Latin Games

Preparations:

1. Make copies of the cards sheet, on card stock if possible, one set for every 4 or 5 students.
2. From each set, cut out the cards to make individual decks of cards (if you prefer larger cards, students can write out the words on 3 x 5 notecards).
3. Arrange the students into groups.
4. Give each group a deck of cards that will have an equal number of Latin and the matching English translation.

The Game:

1. The dealer deals 5 cards to each player.
2. The remaining cards are put face down, spread out, on the desk as the fish pond.
3. Students try to match sets of verb forms by taking turns asking other players the following question: Habesne ----------? The students fill in the blank with the opposite tense form of the one he/she is trying to match. e.g. I have tradit (the present tense) so I would say "habesne tradidit?", asking for the perfect tense form.
4. If the person asked has the form, it is given to the person asking.
5. When the player has a matching pair of present tense and perfect tense of the same verb, the cards are removed from the player's hand and placed in a pile next to the player.
6. The player continues to ask for cards of the other players until he/she gets a negative response.
7. When the person asked does not have the form, the response given is 'I, piscare!' The one who has asked must draw from the fish pond (piscina), and the play moves to the next participant.
8. The winner is the one who has the most pairs when one player has no cards in his/her hand.

Variations:

1. When a match is made, a student must translate the forms in order to lay them down.
2. The game may be played as a memory matching game by arranging all the cards face down in random rows. Players take turns turning over two cards. If they match, the student keeps the pair. If they do not match, the cards are turned over in the same place and the play moves to the next participant.
3. The same format may be used for any vocabulary review activity.

I have included two pages of game cards so you can create two decks of cards that can be copied, cut up, and distributed to students. Try to use cardstock in making the copies. I did not use cardstock on the original copies so that you can more easily put the pages through your copier. Students can opt to put the words on note cards instead. (If you choose to print them from this web page, you may want to use Print Preview and adjust your browser's Page Setup to get fine-tune the results.)

Thank you to Marissa Damon Markonish for inspiring this activity at American Classical League 2000!

Remember that the Perfect tense can be translated in several ways: ___ed, have ___ed, or did ____. For example, I lived, I have lived, I did live. The Present tense can be translated as ____, are ____ing, do ____, as in I see, I am seeing, I do see. Notice how there are three ways in English to one way in Latin. In this answer key you will find some but not all the translation variations that are acceptable.

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