12 No-Prep Mandarin Classroom Games (萝卜蹲, Flyswatter, Tone Freeze and More)

Most game lists for language teachers are written for English. Hangman, Pictionary, Hot Seat. They work, but they ignore the two things that make Mandarin hard: tones and characters. A game where students can win without hearing a tone or reading a character is fun, but it isn't teaching much Mandarin.

So here are twelve Mandarin classroom games, sorted by where they fit in a lesson: openers, review, brain breaks and exit games. Each one needs nothing more than a whiteboard and your voice, and each has a tone or character twist so the game does real Mandarin work.

What makes a Mandarin classroom game worth playing?

One rule: students should only be able to win by using Mandarin. If they can win by being fast, loud or lucky, the game is filling time. If they have to hear the tone, read the character or say the sentence to get a point, it's practice they'll actually ask for.

Two smaller rules help too. Keep the instructions in Mandarin, with gestures, from the first round. And stop while they still want more. A game that runs five minutes too long turns into a game they groan about next week.

Openers: which games get a class speaking in the first five minutes?

1. 萝卜蹲 (luóbo dūn, Radish Squat)

Split the class into four groups and give each a colour: 红萝卜, 白萝卜, 黄萝卜, 绿萝卜. The red group squats and chants 红萝卜蹲，红萝卜蹲，红萝卜蹲完白萝卜蹲! Now the white group has to squat, chant and pass it on. Any group that hesitates or names itself loses a life.

• Vocabulary twist: swap colours for whatever you're teaching: animals, family members, numbers.
• Tone twist: name the groups 妈, 麻, 马 and 骂. Students have to hear the tone to know whether it's their turn.

2. Tone Freeze

Give each tone a body shape: arms flat for Tone 1, arms rising for Tone 2, crouch low for Tone 3, arms chopping down for Tone 4. Say a syllable. Students freeze in its shape. Anyone in the wrong shape sits out a round, then comes straight back in.

• Level up: say two-syllable words like 老师 or 中国 and have students show both tones, one arm each.
• If you already use tone gestures, this is the game version. More on that in Tone Practice That Doesn't Kill the Room.

3. 老师说 (lǎoshī shuō, Teacher Says)

Simon Says, in Mandarin. 老师说摸头! 老师说站起来! If you don't say 老师说 first and someone moves, they're out. Play it often and students learn a whole set of classroom commands without a word of English.

• Character twist: stop speaking and write the command on the board. 摸头. 坐下. Now they have to read it.

Openers work best when they become routine. If you want a quieter start, the bell ringers post has seven five-minute warm-ups built for the first minute of class.

Review games: how do you review vocabulary without another worksheet?

4. 拍苍蝇 (pāi cāngying, Flyswatter)

Write eight to twelve words on the board. Two students stand at the front, each with a flyswatter (or just a hand). You say a word, and the first to swat it wins a point for their team. Then two new students step up.

• Tone twist: write one syllable in four tones, mā má mǎ mà, and call them out in random order. It's about the quickest tone listening check you can run.
• Character twist: characters only, no pinyin.
• Student caller: once they know the game, a student calls the words. Now someone is producing tones, not just hearing them.

5. 传话 (chuánhuà, Telephone)

Line students up in teams of five or six. Whisper a short phrase to the student at the back of each line: 我喜欢吃苹果. It travels forward whisper by whisper, and the student at the front writes it on the board. Closest version wins.

• Tone twist: build the phrase around a tone pair that's easy to mix up, like 买 (mǎi, buy) and 卖 (mài, sell). You'll hear exactly where tones fall apart.

6. 你演我猜 (nǐ yǎn wǒ cāi, Charades)

A student acts out a word or action. Their team guesses, but a guess only counts as a full sentence: 他在跑步, not just 跑步. That one rule turns a vocabulary game into a sentence game.

7. 猜字 (cāi zì, Mystery Character)

Write a character on the board one stroke at a time. Students call out their guesses as it builds. The first one to read it correctly gets the marker and writes the next mystery character.

• Radical twist: write the radical first and stop. "This one has 氵. What might it be about?" Students start guessing water words before they see the rest. More ideas like this in How to Teach Chinese Characters Without the Copying Grind.

Brain breaks: which games reset a restless class in two minutes?

8. 一二三，木头人 (yī èr sān, mùtou rén)

This is the Chinese version of Red Light, Green Light, and some heritage students will already know it. The caller faces the wall and chants 一二三，木头人! then turns around. Anyone still moving is out.

• Vocabulary twist: the caller adds a word when they turn, like 老虎! or 飞机!, and everyone freezes as that thing.

9. 抱团 (bàotuán, Number Huddle)

Students walk around the room. You call a number, 三! and they have to form groups of exactly three. Anyone left over does a quick task: count to ten, say a sentence, or sing a line.

