Let’s Onomatopoeia!!, an English-learning card game developed by seminar students
On February 18, the YORK James Seminar at the School of Political Science and Economics took part in a joint class at Nihon Gakuen Junior High School, using Let’s Onomatopoeia!!, an English-learning card game developed by seminar students . Thirty two first-year students participated in the class.
The YORK Seminar is conducting research on the potential of games and play in educational contexts and society. This project was planned by the second-generation members of the Seminar: YOKOTA Rin, IWATA Honoka, SAWADA Rika and ASANO Riku (fourth-year students). Aiming to teach English onomatopoeia through a card game, the seminar students led the entire process — developing game rules, designing cards, and placing a production order.
In this game, players must express the onomatopoeia written on the card using one word, a full sentence, and gestures, and then have their partner guess it. Divided into groups of four, the students competed in two-on-two matches consisting of three rounds.
The YORK Seminar is conducting research on the potential of games and play in educational contexts and society. This project was planned by the second-generation members of the Seminar: YOKOTA Rin, IWATA Honoka, SAWADA Rika and ASANO Riku (fourth-year students). Aiming to teach English onomatopoeia through a card game, the seminar students led the entire process — developing game rules, designing cards, and placing a production order.
In this game, players must express the onomatopoeia written on the card using one word, a full sentence, and gestures, and then have their partner guess it. Divided into groups of four, the students competed in two-on-two matches consisting of three rounds.
Students learning onomatopoeia through the card game
While the onomatopoeic expressions were relatively difficult for first-year junior high school students, nearly all of them naturally memorized the words by repeating them aloud during the three rounds, clearly demonstrating the game’s educational effectiveness. Data to evaluate the game’s educational impact was gathered through quizzes on onomatopoeia and a survey about their English learning, conducted before and after the class.
Feedback from junior high school students included “The game helped me learn onomatopoeia naturally,” and “I’d like to learn regular class vocabulary in the same way.” Associate Professor YORK said, “First of all, I’m proud of the students’ initiative and proactive attitude. I am truly grateful to the teachers of Nihon Gakuen Junior High School for giving us this opportunity, and I hope this experience will lead to more joint classes in the future”
Building on insights gained from this joint class, the YORK Seminar aims to create even more effective games for English language learning.