Sultans and Sentences

by Corey Fayman

and Jack Miller

Instructional Objective

The learners will be able to identify and use parts of speech, pronouns, punctuation marks, simple sentence structure, and past and future verb tenses.

Learners/Context

The learners are students of grammar in the third grade.

The game is designed to be played during or after class, but after students have been introduced to the subjects used in the game. It will be used to reinforce parts of speech, pronouns, punctuation marks, simple sentence structure, and past and future verb tenses and use children's natural desire to play games to instruct in elementary grammar.

Rationale

A game is an appropriate format for this situation. Exercises that instruct and reinforce the rules of grammar provide short, discrete questions, answers, examples, etc. that lend themselves to being presented on small cards and to being answered quickly. Therefore, these exercises can be used to create game challenges which when accomplished result in acquiring points, movement, etc. Grammar is also a subject that benefits from repetition. Therefore, adding the motivational element of a game inspires the learner to practice the rules of grammar repeatedly, adding to the effectiveness of instruction.

Rules

Four to six players are required. The object of the Sultans and Sentences game is to be the first player to reach the Magic Carpet Ride in the clouds. Players advance by drawing cards, answering the question correctly and moving the appropriate number of spaces. Players encounter detours or rewards created by Special Cards or Squares on their Arabian adventure. Expected duration of the game is 15 to 25 minutes

Shuffle the deck of cards. The youngest player or the player who lost the last game goes first. Play proceeds in a clockwise direction.

The player to the starting player's right draws a card and reads the sentence written at the top of the card. He then asks the player to name the parts of speech indicated on the card. The answering player must name each instance of the part of speech contained in the sentence. Correct answers are indicated on the cards with underlined words.

• If the player answers the question correctly, he/she moves the number of spaces indicated on the card, and keeps the card. He/she may use the card later to avoid losing a turn on penalty squares.
• If the player does not answer correctly, he/she does not move and the turn goes to the player on his or her left. The card is placed in a discard pile.

Penalty Squares

• Noun square. Players landing on a noun care must give one of their accumulated noun cards to the player on their left or they lose a turn.
• Verb, adjective and adverb squares. These squares work the same way as the noun square.
• Period square. Players landing on a period square lose one turn unless they can create a sentence by using the underlined words from their accumulated cards.

• Conjunction square. If a player lands on a conjunction square, as indicated by a plus sign (+), they can gain one turn by creating two separate sentences from the underlined words on their accumulated cards.
• Exclamation square. If a player lands on a exclamation square, as indicated by an exclamation point (!), they can gain one turn by creating an exclamatory sentence using the underlined words from their accumulated cards.
  
• Question mark square. If a player lands on a question mark square, as indicated by a giant question mark (?), they can gain one turn by creating an inquisitory sentence using the underlined words from their accumulated cards.

• Go to Lion's Mouth card. If a player draws the Go to Lion's Mouth card, he or she must proceed to the Lion's Mouth square, take one card from each player and create a sentence using at least one underlined word from each card taken from the other players.
• Magic Lamp card. If a player draws the Magic Lamp card, he or she keeps it to avoid losing a turn when landing on a penalty square. The player must throw one of his/her cards into the discard pile along with the Magic Lamp in order to use it.
• Magic Carpet card. The Magic Carpet card works just like the Magic Lamp card. There is no price for using the Magic Carpet card, however, but only one wish per card. Drop it in the discard pile after using it.

The board consists of background pictures from the Aladdin motion picture by Disney to highlight the Arabian Nights theme and title of the game, Sultans and Sentences. Superimposed on the background is the multi-colored path that the players traverse. The path is composed of 155 normal, penalty, and bonus squares.

Card Design

Design Process

We started by considering the fundamental building blocks of sentences - nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and created the first version of the board game to teach those simple concepts. We then consulted with two subject matter experts, third grade English teachers. We recognized that even these early learners had more knowledge than that of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. We also recognized that the game as originally conceived might not teach parts of speech because learners could play it simply by reading rather than by organizing the parts of speech. Reviewing that game, we also noticed that the game could be played as a card game with some simple adjustments to the game pieces. Armed with new knowledge of the scope of the learners background, we faced the challenge of making a game that made sense as a board game. Some ideas we considered were a race, a monopoly type game, or an adventure game. Some themes we considered were Jurassic Park, farm animals, space adventures. We finally settled on a simple adventure game with an Arabian Nights theme inspired by the fact that we were trying to teach grammar, the fundamental building block of stories, stories being the fundamental theme of the Arabian Nights. Additionally, we liked an adventure that proceeded along a path that could be punctuated in a manner resembling the flow of thought or the structure of a sentence. We believed that this would inject a significant element of congruence to the game, its appearance, and structure.

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