• Maths twist: call 二加二 or 十减六 instead of the number. Students have to listen to the whole phrase before they move.

10. 站起来 (zhàn qǐlái, Stand Up If…)

Everyone sits. You read statements: 喜欢吃苹果的同学，站起来! 有哥哥的同学，站起来! Students stand if it's true for them. It's two minutes of movement, and every student has to understand every sentence.

• Tone twist: say a word and have students stand only if it has a fourth tone.

Exit games: how do you check learning on the way out the door?

11. Tone Ticket

Say five words from today's lesson, one at a time. Students hold up one to four fingers against their chest, where only you can see, to show the tone. You learn in thirty seconds who heard the tones and who guessed.

12. 出门口令 (chūmén kǒulìng, Password Out the Door)

Stand at the door. Every student says one sentence using today's pattern before they leave: 我叫…, 我喜欢…, 我有…. If they get stuck, they go to the back of the line and listen to five classmates first. By the time they come round again, they've got it.

• Character twist: hold up a character card instead. They read it to get out.

How do you fit these into a week?

You don't need twelve new games. Pick one per stage and repeat it until it runs itself:

• Opener: 萝卜蹲 or 老师说
• Review: Flyswatter, with the tone twist once a week
• Brain break: 一二三，木头人 when the energy dips
• Exit: Password Out the Door

Once the routine is set, swap one game at a time. Students already know how the lesson runs, so the new game gets their full attention. And if you want to keep the whole thing in Mandarin, these games pair well with the routines in Stay in Mandarin.

Where can you find songs and printables to go with these games?

Most of these games get better with a song students already know. Sing it in the opener, swat its words in the review and use its key line as the exit password. Need one for the unit you're teaching? Try the Song Topic Finder.

If you want printables to go with the songs, Club Lǎoshī has worksheets and activities, and Song Club has the song videos. To try a sample first, the free Basic Greetings Classroom Pack has five printable PDFs, and there are more ideas for using them in Printable Mandarin Worksheets That Actually Get Used.

More classroom song videos and printables live at www.chinesebuddy.com.

Tim is the original founder, creator and dreamer of all things on Chinese Buddy. He can be contacted here.

Cover photo: Lance Cpl. Diamond N. Peden, U.S. Marine Corps, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).

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12个零准备中文课堂游戏（萝卜蹲、拍苍蝇、声调定格等）

大多数给语言老师的游戏清单是为英语课写的：猜单词、你画我猜、热座位。这些游戏都好用，但它们忽略了让中文变难的两件事：声调和汉字。如果学生不用听声调、不用认汉字也能赢，游戏是好玩，但教不了多少中文。

所以，下面是十二个中文课堂游戏，按它们在一节课里的位置分类：开场、复习、课间放松和下课检测。每个游戏只需要一块白板和你的声音，而且每个都有一个声调或汉字的变化玩法，让游戏真正练到中文。

什么样的中文课堂游戏值得玩？

一条规则：学生只能靠用中文来赢。 如果靠反应快、嗓门大或者运气好就能赢，那游戏只是在打发时间。如果他们必须听出声调、认出汉字或者说出句子才能得分，那就是他们会主动要求的练习。

还有两条小规则也有帮助。从第一轮开始就用中文加手势讲规则。还有，在学生还想玩的时候就停下来。多玩五分钟的游戏，下周再玩时学生就会叹气了。

开场游戏：哪些游戏能让全班在前五分钟就开口说话？

1. 萝卜蹲

把全班分成四组，每组一个颜色：红萝卜、白萝卜、黄萝卜、绿萝卜。红组一边蹲一边喊："红萝卜蹲，红萝卜蹲，红萝卜蹲完白萝卜蹲！"这时白组就要接着蹲、接着喊，再传给下一组。犹豫的组或者叫成自己组名的组，扣一条命。

• 词汇变化： 把颜色换成你正在教的内容：动物、家人、数字。
• 声调变化： 用"妈、麻、马、骂"给四组命名。学生必须听出声调，才知道是不是轮到自己。

2. 声调定格

给每个声调一个身体动作：一声手臂平伸，二声手臂上扬，三声蹲低，四声手臂往下劈。你说一个音节，学生摆出对应的动作定格。做错的学生停一轮，然后马上回来继续玩。

• 升级玩法： 说"老师""中国"这样的双音节词，让学生用两只手臂分别表示两个声调。
• 如果你已经在用声调手势，这就是它的游戏版。更多内容见《不让教室冷场的声调练习》。

3. 老师说

就是中文版的"Simon Says"。"老师说摸头！""老师说站起来！"如果你没有先说"老师说"，谁动了谁就出局。经常玩，学生不用一句英语就能学会一整套课堂指令。

