English games converted to Chinese

This semester in my Oral English I want to have a monthly 'culture' lesson - which will, twice in the semester, include teaching the students to play some games we all probably grew up with - and which in turn have led to some of the allusions we all know (Do not pass go; do not collect $200 etc).

Scrabble, UNO and Monopoly are easy, I think 500 will be OK as well.  But I want to add Balderdash in as well - and the words on the cards are waaay too esoteric for it to be fair to EFL learners.  So ... anyone have a list of words that would be suitable for this - words 2nd year students may at some time have come across in their readings, but will not see regularly?

Any other games you think would work for this 'cultural understanding section" - ie games that the majority of us would have played as young people?

Most of the games I grew up with as a child apart from Monopoly were imported from China or Ireland. Elastics.... pick-up sticks... knucklebones.

Board games are mainly an American capitalisation of these folk events and family games.

I prefer making games suited to the target language I'm teaching. Not hard to do with a Laminater and a packet of dice. Perhaps you were looking for something more profitible than students learning which is too flexible and fluid for these sort of things. Otherwise, why not teach them International chess. There's a great deal of learning and history to be learnt from a simple chess game.

Knucklebones they know - I've played that in a couple of pretty remote settings. Pickup sticks I've also played with the kao rou (BBQ) skewers - so I think they know that one.  Elastics I don't know - what is it?

Chess is a good idea - they can see the relationship between Chinese chess and international.  And it has the language allusions that would make it useful - pawn, checkmated etc.

I was looking to teach them some of the background of the allusions they come across in language, plus give them some idea of the things young people in other parts of the world grow up with.  Sort of 'living culture'.

They need to be fun, because they will fit in between some pretty heavy duty units on world current affairs.

You never played elastics? Get out!!!

You can only play real pick up sticks with coloured sticks.

Yeah. Chinese Chess and International chess are alike how...?

You never played elastics? Get out!!!

You can only play real pick up sticks with coloured sticks.

Yeah. Chinese Chess and International chess are alike how...?

There is a theory (Sam Sloan) that postulates that Chinese Chess was the origin of chess.  Lots of discussion around this of course! Another theory is that both forms (plus Japanese, Korean, Burmese and Thai) originated in India.  All are games based on strategy and allowing certain pieces to make certain moves, with the ultimate aim to conquer the other pieces.

Pick-up sticks has a very long history in many cultures - not all of them had coloured sticks! 

But if you explain 'elastics' to me - MAYBE I've played it under a different name.

I can use teaching chess and the other games (to those who haven't played before) to teach a) common pass times for western culture  b) words that have entered our lexicon taken from these - stalemate, pawn, ace up the sleeve, etc.

In return, the students will talk about similar games they have played.  There seem to be an amazingly large number of games that have either transferred across the world or evolved independently that have a lot of similarity. Pick up sticks is one, knuckles, snap, 'drop the hanky' etc.

But if you explain 'elastics' to me - MAYBE I've played it under a different name.

don't ask me how or why i know this but elastics is a sort of jump rope game that goes back  a long way. was extremely popular in FR when i was growing up. extremely simple yet can be quite complex..  ACjade,is it the same one you're referring to?

http://maf.mcq.org/jeux/jouets/vignettes/en/jd_mcq_elastique_153.php

Nope - going on that description I have never played elastics.  5 primary schools, 2 high schools attended, plus high schools taught at and primary schools daughters sent to, I have never seen it!!  Must be a 'south of the border' or (given the photo in the reference) one introduced in Catholic schools by French nuns!! ) game.

The closest we came to that was 'tinikelling' - maybe Solong can help out with the spelling.  We were told it was a Filipino game, played into time to music. 2 long pieces of bamboo banged rhythmically on 2 smaller pieces, and then banged together.  The players had to jump in time between the bamboo, and do various steps.  The 'bangers' would then make it faster and faster until your couldn't keep up any longer.

Skipping rope is pretty common across the world - but not a game I will use in class!!

Elastics was the best! We played it with a length of elastic from the habby shop and it was very popular in all the primary schools around.

I remember teaching a group of Chinese 5-year-olds at one of those after school program places to play 'duck, duck, goose' (in Chinese as ya, ya, e) in Beijing.

You're teaching older students though, aren't you? Either way, here is my list.

Capture the flag, heads down/thumbs up, marco polo, Simon says, What's the time Mr Wolf?

Can't think right now. Need coffee

With a deck of cards.....Snap, Go Fish, Crazy 8's (I know at least 3 variants), poker (again there are variants), Bridge, Whist, Canasta, Euchre, Patience/Solitaire (again with variants)

Common dice-and-boards.....Trivial Pursuit, Taboo, Monopoly, Snakes & Ladders, Backgammon

Other popular games.....HopScotch, "Chinese" Jump Rope, Red Rover, Statues (Red Light), Mother, May I?, Boggle, Chess, Checkers (Draughts), Chinese Checkers, Noughts & Crosses (TicTacToe), Hide & Go Seek, Marbles (Alleys), Battleship, Connect 4, Parcheesi, Scattergories, Pictionary, Scrabble, Twister, Candyland, Charades, Hot Potato, Musical Chairs, 20 Questions (Animal/Vegetable/Mineral), Hot/Cold (Hunt the Thimble), The Farmer in the Dell, Pass the Parcel, Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Blind Man's Bluff

Extraneous.....all the counting-out rhymes to choose someone as "IT" (Eeny Meeny, Engine Engine Number Nine, etc), Rock-Paper-Scissors.

Thanks AMonk - I thought about Trivial Pursuit, but don't have it with me. Battleship is handy because you can draw it on paper (remember the times you did that in class when you hoped the teacher wasn't looking?)  Eeny Meeny I can use to teach them the use of those words. Boggle I have with me. No Snakes and Ladders board - probably easily downloadable and laminated.  There are frequent allusions to 'snakes and ladders' in movies/books etc.

Don't know how to play Whist, Go Fish (unless it has another name), Crazy 8's (what is it?), Taboo, Parcheesi, Candyland, Mother, May I?,Bridge and only played Euchre a few times - but it is useful for 'being euchred'.

And I'm doing this IN class with 20 year olds - no outside games.

Thanks AMonk ......Don't know how to play Whist, Go Fish (unless it has another name), Crazy 8's (what is it?), Taboo, Parcheesi, Candyland, Mother, May I?,Bridge and only played Euchre a few times - but it is useful for 'being euchred'.

You're welcome ....and don't worry, I don't know how to play knucklebones, drop the hanky, capture the flag, heads down/thumbs up, what's the time?, tinikelling or pick-up sticks.  And I only came across Battleship when my son was about 8 or 9.  Culture has its twists, doesn't it? 

Elastics rule! And I have seen students playing the game in China. I remember back at school we had all these 9-10 levels and we thrived to complete and be the champions. We had really hard core competitions!

Taboo is a great option. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taboo_(game) You caould make a version of this without having the actual boardgame.

How about Balderdash? Great for learning vocab. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balderdash

I have Balderdash - and want to make a whole new set of cards for it, because the ones on the real set are too much for language learners.  Looking for a list of words that could be substituted.

But the aim isn't just to play games - that's easy.  The aim is to play games that the majority of westerners at least know or have played a couple of times and that have influenced our language.  Popular culture + language.

I take it balderdash the game came waaaaay after balderdash the word.

I'll start thinking. These things generally come to me when I'm half asleep.