one group doesn’t have 4 players?
If you need to an extra player in a group (a fifth), that extra person can be the captain: his or her job is to monitor all the interactions and help out. Rotate that player into the action the second time you listen.
Is it possible to play alone?
It definitely is. And if you have the space to do it, it gives students extra practice. The player should spread out four pieces of paper with numbers on them: 1, 2, 3, 4. Each of those papers represents a “player,” and the single player in this case will move the fruits accordingly. See the photo (although we are using objects instead of fruits in the photo). /

FRUITS (You can print these pictures if you don’t have real fruit).