Pokemon Superlatives/Comparatives

This is a game to help teach comparatives and superlatives to students in an organic manner.

Print out, laminate, and cut out the pokemon cards in the attached file. A good rule of thumb is to times your class size by seven to have an idea of how many cards you need. Can help making a larger version of two cards for demonstration purposes but it's not a big deal if you can't.

At the beginning of class go over the vocabulary, check meanings in Japanese, explain the difference between comparatives and superlatives. Practice pronouncing the words as a class so students don't feel shy. Break them up into lunch groups. Hand out 5 cards per student. Explain that you are going to play a game using the cards. Give them a minute to look over the attributes of each card (age, height, weight, strength).

Write a sample sentence on the board to demonstrate (Which pokemon is the ________. _______ is the _____ of the ______) demonstrate with your JTE by choosing a card at random and laying it on the desk at the count of 3. Then choose a random superlative and complete the sentence. Hold up both cards and ask your students which one fits the description. Call out the answer with your JTE (e.g. Lucario is the tallest of the two). Have the winner take all the cards on the table. Stop to double check that your students understand, then start a few rounds (after they have the hang of it you can add in new comparatives/superlatives like who is the coolest, cutest, most popular, etc). Do it first as a class then break it down into each lunch group - this is to help students ease into it and not feel out of place when practicing their pronounciation. Once you break into lunch groups have it rotate between students for who is announcing and who is playing.

For part II explain that you are introducing new rules to the game. Now you will allow students to battle each other (moving from superlatives to comparatives). Get your students to pair off in each lunch group and at the call of three put down a card. Call out a comparative (e.g. which pokemon is taller) and the winner takes the losers card. Repeat first as a class, then break it down to lunch groups with a rotating system.

The cards use the Romanized Japanese names as having the English names creates more difficulty (in pronunciation) and takes away from the lesson's emphasis. Once students are familiar with the game in the future you can bring it out as a short warmup or an end of lesson activity for review purposes.