Food Lotto is a fun game appropriate for elementary school students
and adolescents. From 2 to 20 students can play. There are 10 Food Lotto
game boards which individually consist of one of the following food
categories: fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, cold drinks, hot drinks, baked
items, meals, desserts, and breakfast foods. (If 2 students play, then
each student can have 5 Food Lotto game boards; if 10 students play, then
each would have 1 game board; if 20 students play, then 2 could share a
game board, etc.)
The students sit around a table, and the teacher passes out the
Food Lotto game boards. All the colorful and appetizing food cards ( 60 in
all) are spread out across the table face-down. The first student picks up
a food card, which could be "cookie", for example. The student could say,
"cookie" or "This is a cookie," (depending on the level of the class). If
he has a cookie picture on his Food Lotto game board, he places the cookie
card over the picture and goes again. If he does not need the cookie card,
he places the cookie card to the right of his game board and says, "Pass"
or "I don't need this cookie," (again the language usage depends on the
level of the class). The person to his left now goes. If that person needs
the cookie card, he can say, "Cookie, please," or "May I have your cookie,
please?" to which the first student would reply, "Here you are." Then the
student receiving the card would say, "Thank you," which would be
acknowledged by the first student saying, "You're welcome." The game
proceeds thus until a student has covered five of the six food cards on his
Food Lotto game board. When the student covers the fifth card, he should
say, "REACH*" which announces he can win on the next play. The first
person or pair to fill up their Food Lotto game board is the winner.
(*REACH is a term from "mah jong" which is used widely in games or on quiz
shows in Japan.)
Upon winning, the first winner can say, "I am number one." The second
person to fill up his board can say, "I am number two." The game proceeds
until all the students fill up their game boards. Then the students can
select the item they like best from their Food Lotto game board and say,
for example, "I like grapes," or "I like grapes the best."
It is interesting to note that there are many new food terms for
students to master, such as lobster, stew, bagel, cupcake, cereal and pita
bread. The teacher can teach the food vocabulary before the game begins or
encourage the student to ask the teacher, "How do you say this word?" while
they are playing.
Playing this popular game helps students increase their food
vocabulary and master simple requests in a fun and interactive way; it also
fosters language exchange with classmates and boosts independence because
they can play the game with little help from the teacher!
The only draw back of Food Lotto is that it makes everyone hungry,
including the teacher!
Helene Jarmol Uchida
Helene Jarmol Uchida is a veteran teacher with teaching, curriculum
development and teacher training experience in the U.S., Greece and Japan.
She is the director of the Fukuoka-based
Little America English Schools
and lectures at Fukuoka Kyoiku Daigaku. She holds the
LATEM seminars every year
in cities throughout Japan and is also the author of 'The Challenge Book',
an interactive English book and CD especially created for Japanese
elementary school students.
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