• 汉字变化： 不说话，把指令写在白板上："摸头""坐下"。现在他们得读出来才行。

开场游戏变成固定流程时效果最好。如果你想要安静一点的开场，课前热身那篇文章里有七个专为上课第一分钟设计的五分钟热身活动。

复习游戏：不发练习纸，怎样复习词汇？

4. 拍苍蝇

在白板上写八到十二个词。两个学生站到前面，每人拿一个苍蝇拍（或者直接用手）。你说一个词，谁先拍到，谁就为自己的队赢一分。然后换两个学生上来。

• 声调变化： 把同一个音节的四个声调都写上：mā má mǎ mà，然后随机念。这差不多是最快的声调听力检测。
• 汉字变化： 只写汉字，不写拼音。
• 学生当主持： 学生熟悉玩法后，让一个学生来念词。这样就有人在说声调，而不只是听声调。

5. 传话

让学生五六个人一队排成纵列。你对每队最后一个学生小声说一句短语："我喜欢吃苹果。"短语一个接一个往前传，最前面的学生把它写在白板上。最接近原句的队获胜。

• 声调变化： 用容易混淆的声调词来造句，比如"买"和"卖"。你会清楚地听到声调在哪里走样。

6. 你演我猜

一个学生表演一个词或动作，他的队友来猜。但只有说完整的句子才算数："他在跑步"，而不是只说"跑步"。就这一条规则，把词汇游戏变成了句子游戏。

7. 猜字

在白板上一笔一笔地写一个汉字。学生边看边喊出猜测。第一个读对的学生拿到白板笔，写下一个神秘汉字。

• 部首变化： 先写部首，然后停下来。"这个字有三点水，它可能和什么有关？"学生在看到整个字之前就开始猜和水有关的词。更多类似的方法见《怎样教汉字，不再只靠抄写》。

课间放松：哪些游戏能在两分钟内让坐不住的班级重新集中？

8. 一二三，木头人

这是中文版的"红灯绿灯"，有些华裔学生可能早就会玩。喊口令的人面对墙，喊"一二三，木头人！"然后转身。谁还在动，谁就出局。

• 词汇变化： 喊口令的人转身时加一个词，比如"老虎！"或"飞机！"，大家要定格成那个样子。

9. 抱团

学生在教室里走动。你喊一个数字："三！"他们就要组成正好三个人的小组。落单的学生做一个小任务：从一数到十、说一句话，或者唱一句歌。

• 数学变化： 喊"二加二"或"十减六"，而不是直接喊数字。学生必须听完整句话才能行动。

10. 站起来

所有人坐下。你念句子："喜欢吃苹果的同学，站起来！""有哥哥的同学，站起来！"符合的学生就站起来。两分钟的活动量，而且每个学生都必须听懂每一句话。

• 声调变化： 说一个词，只有它是第四声时学生才站起来。

下课检测：怎样在学生出门时检查学习效果？

11. 声调出门票

一个一个地说出今天课上的五个词。学生把一到四根手指贴在胸前，只让你看到，表示声调。三十秒内你就知道谁听出了声调，谁是在猜。

12. 出门口令

站在门口。每个学生离开前都要用今天的句型说一句话："我叫……""我喜欢……""我有……"。如果卡住了，就排到队尾，先听五个同学说。等再轮到他时，他就会了。

• 汉字变化： 改成举起一张汉字卡，读对了才能出门。

怎样把这些游戏放进一周？

你不需要十二个新游戏。每个环节选一个，重复到它自己就能运转：

• 开场： 萝卜蹲或老师说
• 复习： 拍苍蝇，每周用一次声调变化
• 课间放松： 精力下降时玩"一二三，木头人"
• 下课检测： 出门口令

流程固定下来以后，每次只换一个游戏。学生已经熟悉课堂怎么进行，所以新游戏能得到他们全部的注意力。如果你想整节课都用中文，这些游戏和《坚持说中文》里的课堂常规很搭。

哪里可以找到配合这些游戏的歌曲和打印资料？

学生已经会唱一首歌时，这些游戏大多会更好玩。开场时唱这首歌，复习时拍它的词，下课时用它的关键句当出门口令。想找一首适合当前单元的歌？试试 Song Topic Finder。

如果你想要配合歌曲的打印资料，Club Lǎoshī 提供练习纸和活动，Song Club 提供歌曲视频。想先试试样品，免费 Basic Greetings 课堂资料包里有五份可打印的PDF，怎样使用它们可以看《真正用得上的中文打印练习纸》。

更多课堂歌曲视频和打印练习，见 www.chinesebuddy.com。

Tim 是 Chinese Buddy 的原创创始人、内容创作者和梦想实践者。如需联系，可在此留言。