Reversi Grammar

Introduction:
A pretty intensive game with will occupy a whole lesson. This board game with help in the teaching of phrasal verbs.

What is learnt?
Phrasal Verbs. i.e. He launched into a long speech. They called the trip off. etc..

Preperation:
Because the cards have two sides to them, they need careful photocopying. With manual photocopiers, copy side A, noting its position on the glass plate. You take the copied pages and put them face down in the feed tray of the machine so you can copy side B onto the back of side A. Be sure you place your copy of the book on the glass plate in exactly the right position. Check the first photocopy before doing a run!

How the game is played:
1 Gather the class around two threesomes of students and show them how to play the game:

a. Have the two teams sitting opposite each other and deal a pack of 36 Phrasal verb cards, giving eighteen to each team.

b. Ask the students to decide which team plays phrasal verbs (the shaded side) and which team plays non-phrasal verbs (the non-shaded side).

c. Show the students the starting position. Each team puts two cards taken at random on the table thus:

PHRASAL VERB		NON-PHRASAL VERB

NON-PHRASAL VERB		PHRASAL VERB

d. Now ask the phrasal verb team to lay down a phrasal verb card to 'threaten' a non-phrasal verb card:

PHRASAL VERB	NON-PHRASAL VERB	PHRASAL VERB

NON-PHRASAL VERB	PHRASAL VERB

The card marked X is now in danger of being captured (turned over). The phrasal verb team suggests the phrasal verb which corresponds to what's written on the non-phrasal verb side of the card. They check by turning over the card:

PHRASAL VERB	PHRASAL VERB	<>PHRASAL VERB

NON-PHRASAL VERB	PHRASAL VERB

If they're right the card stays turned over. If they're wrong the card is turned back to its original position. (If they don't know the answer they can still turn the card over and have a look for future reference but must replace it in its original position.)

e. Whether they're right or wrong, the non-phrasal verb team now have a turn. They may try to capture card Y like this:

PHRASAL VERB	PHRASAL VERB	PHRASAL VERB

NON-PHRASAL VERB	PHRASAL VERB Y	NON-PHRASAL VERB

If they give the correct non-phrasal verb 'translation' they can turn Y over like this:

PHRASAL VERB	PHRASAL VERB	PHRASAL VERB

NON-PHRASAL VERB	NON-PHRASAL VERB	NON-PHRASAL VERB

Otherwise they get a look but have to replace the card in its original position.

The basic rule is that any card, or sequence of cards of one team which are directly adjacent to each other, can be attacked by being sandwiched between two enemy cards, either horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
The aim of the game for the phrasal verb team is to cover the space of the board with their verbs face up. The non-phrasal verb team try to cover the board with 'translations' face up. A player may only lay down a card next to one already on the board, either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Ask students to imagine that they are playing on a board that is six by six this makes for a tighter, more interesting game. (i.e. a 6 block by six block grid, starting the game in the middle 4 blocks.

Once the students have understood the rules of the game, ask them to break up into groups of six. Each group of six breaks into two teams of three and the threes sit facing each other. Give each group of six the photocopied cards and ask them to fold and tear them or cut them up with the scissors. The students now play the game through. Go from group to group helping with the rules if necessary.
It's worth, at this stage, feeding in an extra rule, group by group, which makes the game more interesting: If a team have sandwiched a sequence of three or more they may capture the whole sequence by getting just two 'translations' right.

Acknowledgments: Thanks to Graham.J.B. for submitting this game to us.

02.01.2007. 03:15

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· Verbs · Phrasal Verbs