Pantomine Game

Rivers, Wilga M. (ed.) Interactive Language Teaching. can be borrowed from the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Center Library.

A pantomine is a scene in body language which can be used to elicit spoken or written language. Pantomines are just as enjoyable for the student mimes as they are for the students trying to guess what the mimes are doing. In practical terms, students in groups of two or three prepare a pantomime and act it out in front of the members of the class, who try to guess, orally or in writing, what the mimes are doing. Pantomimes are very usefuyl for demonstrating verbs and adjectives. Student mimes can even be asked toact out a series of related scenes (e.g., two fishermen go fishing, catch two big fish, bring them home, clean them, and eat them - but they have too many bones!)

"Let us buy clothes" board game

I found this wonderful board game in the the following book:

Saskatchewan Indian Languages Institute
TITLE(S): Nehiyawetan. Student workbook
EDITION: 2nd Revised Edition
PUBLISHER: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan : Federation of Saskatchewan
Indian Nations, 1984-?

I purchased my copy from the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Center, but this book can be borrowed from the University of Calgary Library.

There are two variations for how to play the game. The first variation is in the following book:

Saskatchewan Indian Languages Program
TITLE(S): Nehiyawetan. Teacher's manual
EDITION: 2nd Revised Edition
PUBLISHER: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan : Federation of Saskatchewan
Indian Nations, 1984.

This can be borrowed from the University of Calgary Library and University of Alberta, Cameron Library.

The second variation is in the "Student Workbook".

Simon Says

The nearest library from which this book can be found at:
Alberta Govenment Library. Capital Boulevard Site.

Native languages : a support document for the teaching
of native languages, 1989
PUBLISHER: Toronto, Ont. : Ministry of Education, 1989.

The teacher issues a series of commands, with or without actions, as preferred. Students perform only those actions preceded by the words "Simon says". If the teacher says "Simon touch your nose", they should do so. In the traditional game those who make mistakes drop out. For maximun language practice, however, all students continue to participate throughout.

In True and False (also called Silly Sentences), a game similar to Simon Says, the teacher makes a series of statements; students do not react to true or sensible statements, but false or silly statements must be signalled in some way.

For Cree language acquisition, say "Simon Itwew", instead of "Simon Says". For more more Cree language learners, substitute "touch your feet" with "samina kisita".

Word Bingo

This nearest library from which to find this book is University of Alberta, Cameron Library. http://www.library.ualberta.ca/catalogue

Dorry, Gertrude Nye.
Title: Games for second language learning. Illustrated by Vincent R. Evangelista.

In advance, the leader should prepare a master list of names in the general class or type of objects to be used in the game.
eg. fruits or vegetables
Ask each player to draw 16 squares on a piece of paper, like this:

carrots onions lettuce cabbage
peas beans potatoes tomatoes
spinach squash radishes beets
turnips cucumbers celery asparagus

Then tell the group the classification you have chosen and that as soon as the signal is given each player should begin to fill in the squares with the names of things in the classification, one to a square. They should try to fill all the squares in the 10 minutes allowed.
At the end of the time limit, give the signal to stop writing. Then, as you read the names from the master list, have each player put a cross through each name that appears on his own paper. As soon as he has crossed out four names in a line in any direction (across, down, or diagonally), a player may call Bingo and is the winner of that round.

FISH GAME

This game is taken from the book:

A Notebook for teachers of Algonkian languages / [compiled by Mary L. Mitchell].
Publisher: [Ottawa] : [Indian and Northern Affairs, Curriculum Services], 1975.

You can find this book at what was formerly known as the Saskathewan Indian Cultural College. It is now called the First Nations University at the Saskatoon campus.

Making the game:

1. Cut 36 cards about 3x5 out of bristol board.
2. List 18 common nouns with their diminutives (ie. tree and little tree).
3. Draw one picture on each card so that you have 18 pairs of big-little picture cards.

Playing the game:

1. For two players deal seven card each: for three or four players deal five each (play as in the game FISH.
2. Children try to get pairs; when they get a pair, they lay it down in front of them. In turns, they can ask the next player to them for a card to complete a pair. If they get what they ask for, they can keep asking, until they don't get one. Then they draw a card from the pile, and it's the next player's turn.
3. The game is finished when the pile is gone or when one player runs out of cards. The player with the most pairs wins.

N.B. Language Practice: Can be in English, using only names on cards in native language. However, it would be better, if possible, to teach and use the following terms, so that the whole game can be played in the native language.
(Easy) Give me the __________.
I don't have the _________.
Yes, No.

(Advanced) It's your turn
Pick up a card etc.

The Ball of String

I could not find any library in Saskatchewan which has a copy of this book, but it does exist.

Carifelle, Yvonne. Cree language program : teacher's manual / Yvonne Carifelle and Mary Pepper. -- [Yellowknife] : Culture and Communications, Government of the Northwest Territories, 1991.

Ball of string
Objective: To create an original group story,

Materials:
1. A ball of string, marked off at different lengths, (different colored string tied together in varying lengths could also be used).

Directions:
1. Students sit in a circle.
2. One person starts by telling a story in Cree as they slowly unwind the ball of string. When the student comes to the end of a segment of string, he passes the ball of string to the person next to him.
3. The next person must then continue the story while slowly unwinding the second segment.
4. The game continues wuntil everyone has contributed to the story or until the ball of stings is fully unwound.

This game was adapted from "Let's Play Games in German" by Elizabeth Schmidt by the author. I like this game because there is an element of unknown of how long the yarn is. This game is for students with advanced knowledge of the language. I believe it can be improvised by having a beginner learner says a short story in his first language, and having his/her facilitator translate for him/her.

Joyce's Blog:

Hi folks: Let us share Cree Language Games with one another. Over the years I have found out where I can get Cree Language Games. I would like to share those with you. I have a First Nations Cree Language Certificate and have taught at two universities. Today I facilitate Conversational Cree. When I took Teaching English as Second Language classes at the university I learned that the best way to learn a language was through playing games. Playing games is also fun.
I found that interested folk like us will find games not only from the limited books out there on Cree, but other books on teaching a second language. This is the reason for this blog. You can refer me what books you found to be useful and where these can be found. In particular where we can have free access to them from a library. For those of us in the library field we know how to get these books via the interlibrary loan department. Let us begin.