Getting your family and friends to use language with you can be challenging, and yet is essential for growing language use in your home.  ‘Go Fish’ is one easy activity you can do to get them comfortable with language.  It’s familiar to most people, and it has easy, repetitious vocabulary.  Novice speakers can participate with this fun, non-threatening game and stay in the target language.

How to play

Each player is dealt 5 cards.  The deck is then placed face-down between the players.  The person to the right of the dealer begins (player 1).  Player 1 tries to get a card to match one in his/her hand by asking another participant (player 2), “Do you have a __?” If player 2 has the card, they give it to them.  Player 1 then puts down the two-of-a-kind face-up and gets another turn.  If player 2 does not have the card, they say, “No.  Go fish.”  Player 1 then takes the card from the top of the deck.  If player 1 gets a card that gives them two-of-a-kind, they can put the pair down and go again.  If not, the person to the right of them takes their turn.  The object of the game is to get rid of all of your cards, as well as gain the most points by counting how many two-of-a-kind you can put in front of you.  Each card counts as 1 point.  Points are subtracted by how many cards you are holding in your hand.

Phrases you will need

1) Do you have a __? 2) Yes/No. 3) Go fish. 4) I won! 5) Names for the cards from Ace to King and a word for ‘cards’. Suggested Vocabulary: 6) I do have a __. 7) I don’t have a __. 8) Your turn. 9) My cards are gone. 10) How many points do you have? 11) I am shuffling the cards. 12) I am dealing the cards. 13) Whose turn is it? Suggested card vocabulary: Ace ‘first’, 2-10, Jack ‘teenager’, Queen ‘woman leader’, King ‘man leader’. sbitalə is used in Lushootseed for ‘cards’, referring to a woman’s game played with beaver teeth.  Other optional terms: Heart ‘heart’, Spade ‘arrow’, Diamond ‘rock’, Club ‘leaf’.
Challenge:
Try to play this game with family and friends with NO ENGLISH for 10 minutes.  Let us know how it goes.

Contributed by Zalmai ʔəswəli Zahir, learn more about Zeke at: http://pages.uoregon.edu/nwili/about/staff