Modified Typhoon – by Ruth Wickham A few years ago I found the game “Typhoon” (sometimes called “Tornado”) on the Internet somewhere, and started using it – with great results. The idea is to make up a set of cards with scores on them (5, 10, 50, 100, 200, whatever), and arrange them on the board in a grid pattern (about 6x6 squares for a one hour lesson), with the scores facing the board. The students then have to answer a question correctly, before they are permitted to select one of the cards and score for their team. The thing is that some of the cards have a ‘T’ (for Typhoon) instead of a number, and students selecting these desirable cards get no score but instead “blow away” the score from a team of their choice. The problems I had were mostly with the cards themselves. I had to make them (and they needed to be sturdy enough for repeated use), I had to remember to have them with me when I needed them, and I had to get them set up on the board at an appropriate time (without the students seeing which card went where), and I had to keep the cards in good order so that the students wouldn’t come to recognize the ‘T’ cards from the blank side in subsequent games. The solutions were simple. Now I simply draw a blank grid on the board, and the same grid on a piece of paper with the scores in it. The students are quite happy with this arrangement, and I can be set up within minutes. I have also made the following Modifications: • For elementary classes I label the grid axes with letters and numbers, because they need to practice these in English anyway. But with higher levels I use vocabulary appropriate to the lesson (e g superlatives) and/or bigger numbers. • Instead of just ‘T’ for ‘Typhoon’ I have added the following, ‘S’ for ‘Steal’ – they can steal another team’s score for their own team. ‘D’ for ‘Double’ – they get to double their own score. Then we also have ‘Swap’, where they must swap scores with another team, even though they may not want to. • The course book we use comes with a workbook, which the students all have and are meant to complete for homework. We often work through the workbook questions for review as we play Typhoon – it makes sure they are all keen to have the work covered. • The lessons here are all four hours long. I find after three hours we are all pretty tired, so my students have come to expect – demand even – that we play Typhoon in the fourth hour. • They don’t seem to get tired of the game – hasn’t happened yet. Now students in most of my classes set it up and run it themselves. I just ask the questions. Someone draws a grid on the board and one on paper and draws up team lists (you really need at least three teams, or three individuals, competing to make it work) on the board, and I sit down and choose the questions I will ask. So far, it seems like the perfect game. I have used it for kids and adults, silly adolescents and dignified businessmen – they all get excited about it. I have applied it to many different areas of the curriculum too.

This is a fun way to practice; reading, writing, listening and speaking, while adding some cross curricular geography. Your analytical learners will love the grids and deductive reasoning. Your kinesthetic learners will make lots of holes and try to destroy the enemy. Your visual learners may try to draw beautiful ships and include lots of oceanic scenes. While your audio learners while enjoy the phonetic challenge.
You can use this game to teach; phonic awareness, the phonetic alphabet, irregular verbs, articles, prepositions, math, or geography.