A Japanese card game that promotes English fluency?
Can this game be a hidden gem for English learners?
There are many games that can help English learners develop certain skill sets, predominantly in vocabulary and phonics. For example, the AGO series offers an excellent selection of phonics and question-and-answer games that can effectively aid in the development of language learners. It is uncommon, though, to find a fun game that assists the language learner with fluency or simply just talking! It is even more rare to find a game that can be implemented in a family setting, a party setting, and a full classroom setting. The most uncommon aspect of all is to find a fun game that promotes English fluency, that can easily be accommodated in most settings, and is just a regular inexpensive Japanese party game. This game is called Cat & Chocolate.
Who are we? How did we find out about it?
My name is Brett. I am a Canadian English teacher who teaches online and in-person classes. I am currently living in Japan with my family, which consists of my wife who is a Japanese English professor, and our 11-year-old bilingual child. My motto is based strongly on balancing fun and education. A year ago, another English teacher introduced me to this game, which he said was successful in his classes. It wasn’t until recently that we decided to try it as a family (we were guinea pigs for this experiment), and we are very happy we did!
"What do you do when you are suddenly met by an alien from outer space?" "I would introduce it to my chatty mother!"
What is Cat & Chocolate?
Cat & Chocolate is a party-style card game series designed by Giguru Akiguchi (Ryo Kawakami). There are two companies for this game: https://cosaic.co.jp/ and https://www.gentosha-edu.co.jp/. Each version of these games has its own theme. I am focusing on the Gentocha-edu Daily Edition, which was originally designed for 3-6 players, ages 8+, for about 20 minutes of gameplay.
It is important to note that I have intentionally altered the original nuanced rule set to accommodate a larger classroom setting and an audience of English learners. This is not a game review. However, I have kept the original premise of this party card game intact and maintained the fun!
How do you play it?
The original premise of the game is quite simple: participants must solve their own situational dilemma card (event card) with up to three unique item cards, which they must use in narratively creative ways like MacGyver or Doraemon (depending on cultural preference) to solve the scenario. Some dilemmas are relatively easy, while others are outrageously difficult and funny.
Distilled to its essence, my altered rules version goes as follows: Each dilemma card is numbered 1-3, indicating how many item cards are required to fulfill the one shared dilemma between all participants or teams. Then, each person/team tells their story of how they solved the shared dilemma with their own item cards. The winner is chosen by vote (a pointing of fingers) but not for their own story, and awarded the dilemma card as a trophy. A new round begins, a new dilemma card is drawn, and the players draw up to three cards. The first story-teller is then passed to the right. The winner of the game is the person/team that holds the largest number of voted stories. We played up to 5 points and that lasted about 40 minutes (It could have gone on much longer but the onsen was calling to me).
There are more rules included, such as teams being named either Cat or Chocolate and kept secret until the end of the game. There are also rules for voting, drawing cards, and more. However, I believe simpler is better and prefer speed, ease of rules, and flexibility when introducing games to English learner students and impatient eleven-year-olds like my daughter.
Example of Play
The example picture above depicts a dilemma where a person is trying to overcharge you. To solve this event, 3 cards are needed, and I created a story that maintains the essence of the pictures. As I didn’t need to state the exact item in play, I elaborated from the pictures. My answer was as follows: I pay the outrageous price and then say goodbye. Late at night, I ride my bike to the store (card 1), put on a costume (card 2), and become a cat burglar (card 3) to steal the money I paid, plus a service fee! In English, a cat burglar is a thief who steals from places without being seen (like a sneaky cat). Other players’ stories involving their cards could be equally fun and engaging. However, I used this example because I remembered what I did last night even after a couple of glasses of red wine.
How can this Japanese game be used to promote English fluency?
Fluency is a crucial aspect of successful communication in any language. It goes beyond merely being able to read and comprehend text or speaking with precision and speed. Fluency also encompasses language fluency in general. Fortunately, this game is designed to enhance your speech and language fluency in an enjoyable and engaging way.
To participate in the game, you must be able to express your ideas fluently in the form of a story. This requires you to apply fundamental principles such as language tenses, tense changes, conditionals, and much more. Additionally, you need to be skilled in improvisation and storytelling. Indeed, the more you practice speaking, the better you become at it.
The game provokes its participants to engage in a lighthearted but hilarious manner, which makes the learning process much more enjoyable. Therefore, it is an excellent tool for language learners who want to enhance their fluency in a fun and interactive manner.
How well was this game received by your family?
My daughter absolutely loved this game (she laughed so hard at one point, our neighboring hotel room politely rapped on the wall). She really enjoyed making up stories even though it was troublesome at times for her to convey her thoughts in detail or in correctness. She had some difficulty, but loved it nonetheless. My wife enjoyed it, too! They both asked for more! As for me, I can’t read the language, but once the dilemma was told to me, I can make due with the pictures. Cat & Chocolate has now become a favorite at our household.
How can you implement this game into an English class?
I believe there are several ways to implement this game into a large class, one of which would be by introducing a teams variant. As a team, they must come up with a story, perhaps even writing it, thus promoting reading fluency, and presenting it to the class. If there are six teams with five players on each, each team will say their story, and once all six stories are complete, they point their fingers to the winner of the event. In the case of a tie, the tiebreaker goes to…? Keep in mind, it’s a shared dilemma for everyone.
Another thing you could do is to create your own dilemmas and your own item lists. The possibilities are endless at that point. This could also be easily implemented as an online lesson for a class of three or more.
Last words and possible criticisms of Cat & Chocolate
Again, this is not a review. If I were to officially review it as a game played in its original ruleset, I would hesitate. The rules as written have many aspects that are too complex for an English learning game, so adjustments need to be made to make it easier to play.
Additionally, I strongly believe that 8-year-old children would struggle with creating a story, even in their own native language. If I were to recommend this game to children, I would suggest at least 10+ with adult assistance.
For language learners, I would hesitate to give this game to anyone below the lower intermediate level. The story must be cohesive and intelligible enough to understand, requiring the ability to indicate time (verb tense), extended sentences (conditionals), and enough supportive vocabulary.
As stated earlier, my 11-year-old daughter is fully bilingual. Her story is linked here, and she still struggled. So, in my honest opinion, the suggested age range of 8+ might be a bit too young.
However, as a fun family game in general, that can also be used as a tool to promote English fluency, this game is a home run! I highly recommend it.
As for the alien. I would feel sad for it.
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